Chapter Text
Saying Jeff is pissed was an understatement. He’s livid.
He pushes back on the arranged marriage forcefully.
“Jeff, son, don’t be like this.” His mother pleads. “I promise you’ll be happy.”
Jeff scowls deeply. He loves his mom to pieces and would normally do anything she asked, but this was one thing he won’t agree to.
“Mom! You know I love Nene and am planning to marry her. I even showed you the ring.” He points out in frustration.
“Honey,” His mom cups his face. “We already talked about this. It’s going to happen. We agreed to it.”
Grabbing her hands he pulls away. “You agreed to it. I didn’t!”
“Jeffy, have you forgotten? You agreed to it, too.” She reminds.
He opens his mouth to deny it, but closes it immediately. He remembered a time she had brought it up a few years ago. He didn’t have a girlfriend then, being mostly focused on his music at the time. He had agreed to it at a time he had felt hopeless about finding a love of his own, but that had changed when he met Nene. They’ve been together 2 years now and she is the one he wants to be with forever.
He vaguely remembers his mother reminding him of his agreement through the years, once in a while, but it mostly went in one ear and out the other, too focused on his music and Nene to really let it sink it. He grimaces. Fuck.
They stare at each other in silence, neither budging on their stance. They are both stubborn people, but one has to give in eventually.
Finally, sighing softly, she nods. “Alright dear. I’ll call them and let them know that I can’t keep my end of the promise. I’m sure they’ll understand, so don’t worry.”
Jeff grits his teeth. He knows what shes doing, she is trying to guilt trip him, but he refuses to back down. He is going to propose to Nene and they are going to get married and be happy together. That has been the plan for some time.
As he watches his mom chat away on the phone for a bit his resolve starts to crumble. He always wants his mom to be happy, she is sad about not being able to honor promise, he can tell, and so he makes the decision before he can stop himself.
“Fine. I’ll do it.” He can do a lot of things, but one thing he’ll never do is embarrass her and make her lose face, even if it meant going against himself.
Her eyes lit up and she continues on to make plans for him and his future partner to meet.
Walking out silently he calls Nene. “Are you busy?” He asks defeated.
“No.” She responds quickly. “Is something wrong? You sound off.”
“Can we meet? It’s important.”
They meet in the park they always go to when they just want to be together in quietness and enjoy each others company.
They sit on a park bench in silence. Anxiety eating at the both of them. One from not knowing what was going on and the other from trying to decide the best way to tell her the news.
“Jeff, what’s wrong? You’re scaring me.”
Better just get it over with he decides. “Nene…” he pauses for a moment. “I’m getting married.”
Nene burst out laughing, feeling her nerves melt away. “Jeff, stop joking. Why are we really here?”
He watches her silently and her smile slowly fades. “You’re joking right?” She asks weakly, already knowing the answer before he says anything.
Turning to stare further into the park a scowl pulls at his lips. “It’s an arranged marriage.” He sighes. “I had completely forgotten it. Maybe I just didn’t want to acknowledge it.”
“Oh.” She murmured “Well, maybe we can go talk to your mom? She likes me, doesn’t she? I’m sure she’d listen to us.”
“I already tried talking to her. She agreed to stop it, but… I don’t know.” He mutters. “It felt like I was being a bad son. I know I’m not, but something felt wrong about denying her this.”
Tears fell from her eyes and he felt his eyes well up, too. Taking a deep breath he cups her face gently, brushing her tears away with his thumbs. “It’ll be ok. I’ll think of something. Trust me, ok?”
She nods. “Always.”
After spending a little more time together they went their separate ways. He had to think of something quick.
Nothing was coming to mind, so he calls for some outside help. He texts his closest friends and they meet up at a bar.
Giving them the rundown of what was going on, they looked dumbfounded.
Apo whistles low. “Damn, that’s a hell of a problem you got.”
“How could you forget such an important thing?” Mile said.
“Thinking about it, it is kind of your fault for now remembering this.” Apo comments unapologetically.
Jeff should have known this would happen. His friends aren’t ones to beat around the bush, he both loves and hates that about them.
“Can we focus, please. I asked for advice, not blame.”
Neither spoke for a good while, looking thoughtful. “Would it be so bad? Taking Nene out of the equation, is something else putting you off?”
“First and last of all, I love Nene, I only want to marry her.” He groused out.
Again, silence took over. There was something bugging mile about this.
“You had an out, Jeff, why didn’t you take it?” Mile questions. “Don’t say because of your mom because that’s not all, right?”
That hadn’t been the only reason. He didn’t know why he didn’t take it. He just felt like he couldn’t say no. Something was stopping him from taking the out, but what?
“I don’t know.” He reluctantly admits.
Mile just hums quietly.
“Do you know who it is?” Apo asks.
Jeff shakes his head. “One of my moms childhood friend’s kid. I’ve never met them.”
“Wow, as arranged as it can get, huh?” Apo whistles again. “You’ve never even met them.”
“What am I supposed to do?” Jeff is desperate for a solution.
Mile spoke up. “Well, I have an idea, but you’ll probably hate it.”
“I’ll try anything.” Jeff said eagerly.
“Marry them.”
“Wha-“ Jeff got cut off.
Mile continues as if Jeff hadn’t almost interrupted. “Marry them and then divorce after some time.”
Apo snaps his fingers. “Smart. After that you can say you fulfilled the promise. It just didn’t work out.”
“Of course, unfortunately, you might not be able to be with Nene for a while to make it believable that you’re trying.” Mile mentions.
Jeff mulls it over. Is that the only way? Go along with this and give up Nene for who knows how long?
“I feel like such a loser.” Jeff suddenly says. “I want to be with Nene, but I can’t even go against my mom for her.”
“Everything happens for a reason, Jeff.” Apo, ever the optimist, says. “Maybe this’ll change your life.”
“Yeah, to one of misery.” He groans.
“Only if you let it.” Mile said.
Since they were done talking they paid and left. Standing by their cars they talk a bit more.
“Do you get the meet them before you marry?” Apo asks curiously.
“We’re meeting them tomorrow for dinner.”
“Good luck then.” Mile pats his shoulder.
“Tell us about it after?” Apo suggests.
“Yeah, I will.”
Once home he immediately calls Nene and told her his thoughts on the plan. She rejects the plan and insists on just talking it out with both parties. He is hesitant about it.
“Don’t worry, Nene. It’ll all work out in the end.” He promises.
What the fuck. He is so frustrated with himself. Not only is he hurting Nene, but himself as well.
He promises to take her out soon, so they could talk things out properly, and that he will end things as quickly as possible.
“I love you.” He says firmly.
“I love you, too.” She responds through tears before hanging up.
He doesn’t know what the future holds. Right now all he knows is he isn’t looking forward to dinner tomorrow.