Purposefully Accidental

BONUS CHAPTER - Jonah's POV #2

He knows that Freddie Archer is not going to say it out loud, but it's clear in his hazel eyes that he knows who he is. Jonah can see it, that unspoken I know who you are, and I know that you're the guy who broke my wife's heart you piece of shit as they both just stare at each other in silence. And he thinks he's not doing a really good job pretending that he doesn't know what he knows now, so he's pretty sure that Freddie Archer can see right through him.

But Jonah is also not going to say it.

(How is he supposed to say it anyway? So. You married my ex-girlfriend, huh? The one person I'm still helplessly in love with, even after all these years. That sounds pathetic.)

He blinks, shamefully trying to remove any evidence on his face that he just spent the whole meeting daydreaming, inwardly planning to make Freddie Archer's wife fall back in love with him. He feels like his world has been flipped upside down twice in succession in just the span of two hours, and isn't that fucking crazy? He was just thinking about how lucky he was to fly in to New York and walk into that coffee shop just the right moment in time to cross paths with the only woman who's ever owned his heart, thinking it was fate pushing them back together. And here he is, two hours later, sitting in the office of her very husband that he had no idea about, with their wedding picture seemingly glaring daggers at him from the shelves.

Fate is absolutely whooping his ass right now.

He knows now why Hannah Taylors was in that coffee shop, right across Archer Tower. She was just here to visit her husband. Most definitely in this very room, too. Probably sat on this same chair. Did they kiss hello, and kiss goodbye right before she left? If it's possible to feel even worse now...

But then... Freddie Archer smiles serenely at him, and asks in a neutral tone, "Are you married, Jonah?"

Thrown off, he can only shake his head no. God, no.

And the other man's smile widens. "Good. I've been thinking recently, and I think everybody was right. I did marry too young. My wife doesn't even love me."

Jonah's jaw drops. Freddie looks away, still with that same smile on his face as he takes the picture frame on his desk, of his beautiful bride sitting on the bottom of the stairs, and gently stores it inside his drawer.

"We don't even see each other that much. We were stuck here in New York during the lockdown, and I think she just got sick of me," Freddie continues in a light tone, as if he didn't just drop an imaginary bomb right there. As if telling him a joke that Jonah is supposed to get, but he doesn't. "She lives back home with her parents... and I'm very busy with work, you see, so I don't get to visit often. I guess we just grew apart."

Jonah finds his voice and offers weakly, "I'm... sorry."

The man waves it away. "Nah. It's fine. I've seen it coming since a long time ago. She deserves someone better, you know?"

He bites his lip as he carefully considers what to say to that. "I'm sure your wife loves you very much, Freddie."

"Oh, yes, I'm sure she does," the other man responds. "But not in that way."

Jonah sits still like a statue. He doesn't understand why Freddie is telling him any of this. Shouldn't he absolutely despise him, for what he's done to Hannah all those years ago? After all, the man was there that night, and witnessed the tears in Hannah's eyes as she walked away and left him kneeling on the wet ground holding a pathetic ring, in the back garden of the venue of her brother's wedding. He's sure Hannah's told her husband all about him, all the ways he broke her heart and took her for granted. So why is he basically letting him know that his marriage is failing?