Years before Esme was born, her mother, Jade, was in a poly relationship with Kei and Damien and Bayx, but then she was forced into a strict relationship with Vincent. As her boyfriends and girlfriend were being threatened, Jade gave herself up in order to protect them.
While Kei was living alone with Zinoviy, his roommate, in college, Vincent's treatment of Jade worsened, and once Kei moved back to his home with Bayx and Damien, there was shocking news - Jade was pregnant.

When Esme was born, Jade was put through even more hell. Not only did she have to defend herself, but she also had to protect her baby. Vincent's outbursts continued to worsen, leading Jade to make the decision to leave Esme with Kei, Damien, and Bayx, regardless of the deadly consequence she would face afterwards.

Bayx and Damien had accepted a lot quicker thank Kei that "this is the reality, our girlfriend is gone, she asked us to watch over her daughter... our daughter, the little girl we were going to have together", where Kei couldn't. Kei moved in with Lyle, Jade's brother, and eventually dto his own apartment, as he felt the only way he could greive was if he were alone and away from the constant reminder that Jade was gone.
At first, Esme was very afraid of what seemed like two strangers going to hurt her and would instantly be resistant if Damien or Bayx tried to hold her. It didn't help that at the time, Esme had a lot of bruises on her body from Vincent. She also missed her mother a lot, often cuddling her scarf. Taking care of Esme in general was a challenge, as she was physically underdeveloped and frail for her age in addition to her severe anxiety. As time went on, Esme developed a bond with her new parents and became very attached to them.

Kei continued to live on his own, but that didn't mean he downright didn't care about Esme. Every week, he would send anonymous care packages to her; typical baby needs and the occasional toy. Damien believed these were sent by Donovan, the next-door neighbor, who he often invited to barbeques on Esme's birthdays. Speaking of which, on Esme's second or third birthday, Kei finally moved back in with his family and accepted her as hus daughter. Finally, Esme's new family was complete.

Although Esme is extremely intelligent, she isn't very social towards other children or really anybody besides her family. When around people she doesn't really know, she'll seem rather emotionless and distant, or even intimidated. When she's remotely comfortable, she's a lot more expressive and can come off as being "dorky." She has a huge interest in the ocean and she knows quite a lot for such a young child.

At her best, she is very affectionate and friendly towards the people she trusts. A downside to this is that she can be overly clingy and become too emotionally dependent on someone. She generally doesn't have much self-confidence and can easily be broken down. It doesn't take much to make her cry if she's feeling insecure or scared.

It is clear that what she and Jade were put through traumatized her. Although she couldn't even talk at that point, she still clearly remembers witnessing her mother being beat down if she refused to do anything Vincent wanted her to and the physical abuse she herself had to endure. Esme only trusts her closest family members to hold or even be near her. If she's meeting someone new, she will either be very shy, very distant, or sometimes she can be a bit rude. What may seem like bratty behavior is actually her expressing her fear towards someone and that she'll need more time to really accept someone.

Even years later, the images of such events still hover around in her mind and she'll immediately get anxious if people raise their voice near or even at her. Even if Kei and Damien had a minor squabble she would tense up and hide.