Anhedonia

I Want Him To Suffer

"What's wrong?" Jayvee questioned after he caught up with Rosie, grabbing her arm. And they both stopped in the middle of the living room. "Babe, are you okay?" He cupped Rosie's face gently and lifted her face so he could see her.

"I'm s-sorry, I-I-I shouldn't have—."

"Shh, it's okay." Jayvee hushes the girl from stammering and he leaves a wet kiss on her forehead. Jayvee smiled at her when their eyes reconnected. "Do you want to go home?"

"N-no. I just want to.."

"We should go home, I don't think you're ready to hear about Jerry's new relationship." Jayvee said understandingly, which made Rosie's features soften and felt a sudden guilt for acting like that in front of everyone, especially her fiancé.

"I'm sorry." Rosie pulled him into a tight hug. "I'm really sorry."

"It's okay." Jayvee whispered while rubbing her back soothingly.

"We should go back." Rosie said after they both pulled away.

"Are you sure?" He asked worriedly and the blonde nodded her head with an assuring smile.

The two walked back to the backyard where everyone was silent and looking at them.

"Sorry, she needed to go to the bathroom." Jayvee smiled as he pulled out the chair for Rosie before sitting on his chair.

"It's okay, let's finish dinner so we can all take a rest." Liam said, eyeing his best friend just to make sure Jayvee didn't do anything against her.

The dinner went on with some conversation involving the married couples to ease the atmosphere around them. While the other two couples remained silent.

Hayley excused herself after Akisha told her that she's sleepy, she put her kid upstairs while everyone left on the table.

"Okay, listen." Liam started. "Whatever situation the four of you got into, please fix it. I don't want our next meeting to be like this, I know it's hard, but let's be civil to each other."

"I can do that." Jerry shrugged his shoulders, head turning to the couple in front of him. "Let's just forget the past and move on."

"Yeah, we should do that." Jayvee extended his arm to his cousin with a forced smile.

Jerry scoffed but still reached for it. They both squeezed each other's hands with a lot of force but neither of them want to back down as they glare into each other.

"Okay, that's enough." Seul-ki chimes in, removing their hands away from each other. "Why don't we just call it a night?"

"Yes, let's do that." Juhyun agreed to her husband as she stood up then tapped Liam's shoulder. Their dinner ended, Juhyun and Seul-ki headed home since they needed to take their baby home quickly. Jerry and Hannah decided to stay for a minute while Jayvee and Rosie went to Jayvee's company to clear up the issue that happened in the restaurant a few days ago. Also to clear Jerry's name since he's been receiving a lot of threats from Jayvee's fans.

But since Jerry is one of the members in the royal family, those people who keep threatening his life always end up in jail.

Rosie waited in the lobby of the building while Jayvee and his manager went upstairs to talk to his boss. They will release a statement that what happened in that incident is purely family problems and has nothing to do with his relationship with Rosie.

Rosie's phone rang and she quickly answered it upon seeing Liam's name on the phone screen.

"Hey, are you okay?" He asked, his voice lace with worries.

"Yes, I'm really sorry for my outburst earlier."

"It's okay, I understand."

"Liam." Rosie sighed, agitated if she should ask the question that's been running inside her head since the start of the dinner and since she saw Hannah with Jerry.

"They're not together." Liam replied even if the blonde hadn't said anything, as if he already read what's in her mind or he just really knew his best friend and was already expecting that Rosie would ask that question.

"Then why did Jerry say they are?" Rosie asked, looking at the elevator so she could see if Jayvee arrived.

"I don't know, maybe to save his ego. You know that midget, he doesn't want his ego to be stepped on, especially by his cousin."

Rosie smiled sadly because she knew Liam was right. Jerry is that kind of person who always prioritises his ego and never lets anyone step on it.

"So, it's really happening?" Liam asked when Rosie didn't speak again.

"Uhum." Rosie hums, releasing a deep sigh. "It's for the better."

"Are you happy though?"

"Familiarity can be confusing, so who knows right? Maybe soon, I will find my happiness with him." Rosie said. She could feel her heart clenching by the thought of marrying a guy he didn't love but because Jayvee is the only person who helped her to stand up again after all she went through, she felt the need to return the favour to the guy, which is marrying him.

"I can't say that I'm happy for you because we both know that this is wrong, but in the end, your decision will still be the one I need to respect." Liam could feel the pain for his best friend but he couldn't do anything but to support her and be there for her no matter what.

Jayvee finally stepped out from the elevator so Rosie bid her goodbye to Liam and hung up. "Who are you talking to?" Jayvee asked as soon as she approached the blonde.

"Liam, he was just checking on me." Rosie said.

"Oh okay. Let's go then, I'll drive you home." Jayvee put his hand behind Rosie and ushered the woman to the exit.

After Jayvee dropped Rosie in her apartment, he needed to leave immediately as he needed to have complete rest because he's going to release another song before their wedding. He will be busy for the next two weeks and he already explained it to Rosie, who understands his schedule and while he's busy, Rosie will be the one who will take care of all the preparation for their wedding.

"So how's the dinner?" A man sitting in one high stool in front of the bar counter asked.

"Disgusting." Jayvee hissed, wrapping his fingers around the glass while glaring at it. "Jerry is really an asshole."

"What did he do?"

"He was f*****g Hannah, I knew he's doing that because I am going to marry his ex."

"I told you, your problem is easy, I can kill him if you want to and your name will never be on the list of the suspects." The guy said, spinning his chair around and leaned his back on the counter and watched the dancefloor.

"Jerry is not easy to kill, man. He's the biggest shareholder of most of the big companies in our family. We can't kill him, not until I get everything from him."

"Dude, you already took everything from him when you got his girlfriend."

"That's not enough, I want him to suffer till he begged on his knees. I want to tear him down and I'm just starting." Jayvee smirked devilishly which made his brother laugh demonically.

__

"We should get going." Jerry announced after they finished another bottle of Scotch.

"Can you drive?" Liam asked, standing up from his chair.

"I'll drive him home, don't worry." Hannah said.

"Thank you so much." Hayley took her hands and squeezed them. "And I'm sorry about earlier."

"Nah, it's okay. I understand her, I had the same reaction before when I found out about their wedding, but I accepted it later on, Rosie will be the same too." Hannah said, pulling Hayley into a hug then to Liam.

The fake couple made their way to the door while the married couple walked behind them. Hayley waved at the two before they left the driveway.

"Do you think he will be fine?" She asked while watching the car disappear from their sight.

"He will." Liam said, wrapping his arm around his wife. "I know that he will be fine. You should know better."

Hayley nodded her head before burying her face onto Liam's chest. "He will be fine but he needs our help just like how we needed his help before."

Liam didn't answer but he agreed to his wife. Jerry helped them a lot before and now it's time for them to return the favour to their friend.

__

"Coffee?" Jerry asked after Hannah stopped in front of his new apartment.

"It's too late." Hannah smiled, subtly declining the offer.

"Then stay for the night, I have a spare room." Jerry insisted and he's not removing his seatbelt while waiting for the woman to agree.

"Fine." Hannah chuckled, giving up to Jerry's puppy eyes.

They went inside the apartment, Jerry made his way to the kitchen, though he's still not familiar with the house and not sure if there's a coffee maker in there, but he smiled when he found one.

"I should thank Seul-ki tomorrow." Jerry mumbled.

Hannah sat on the sofa, looking around the whole apartment. Jerry came back with two cups of coffee in his hand and gave one to her.

"Thank you." Hannah smiled at him as he sipped on her cup.

"I'm sorry about earlier." Jerry started. "I didn't know why I said that."

"It's okay, it's not like it will harm me." Hannah smiled to assure him.

"Even so, I can tell them that it's fine and I should congratulate them, but because I'm such a jerk, I pulled you into this mess." Jerry smiled sadly as he stared at his cup. "I know that this is inevitable and I should let go, but sometimes, I couldn't help but to think that maybe.." He paused and he chuckled dryly. "Maybe she still loves me and there will be another chance for me and Rosie."

"I have to agree with you because I've been there. I went through a lot but look at me now? I made it. I accepted everything because Jayvee is not the only person in this world, why would I ruin myself because of him? You should learn how to let go, Jerry." Hannah put her hand on Jerry's lap and tapped it multiple times as if she's trying to encourage the guy to keep moving even if there's no more Rosie in his life now.

"Thank you, I never knew that I would find a friend in the middle of my miserable life."

"Look." Hannah stirred her body to face the guy after she put down the cup on the table, then she took Jerry's hands and started making circles on his knuckles using her thumbs. "I'm not going to tell you to move on, but at least make a process, you can't stay like that forever. Sooner or later, those two will get married, build their family while you, still hoping for something that we both know it's impossible to happen." She paused as she caressed Jerry's face. "You are still young, Jerry. You still have time to find a woman you deserve."

"Why does it sound like you're referring to yourself?" Jerry teased and they both laughed loudly.

"Excuse me? You may deserve me but I don't deserve you. I have high standards." Hannah scoffed and playfully rolled her eyes.

"Your ex is Jayvee. High standards my ass."

"He's nice, he may not really like you who's so devotedly in love with a woman, but he's still the man that I happen to look forward to seeing him waiting at the altar."

"Oh come on, why does everyone suddenly want to marry that asshole? Jayvee and his brother are so.." Jerry stopped, and couldn't find the exact words to describe his cousins. "Huh, they are really not nice, they are both assholes if you only knew."

"What do you mean?"

"Since we were kids, Jared has wanted to take everything from me, then here's Jayvee, helping his brother. I mean, it's not my fault if I am more successful than them." Jerry shrugged his shoulders, as if it was really not a big deal for him.

Jared is Jayvee's older brother and mortal enemy of Jerry, he's also the reason why Jerry decided to teach rather than taking over their company. He threatened him to ruin Jerry's life and Jared tried to kidnap Hayley so he could kill Jerry. But luck wasn't on his side and Jerry saved Hayley from his attempt of kidnapping his best friend.

"I haven't met Jared." Hannah said with furrowed eyebrows.

"You wouldn't want to meet that criminal." Jerry chuckled, emptying his cup and he stood up. "Your room is on the left. I need to sleep, I still have a lot of meetings tomorrow." He said before leaning down, kissing Hannah's head then walked upstairs. Not knowing that whatever he did, it might be simple for him, but for Hannah, her heart almost dropped and she froze with that simple yet sweet gesture of the guy.

"Rosie, you are so lucky." She mumbled while watching Jerry walking upstairs.

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