As if the situation couldn't get any worse. Not only had his dream woman taken pity on him by inviting him to the counsellor, due to his awkward and uncomfortable nature in social situations, leading to him following up denial and an accidental show of disappointment with a lie, but also atop all of that, the individual who Jack wanted to see the least had appeared at the same location.
"Oh wow! If it isn't Keats, what's going on mate? I thought you had quit, why are you still here? Wait a minute are you hitting on Jas? Ha-ha! No way! Talk 'bout out of your league!"
Delivering his demeaning words with such brutish confidence, it was the ringleader of the university dorm that Jack was staying in previously. His name was Liam Hayes. A guy who was in the same year as Jack and the rest of his roommates, who'd shared the same dorm for the last two years. As his actions at this moment show, his personality leaves much to be desired. An individual who was raised in an extraordinarily wealthy household, who has a mother who owns a hospital and a father who is a CEO of a game corporation, both were great contributing factors to his superiority complex.
Anyone who is lesser in status than him is beneath him, anyone who has what he wants, he will take it, and anyone who can contend with him must be eliminated one way or another. This was the reason why Jack had become a stone to be stepped on in the dorm. On their first meeting, Jack tolerated his terrible attitude, until at the end of the night he snapped and pulled him up on it. Stating that "we're all human at the end of the day, so take your wealthy background and shove it! We're all living in the same dorm, so let's get along properly, all tasks should be shared fairly."
Doing this invoked the rath of a smothered rich boy with power and he threatened the others in the dorms, who happened to be studying at the university with scholarships, to side with him or there would be hell to pay. Once again, this resulting in Jack becoming the dorm slave cooking every meal, cleaning every day and being the target to let loose verbally out of personal frustration.
Knowing what kind of person Liam was, Jack tried to hurriedly get away but the group Liam walked into the reception area and deliberately blocked off the escape route. Trying to hide how uncomfortable she felt in the situation, the subject of Jack's affection 'Jas', turned her face to her shoulder to try and a look away at the scene unfolding. Being the manipulative and controlling individual that he was, Liam walked past Jack, and slung his arm around her shoulders, leaving Jack wide-eyed and in shock. This was the moment where Liam's plan would come to fruition, although Jack had left the dorm, he'd not finished playing with him and what better way to break a man completely than to destroy his heart in a moment's notice.
"Haha… You see Jack, this is the difference between us. You desire what you can't have, I mean look at her. Jasmine is so beautiful; you could even argue she was a goddess in her past life and guess what? She's mine! We've been together since the start of the second year, so a good 6 months so far. Don't believe me? Well…"
Placing his index finger under her chin and his thumb under her lip, Liam lightly tilted her face towards him and kissed her for a few seconds. Jasmine blushed and tried to hide her face, openly explaining to Jack that she was sorry as she wasn't aware of how he felt about her, along with that being the reason he was acting strange around her. To quell the awkward situation, she also attempted to get Liam to stop, by lightly tugging on his shirt sleeve and asking him to stop, as what he was doing wasn't 'very nice'. However, Liam had other plans. Right now, Jack was like a glass with a crack in it, all it needed was a little more pressure before it would shatter, and that was indeed his plan.
"Oh, and guess what Keats… Now that I think about it, you just came out from the admin office, right? So, you're quitting uni for good then? Haha, well that's fine by me since we've got an empty room in the dorm, maybe when no-one else is home me and 'Jas' might mistake your old room and your old bed as ours in the year that you're away, such a shame eh…"
With a strong statement aimed directly to his core, followed by a sinister smile upon his face, Jack's glass shattered into a thousand pieces. His deep unrequited love, which held no chance in the first place, fell apart, stolen from him by the man who made him suffer for 2 years. Lost for words with a sharp pain in his chest, Jack lowered his head to the floor to try and hide the tears forming at the corner of his eyes, turning towards the doors and ran out of the building.
Jasmine tried to reach out her arm to stop him, but to control the situation once more and turn things in his favour further, Liam made sure to act. Placing his hand on top of her outstretched arm and lightly lowering it. He pulled her close to him and held her tight.
"You know, you shouldn't worry too much about him 'Jas'. You may feel pity for someone like him but don't. He's just a leech who wants to be the centre of attention, some people really don't know their place in the world like him. Oh, and one more thing, remember when you told me you were in the library studying at night for the exams a couple of weeks ago? One of the lads told me they saw him a few tables down staring at you. Creepy right?"
Not knowing how to react, she responded with a simple 'mmm' and a confused, but saddened expression followed. She felt something towards this whole situation and was sure something was amiss, however, blinded by either her naivety or affection for him, she never doubted Liam one bit and followed him, along with the other guys from the dorm to the lunch hall.
-
-
-
Rushing through the front door, flicking off his shoes, throwing his bag and coat on the sofa, letting the wind slam the door behind him shut, Jack headed straight for his bedroom door to hide away from the world. His head was in complete disarray, confused on how to feel with his first and most painful experience with any form of romance, along with dried tear stains that had run down the side of his face.
"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT? WHAT'S GOING ON!?"
A loud shout echoes from the front room before Jack could even get to his bedroom door. It was his little sister Rachel. Although she was supposed to be home a little later, due to plans with her friend not following through, she had managed to get home a lot earlier than planned. Jack's sister used to be a very quiet and sweet girl, however, after finishing high school and now in her last year of college, she had become quite the opposite. A woman who's not afraid to be tough and loud, showing how she really feels whenever she wants to.
She turned her head around over the top of the sofa towards the hallway, where all this sound had originated from with a very pissed off expression, as her quiet TV time that she enjoys had been rudely interrupted. But, much to her surprise, she saw Jack in a very miserable state as he stormed past her silently, rushing into his room. Silence. Nothing but silence followed once he'd entered his room. In the eyes of Rachel, it was as if she had just witnessed an Elephant kick in the front door, rampage through the hallway to the door of this room, then vanished into thin air.
The shock alone of the look on his face made the house desolate. The TV, although still turned on was made silent from the uneasy aura in the house at this moment. This was the first time she had seen her brother like this. He was always reserved, to himself and never beaming with joyful emotion, but she had never seen him with a red tear-stained, pained face as she had just now. For just a moment, Rachel had returned to her former pre-high school self.
"Hey… Jack? Are you okay? What's up?"