AN: Not proofread. Kindly excuse the errors.
Rating : General audience
Disclaimer : All fictional characters in this story belong to their respective owners.
====================================================
Homewrecker! Ugh that word seems just too harsh! But the funniest thing was men were never called that, Jonah mused to himself. If women fell in love with married men, then they were called amongst other swear words, a homewrecker... But when the third wheel in a marriage was a man, then again the so called society blamed the female saying her morals weren't good for having an affair, while that man who was having the affair with the married lady isn't even mentioned unless he's a celebrity! Oh such a biased society!
Well just as that thought settled in his mind, he was now confused as to whether he really wanted to be called a 'homewrecker' himself! But then his righteous conscious which was oh so lovingly drilled into his head by his dearest 'call a spade a spade' ma, would never let him be... So in the essence of it he knew he was one especially as he saw Amy in a group hug with Emma and Adam. As he sat in his bed drunk from the 'I survived a tornado' drink fest with his colleagues from later that evening, he could just ponder whether he was really drinking to the tornado survival or that life changing kiss survival... But his tortured mind couldn't take any more of his heavy weight thinking and decided to just blank out due to exhaustion.
The next day he realised surviving a tornado was so much more than hiding under a cupboard for the storm to pass... It was more about the after math of that storm. As he woke up around noon, the first thing he realised that he was very very late for his work and just as he sprung up to run to his bathroom to get ready for whatever day was left, he remembered the state of the building from yesterday... It didn't even have a roof!
Jonah was suddenly very concerned about a lot of things and chief amongst it was whether he had a job or not! His immediate reflex reaction was to pick his phone and dial speed dial 3 because well first two were his ma and pa... But just as it was going to ring, he disconnected the call. The happenings of yesterday was coming back to him like a mini tornado in itself and suddenly being employed or not wasn't his primary concern anymore!
Amy! He had kissed Amy yesterday! Oh my God! He really did kiss Amy yesterday that too sitting under the diarrhoea medicine cupboard! Ugh what way to remember a life changing kiss, seriously couldn't they have chosen some interesting medicine rack or at least vitamin supplement rack? Ah well, what was done was done, at least they didn't die yesterday, so that's a point right there, those meds really did their work and stopped all the motion! He laughed at his own potty humour and turned to face the mirror. As if his reflection had more sense than himself, he suddenly realized he was simple stalling from thinking about the actual topic here.
He had kissed Amy and today even though its half past noon Amy still hadn't called him like she usually did when he was late to work. Well ok there may not be a place to work now, but still if it hadn't been for that kiss she would have at least called him by now to inform him about the work status or something lame which she must have surely heard from the corporate, being the part of the management team; but no, no missed calls at all... So she might have ended the conversation with thanking him for the support and completely sidestepping the kiss part, but this lack of communication from her part indicated that she too was affected by that kiss to some extent even if not to the extent he was. Suddenly the word 'homewrecker' and the wish to be called one cropped into his head as some foggy memory. The choice of word 'wish' his mind chose to enlighten him with his memory made him a little shamefaced. Well, because his crystal clear conscience now became even more clearer by accepting that he would be, truth be said, slightly happy , oh who was he kidding, he would be immensely if he was called a homewrecker because that meant that the lady in question, Amy, really did love him more than her husband!
Somehow Amy not calling him was a good sign. If she had called and behaved like nothing life changing happened yesterday, he doesn't know what he would have done because as the minutes are passing by he is having some life altering epiphanies right there in front of the mirror! And the most important of them all was that he, Jonah Simms was in love with his best friend cum work wife, Amy Dubanowski! Oh my God! No crush, no dating, no courting, direct to effing love! And yeah not to mention everlasting kind of love because the second epiphany was that he was a sucker of a romantic at heart! But now think of it people did say that he looked like he had a crush on Amy and may be all those coffee breaks they took together may be considered dating? And as for courting, well truly what does it even mean these days? He was just happy that at least there were signs earlier even if he had failed to recognise them, his clairvoyant colleagues had apparently recognised them for what it was and that's enough for him.
The third epiphany was that, that being in love was plain scary! He has had dozens of relationships till now staring from his sweet nothings during his middle school times, but he was sure that nothing cut even remotely close to what he was feeling for Amy now. The emotion which he was feeling is what people called phenomenal because you simply can't quantify it. It wasn't there till yesterday and suddenly today it is all that is there, like his existence depends on it. Like he said, simply scary... Because what if this all-consuming emotion, this almost supernatural energy which has suddenly possessed him was not welcome by the other party? What if Amy asks why was he being such a child about a simple kiss which was done at a moment of extreme vulnerability? What would he do then? Well some questions are better left unanswered because you really wish that circumstance to know the answer never actually comes. So to keep his sanity, Jonah kept that question in the back burner, oh well who cares, he is shifting it directly to cold storage!
For now Jonah had a plan forming in his head and the first step was to call her. He was sure Amy wouldn't even in the remote imagination mention about that kiss and will just try to be her usual self and he won't mind that because that just was the first step. If he was right the corporate would have either asked them to work in different branches of cloud nine, which he thinks isn't what they said because if that was the case his temporary new boss would have called him by now. So it must be the second thing, a short sabbatical till the building is functional. Well since he was a permanent employee of cloud nine, he was sure they haven't kicked him out without intimation, so his best guess would be that it must be some semi paid leave sort of thing, which was good. It was much better than having to deal with two disasters at once, being in love and being jobless at the same time, imagine that! Thank God for small mercies!
So assuming that she informs him of the short sabbatical when he calls her, he would casually ask her about how everything's with her family which if his gut feelings are right would surely trigger her thoughts of the kiss and would try to be extra friendly in denial, which is exactly what he wants. If she is in denial she would accept his friendly offer to have coffee sometime this week to while away holiday blues. She would try hard to be a friend and he would take that opportunity to make her realize that acceptance was more liberating than living in denial.
Well yeah may be he was breaking her home but he is sure that insides of her house were already rotten from inside that it would eventually collapse on its own very soon. Adam didn't deserve her. For God's sake even that idiot Marcus realised her value, albeit somewhat offensively with his choice of words, but he did and Adam who actually had a chance with that wonderful woman was blowing it big time! He just couldn't believe that one man's stupidity was going to be his only chance at true love. Jonah didn't know what to feel about that but decided that his mind palace cold storage had plenty of space to spare for such thoughts. But yes, in this whole situation the only person he really felt bad for was Emma. But then again his brain rationalized that wasn't it better for her to have a family who are loving but not together than being together but not loving or happy? Also he was sure he would get along pretty greatly with that kid because she it seems to have more Amy than Adam in her genes. It would be all happy and perfect in the end, at least that's the ultimate dream...
So after finalizing the plan he said a small prayer and took the final plunge. He called Amy and she picked up on the third ring. He was feeling greatly happy hearing her voice just the way he had expected, tense at first and then gradually normal. She then again told him exactly what he had expected, it was the semi paid leave arrangement which corporate had actually agreed. So far so good, so he went ahead and casually reminded her of the kiss in an indirect way by talking about the building's condition and days it might take to repair it and finally thanking God for surviving it together. He could hear slight difference in her breathing and he did a silent fist pump in the air. Then as per plan he went ahead and suggested about getting coffee but to his initial scare she refused! She said she was planning to visit her brother in the country side for few days and take advantage of the unexpected paid leaves.
Jonah started to panic as his plans were derailing but it wasn't some lame attempt to sell some ludicrous item to someone who doesn't need it, it was the matter of his precious life and he wasn't going to let it go without a fight! So he persisted saying they could have the coffee when she came back then because he would really miss his 'friend'. The subtle pressure of the word 'friend' helped and she agreed saying," Of course Jonah, why not, I too will miss my friend." Her shrillness of 'friend' indicated that she surely was citizen of the denial world, which for now he didn't mind in the least. He has got his chance and he won't lose it! He would woo her like no one would ever had! Oh he would be as cool as cucumber and as effective as it too... In this game tortoise is his guru, slow and steady would be his mantra.
He knows his journey ahead would be hard but when he imagines the life he would have with her and their two imaginary kids and Emma in a small but comfortable home, he knows everything in this world put together won't be equal to that happiness. May be now he will finally complete that B school he left in the middle. May be he will start working for some corporate and then later may be start his own start up? Or maybe not, that seems a little too far-fetched, maybe he would just find some cool corporate to work with where work would be fun as well paid!
He would surely make himself financially secure enough to deserve her and give her the freedom to do the type of work she really enjoys unlike what Adam was making her do by putting that financial burden on her shoulders alone. He, Jonah would be her pillar of strength and support her during every tornado which they will face in their life. Just the thought of her being next to her for the rest of the life made him open his laptop and check for school completion procedures because when it comes to Amy, he decided actions would be better than words. Love truly was a magic potion!
===========================================
AN : Feedback is appreciated. :)
Video is not mine, Video credit to the maker. :)