Chapter 10|The Mistake

"I love our energy today!" Jesse shouted across the auditorium to his students on the stage. "This is what we need to get into Nationals! Alright we will end with this for today, dismissed!" Jesse shouted as his students scattered to leave the auditorium.

"Mr. Cochran!"

"Hey, Mindy! It is Mindy, right" He asked, double checking.

Mindy exploded to a high-pitched giggle that made her sound like a high school girl with a petty crush but Jesse didn't seem to mind. "Yes, it's Mindy."

"What brings you here?"

"Well, I was wondering, if you'd be interested to have coffee with me." She said shyly in a sweet flirty voice.

"I would love to, but I promised my girlfriend that I'd pick her up." He said hinting to her with the word 'girlfriend'.

"Oh, well that's okay. Maybe another time then." She said hiding her disappointment behind her make-up.

"Bye!" He said and walked out of the auditorium leaving Mindy alone.

***

"Here's to beating the deadline!" Mark said and everyone cheered. "Enjoy everyone, you all deserve it!" He walked down from the stage and made his way towards Anais. "Hey, beautiful!"

"Hi, Mark!" She said. Jesse was beside her, arm wrapped around her waist. He flinched at the way Mark called his girlfriend. He stepped closer but An pinched his body fat on the waist. "Behave, that's my boss." She warned him under her breath.

An and Jesse enjoyed the champagne and they mingled a little more with her co-workers, Mark spent most of the evening talking to An. Soon they had to call it a night. Jesse was quiet for the whole drive but An didn't give too much thought into it, thinking maybe he was just tired. When they reached home, he slammed the door behind him.

"I don't want you to work for him."

"What?" She said, taken by surprise by his remark.

"Quit your job."

"Are you serious?" She scoffed, raising her voice a little in anger.

"Yes."

"Can you hear yourself right now?" She said angrily.

"What part of 'quit you job' don't you understand?" He said also raising his voice in anger. "An, what kind of boss flirts with his employee?!"

"You have to stop it with this! Seriously! Its been years now and you're still acting this way!"

"I have every right to! I want you to quit your job!" He said shouting in his full anger voice.

"You're being really selfish!" She said, tears threatening to fall. "I can't take this right now." She aimed for the door but Jesse stopped her.

"Don't! I'll go!" He said and slammed the door in front her. She broke down into a muffled sob as she lean against the door with her hand over her mouth.

***

The doorbell rang non-stop. An got out of bed hoping it was Jesse on the other side of the door. She took in a deep breath and readied herself to apologize.

"Jesse--" She started as she opened the door only to find her drunk boyfriend's arm draped across a girl she never met. She threw a confusing look.

"Oh, I'm Mindy! Jesse's co-worker." She said and extended a had for An to shake. She mindlessly took it and carried Jesse back in. An closed the door as Mindy left and she laid Jesse on the sofa.

"Mindy! One more shot!" Jesse said while giggling drunkenly.

"Unbelievable!" She scoffed with pain and anger. Jesse, still drunk with bottles on both hands, suddenly stood up. He wobbled his way towards her. "I'm going to sleep." She said and turned around. Jesse wrapped his hands around her.

"Don't go, An!"

"Get off me!" She said prying his arms off her which wasn't so hard, considering he was drunk.

"Why! What's wrong with you!" He shouted behind her. She closed her eyes to keep the tears at bay and inhaled.

"Me?! Take a look at yourself! You went drinking with another woman and came home past midnight!" She screamed and let out the breath she was holding in.

"You were the one flirting with Mark!"

"I can't believe you!" She screamed in disbelief. "Will you drop this! This isn't about me, anymore! This is about some petty thing you're obsessing over! It's my job and he's my boss!"

"So what? Now, you're defending him?!" He said raising his beer bottles a little too close to her.

"I'm not!"

"You go out to work early in the morning and you come home late with that stupid smile plastered on your face! Then you tell me you're just tired from work! Maybe tired from SCREWING AROUND WITH HIM!" He yelled as her tears burst out like waterfalls on her cheeks.

"Stop it!" She said pushing him away.

"What! Nothing to say?!" He said coming near her again only to be pushed back again by her.

"I said stop it!"

"Of course, you've got nothing to say! It's all true isn't it!"

"Stop it! You're not yourself right now!" She said covering her ears. Jesse screamed out curse words and punched the air.

An closed her eyes and and still covered her ears. Out of nowhere, she felt a sharp pain on the left side of her head, she felt liquid dripping down her hand. Jesse, who was still screaming, said something along the lines of "Screw you! Screw Mark!" Then slammed the door behind him. Her knees felt weak, she fell onto the hard floor and her vision started to blur. Before everything went black, she desperately reached for the phone and dialed the only numbers that came into her mind.

»»————-　★　————-««

"I'm so sorry, An!" He sobbed, "I'm sorry!" He cried non-stop as the event kept replaying in his mind. He fell to the ground and threw his fists on the damp grass. He didn't care that the blood started clotting on the edge of his palm, he threw punches as hard as the ground, as if doing it would bring her back. He regretted so much things. He wanted to take back everything he did and said. He wished he could turn back time.

But it was all too late.

She is gone.

Gone.