Anhedonia

For Protection

"What?" Jerry looked at Rosie, as if he's waiting for the woman to confirm it but the answer he was searching in her face never shows up.

Rosie stay neutral, holding Jerry's searching eyes. There's a possibility that if she shows any reaction about Jayvee's revelation, Jerry would take it as an answer to his question as a 'yes, it's not his son'.

"You think you're slick for hiding the truth?" Jayvee said which breaks the tension between the ex lovers.

"Not because he never treats you as his father, you will disown him." Rosie fired back, shifting her gaze at her husband. "You never treat him as your son either.."

"Because he's not really my son!"

"Then who do you think is his father?! Jerry left after our wedding, and I got pregnant after two months of our honeymoon! Are you really that dumb?!" Rosie snapped out, her veins popped out from her milky skin indicating that she's so mad at her husband.

Jayvee chuckled dryly, then his chuckles turned into a loud laughter that he brought his head back and laughed throatily. When he lifted up his head back, he smirked and glowered at his wife.

"You gave birth to him one month earlier."

"Wait, isn't that possible? There are rare situations where a woman can give birth to their child earlier than expected? And I know it's a 50/50 case for the newborn but—."

"I talked to the doctor." Jayvee cuts off Liam, who's trying to save his best friend in a situation where her secret will get revealed.

Rosie looked at Liam in stunned surprise but the latter couldn't look back at her as he was nervous. He just tried to defend Rosie and because of that, Rosie knows that Liam knows her secret, even Seul-ki who jabbed Liam on his side with his elbow.

"I had a talk to the doctor because just like what Liam said, it's dangerous for the kid and I was so worried about them but the doctor told me that it was really her due month and there's nothing to worry about." Jayvee's voice was laced with certain sadness and they could see the pain in his eyes.

Rosie, on the other hand, was frozen on the spot, she doesn't have any idea that Jayvee knows everything and that also explains why Jayvee was never happy when Akiro was born. And he started to become an asshole to his wife and son.

"Wait, so you mean that Rosie cheated on you?" Jerry asked, he's so confused at the revelation and when he looked back at Rosie. He confirmed everything. "Who's the father?"

"Who do you think is the father?" Jayvee asked sarcastically, like he was trying to give Jerry a hint.

"Who—." Jerry froze when he met Rosie's eyes, piercing deep on him like she was trying to say something to him. He tilted his head on the side and furrowed his eyebrows, then suddenly, all of his past came flash through his head and his eyes slowly widened. "Oh fu—."

"He's not yours, don't even think about it." Rosie cut him off just before he could react. Then she proceeded to approach Jayvee and left Jerry dumbfounded, she slapped her husband hard and he almost fell on his side but Jerry's men prevented it from happening. "Tell me where your brother is!"

Jayvee suddenly couldn't feel anything. He became numb when he realized something. At first, he was just accusing his wife that he cheated on him with his cousin but today, it turns out that she really had s*x with Jerry before their wedding and it was so painful to find out based on Jerry's reaction.

He slowly looked up to meet Rosie's raging eyes, his lips quivered as he was trying to stop himself from crying to what he found out.

"Don't ever expect me to tell you where he is." Jayvee said, his voice was deep.

"You—."

"That's enough." Seul-ki rebuked as he walked forward and grabbed Rosie away from Jayvee. "Look, if he's not going to talk then we cannot do anything about it."

"But how are we going to find my son?!" Rosie cried devastatingly.

"Is he still wearing the necklace I gave him?" Seul-ki asked and Rosie was confused but still nodded her head. "Great, we can track his location with that."

"But how?" Liam asked, he was curious since Akisha has the same necklace that Seul-ki gave her on her birthday four last year.

"Just trust me." Seul-ki said and he looked at Jerry, who's still frozen on his spot and staring at Rosie's back. "We're going to have a citizen arrest so don't let him go no matter what happens, but we have to move now to find Akiro." He said, specifically to Jerry.

"I can't believe how stupid I am to marry a w***e like you." Jayvee chuckled bitterly.

Liam, Seul-ki, Rosie and Jerry all whipped their heads at Jayvee synchronous when they heard what he said and among the four, Jerry was the first person who quickly made a reaction and his fist met Jayvee's jaw.

"f**k you!" He spat, grabbing his collar after he stumbled back along with the chair. "I gave her up to you even it means to kill my own heart but you just f****d her up, you f*****g hurt her and her son! People like you deserve to f*****g die!" Jerry continuously beat Jayvee and if it wasn't for Rosie, who grabbed his arm, he would never stop punching his cousin.

"Enough!" Rosie yelled, pulling Jerry away. Seul-ki and Liam just watched Jerry since they would do the same thing to him if Jerry didn't react first. "You're going to kill him!"

"And so? I don't give a damn care if he died!"

"He's the father of my child and I wouldn't let you do that!"

Something painful struck Jerry's heart upon hearing it. His eyes rested on Jayvee then on Rosie and he smiled, a kind of smile that everyone could tell there's pain in it.

"No." Jerry mumbled. "I am Akiro's Dad." He said with certainty in his voice that made Rosie held her breath. "We did it before your wedding and that makes me his father, not him."

"I'm going to kill you, Rosie! You f*****g b***h!" Jayvee growled but tears were already streaming down. "Y-you fooled me!"

Rosie couldn't find her voice anymore and she doesn't trust it either as she knows that once she speaks, she'll cry. So she turned her heels and walked out of the house.

"Rosie, get back here! How c-could you do this to me?!" Jayvee shouted as loud as he could muster but Rosie never looked back.

"Why don't you just tell him that he's Akiro's father?" Liam asked as soon as he caught up with Rosie outside the gate.

Rosie turned around hastily, facing her best friend. "And for what? He left, right?!"

"Because you got married to Jayvee, didn't you do the same thing to heal yourself? You left him too."

"But that's different! He left because he's a coward!" Rosie fired back and she doesn't care anymore even if Jerry could hear her.

"I left because I know that there's nothing I could do, you decided to marry that asshole even after you told me you still love me." Jerry said while walking towards the two. "And don't even tell me that I left you and my son, because I didn't even know that you're pregnant."

"Because you don't care, you're self-centered and all you care about is yourself!" Rosie yelled at him, tears already rolling down on her face.

"Is that how you really think of me?" Jerry asked, his voice laced with certain sadness and showed how much it hurts him.

"Guys, we should focus more on finding Akiro." Seul-ki chimes in, even if he wants them to clear things about Akiro, it's more important to save him first before they decide what they are going to do with the kid since he is really Jerry's son.

Even before they come up with the idea of a paternity test, Liam and Seul-ki already have a hunch that Akiro is Jerry's son. And everything that Jayvee said about the doctor was true because Liam talked to the same doctor about Rosie giving early birth to her child and the doctor told him that they couldn't be wrong, Rosie was exactly 9 months pregnant when she gave birth to Akiro.

Who else she had s*x with aside from Jerry before the wedding? Nothing, just him. And he accidentally impregnated her because she didn't take pills that night. One big factor of that is they are both drunk when it happens. So it's really unexpected and it was too late when Rosie found out that she's two months pregnant.

She was shocked when the OB told her about that, wherein it's only a month when she married Jayvee and they did it on their honeymoon. And from then on, she knew it was Jerry's but she chose to hide it from everyone.

But just like they said, there's no secret kept hidden for the rest of their life.

"Got his location!" Seul-ki exclaimed with excitement when his phone ping Akiro's location through the tracker in the necklace he gave the kid.

Seju, Akiro and Akisha are all wearing the same necklace that Seul-ki bought to one of his nerd students. At first, he was just amazed that you can put a tracker on it and never thought that he would get to use it in this situation.

"Where are they?!" Rosie asked, putting her attention to Seul-ki, which made Jerry's shoulders slumped down but he's glad that they have a lead where to find his son.

"Should we call the police?" Liam asked.

"We have to, cops are involved to this since it was kidnapping." Seul-ki suggested and Liam quickly made a call and asked Seul-ki about the location of Akiro.

The four split into two, Jerry and Seul-ki, then Rosie and Liam. They also send police to Jayvee's house since he's included in the kidnapping as accessories to the crime.

Police arrive first at the location, an abandoned building at the boundary of Hongdae and Gwangmyeong. The police told the group to stay outside while they're going to save the kid but Jerry has some eerie feelings that Jared will not go easy on them so while everyone is focus at the entrance, he sneaks out at the back of the building, not knowing that Liam followed him.

He was hiding at the barrels, looking for a way in when he felt a hand squeezed his shoulder, he was so ready to kick the ass of whoever was behind him but he stopped when he saw Liam.

"What are you doing here?!" He whispered hard.

"What are you doing here?" Liam asked back.

"I'm not going to wait, those cops are moving so recklessly." He hissed and removed Liam's hand from his shoulder. "You should go back, it's too dangerous here."

"Well, if it's dangerous here, we should both go back."

"Not until I get my son back." Jerry tells him and when he found an open door, he looked around and ran his way to it. Liam exhaled sharply before running after Jerry and they both got inside sneakily.

They couldn't hear anything and it's also dark inside the abandoned building. Too dark that they have to rely on the moonlight giving them vision on their way. They proceeded to the stairs and as much as possible, they avoided making any sounds. Second floor is clear, no sign of Akiro and Jared, so they proceeded to the third floor, but this time, they heard footsteps coming their way. Jerry grabbed Liam so they could both hide under the stairs.

There were two men descending the stairs and both were armed as Jerry could see the rifles hanging on their bodies. He looked around him to see if there's any weapon he could use and ended up with a 2x2 piece of wood. He grabbed two and handed one to Liam.

"What's this?" Liam asked confusedly.

"For protection." Jerry told him.

"We're not going to—?"

"Yes we are." Jerry cut him off as he was waiting for the right moment to attack the two men.

One of the armed men fished out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket and put it between his lips before lighting it while the other one was just watching him.

"Wait, what are those lights?" The other guy with the cigarette, asked when he noticed the lights from mobile. "Damn it, there are cops!"

"We gotta warn boss!" The other guy said and they both ran back to the stairs.

"Now!" Jerry said and with all of his strength, he stepped out from the dark, hitting the guy on his head as hard as he could.

"W-what— wait!" Liam said and even if he couldn't see clearly, he swung the wood he was gripping tightly and hit the other guy and sent him on the floor. Jerry quickly grabbed the rifles and threw the other one to Liam. "Are you freaking serious?!"

"If you're really scared, you still know the way out, right?" Jerry mocks him and he continued his way upstairs.

"f**k, if I survived this, Hayley would kill me!" He hissed but still ran after Jerry.

When the two got to the third floor, they were greeted with loud gunshots. Liam grabbed Jerry and they both entered a room to hide. They both crouched down when there was an exchange of gunfire outside, then they could hear lots of rushed footsteps.

"Oh God, this was never a good idea!" Liam cried as he crawled to the corner and tugged Jerry with him. "I swear to God, if we got out of here, I'm going to beat your ass!"

"Shut it, they might hear—." Jerry stopped when the door swung open and his eyes widened when he met his favourite hazelnut brown eyes under the moonlight coming from the open window of the building. "Rosie?!"

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