Anhedonia

You Are Between The Two

She was confused as to why the door was open wherein she was sure that she left it close the night before they left the house. Rosie looked at the door across from her and it was closed, thinking that Jerry might already asleep since it was already 11 in the evening. So she shrugged her shoulders and turned to her room.

As soon as she pushed the door open, she dropped her bag on the floor, creating a heavy thud and she gasped, seeing Jerry on the floor, lying unconscious. She quickly ran to approach him and picked up his head and put it on her lap.

"Jerry?" She called, tapping the guy's cheek lightly. He reeked of alcohol and Rosie thinks that he passed out due to drinking too much. She let out a sigh before removing Jerry's head on her lap, then she put his hand wrapped around his shoulder and with all of her strength, she got up and tugged Jerry but the guy still didn't respond. "You shouldn't have drunk too much." She scolded as she groaned frustratedly and put down Jerry again.

She walked out of her room to call some maids and they helped her to put the guy on her bed. Rosie thanked them and asked for a clean towel and warm water in a basin.

As soon as they gave her what she asked for, she told them to leave the rest to her and she started dampening Jerry's face with a wet towel, hoping it would sober him up a little.

This time, Jerry groaned and his hand flew to his head. "It h-hurts." He gutturally groaned because of the excruciating pain.

Rosie's eyes widened and she stood up quickly. "Quick! Call his doctor!" She yelled outside her door.

"Yes, Your Majesty!" One of the maids yelled back and she quickly dialed the doctor's number and told him to come.

"Jerry, are you okay?" Rosie asked worriedly and panicking. She didn't know what to do so she ended up fanning Jerry with her hands. "The doctor will be here soon!"

"Ugh! It feels like it's about to explode."

"Please bear it, they are—."

"Get my goddamn medicine in my drawer!" Jerry yelled.

Rosie quickly ran to the other room and opened every drawer until she found the pill in one of them and ran back to her room. "Here." She handed the pill and grabbed the glass of water on the table in the corner and helped Jerry to drink it while her hand under the guy's chin to catch the spilled water.

Then they waited for a few minutes till the medicine worked on him and the headache started to disappear slowly. Jerry kept his eyes closed while tugging up his hair. Then slowly opened his eyes and met a pair of familiar hazelnut brown eyes, staring at him worriedly.

"Are you okay now?"

"Y-yeah, thanks." Jerry mumbled but enough for Rosie to hear and she sighed in relief.

"You shouldn't drink too much, Jerry. That's bad for you."

"I only had three bottles."

"Three bottles were enough to knock you down and trigger your headache." Rosie scolded as she stood up and picked up the basin.

"What are you doing here?" Jerry asked while looking at Rosie confusedly. But the latter looks back at him as confused as he is.

"Uh, I live here and this is my room." Rosie pointed out and that's when Jerry realized that he wasn't in his room and suddenly remembered everything before he passed out. Even all the memories with the woman who has blur face. "What are you doing here.. in my room?" Rosie asked back, emphasizing the last three words.

"Uh.. I-I.." Jerry couldn't think of any alibi for what he was doing inside the woman's room. "I heard a sound in here and I thought that someone broke in so I checked and.."

"And you passed out?" Rosie mocks with a chuckle. "Do you see the burglar?"

"There was no one in here but an open sliding door towards the balcony because you left it open." Jerry lied as soon as he got a glimpse of the sliding door. "Didn't you send me a message that you won't be able to come home tonight?" Jerry asked back and that made Rosie stiffened and her eyes started to look everywhere but Jerry.

"Uh I was just going to check you so I left the kids to Hayley since they are already sleeping." Rosie admitted.

"Why? I'm not a kid no more and there are lots of bodyguards around this house."

"Well, I found you lying on the floor, unconscious if I must add. And with those lots of bodyguards around, no one knows what happened to you aside from me." Rosie said with a shrug of her shoulder. "The doctor still needs to check on you just to make sure why you passed out. When he arrives, I'll be in the boys' room."

"Wait." Jerry called, which made Rosie stop on her tracks and looked over her shoulder with quizzical eyes. "May I ask you a question?" Rosie stared at him for two seconds before nodding her head and turned around again. "Do you perhaps know the reason why I ditched you before?" He asked. "If it's too sensitive, you don't have to answer it." Jerry added.

"You got diagnosed with anhedonia."

"What does it mean?"

"You frequently lose interest in everything suddenly, that includes the idea of being with me in the future." Rosie replied, her voice laced with a certain sadness and bitter smile on her lips.

"Oh." Jerry mumbled, looking down on his lap. "I'm sorry."

"You already said that a lot."

"It must be so hard for you." He said.

"Yeah, those were the worst times of my life. I got so much humiliation but I got through it all with Jayvee's help."

There was a sudden pain that struck Jerry's heart upon hearing it, but it made him confused. He clutched his chest mindfully while staring at Rosie, who's now staring at the picture frame just above the headboard.

"He helped me to stand up again and taught me a lot of things in life and one of them is to be strong enough to face those kinds of trials. He said that people who come into my life would rather stay forever or will just pass by to teach me a lesson."

"He's a good man."

"He was." Rosie corrected him. "He was a good man until one day, he changed and started abusing me."

"People don't change, Rosie. They will just show their true colours." Jerry looked up to the woman and their eyes met. "You think I changed?"

"Yes."

"I didn't, I just became true to myself."

"When I said yes, I was referring to Jerry, who was mature and considerate before he lost his memory, not you." Rosie dropped her gaze on the floor with a soft smile on her lips. "But I guess, I was meant to see him for a few days then disappeared."

"What are you talking about?" Jerry spat, looking at her with scowl on his face but Rosie didn't mind it as she looked up to meet her favourite cat-like eyes.

"You are in between the two. You're going to stay forever, but you're too far to reach and Jayvee didn't warn me about you." The woman said, the soft smile still on her lips and she turned her heels and left her room.

As soon as she got out, her tears rolled down but she wiped it quickly when she saw the doctor walking towards her.

"Good evening, Your Majesty." The doctor greeted her politely with a bow of his head.

"Good evening, sorry to bother you this late. Jerry is inside." She pointed to the door behind her and smiled at the doctor forcefully before she made her way down to the kitchen when the doctor entered inside.

She just put down the basin and the towel she used before going back to her room as the doctor needed to talk to her about the incident of Jerry passing out. It's not about the alcohol, he didn't really drink that much, but the reason he passed out is, his brain reacted to all of the pictures inside Rosie's room after Jerry told the doctor the truth before he passed out.

While the doctor explains everything to Rosie, her eyes are focused on Jerry, who's already lying down on her bed and his back facing them.

"Can I explain more outside?" The doctor asked, glancing at Jerry's side meaningfully. Rosie nodded her head and they both exited the room and walked downstairs. "So he told me that he saw a woman before he passed out."

"It must be Hayley."

"I don't think so, he could remember ma'am Hayley, right? So I assumed that it was you after seeing all of those pictures."

"So does that mean he could remember me now?" Rosie asked with a bit of excitement.

"The woman has jet-black hair and is about 5'8 tall." The doctor described it just like how Jerry described the woman in his vision.

"It's Hannah." Rosie chuckled dryly. "He could remember a dead person but not me?"

"He must be hallucinating at that time, but let's just say that it is a good sign that he could remember someone who existed in his memory with you. If this continues, there's a big chance that he will remember everyone sooner or later but as long as it's still not happening, let's just avoid showing him anything that will trigger the headache because it might lead to a severe one and he will need to go back to hospital."

"I understand, Doc. Thank you so much." Rosie smiled and offered her hand which the doctor gladly accepted then he bid his goodbye.

Rosie let out a deep sigh and pursed her lips into a thin line before walking back upstairs and didn't bother to knock and enter her room silently. She watches Jerry for a few seconds before starting to take all of the picture frames and put it inside her luggage.

Jerry saw her removing all the frames. He slowly sat up and leaned his back on the headboard. "Why are you hiding it all?"

"The doctor said not to—."

"I wasn't supposed to enter your room but I did and now you're obligated to hide them."

"This is for you so you—." Rosie was cut off again when Jerry spoke.

"Don't do that." He said as he rolled out of the bed and stood up. "I'm not going to enter this room ever again, you can put them back."

"No. This is your house so you can enter here as long as you want but please, knock first because I don't want you to see me naked in some cases." Rosie laughed, trying to ease the heavy feelings inside of her while hiding all the pictures.

"Just.." Jerry trailed off and pursed his lips. "Leave them there." He said and walked straight to the door but just before he could reach the golden metal knob, he looked over his shoulder. "Tomorrow, we're going to pick up the kids and let us have a picture together so I can have something to hand inside my room." He said before he got out of the room, leaving Rosie dumbfounded.

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