140 Kill The Love!

Grace visits Catherine's house, she and Thelma were sitting in the living room talking to each other.

"Auntie, I will celebrate my birthday this coming Wednesday at my house I will be preparing some foods and special dishes, it's a dinner party. Come early Auntie at 6:00 in the evening, bring the kids and don't forget to tell Catherine. Ah, never mind I will call her myself," she said.

"Thanks for the invite Grace, we will be there!" replied Thelma.

Done talking to her Auntie, Grace was about to leave the place...

Jerome entered the door just in time.

Thelma smiled at Jerome.

"Hi...Grace!" Jerome greeted her.

"Hello, Jerome!" Grace returned his greetings.

"Grace, why don't you invite Jerome to your birthday party this coming Wednesday?" said Thelma.

Grace looked at Jerome hesitating a bit but she invited him anyways. "Jerome, you are invited to attend my birthday party held at my house this Wednesday at 6:00 PM. Hope you will attend, see you there!"

"Okay. Thanks, Grace I will attend for sure," he said smiling.

"I will go out now, Auntie, bye...Jerome," said Grace.

"Bye Grace...," replied Jerome.

When Grace was already out of the house, Thelma faced Jerome~her face was serious, she wants to tell him about Catherine and John's forthcoming wedding.

"Jerome, I have something to tell you..."

He looked at the older woman's face with interest. "What is it, Auntie?"

"Jerome I already have given my blessing to Catherine and John's wedding. All this time, I have been treating you just like my own son, I'm advising you to start forgetting my daughter from now on and starts finding another woman to love and shower your attention with. I wish you good luck," explained Thelma.

Jerome's face registered a shock, then extreme sadness, both his shoulders were crushing in defeat. He hadn't expected that Thelma will finally sever the last remaining hope he had so foolishly nurtured in his heart.

"Auntie, y-you mean to say, you no longer wanted me to be your son in law?" his voice was filled with pain and despair.

Thelma took a deep breath feeling sad and sorry for Jerome. "I'm so sorry, Jerome. No matter how hard you try my daughter can't learn to love you since she only regarded you as a friend. It's better that you start killing that love you had for her. You are a good man, you can easily find a woman who will love you back. Forget my daughter from now on," she said.

Jerome's heart was falling apart and being squeezed tight inside his rib cage, he had a hard time breathing. He wanted to break down in front of the older woman and cried himself to death but he controlled himself.

"Okay, Auntie. Thanks for informing me. Although it hurt so bad at least I know now I don't stand a chance with Catherine anymore. You are right, it's better to start teaching myself to forget her. It's for the best."

"You mean--- you will no longer visit us here?" asked Thelma.

Jerome nodded his head.

Thelma felt saddened. "Okay I understand, I wish you well Jerome. I'm so sorry for everything."

"It's okay Auntie, I understand. Don't worry I will be attending Grace birthday party this coming Wednesday for the last time. I wanted to see you all before I disappeared from your lives completely," he said in a sad voice. "I also wanted to say goodbye to Catherine for the last time."

Thelma sighed deeply.

He rose to his feet feeling empty inside. "I'm going home now, Auntie. Tell Catherine that I'm here."

"Okay. I will tell her."

Jerome gets out of the house with a heavy heart. He wants to drink all night today, he needs a drinking buddy to share his heartache and sadness or else he will go crazy alone on his own miseries. He texted Mark informing him that his heart just died today. He will be waiting for him in his favorite bar.

Mark replied that he will be in the bar within thirty minutes.

Jerome slid his helmet into his head then revives the engine of his motorbike and he was speeding right into the highway with suicidal thoughts running rampant through his head, almost colliding with the first vehicle that comes past him. If he was not quick enough to squeeze the front brake right on the nick of time he might already encounter a nasty road accident today. Wouldn't it better if he just died right now than live with the unbearable pain in his heart seeing the woman he loves about to get married to another guy in just three weeks time?

Fifteen minutes later he arrives in the bar safely...he will just drive carefully next time.

He starts drinking hard liquor the moment his drinks arrive. He wants to start getting drunk early to drown his sorrow away. He's gonna lose the first woman he ever love to another guy and it's so damn painful. He still had a hard time accepting the bitter truth that he will never see Catherine ever again. From now on he must start forgetting her.

Mark arrived at the bar sooner than the expected time.

"Bro, what's up? Why you texted me that you are dying? What's wrong?" he asked very much worried about his friend's well being.

Jerome smiled a bittersweet smile. "Auntie Thelma, my one and only ally finally given her blessing to John and Catherine for their upcoming wedding. I'm going to lose the first woman I ever love so fast! It's so painful bro! I think I wanna die..."

"....I wanna die...die!" he gulped more alcohol down his throat.

"...I wanna dieeeeeeee... die!" Jerome keeps repeating the words like it's a mantra, a magical balm that can erase the pain in his heart.

"Shhh, you're too young to die, Bro! Please stop saying that," said Mark.

Mark released a deep sigh and patted his friend's shoulder showing his sympathy. But deep inside he was happy learning that Catherine will finally get married to another guy so that Jerome can finally move on with his life. Too bad, he can't help his friends to ease his sorrow, he has to carry it on his own. The only thing he can do right now is to drink with him and listen to his heartaches and grievances and hopefully, by tomorrow Jerome will be back to his normal self again.

They continue drinking until 12:00 PM that night. Mark hired a taxicab to bring Jerome to his rented house since the latter can no longer walk on his own due to alcohol intoxication.

Inside Jerome's rented house...

Mark shook his head many times helping his friend settled comfortably into the bed. Then he goes back in the bar to get the motorcycle and rode it to his friend's place. After making sure everything is okay, Mark left his friend in a deep slumber in his room and go home to his own house. He will check on him tomorrow.