He slammed the door, barging in with loud, heavy footsteps.
"What got Bigfoot so angry?" Jonah teased, knowing fully well why.
Asher didn't respond. Instead, he walked down to the coffee maker and accidentally stepped on Jonah's half bag of chips on his way.
"Dude… that was my therapy snack," Jonah got up to pick his crunched chip.
"It wasn't my chips who kept rejecting you," Jonah taunted, instantly forgetting the devil's gaze on him, but in other words… he enjoyed it.
"What are you still doing at my house?" Asher asked.
"Give me a break, I've been here for only three days, and I would say my stay here has been tremendous… and the city,"
"Wow!! – it's made for me, unlike someone I know," he chewed his last words.
"I hate you," Asher spat.
"I am so glad you do," Jonah replied.
Asher's demeanor had shifted from anger to something of comfort — tough comfort.
"I saw the man she is to wed," Asher continued his sob.
"Really? He couldn't be more handsome than you," Jonah replied in his humorous language.
"As if… he called her his betrothed," Asher continued narrating.
"Betrothed?… Who uses that in 2025? That is so 1980s. Was he born in black and white?" Jonah went on.
"Jonah," Asher called him, obviously tired of his one-sided jokes.
"Would it kill you to be serious?"
"I'm not the one in love, but I'll continue listening," Jonah responded.
"She was crying under the rain, and we were in the moment… I gave her my hand, and for once she took it, without pushing me away."
"And just when she was about to say what her heart always echoes, that mother-sucking poke-noser comes like an unexpected hero."
"And the drama goes on," Jonah lamented.
"Did you two fight?" Jonah questioned.
"Emerald stepped in and fainted," Asher toned his voice.
"And you're here and not with her because?" Jonah asked, confused.
Normally, on a scale of one to ten on fear, Asher was supposed to be by a thousand by now — and he didn't.
"Simeon took her home," Asher answered, defeated.
"Oh… oh," Jonah laughed hard; it almost choked him.
"It's not funny!" Asher told him with pity.
"But it is, my dear friend. You lost to him… you, Asher Carter — the man who always got what he wants — was turned down and defeated… all because of love," Jonah said each word with a hint of mockery and also surprise.
"What do you want me to do, Jonah? I am not in her world… I cannot find a way to care for her without causing serious aftereffects."
"So I gave in, just for today… not because of him, but for her, and her peace of mind — even though my heart roared when his filthy hands touched her," Asher explained.
"You know, you truly fascinate me," Jonah looked mid-serious now.
"You have always gotten what you wanted, but now, you're letting what is already yours slip away."
"Have you ever wondered why I don't date?" Jonah awaits his one-in-a-million word answer.
"Because you hate commitment," Asher replied.
"No — because I'm scared of it."
"I am scared to love because I know if I do — I would break every dimension to win her, and I would let the thoughts of others bleed and create a peaceful manger just for us…"
"If I ended up falling in love, I'm scared I will love so hard and true that it would hit the bones of many," Jonah declared, with a pinch of honesty in his eyes.
"Don't look at me, I said if… yours is now and real," he added, seeing how Asher looked like he had turned into Shakespeare.
"Emerald is not just one of maybe to you… she is the whole thing. I have seen it in the way your behaviors are connected to the way she treats you."
"So you have your muse — be her fuse. Be a man! Must I tutor you on everything?" Jonah exhilarated.
"Love coach with no experience," Asher willed his coffee, understating every single thing Jonah said.
"Or you can just watch Mr. I-am-a-poet take your girl by an engagement ring. Either way, I get free food at a wedding," Jonah turned unserious again, leaving Asher on a meter.
"You are a clown in a brilliant mind," Asher rebuked.
"And handsome — girls like funny clowns with a model face," Jonah showcased his facials to Asher.
"Get out of my sight," Asher cursed him with his tongue.
"The best thing I heard from you, bro," Jonah turned to leave, but turned to get his forgotten item.
"Can't forget my chips," he shook it up to vex him.
"Hope your melodrama doesn't shake like this."
Asher was alone in his mini kitchen, tablets downed in coffee, his received advice at the back of his mind — and a zeal to fight for his love.