Anhedonia

I Promise

"Congrats on your first day in teaching." Jayvee said. Rosie wanted to refuse the flowers but there were lots of people filming them and she didn't want to let them see that they are not on good terms or she may get a lot of hate from Jayvee's fans.

"T-thank you." Rosie forced herself to smile and took the flowers. "What are you doing here?"

"Is it wrong to visit my fiancé?"

"Seriously?" Hayley asked ludicrously, as if she couldn't believe how Jayvee could pretend that nothing happened last night and here he is, ambushing Rosie so she wouldn't get to reject him.

"Hi Hayley, right? I didn't know that you're teaching here too."

"What a jerk." Hayley mumbled as she shifted her gaze to Rosie. "Bring this guy out of here before they see the monster side of me."

Rosie quickly stood up and grabbed her bag, she didn't even touch her food yet she needed to go since some of the students couldn't eat peacefully because the room was so crowded with Jayvee's fans.

"Let's talk outside." Rosie said, dragging the guy with her while his bodyguards cleared the path for them until they reached the parking lot where Jayvee's SUV parked. "What are you doing?" Rosie asked as soon as they got inside.

"Babe—."

"Jayvee, you know what you did to me, right? What is this? Why are you doing this?!"

"Because I love you and I'm regretting everything I did to you!"

"Do you regret it? You shouldn't have done that in the first place!" Rosie yelled at her and since the car is soundproof, no one could hear them arguing inside even if the SUV were surrounded with fans.

"I know, that's why I'm sorry. Please, give me another chance." Jayvee begged, he tried to take Rosie's hand but she jerked it away. "Babe please?"

"You hurt me, Jayvee. Physically and emotionally!"

"You've been hurting me since we started dating, but have you ever heard me complaining?!" Jayvee snapped, yelling loudly that made Rosie flinch on her seat and she knew it was wrong to stay inside a car that no one is around them.

"Do you really think that I'm stupid for not seeing how much you still love Jerry? Your eyes are looking at me but I know that it wasn't me that's inside your head, you're looking in my eyes like I am your whole world but I know that because I have the same eyes as Jerry's!" They're first cousins, so they really have the same eyes but Rosie doesn't have any idea about it and it's also one of Jayvee's features that Rosie loves to stare at because she could see her ex lover's eyes from him.

Will she ever admit it? Of course not.

"You never answer my I love you and that's okay, because I know you only want to answer Jerry's I love yous!" Jayvee continued, as if this is the right time to tell Rosie everything he needed to endure in their entire relationship. "In every date we had, you kept accidentally calling me Jerry but have you seen me get mad?! When I proposed to you, I saw the hesitation in your eyes and the ring that Jerry gave you still on your finger and I had to put my ring in your other finger because you don't want to remove the f*****g ring he gave you!"

Jayvee was so mad, his chest rising and falling rapidly and his breathing so audible. Tears also threaten to fall from his eyes and there's no way in hell that Rosie will not realise all of her mistakes, all of the unintentional pain she caused Jayvee.

But on her part, it's not easy to forget the only man who gave her everything, who made her life so amazing, who gave her the experience to love and to be loved. The guy that captured her heart, made a prison and put it inside, threw the key and even if she tried her best to find the key to forget everything about Jerry, she couldn't find it. Or she really doesn't want to forget.

It's a lie when she said to herself that she's done with him. She fooled herself when she said she would never cry again for him. It was all a lie, the five years of hiding wasn't enough to erase the guy that caused her excruciating pain and yet she still loves with all her heart.

She said yes to Jayvee because she thought that the guy would help her forget her man, but the more she knows Jayvee, the more she could see Jerry on him and one of the reasons she could see the guy on him is because they are cousins.

And with all the outburst of Jayvee, she immediately regretted everything she did. She used a person and she was an awful woman for doing that. She felt disgusted with herself while staring at the guy she hurt.

"I-I'm sorry, I didn't know." Rosie said, tears started streaming down on her face. "I'm s-sorry." She broke down, covering her face with her slim white chalk fingers. "I'm sorry."

"I was there when you were torn apart. I was there when you were at your worst, I fixed you but I didn't know that fixing you would be the cause of my ruin!" Jayvee's voice is full of pain and regret. He wiped his tears violently and looked away.

Seeing the woman he loves crying in front of him makes him want to back down and take her into his arms and tell her that he's sorry for telling her the pain he's been enduring since day 1 of their relationship. But he can't, Rosie needs to know, she needs to realise all of her mistakes.

The car filled with silence after all the shouting and screaming, but there's still silent sobs that could be heard inside. Jayvee heaved deeply and he turned his head back to Rosie.

"If you badly want to be with him, then I will let you go." Those words felt like a thousand knives stabbing his heart but he still managed to say that without his voice cracking.

"N-no." Rosie sobs while shaking her head. "I'm sorry if I taken you for granted, I'm sorry if I caused you too much pain, I was so dumb not to notice that I've been hurting you all this time. I'm really sorry." Rosie says as her tears fall again.

"I can endure everything, but I can't endure that you need to stay with me just because you're pitying me." Jayvee smiled bitterly, choking back his tears. "I'm letting you go, Rosie. If that's what you want." He added.

"No please, let me make it up to you. I'm really sorry for everything I've caused you. Just give me one more chance and I will do the right thing this time." Rosie took his hands and rubbed his knuckles while she's looking at him with pleading eyes. "Please Jayvee, let's try it again."

Jayvee stared at her, then he smiled before nodding his head. He took back his arms so he could wipe Rosie's tears away, kissing the woman's forehead.

"Okay, let's try it again." Jayvee whispered.

___

"Uncle Jerry!" Akisha yelled giddily when she saw the guy getting out of his car.

"Hey princess, how's school?" Jerry picked up the kid between his arms and showered her face with a lot of kisses.

"It's still boring, but look." The kid showed her arm to her uncle excitedly and there were three marks of stars on it. "I've got three stars for finishing early in our written lesson, one star because I answered the question correctly and another star because I perfect the score of our quiz!"

"Wow, you are really Hayley's daughter!" Jerry said amusedly, kissing the kid's face once more before walking back to his car and made sure that she was comfortably sitting on the shotgun seat and tucked the seat belt around her.

"My Dad is smart too!" Akisha crossed her arms as she glared at Jerry, who just got into the driver's seat.

"Yeah yeah, whatever." Jerry chuckled and waved his hand dismissively. "Wanna grab some ice cream before going home?"

"But mommy said—."

"We're going to celebrate those stars, your mom will be mad at me if I don't treat you." Jerry cuts her off. Akisha eyed him as if trying to see in his eyes if he's telling the truth. Then she smiled after.

"Okay." Akisha answered with a toothy smile and clapped her hands giddily.

They drove to Jerry's favourite ice cream shop and they arrived after 10 minutes. He parked his car and got out of the car, running to the other side and picked up the kid as they made their way to the entrance.

"Wait here, I will just order." Jerry said after he put down the kid on one of the tables and walked to the counter. He came back after a few minutes since the place wasn't crowded. With two cups of ice cream in his hands, he handed one to Akisha and sat across from the kid.

"Thank you!" Akisha beams as her eyes was too focused on her cup and the excitement to taste the ice cream are all written on her features.

"Go on." Jerry encourages the kid with hand motions.

Akisha's doe eyes became more rounded as she finally took a bit of her ice cream and she wiggled her body. "This is so good!"

"Of course, they are serving the most delicious and yummy ice cream in this country." Jerry bragged, too proud of his choice to bring the kid into his favourite ice cream shop. To their favourite ice cream shop. He stopped on that thought and shrugged everything behind his head before he could think about the certain blonde woman

"I want to bring home for Daddy and mommy, but it will melt." Akisha pouted.

Jerry chuckled when he saw the stain of chocolate syrup on Akisha's lips. He grabbed a napkin and wiped the kid's mouth.

"What a wonderful sight to see." Hannah said, standing on the side of their table while watching the two with amusement on her face. "You never mentioned that you have a daughter."

"She's not my daughter." Jerry chuckled, standing up from his chair and pecking the woman's cheek. "Hannah, this is Akisha, Liam and Hayley's daughter."

"What a cutie." Hannah pinched the kid's cheek but the kid was just staring at the woman with confused eyes, then she'll shift her gaze to Jerry, then back to Hannah.

"She's your new girlfriend?" Akisha asked.

"No." Hannah and Jerry answered in unison. Then they both laughed.

"Oh. I thought she's your girlfriend." Akisha said with disappointment in her voice that she didn't try to hide. "I would be happy if she is."

"Akisha." Jerry called, laughing awkwardly. "Sorry, she's just so.."

"It's okay, she's really cute." Hannah giggled and she bent over a bit to label the kid. "Now that I can see you closer, there's no doubt that you are Liam's daughter. You have his eyes."

"That's the only feature she took from her dad, everything is from my best friend Hayley." Jerry said as he pulled another chair and let Hannah sit on it before sitting back on his chair.

"I haven't met Hayley, so I don't really know." Hannah said she couldn't take her eyes off of the kid that she was the one wiping the stain on the kid's lips while Akisha was back to her ice cream.

"You should meet her. This Saturday we will have dinner, you should come with me."

"As your date?" Hannah asked teasingly. Jerry almost got choke on his ice cream and he darted his gaze to the woman. "I'm just kidding." Hannah laughed loudly, slapping Jerry's arm. "But I want to meet Hayley."

"Then Saturday it is." Jerry nodded his head as he continued to eat his ice cream. There's no way in hell that he won't finish it. He was so in love with the milk ice cream that he even lapped his plastic spoon while Hannah watched him amusedly.

She noticed a small stain on Jerry's lips, so she took a napkin from the holder and was about to wipe his lips but Jerry moved his head back quickly.

"S-sorry." Hannah smiled shyly and she pointed at the side of her lips where Jerry had the stain.

"I'm not going to kiss y—."

"You have ice cream on the side of your lips." Akisha said and she giggled.

"Oh!" Jerry's eyes widened and he looked at Hannah apologetically.

"Here, let me." Hannah continued to wipe his lips. Jerry was caught off guard for a moment, his eyes landing at Hannah's lips, then he gulped when the scene last night started to be more vivid in his head.

"Damn it." He cursed softly.

"What's wrong?" Hannah asked, eyebrows meeting in the middle of her forehead.

"N-nothing." Jerry smiled awkwardly then he looked at the kid. "Are you done? Let's go home."

"How about Ms. Hannah?" Akisha asked, looking at the woman next to her.

"Do you have a ride?" Jerry turned to the woman.

"Yes, I have my car with me and I am waiting for my friend. You two should go ahead." Hannah stood up and she bent over to kiss Akisha's head for the last time. "It was nice meeting you, cutie."

"You too, Ms. Hannah!" Akisha gave her a toothy smile. "I hope to see you on Saturday."

"Sure sweetie and you can call me Hannah, please exclude the Miss."

"Okay." The kid shrugged her shoulders, after Jerry lifted her up from her seat, she waved her little hand cutely as they both walked to the exit.

___

"We're here." Jerry announced after he parked his car in front of the Manoban's gate, which made Akisha furrow her eyebrows then she looked at Jerry confusedly.

"You're not going in?" She asked.

"Uh nope, I was just told to pick you up in school."

"What? But you're living here, right?"

"Oh, they didn't tell you?" Jerry scrunched up his nose and made a hissing sound.

"Tell me what?"

"That I'm not living in your house anymore? I got my own apartment and—."

"Why?!" Akisha yelled, her tears quickly threatening to fall as she heard that Jerry is not living with them anymore.

"Honey, listen to me." Jerry cupped the kid's face and forced her to look at him since Akisha started throwing tantrums and started to cry loudly. "I need to live on my own, I'm too old to stay with your parents and—."

"You're going to leave me!" Akisha yelled, removing Jerry's hands from her face.

"No, I'm not leaving you." Jerry cooed but Akisha won't stop from crying. "Honey, please listen to me."

"I don't want to! If you're going to leave me then leave!" Akisha bites Jerry's hands which causes him to let go of the kid. She then pushed the door open on her side and ran inside to the gate.

"Akisha!" Jerry quickly unbuckled his seatbelt and ran after the kid but Akisha locked the gate so he couldn't get in. "Akisha!" The sound of the main door slamming hard left him no choice but to call Liam. "Hey, your daughter is mad at me!"

"What? Why?" Liam asked confusedly, lifting his finger to the models and walked out of the studio.

"She got mad when I told her that I'm not living in your house anymore."

"Oh crap, I told Hayley that it wasn't going to be okay if you're the one who's gonna tell her." Liam hissed as he walked back inside the studio, he covered the speaker of his phone and called his secretary. "Tell Jongy to take over the photoshoot. I need to go home." Liam removed the strap of his camera around his neck and gave it to his assistant. "I'll be there in 10 minutes."

Jerry put back his phone inside his pocket and he looked around to find an easy way to get inside the wall because the gate would never be an option as it was a whole covered metal. He walked around and found a good spot to climb. He jumped off on the other side of the wall and landed on his two feet, then he ran to the main door, but only to get disappointed when he found out that it was locked.

"Akisha!" He shouted and was banging the door for over a minute but no response from the kid inside the house. He tried the backdoor and was glad that it was left open. He immediately ran upstairs and went straight to Akisha's room, knocking nonstop, until Liam arrived on his bike.

"Is she really that mad?" Liam asked while walking towards Jerry.

"Yeah, it feels like I betrayed her."

"Wait, let me get the spare key for her door." Liam ran to their room to get the key and threw it at Jerry.

As soon as Jerry opened the door, he slumped down his shoulders when he saw the kid tucked under her blanket and crying loudly underneath.

"Akisha." He called, walking towards the bed and sat on the edge. "Honey, please talk to me."

"I don't want to!" Akisha yelled.

"Please honey—."

"You're leaving because aunt Rosie is here! If that's the case, she needs to go so you could stay here!" Akisha shouted again.

Jerry looked back to Liam, who of course, was shocked to hear her daughter saying that.

"Akisha honey, that is not a nice thing to say." Liam scolded but Jerry held his hand to stop Liam from approaching his daughter.

"Let me talk to her." Jerry said, slipping under the blanket so he could see the kid. "Hey.." He called softly, reaching out from Akisha's hands. "Look honey, I'm really sorry for leaving but you know that I can't stay here forever right?"

Akisha didn't reply as she couldn't do it because her continuous sobs stopped her.

"I may be living in another house but I will always pick you up in school, then we'll play in the park, eat ice cream and I will always visit you here." Akisha slowly looked up to meet Jerry's eyes, hoping that he was telling the truth.

"P-promise?"

Jerry smiled and he lifted his pinky finger to Akisha. "I promise." He says softly. Akisha sealed their promise by wrapping her tiny pinky finger to Jerry then they both hugged under the blanket, making Liam sighed in relief.

"I'm home!" Hayley's voice filled their house as she put down her bag on the couch and looked up to the second floor, waiting for some response.

"Up here hon!" Liam yelled back.

"Is Jerry's here? I saw his car outside." Hayley asked as she made her way upstairs and met with her husband with Jerry and Akisha in his arms. "What happened?" She asked again when she noticed Akisha's puffy eyes.

"I already told her." Jerry said and even if he didn't say it directly, Hayley knew what he was talking about.

"Oh my poor baby, come to mommy." Hayley cooed her kid as she took her from Jerry's arms. "You really cried huh?"

"She loves me more than the two of you." Jerry chuckled cockily.

"Oh shut up." Liam scoffed but the smile on his lips was contrary to his reaction in that statement.

"You should stop dating my daughter so she would love us more." Hayley rolled her eyes at her best friend playfully, hugging Akisha like she was trying to protect her from Jerry.

"We have a promise to each other and he needs to fulfill that." Akisha says to the elder and she was too giddy about it not to announce it to her parents. "And he will not date me anymore because he has a girlfriend."

"I told you, she's not my girlfriend." Jerry shook his head in disbelief when Akisha still insisted about Hannah being her girlfriend.

"And who is this lady huh? Do I know her? You haven't mentioned anything about your new girlfriend." Hayley squinted her eyes and looked at Jerry accusingly but her eyes widened again when she noticed the red mark on Jerry's neck. "Oh my god, Jerry!"

"What?" Jerry asked back with the same volume of Hayley's voice.

"What the hell was that in your neck?!"

"There's a kid here, honey. I don't think it's appropriate to talk about it right now." Liam rebuked her wife, taking Akisha from her and bringing the kid downstairs.

"Look, Hannah isn't really my girlfriend but we did something last night because I was too drunk and lost my control." Jerry immediately explained when they made sure that Akisha wouldn't hear them anymore.

"What the hell? You had a one night stand with some random girls in the bar?!"

"No! She isn't some random girl." Jerry air quoting his last sentence. "She's my friend, your husband knows her."

"What? Why did Liam not mention anything about this Hannah?"

"I don't know, but trust me. She's nice and you will meet her this Saturday at our squad dinner." Jerry said, reaching for Hayley's hands. "And she's Jayvee's ex girlfriend."

"Wait, so you're telling me that you are dating your cousin's ex-girlfriend just to get back with him? Do you really have to go down to his level?" Hayley said with disappointment in her voice.

"No! I didn't even have any idea that she's Jayvee's ex girlfriend when we met at the bar and again, I'm not dating her."

"But you had s*x with her." Hayley scoffed mockingly.

"Okay I admit that I was wrong, but it wasn't really intentional, it just happened that I'm so intoxicated and I blacked out." Jerry said, trying to convince his best friend to believe him.

"Fine, whatever you say. Though I still need to meet that woman, Jerry!" Hayley pointed her finger at Jerry's face while the latter nodded his head vigorously. "Now go home before Rosie will be here."

"You didn't come home with her?" Jerry asked.

"No, Jayvee went to university and they talked outside and they left."

"What—."

"Before you react, Rosie sent me a message that she goes with Jayvee voluntarily and she'll be home later." Hayley said, clinging onto Jerry's arm as she tugged him downstairs so they could eat some snacks and Hayley needed to prepare their dinner.

"So they are really getting back together?" Jerry scoffed bitterly.

"I don't know, but let's just hope that it will happen. Rosie will be fine with her decision." The woman said.

"Yeah." Jerry replied with a fake smile. "I hope so." He added, feeling his heart like someone is squeezing it from inside and it gives him difficulty to breathe but he needs to pretend that fine.

______