John and Marlena (Finally) Get a Q!

Chapter 60 - Frustrations

John backed behind the shrub again and looked up at the sky, trying to ignore the turmoil that was threatening to tear his chest apart. He couldn't believe what he had just heard. This whole situation was becoming more unreal by the minute, and he could have almost convinced himself that he was dreaming, if only the pain didn't feel so agonizingly palpable.

His eyes were burning as he looked back at the couple on the park bench. He felt the pain stab achingly at him again as he saw Eugene smile and caress Marlena's face. The smile she returned threatened to choke him. He knew that look only too well, and like the simple words she had uttered earlier, it sent lancing pains through him. That look and those words should be for him, they had been for years until he had screwed it up. Until he had driven her away through his ignorance and sheer stupidity.

Marlena threaded her fingers through Eugene's hair and leaned forward. John watched her deposit a sweet and gentle kiss on the other man's lips, and he moaned noiselessly. Surely this couldn't be happening to him. It was all too bizarre. How could he have lost her to Eugene Bradford, of all people?

He closed his eyes again, a swallow forcing its way down his parched throat. He turned away, the silence from the bench too much for him, and slipped behind the bush again, an unnoticed shadow to the other participants in the tableau.

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Peter placed the portable phone on the table and looked at it in disbelief. Without Stefano around to keep her in check, Kristen was becoming more and more unhinged as time went on. It wasn't just the fact that she was so insistent on chasing John around when he so obviously didn't want her, but it was also the way she was going about it.

Peter knew some of what Kristen was going through. It had taken him a long time to come to terms with the fact that however much he wanted Jennifer, she didn't want anything to do with him now. But it seemed that the more distanced he became from Stefano's memory, the more he seemed to be able to accept that fact. He didn't like it, but unless he wanted to forcibly take Jenn and Abby and spirit them away somewhere no one could find them, what more could he do? And what good had that done Stefano after all his repeated attempts? He was dead and the good Dr. Evans was still in love with John Black.

But Kristen seemed to be using a different line of reasoning. To her, the only aim was to keep John within her grasp, no matter what it cost her, or anyone else. She had lost any shred of dignity she'd ever had, and she seemed to be sinking deeper into a delusion that mired her in opprobrium.

Even worse than this was the haphazard way she came up with her plans to win John back. They had ceased to even make any sense to Peter anymore. Of course, he wasn't under the illusion that John had any feelings left for Kristen other than disgust. But she was his sister, and as such he was duty-bound to help her in her hopeless quest. And hopeless it was.

It seemed more than obvious to him that John would never love anyone the way he loved Marlena, and even though they weren't together at the moment and having evident problems, nothing would ever make him turn back to Kristen.

But, like a dutiful brother, Peter had done as Kristen had requested and kept a man on John until he had disappeared several days ago. And, since John had not yet returned from his trip, Kristen had now decided that she would take fate into her own hands and move a large proportion of her belongings back into John's loft. What good that would do, Peter had no idea. But that was what she wanted, and that was what she would get.

Peter sighed and rubbed his forehead as he picked up the phone again. It was going to be a long night.

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