please read the author's note at the end!
enjoy reading<3

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•••

the clock keeps ticking, hands mocking at aera's restless feet strolling back and forth in her room, nibbling on her lower lip. if it wasn't for her busy mind playing scariest clips of imagination about how bad things could be, she would've calmed down, took some water and probably thought of the situation in a better way.

but it's been more than four hours that she's been just staring at the time, then at the door, only wondering what kevin might be doing while he's not here. could he still be with that girl? venting to her about how bad of a wife aera is for not giving him proper time and attention; or maybe he could be bitching to her regarding aera's clear words that she didn't want to have kids yet.

now that aera counts, a number of reasons line up— so many that she can make a list and pin it on the board to keep reminding herself that not matter what she tried or went through for him, she couldn't be the woman he wanted to love. he did say he loved her, but then he wouldn't be doing if he did right? aera groans to herself, not knowing what to do, but one thing that she felt sure of was that maybe tonight is not the time to see kevin no matter how much she wanted.

there's a high chance that she would just end up crying the fresh issue, and that might give kevin another reason to call her the bad guy. she takes a deep breath, pained eyes glancing at the screen of her phone once again after a hundred times, however her hope dies as there's still no message from her husband. the fear in her heart, which she obviously heard for herself, keeps growing each second, making it hard for her to stay in the same room as they sleep together in.

rubbing her eyes, she shakes her head, leaving her room, the keys of her car and the phone clutched tightly in her hand as she makes her way stright outside the house, ignoring kevin's parents' calling out her name.

•••

"she has some work, jake. she's not coming, stop staring at the entrance," clay grumbles, downing his first shot from the tray in front of him. jake nods gradually, pulling out his phone despite knowing that aera wouldn't show up anymore after she already dropped them a message, saying that she has some urgent work this evening.

he grabs a shot as well, helping clay finish the shots of tequila, then laughs a little at the burning sensation in his throat. clay shakes his head, eyes shut tight which he only opens to spare his friend a glance, noting his reaction as well and smirks, "let's go, 'nother round,"

"bring it on," jake accepts the challenge, "who's gon' drive?"

"we'll call a cab. no worries 'bout that,"

jake hums almost inaudibly, frowning at the slow vibrations in his pocket but it dies down before he reaches out to answer the call. then the rings vibrates again, this time jake smiles at the name, "hey," he says, "why did yo— aera? are you okay?" the fun drains out of his voice, sounding more serious than before which draws attention from clay as well.

"what happened?" he asks.

jake shrugs, gesturing clay that he'll head to somewhere quieter to attend the call and hear better, "hello? ri? what's going on?" he asks.

"mm, i uh... i wanted to... like, join you guys," she says, sounding a little tipsy on the line which makes jake frown.

"are you drinking?"

"yeah, no, just a little bit before i... before i make it to you. where are you though? text me the adress,"

"you're not driving, aera— please," his eyes close in horror, fingers pinching the bridge of his nose. then he hears her giggle on the call, confirming that she's actually drinking and probably driving too. "okay fuck," he mutters under his breath, heading back to clay and taps on his shoulder, nodding towards the exit, "we gotta go. ri, needs help,"

"but what happened?" clay asks, but it doesn't quiver the fact that he follows jake instantly at the mention of aera needing help, wild thoughts racing in his head to come up with even wilder possibilities of what could most probably go wrong at this time. didn't she say she was busy with something?

"aera, please stop drinking and stop the car," jake tells her, getting himself in the passenger seat while clay takes the driver's, hesitating a little but the thought of aera being hurt, pushes him past the uncertainty as he repeats in his head that they didn't even drink that much. it was just two shots for jake and one for himself, because the rest was taken away by a group of girls when he couldn't say no.

"i'm fine, jake," aera assures him, "really,"

"yeah, i know. but do as i'm saying," jake instructs back, "and tell me where are you?"

"uhm it's..." she takes a pause, probably looking around then sighs, "i'm on the highway. the one to the olympic stadium,"

"what?" jake almost jumps in his seat, frowning in disbelief, "what are you even doing there?"

"i just wanted to get some fresh air and didn't realise i've been heading this way... don't worry, though. i'm fine. i'll come back, just text me th—"

"no, you won't. just stay where you are okay? we're coming to get you,"

"no, it's okay. i can drive back,"

"don't argue wi—"

"what? what is she saying?" clay hisses and jake hands him the phone the very instant, letting him convince her now. "hey, aera it's clay. what's wrong?"

"nothing, i just wanted to join you both. that's why i called— to ask you where you are,"

"and you drank?"

"uhm yeah, a little. but i'm sober as ever, i swear,"

clay sighs at that, knowing just by her voice that she's not all sober even if she insists she is. he sighs and nods to himself, "are you alone?"

"yes," she answers, more like a huff of anger, "kev's not with me. he's... i don't know, somewhere,"

"did you both fight?" clay asks cautiously, hearing a small chuckle from aera and he can just see her shaking her head when she does the tiny 'nuh-uh' for an answer. "he let you drive out at night all alone? with a drink?"

"he doesn't know. no one knows, well except you and jake,"

"okay fine, listen to me very carefully," he starts, "can you come towards the city? we'll meet you by the bridge, alright? don't over speed, wear the seatbelt and please don't drink anymore,"

"are you fucking serious?!" jake gapes at clay, getting an assuring look which he ignores without a thought and snatches his phone back, "hey! you're not moving an inch from wherever you are. we're coming to get you, and that's final,"

"stop overreacting, jake. i'm fine,"

"no, i'm not letting you drive while you're drunk. please, just stay there. it won't take us long to get there, i promise,"

it's about time aera falls silent, not talking to them anymore but they know she's still there due to her soft breathing. clay drives towards the highway, a few minutes away from the stadium and he tries to find aera's white aston martin that jake always loved, not even surprised that jungkook gifted her that a few months back on her birthday. instead of the said suv, jake spots at a sedan similar to the one she has, and it's parked beside the street. clay slows down near the metallic grey porsche, rolling down his window halfway until he sees aera on the driver's seat.

she looks stressed about something, talking on the phone, seemingly yelling from what he can see. he turns around quickly, glancing at jake's phone and realises that call has ended and she's talking to someone else. jake gets out of the car, leaving his phone on the seat and jogs over to aera's car, followed by a worried clay.

meanwhile aera feels helpless, trying to talk to kevin as he just wouldn't listen. she takes a deep breath, tears trickling from her eyes as she hears him going on non stop about how he doesn't get time and it's not a big deal if he couldn't make it home early like she asked him to do. moreover the argument carries on, with meaningless accusations from both sides until it slips aera's tongue and she shouts at him something along the lines, 'i'm not the one cheating!'.

silent was persistent for a while, then kevin's voice quivers, "wha— what did you say? you think i'm cheating on you?"

"i think? kevin i heard it! stop pretending! i heard you talking to that girl— you- you said all those things i couldn't ever imagine from you..." aera shuts her eyes, breaking into a sob as she rests back on her seat, throwing her head back in pain, "why did you do this... didn't you wanna have a baby a few days ago? now you're sleeping with someone else...? why— i... i don't get you. i just—"

"no, baby, just listen to me. it's a misunderstanding, i'm not seeing anyone— okay, wait no, just come home. let's talk in person, okay?" he says.

"stop it! i loved you everytime, every since we started dating! ever since you said you were mine! even before that!" she covers her mouth, groaning and squirming in her seat as she cries her heart out, almost screaming for help, "what if i was pregnant? kev... would you still do this to me? would you still leave me at home, thinking that— thinking that you're working hard, going extra days and overtime... while you were just— just fucking someone else... would you do that i had your baby?" her voice cracks, burying her face in her free hand, the tears never stopping.

"i love you, aera," kevin hushes out, "you know i love you,"

"shut up," aera grits out in frustration, grabbing the bottle of whiskey from her side and gulps down a sip, "please, shut the fuck up. i don't wanna hear if you love me or not, because one thing i know is that you don't cheat on someone you love. not even by mistake. i'll be home tomorrow and then i'll talk again, probably in a better state... but for now, please don't say anything else. i'm done, it's too much..."

"what are you saying? where will you go if you're not coming home?" kevin's tone changes, from worry and fear it's up now, sounding perplexed with her words, "hello? aera, just fucking answer me. where the hell will you go of not home?"

"wherever i want," she mutters, "why do you care?"

"stop being a—" he stops, taking a deep breath and continues again, "don't do this. just come home,"

"no. i can't just forget what i heard and continue living like my husband was never seeing another girl behind my back..."

"you've got that to say?" he grits, "i didn't want to bring this up but, you just being your spoiled self can't see that i'm actually fucking worried about you! mom and dad have been asking about you ever since you barged off to god knows where! and what? you think i cheated? fine, yes i did! didn't your brother do it too?! not once, not twice, every fucking relationship he ever had, he's been nothing more than a cheater! you think i don't know about it? what type of man is your brother, and you have the audacity to—"

aera's more than just shocked with his words, too stunned to react until it goes silent and suddenly she's hearing him anymore, interrupted by a knock on the window of her car. her teary, red eyes shoot up, finding jake leaning down and gesturing for her to unlock the door. aera glances down at her phone, hanging up instantly and sits there for a second, processing everything that just happened. every word that left kevin's mouth and felt like a bullet to her, leaving her to question her sanity if he was always the same man or it was time to be blamed.

"aera," jake's voice makes her flinch, followed by another set of knocks on the glass. tears flow from her eyes again which she fails to wipe and the boys freeze in their place, staring at her with concerned eyes. "open the door," jake mouths to her.

aera does as he says, stepping out of the car with her head low as she glances at the phone, "i... i'm sorry, i didn't—"

"who was it?" jake cuts her off, his features remaining firm as he doesn't try to hide the fact that he's unhappy with whoever made her cry, considering that it's almost ten o'clock at night and she's out here away from the city, drinking in her car, crying her heart. all alone.

"it's noth—"

"don't lie," he leans down, gulping down the next words, letting his hand cup her face, thumb brushing on her cheek gently to wipe away the tears. clay's hand rests on his shoulder, when he notices aera's not willing to tell them. jake cracks his neck, not bothering with clay's obvious gaze that tells him not to push her, however the former shakes his head, grabbing the phone from the girl's hand and opens call log, frowning on seeing it was none other than her own husband. a few missed calls from both sides until she finally talked to him just now, for about fifteen minutes, "kevin?" jake nods subtly.

"jake, listen we—"

"hey, he won't do anything. we'll talk about it first, okay?" clay assures, pushing past jake and hugs aera warmly, "just don't worry. you're okay," aera lets out a breath, relaxing slowly in his embrace and lifts up her arms to hold him back. clay lowers his head, leaving a delicate peck on top of her head while his hand rubs her back, "god, you're cold, aera. let's get inside the car first," he mutters softly before pulling and turns to jake, "you're fine, right?"

jake arches up a brow, and clay specifies, "i mean, to drive. you should bring my car back, i'll drive with her," jake keeps mum, nodding his head and glances at aera.

"he's gonna pay if he's the one who made you cry,"

aera looks down, closing her eyes as she takes her phone back from him, getting in the passenger seat of the car and secures her seatbelt like had clay had told her to do when they talked over the phone. the boys,— clay, stares at him with pained eyes, hating to see her like that; jake on the other hand, seems determined to break the bones of kevin's body at the sight of his best friend looking so lost and hurt. how dare he made her cry?

"let's get going," clay clears his throat, getting a subtle nod from jake too. "and please, you're not going to kevin right away. we have to hear her out first,"

"he did it. it's clear," jake argues, "don't you wanna fucking end him after seeing her like that? he hurted her, when i clearly warned him to be mindful of his actions,"

"maybe it's not him. we don't know, jake," clay sighs, "and no, i'm not taking sides. i just think we should know the whole thing before jumping into conclusions,"

"just fucking great," jake mutters under his breath, before turning to face clay entirely, "take one look at aera," his voices lowers with anger, which doesn't intimidate clay for he knows this rage wasn't for him, but the person who hurted their friend, "i swear to god, that motherfucker won't live if he's the one behind all this,"

clay doesn't say anything as jake storms to his car, slamming the door shut once he's inside and drives back first, leaving the former alone with his wise brain. clay shakes his head, not being able to deny jake's behaviour completely because it ached him too to see aera so broken, drunk and crying in the middle of nowhere, alone in a car. he would justify every single ounce of jake's anger, wishing that person who did this to aera deserves to be hurt too. but right now, something inside him doesn't let him get to it, glancing at aera quietly leaning back with her eyes closed, probably waiting for him to get in— it tells him that he should wait and hold her, instead of fighting off the asshole. that can be done tomorrow.

for jake, he knows that he can freely go and deal with kevin if he wanted because he wouldn't have to worry about aera being fine or not when there's clay with her. but that didn't mean he wasn't always ready to hold her whenever she needed support or even just like that. clay isn't much into fighting unless it's absolutely a shit situation, and jake isn't someone to be messed with. so jake usually told clay to stay with aera, take care of her, while he takes care of whoever was being a bother. today felt like a similar situation, and clay prays that jake won't drive straight to aera and kevin's house to beat him and threaten him right now.

"should i drive to your place?" he asks, taking his eyes off the street for a brief second to look at aera, pulling her out of her thoughts or sleep (he can't tell with her eyes closed).

"no," she hushes out, tugging her hair behind her head, "i think i'll stay out tonight. just wanna let myself a little lose, that's all,"

clay's forced to nod along with aera's voice laced with exhaustion and pain, "is it really, kevin," he breaks the little silence, them adds up, "the reason for this...?"

aera sighs softly, turning to face him for the first time, opening her mouth to say something, but can't find the right words to tell him still considering that she should speak to kevin first. tomorrow she'll go home and actually confront him with a better mindset than being too hurt and emotional right now.

she shakes her subtly, "we'll figure this out. don't worry,"

"i can't bring myself to believe you," clay admits, "finding you here... like this, it's more serious than you think it is,"

"i know," aera nods, "but what can i do? i need some time... to think, figure this out. but- but don't worry, i'll let you know everything when i think it's time,"

"you know i can't force you to tell me. so yeah, okay. whatever you're comfortable with," he sighs. "do you wanna go with me? my place?"

"i was thinking of a club or something," aera says, glancing down at herself, the same dress hugging her figure since morning for she didn't even care changing while waiting for kevin at home.

"i don't think that's a good idea,"

"i don't care," aera mumbles, "take me to a club. i don't wanna go anywhere else. and please, i know you think drinking isn't the best solution especially when you saw me like this... but, i wanna do it. whether it turns out good or bad. i just wanna get drunk not think for a while,"

"fine," although clay agrees, he knows that he's not to drink anymore and stay by aera's side, letting her drink the pain away for tonight like she wants, before tomorrow morning comes and her life will probably hold some other meanings. jake might join her as well if he wishes to, but clay certainly won't, claiming that one of them has to stay sober to make sure nothing goes wrong, for he can't bring himself to trust aera tonight with what she might be thinking of doing.

when they finally reach in front of the club, getting a frown from jake who didn't know they were supposed to go here instead of home, clay explains to him that they probably should just agree with aera for now and let her get drunk. jake surprisingly, agreed without much thought for he was one of the members of 'alcohol reduces stress/pain' club.

by the time it's past eleven, jake has ordered some hard drinks, already on his third one while aera has taken her fourth. even though the boys didn't stop her from drinking, jake did make sure to sneakily tell the bartender to make the drinks less alcoholic with more soda or whatever additional thing they put. despite that, aera looks buzzed with the drinks dancing in her head, the view of the crowded club, stuffed with people, dancing, drinking, grinding and making out getting blurred and shiny slowly.

she leans on the counter, placing her elbows on the top, watching the bartender's hand, mixing her another drink. a cocktail this time. no alcohol. her hand moves up to cup the side of her head, closing her eyes to clear her vision and stop the spinning world when another hand rests on her back, stepping closer from the back, one arm caging her from the side, that she fails to see is a barrier jake creates between her body a tipsy man waiting on her left.

jake acts cool, like nothing's going on, casually sipping his drink with the right hand, while clay's doing he same, sitting on the high stool on aera's right, both of them making a safe space for her, separate from the drunk men around. aera's drunk too, but not enough to not see or understand what's going on around her. she smiles at jake, appreciating that he just blocked a man who might've been oggling her previously. she opens her mouth to tell him that, right then her phone beats her to it, making her frown and draws attention from jake as well.

aera rolls her eyes, declining the call of her husband and looks back up at jake who arches a brow at her, "husband problems?" he asks, getting a subtle nod from aera.

"nothing, i can't handle," she mumbles, hissing with annoyance when the phone rings again. and this time it's her mother-in-law. with a deep sigh, she pulls herself straight, answering the call, "yes mom?"

"where are you?! you don't care a bit about my son do you?! i can't believe he married someone like you, aera!"

"what?" aera frowns, realising that the mother is crying as she yells at her for being an apparantly bad wife, "what did i do...?"

"what did you do?" she grits out angrily, "you have the audacity to ask that?! you fought with my son while he loved you with all his heart! he was out there working and you just— he's got into an accident and still you're not here with him. i hate that he fell for someone like you,"

"what? he— he got into an accident? is he okay?" aera shoots up from her seat, too shocked with the news.

"now you care?" 

aera can't believe her ears. this has to be a dream— some kind of hallucination since she's drunk. jake shakes her lightly, asking what happened, which although earns him no response from her as she shakes her head, "no no no no no..." she mutters, staring at her phone as the call ends somehow, from her side or maybe from kevin's crying mother. she calls her back hastily, tears falling from her eyes and she pushes past jake, rushing to the exit, the unoccupied hand searching for the keys of her car.

"aera!" jake and clay follow after her instantly, grabbing her wrist as she's about to exit the club. "where are you going? what happened?"

aera ignores their question, focusing more on the call that has been answered, "h-hello? mom, please tell me where are you?"

"aera, it's me, dad," the man says on the call, "we're in the city hospital. kevin is in a bad condition... his car collided with a trolly. they said that he was drunk,"

"i... i'm so sorry," she nibbles on her lip, sobbing silently, "when did this— i talked to him about an... an hour ago. he was fine,"

"yeah we got a call about half-an-hour ago. apparantly the accident happened after you guys talked..."

aera shuts her eyes, holding her head in defeat as she breaks into a sob, regretting shouting at him, regretting that she ever did call him earlier. if she didn't call him, she wouldn't come to know about him cheating, they wouldn't fight so bad and slam out all those accusations at each other. and maybe kevin would be fine right now.

"aera, please hold yourself together, honey. me and your mom are here okay? it's okay if you can't make it right now. i think you should come tomorrow... you both won't be able to face each other right now. and don't worry, i'll keep you updated with kev's health, alright?"

"no no, i- i'm coming right now. i've to see him," she says, rubbing her eyes before hanging up and opens the door of her car with trembling hands.

jake turns her around, grabbing her arm above the elbow, "will you tell us what happened? i can't understand anything and it hurts to see you like this,"

"kev got into an accident," she lets out, "i've to go,"

"wha— didn't he—"

"we'll go with you," clay proposes, "and let's take a cab. we've all had alcohol,"

"i don't have ti—"

"it's gonna be quick, trust me," clay assures her, pulling out his phone while jake just hugs tightly, consoling her that eveything will be okay.

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a/n- yeahhhh part twooooo <3333 what do you think about the about the chapter? did u enjoy?

it's 178th chapter right? shskshsksj time passed so quickly omg 😭😭😭 i'll miss you guys when this ends. shit! 😩😭 but let's enjoy this while it last. 

PLEASE READ 👇

ps: i randomly had this prompt for the last chapter of this book (200th) but i'm not sure if i should write it, because it has the potential to change the whole outlook of this book, you'll be a crying mess and you won't be able to look at the chapters again without thinking of the last chapter once u read it. so i'm not sure if i should actually write it or not. i haven't written it yet, just thinking of the plot of that chapter makes me want to cry 😭😭😭 so let me know if you're actually up for a really heartbreaking ending, like i mean it. don't just say yes for fun because it's gonna be bery powerful and intense and there's no possible way in the world to unsee or unread anything once you've seen/read it. 

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