Anhedonia

I Handled It So Well

Jerry woke up with a throbbing head, nausea swirling around his stomach when he tried to stand up. He squeezed his head and tried to sit, leaning his back on the headboard. The blanket slid down from his body and the cold wind coming from the AC struck his skin and that's when he realized that he was fully naked.

His head immediately whipped on his side and his eyes widened when he saw Hannah sleeping peacefully beside him and with those bare shoulders, he knew that she was naked as well.

"Oh fuck." He grumbled, slapping his forehead a bit hard. Hannah reshuffle her position and her arm draped into Jerry's body. He stiffened when the blanket removed from Hannah's upper body, revealing her chest, Jerry held his breath and pulled it up again to cover the woman's body. "Jerry, you are so stupid." He scolded himself while he's lifting Hannah's arm carefully so as not to wake her. Then he rolled out of the bed, ignoring his throbbing head.

He quickly picked up his clothes and wore them immediately then left. The sound of the door shutting so gently still awakened Hannah and she frowned when she didn't see Jerry beside her.

Jerry grabbed an Uber and he went straight to Liam's studio because he knows that his best friend will scold him for not going home once he went to Manoban's house.

"Thank you." Jerry thanked the driver and he got out of the car, running inside Liam's studio. "Where's Liam?" He asked the woman he saw in the lobby.

"He hasn't arrived yet." She replied, looking at Jerry a bit shocked.

"If he arrives, tell him that I'm in his office."

"Yes Sir." The woman nodded her head.

Jerry made his way to Liam's office, totally in distress. He couldn't even give attention to his headache as he was more worried about what he did with Hannah. He laid back to Liam's leather chair behind the wooden table and stretched his legs before putting them on the table, putting one on top of the other then he shut his eyes for a minute.

That minute became hours and he only woke up with a sound of a landline ringing so loud, thankfully he immediately noticed that he was not in his room or else he'll throw the landline. He sit straight and looked around, then he saw Liam coming out from this restricted room that he's the only allowed to go in.

"Ah you're awake." Liam said when he saw Jerry looking at him confusedly.

"Yeah, sorry. I took a nap."

"It's almost lunch, I don't think it's still a nap." Liam said and he laughed, pointing at the clock above the door and it says 15 before 12.

"Damn it." Jerry hissed. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't—."

"It's okay." Liam cuts him off as he answers the phone. "Hey, yes. I'm about to get my lunch, yes he's awake. Don't worry, he's fine I think?" Liam looked at Jerry while listening to whomever he was talking to. "Okay, I love you too."

Jerry grimaced while listening to Liam and he stood up, walking towards the door and waved his hand to Liam.

"Let's eat lunch before you go home." Liam said after he put down the wireless telephone and grabbed his satchel, wearing it on his shoulder and walked towards Jerry.

Jerry nodded to him and they both left Liam's office and went to the restaurant around the vicinity. Liam never asks nor opens what happened yesterday and makes Jerry anxious.

He prefers a confrontation with Liam than pretending that nothing happened yesterday. He had s*x twice with different woman and he didn't know if he'll tell the thing between him and Hannah or he'll just pretend that he slept somewhere else.

They eat in silence, but Jerry would give Liam glances from time to time and Liam could notice it but he's stopping himself to open a conversation about it. So he pretended that he couldn't see him at all and just focused on his lunch.

"Uh—."

"You might cover that kiss mark on your neck so my daughter won't ask you a lot of questions." Liam said, pointing at Jerry's neck.

Jerry grabbed his empty glass and used it as a mirror to see the kiss mark and his eyes widened when he saw the big mark on his neck. He lifted up his collar to hide it but Liam just chuckled at him.

"Liam, I am so f****d up."

"You're not." Liam said, which made Jerry's eyebrows furrowed.

"What?"

"You're single, Jerry. You can do anything you want."

"But—."

"You already closed the book last night. There's no more Rosie in every chapter of your new book. Now let's not talk about it anymore." Liam said dismissively as he wiped his mouth with the napkin. "Finish your food so you can go home and fetch my daughter from her school because Hayley's first day of work started today and she's going to teach again."

"What?"

"She didn't tell you? Well, you're too busy and Hayley is not required to tell you everything while your table is full." Liam said as he looked over his shoulder and lifted his arm, asking for the check for their meal.

"Wait, are you mad at me?" Jerry asked confusedly.

"What?" Liam shifted back his gaze to the guy. "No, why would I?"

"You are not like this, Liam. We both know that—."

"As I've said. You already closed the book, Jerry. Whatever is going in your life now is not my concern anymore. Yes, I will stay as your friend but that's it." Liam said, looking straight to Jerry's eyes.

"You're crazy." Jerry chuckled, leaning back lazily in his chair. "I hate the fact that you'll not going to meddle in my life anymore." He scoffed.

"You wanna know the truth?" Liam asked, he leaned forward, resting his elbows on the table. "I f*****g hate you, and that kiss mark on your neck disgusting me, but what can I do? That's your life, that's Rosie's life, I'm both of your friends and all I can do is support you from every decision in your lives."

Jerry let out a deep sigh as his shoulders slumped down. "I'm sorry."

"You don't have to apologize to me. Apologize to yourself, Jerry." Liam said and then he stood up when the bill arrived on their table, he took some bills from his wallet and put it down then he left.

Jerry smiled sadly to himself, he looked outside the window only to see his ragged look. Then he stood up as well and when he got out of the restaurant, he saw Seul-ki, waiting outside of his car.

"Come on, I'll drive you home." The older guy said, opening the passenger's side. Jerry looked for Liam and he saw the guy walking away. He half smiled again and got inside Seul-ki's car.

"I don't have a home." Jerry said while they are driving to Manoban's house.

"We know, you lost it five years ago." Seul-ki said and then he laughed at his own pun. "I mean, yeah. But Juhyun found a place for you to stay."

"I think I might go back to New Zealand, it's been so long since I visited my mom."

"You'll do that but not now." Seul-ki said, turning a sharp left turn when they got into the street of Jerry's new apartment building. "I hope you don't mind that we already moved your things in your new apartment."

"Even Hayley hates me now huh?" Jerry chuckled dryly, leaning his head onto the window.

"What? No! It's just that. Rosie will stay in their house from now on since Jayvee might try to take her again and it's better that you will not be there as long as she's there."

"So I'm banned from Manoban's house?"

"Let's not take it like that." Seul-ki shook his head and he scrunched up his nose, looking for a better explanation so Jerry won't take it wrong. "You are still allowed in their house but not sleeping, you know what I mean, right?"

"Yeah yeah, I get it." Jerry waved his hand dismissively and shut his eyes closed. "How about my car?"

"Well, it's still on the bar where you left it. We don't have your keys."

"Do me a favour, I'm going to borrow your car, I need to pick up Akisha, can you please take my car—." Jerry stopped when he couldn't find his keys in his pocket, even his phone. Then he remembered that he put it down last night to the center table in Hannah's house. "Damn it!"

"What's wrong?" Seul-ki asked after he killed the engine.

"N-nothing. I think I forgot my key and my phone."

"Where?"

"Uh, will you drive me there?"

"Sure no problem, Juhyun gave me a day off taking care of baby Seju."

"Great." Jerry said and he told Seul-ki the direction of Hannah's house.

When they got there after almost 25 minutes. Jerry looked around, as if he's about to commit a crime and just to make sure if there's no people around that would be a witness.

"Wait for me here." Jerry said before he walked towards the gate, his sweating fingers crossed the gap and pressed the doorbell. There's a small camera above the doorbell and Jerry bent over to show his face. "H-hey hi? I forgot my phone and my car key in your living room."

"Yeah, get in." Hannah's voice came out from the camera that had a speaker on it.

Jerry looked over his shoulder and held his hand to Seul-ki before entering the gate. "Here." Hannah handed him his things and he smiled sheepishly as he took it.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome." Hannah smiled back at him.

"Uh about last nig—."

"Don't worry, it was nothing but a one night stand, but I hope it wouldn't be the reason for us not to talk anymore, right?" Hannah said, her voice laced with hope.

"No no, of course, we're still friends." Jerry snorted. "So I need to go, my friend is still waiting for me outside?"

"Was he the handsome arrogant last night?"

"Oh no no, it's different. He's Seul-ki, you already see him, right?"

"I don't recall." Hannah laughed as she started to walk to usher Jerry to the door.

"Anyway, thank you so much and let's have dinner some other time."

"Sure, now go before I drag you upstairs." Hannah joked and they shared a good laugh.

Jerry waved one last time to Hannah before getting inside Seul-ki's car, earning a teasing look from the latter.

"So who's that?" Seul-ki asked in a teasing tone.

"Hannah, she's my friend."

"I see, already moving forward huh? That's good." Seul-ki nodded his head as he started driving to the bar where Jerry left his car last night.

"Aren't you mad at me like Liam?"

"Why would I? Actually, this is a good thing. You can move forward, Rosie can move on too with Jayvee, that bastard, so everyone will be happy again, you know? No more conflicts and tension in every gathering." Seul-ki shrugged his shoulders.

"Okay, for the record. I'm not dating Hannah but yes, I'm going to move forward and forget the past but it'll be a long process so I would really like to go back to New Zealand."

"I told you, you will but not now."

"There's no reason for me to stay here, Seul." Jerry sighed.

"Akisha's birthday will be next month and you have to be there. You know how much that kid loves you."

"Right, then after that I will leave."

"Deal." Seul-ki said and their conversation ended with that.

__

"Welcome Ms. Park and welcome back Mrs. Manoban." The Dean said as he offered his hands to the two women. The two will start teaching at SNU again, in a place with a lot of memories that made Hayley smile but Rosie frowned.

She could remember a lot of memories in university and most of it is just her and Jerry doing naughty things in every chance they could in an empty room.

The Dean dismissed them after and didn't have to give them tours since they already know every corner of the university. They head to their first class, some professors greeting them on their way since they recognized the two and they will greet them back politely.

"You should've stayed at home now, you still have an interview with Jayvee's management, right?" Hayley said as they were both walking in the hallway.

"That'll be tonight and it doesn't need preparation though." Rosie said, clutching the name list of the students tightly on her chest as she could feel gazes thrown at her by the students.

Of course they will either look at her or glare at her. Jayvee is an idol and the incident last night spread on the social media so quickly like that certain virus that spread in the whole world with just one blink of an eye.

"Are you sure you'll be fine?"

"Yeah, don't worry. I got this." Rosie offered a smile of assurance. "My room is over here, so see you at lunch?"

"Okay then. Good luck." Hayley returned the smile before she went on the other way.

Rosie could still feel the some gazes till she reached her first class. The students are busy minding their own business, thinking that it was just another student entering the room and didn't give her much attention, except from those students who know her as Jayvee's fiancé. The room was filled with sketch pads, palette, paint cans, brush, pencils and everything they needed to use since she was going to teach art painting.

"Good morning class." Rosie greeted. All eyes shifted to her and they were surprised to see such a young professor. "I'm Rosie Park—."

"Are you Jayvee's fiancé?" One female student asked a bit abruptly, interrupting the professor.

"From now on, I will be your new professor in art." Rosie continued her introduction, ignoring the question that was thrown at her.

"Oh, I saw that video from last night!"

"Yeah, that jerk who punched Jayvee's face should be thrown in jail!"

"He doesn't deserve that!"

"He's such an angel, why did they punch him like that?!"

Those are some of the reactions that started to fill the room and Rosie kept her composure, smiling at her students and pretending that she couldn't hear them at all.

"I was planning to have a little discussion but it seems that all of you were excited to paint so I will just—." Rosie paused as she looked around and saw the bust on the corner. She walked towards it and picked it up, then walked back to the center and put it down on the table. "—use this as your model."

"Who is that guy that punched Jayvee?" Another question from another female student. Actually, almost half of her class that are women keep throwing her some questions that are not related to her job but she keeps ignoring them as she wanted to focus on her job as a professor and not a gossiper.

"I heard he's the third party." Another student whispered.

"So she's cheating on Jayvee? What a b***h—."

"He's Jayvee's cousin and he's not my lover or what. Jayvee and I had so many things to think about first before we get married. So mind your words before assuming things about me." Rosie snapped, glaring at the student who called her a b***h and accusing her.

Though half of it is true because she really cheated on Jayvee when she had s*x with Jerry. But she will never admit that.

"Now, if you don't want to be in my class, the door is open." Rosie said dismissively then she walked towards her table at the corner, sitting abruptly while still glaring at the student, who couldn't even look at her professor.

There was an eerie silence in her class and the tension between her and her female students was so thick that it could be used as a blanket yet so brittle that it could snap any second by now. Rosie walked around, checking her students' works. She will give some advice to those who are really into arts and skip those students who's not really interested in her class and just doodling some ugly drawing on their sketch pads.

She glanced at her watch and smiled when she saw that there were 4 minutes left before the bell would ring. So she walked back in front and told everyone to put their paint brush down.

"Okay class, see you tomorrow." Rosie dismissed when the school bell rang. She was smiling to those students who bid goodbye to her but when the students who pulled down her mood walked by in front of her, her smile faded instantly.

"Ma'am, I'm really sor—."

"Save it. I'm not really interested in whatever you're going to say." Rosie said harshly and turned her heels, walking back to her table. The student slumped down her shoulders and she knew she would have a hard time passing her art class since she made an ugly impression on her professor.

The time goes on and it's lunch time, Hayley knocked on the door then peeked her head inside. "How's your first day of teaching, Ms. Park?"

"Not so good but I hope it will be better soon." Rosie smiled as she gathered all her things and clung her sling bag on her shoulder. "There are students who saw the video from last night."

"And?"

"They accused me and Jerry of being in a relationship." Rosie scoffed, rolling her face.

"This is what I'm talking about, you should've cleared your name first before facing people." Hayley shook her head as she invited herself inside. "Anyway, how did you handle it?"

"Let's say.. I handled it so well?" Rosie said and they both laughed because Hayley knew from the very start that Rosie will be a strict professor.

When they got in the cafeteria, as usual, there were a lot of eyes gazing at the two but they ignored all of it. They were just minding their business when they heard loud screams outside from a lot of students. Then every student inside the cafeteria, even the staff and some professors ran outside when they heard the screams.

"What the hell is going on?" Rosie asked while looking at the entrance of the cafeteria since the screaming seems moving towards inside.

"Maybe there are students fighting outside." Hayley shrugged shoulders.

"Should we stop them? We're professors."

"Nah, I'm too busy thinking where Jerry slept last night and I don't care what's happening outside." Hayley said as she was so focused on her food and not even looking where the chaos was happening.

"He didn't sleep in his room?" Rosie asked, she felt a sudden pang on her chest thinking that Jerry slept with that woman with him and Liam last night at the restaurant.

"He's in Liam's office this morning and my husband saw him sleeping on his chair, so I was thinking that he snuck inside and slept there."

Rosie felt relieved with that and was about to say something but the loud screaming of the students finally entered the cafeteria and when she looked on her side, a big bouquet of roses greeted her. Her gaze darted up to the person who's holding the flowers and saw Jayvee, smiling at him widely.

_________