Anhedonia

Do You Love Him?

There was a tension dancing in the air that it could be used as a blanket for how thick it is. Seul-ki stood in front of them, while he's looking down at the younger ones. His hands on his waist, his weight on his right foot and the other left is tapping the floor, making an irritating sound for Jerry.

"Now—."

"I was just there to get Rosie." Liam quickly said to defend himself and to cut off Seul-ki.

"I haven't said anything, Liam." Seul-ki scoffed. Then he turned to Jerry. "So do you really think that punching a guy in a restaurant with a crowd of people looked cool huh?"

"He hurt Rosie! What do you want me to do? Thank him?" Jerry said sarcastically, leaning his back on the sofa and looked away.

"But do you think violence will solve the problem?"

As the oldest in their squad, Seul-ki knew better than these young ones sitting in front of him. He knew that it wasn't the best idea to hurt Jayvee, but also it wasn't bad either because he knew to himself that he would do the same thing. Rosie ain't just some random girl, she's their daughter, well at least to their heart, and to be honest, when Seul-ki heard about Rosie's bruise. Juhyun had to warn him and threatened his life not to kill Jayvee.

"Wasn't it?" Jerry snorted. He twisted his wrist as he could still feel the pain in it for punching his cousin a little bit too hard.

"Guys, you won't gonna believe this!" Hayley said, running out from the kitchen and holding her phone. "There was a fan who recorded the scene in that restaurant and posted it on social media!"

"Wow, now we're an internet sensation huh?" Jerry mocked but Hayley just looked at her best friend dumbfounded. "What?"

"Jayvee's fans are cursing you to death, threatening your life and wishing you die for hurting their idol."

"Well, that escalated so quickly. Do they even know that their idol is one hell of a double faced psychopath abusive maniac?"

"That's rude, might want to tone it down? Rosie is upstairs." Liam slapped Jerry's shoulder. "That's him, no doubt, but he's still my best friend's fiancé."

"You gotta stop saying that in front of my face, dickhead." Jerry growled, glaring at the younger guy.

The landline kept ringing so Hayley handed the phone to her husband and answered the call. "Hello?"

"You and your family will face brutal deaths—."

"Who are you?!" Hayley shouted in fear but the person on the other line hung up quickly.

"What's wrong?" Liam approached Hayley and wrapped her between his arms.

"This is getting out of control." Hayley cried, burying her face onto Liam's chest. "Whoever that person called wished my family to face brutal deaths."

"Goddammit! Why is my family getting involved in this mess?!" Liam groaned, snapping his head to Jerry. "You shouldn't have punched him!"

"He deserves it! He hurt Rosie!"

"You did too, but Liam didn't punch you." Seul-ki said which made Jerry shut up and chuckled dryly.

"Are you guys fighting?" Rosie asked, she's standing at the top of the stairs with her hands on her waist. "For the record, Jerry. You don't have to do that but still, thanks for standing up for me, and Liam, I'm sorry if you are dragged in my mess. Don't worry, I will take care of it tomorrow."

"You're going back to him?" Jerry sprung up from his seat and turned to face his ex lover.

"After what he did to me? No way, but I would clear all of your names. I received a call from Jayvee's manager and told me to do the interview to clear Jayvee's name but I'm not going to do that. I'm going to expose him."

"Will you not be in trouble if you do that?" Seul-ki asked worriedly.

"I don't care, I just want them to stop. I suggest you guys prevent opening your social media accounts, Jayvee's fans are quite cruel in this situation." Rosie said as she got down and walked towards the couple. "I'm really sorry, Hayley."

"No, it's not your fault. Don't worry." Hayley said, drying her tears with Liam's shirt.

"Okay then, let's all take a rest and deal with it tomorrow. I have to go back to my wife and my daughter. And you.." Seul-ki pointed at Jerry. "You're not going out tonight, understand?"

"What am I? A kid? I have a date!"

"Shut up or I'm going to whoop your f*****g ass and tied you under the basement of this house till you rot and die!" Seul-ki threatened but the brunette guy didn't even bat an eyelash or show fear.

"Fine, fine. Just go home and be a Daddy." Jerry waved his hand dismissively and sat back.

After Seul-ki left Manoban's house. Liam and Hayley decided not to let Rosie go back to her apartment. Thinking that Jayvee might bother her there, they let her sleep in one of their guest rooms, and also Jerry but in the room next to Rosie.

As the night went deeper, Jerry couldn't sleep. He already made thousands of turns and tosses but he still couldn't find his sleep, so he rolled out of the bed and walked out of his occupied room to go down in Liam's mini bar in the living room.

He steal a bottle of scotch and went back upstairs, he was walking to the hallway towards the guest room when he had a glimpse of a silhouette, standing outside the balcony. He was hesitating if he's going to continue his way to his room or approach the person on the balcony.

He picked the latter. He made his way to the balcony and as soon as he slid the door open, the cold wind in the middle of October kissed his skin and he shuddered.

"It's cold in here, are you trying to get sick?" Jerry asked.

"No." Rosie replied without looking back at the guy and she sipped on her wine glass. "Want a drink with me?"

"I got my own." Jerry shrugged his shoulders and he walked next to Rosie. They are both watching the dark street, breathing are synchronized, and the alcohol helped them to pick up the cold weather. "I'm sorry for what I did—."

"Five years ago?"

"I was going to say about Jayvee earlier but yeah, sorry about that too." Jerry chuckled.

"He was not like that." Rosie started, letting out a deep breath. "He used to be a caring and sweet boyfriend to me."

"Then what happened?" Jerry asked curiously. To be honest, he agreed to Rosie. He has known his cousin since they were five and Jayvee was really a sweet man.

"We came back here to Korea. At first, he was cool with it when I told him that I wanted to go back, but everything changed this past week."

"Let me guess, because of me, right? He thinks that I'm going to steal you from him? Which he did to me by the way." Jerry said.

"What do you mean?" Rosie turned to Jerry with furrowed eyebrows.

"I already told you everything last time, right? That I asked for his help when I'm trying my luck to find you in London, and unbeknownst to my knowledge, he's already your boyfriend but didn't even tell me. I looked like a fool because he made me look like a fool." Jerry wrapped his fingers around the glass so tight that he could feel he's going to break it.

"I'm really sorry about that, I didn't know that you were looking for me."

"Because he didn't tell you, so you're not at fault here." Jerry laughed dryly, he walked in one of the chairs and sat, then he tapped the empty one next to him. Rosie smiled but still sat next to Jerry and they also sat in silence for a few minutes after that. Just enjoying their drinks that are almost half empty. "So tell me, Rosie."

"Hmm?"

"Are you still mad at me?" Jerry turned her head to Rosie, staring at her perfect side profile.

"Of course, the anger isn't that easy to let go even if you ask for forgiveness so many times. I hope you understand."

"I am, don't worry." Jerry laughed, refilling his glass with another shot of Scotch, he sipped on it and leaned back, face forward to the banister. "Do you love him?"

"I do." Rosie smiled but barely reached her eyes. "I love him, because he fixed me."

"So you love him just because he fixed you? Was that even a reason to love a person?"

"Yes, because they were there at your worst, which means they will stay at your best. And Jayvee.." Rosie trailed off her words and let out a shaky breath. "He did things that you didn't do."

There was a painful pang on Jerry's chest but he acted like it was nothing. He was pretending that he's not affected by the way Rosie praised his cousin and told him all the good qualifications of Jayvee.

That should be me. That was Jerry's inside thought the whole time Rosie telling him her happy memories with Jayvee. But when Rosie noticed that Jerry was not responding at all and just continuously drinking his Scotch, she stopped.

"Jerry." Rosie called softly, her eyes barely opening as the wine started to kick in. "Do you love her?"

"I do." Jerry replied quickly, and this time, it was Rosie who felt the pang in her chest. "I love her so much that I would do anything for her so she would love me back again." Though his words are a bit slurry because Jerry is already drunk, Rosie could still understand every single word and she looked at Jerry with confused eyes.

"What do you mean by loving you again?" Rosie asked. Jerry didn't reply, instead, he grabbed Rosie's nape and slammed his lips against the blonde.

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