Forced Marriage: Escaping Her Monster

Holding her hand, Jeremy knelt in front of her, making her stunned for a moment.

"What are you doing?" she asked but he scrolled down his phone. 

The light from the phone revealed the smile on his face. Jerlina covered her face with her free hand as a piece of soft music started to play on his phone.

Is he recreating the famous serenading scene from 'Say Anything' by replacing the boombox with his phone?

Well, I'm down for that! What song is he going to play?

She couldn't stop giggling and her face blushed red. She looked at his face and he was looking at her with a soft smile. He was happy to see her reaction and that was obvious.

"When I look into your eyes... It's like watching the night sky..."

Jeremy was the one who started to sing.

"What are you..?" Jerlina didn't think that he'd actually start to sing and her heart started to pound.

"And just like them old stars... I see that you've come so far... To be right where you are... How old is your soul?"

Jerlina placed her hand on her cheek and listened to him. He had memorized the lyrics and sang from his heart.

"I won't give up on us... Even if the skies get rough... I'm giving you all my love... Still looking up..."

He sang placing his hand on his heart as if he was making an oath and Jerlina's eyes misted. 

"Thank you, Joel," she hugged him around his neck. 

"There, there," he rubbed her back. " Are you crying?"

"No, I am not..." She wiped the tear at the corner of her eyes.

She didn't know what she should do for the man who loves her this much.

Sitting on the bench, they drank the beer. While she was yet to finish one bottle, he had finished two.

"Joel, what were you planning to do after getting me drunk?" she asked and he chuckled.

"If I wanted to get you drunk, I'd have taken you to the pub, Honeybuns."

Well, that makes sense.

Jeremy watched her slowly sipping the beer. Her lashes were long and curled, they almost touched her eyebrows. Her lips were glistening and her eyes held that unusual charm he could not resist. 

He was worrying if she would find this date amusing. There were some hiccups when he lost it with those teenagers. He thought her mood might get ruined and she'd ask to return home, but she enjoyed everything.

And that's all he wanted – to see her happy.

And judging by today, he could see that it doesn't take a lot for her to be happy.

When he bought her expensive gifts she looked uncomfortable, but she looks the happiest with takeout meals and a night out in the wild.

Isn't she amazing? 

"What?" he asked seeing her standing up. He didn't want to leave for home yet.

"It's cold," after sitting on the bench for a while, Jerlina wanted more of his warmth.

She sat curling up, on his lap and he wrapped his arms around her. 

He kissed her earlobe and it was cold. "I am sorry I didn't offer you my jacket," he rubbed her hands between his hands to warm her up.

"But you left it in the car. And... isn't this much better?" she rested on his arm.

"Yeah..." he hugged her and they sat in silence watching the river.

"Jerlina..." 

"Hmm..."

"Jerly..?"

"Hmm?"

Jeremy went back to pondering about her name.

"Erlin..." 

"What?" Jerlina now didn't understand what he was doing.

"Erie...Jerie... Nah!"

"Jerly..?"

Jerlina stopped replying to him. That guy seemed to be in his own thoughts.

"Whenever I look at the moon, I think of you, Jerlina," he whispered in her ear and Jerlina's heart started to pound.

She remembered Mark's words that Jeremy still goes to the rock they met and stare at the moon like a lonely wolf.

"Do you love looking at the moon much?" she asked.

"I do. I don't know if looking at the moon reminds me of you or I look at the moon remembering you... But..."

"You associate the moon with me?" she asked and placed her hand over his arm.

"Yes."

"Only you have the moon... the tattoo... I noticed that others only have just the wolf..." She couldn't speak well as her throat felt heavy. She didn't know if she could hold on to unrequited love for as long as he did.

"Yes, because I am not me without you," he whispered in her ears.

"Joel, you..." her eyes clouded and she turned to look at him. He had a very soft smile.

Don't give me credit for what you achieved! I am not that great.

She decided to talk to him about that night. She wanted to know how she made that big an impression on him when she just talked to him for a while. 

The other thing... she knew she sucked. Her sexual prowess might not have impressed him that much and made him hold on to her for ten years. 

"I thought that a night like this was where everything went wrong for me," she hugged his arm. 

Jeremy's heart skipped a beat. 

Is she meaning that night? Was it that much of a bad night for her? Did she avoid me because of that?

"Why?" he asked since he decided to know.

 "When I was in high school... I got a fake ID and went to the pub..."

She started to speak and Jeremy's heart started to race.

"I got drunk and met a guy... he had a goatee and was pleasant to talk to. And we... He thought I was an adult and I knew what I was doing so...But I forgot his face and name the next day. I missed the assignment and copied Emma and the whole saga of me running away scared from you, thinking that you're going to get back at me happened... So for a long time, I considered that night; that mistake of me using a fake ID and enter the pub as the biggest mistake of my life."

"Now you changed your mind?" Jeremy asked. He couldn't understand what she was getting at.

"I..." Jerlina let out a deep breath. 

Meeting him has changed her life for good in a lot of ways.

"Today, standing at my dad's grave, I felt angry at him, you know?" she opened up to him. "I shouldn't be angry at a dead person and I felt guilty about it, but..."

"It's okay...you don't have to feel guilty for that," he rubbed her arms.

"Yeah, I knew you'd say that," she let out a short chuckle. "He – my dad knew my grandpa wanted to leave the company with me and yet my dad... He... If not for..." She took a deep breath and turned to look at him.

"If not for you, if you didn't..." She held his cheek and her eyes watered.

"How did you...?" He knitted his brows.

He wondered if that is the reason for her changes. 

If that is the reason, he didn't know what he felt about it.