For You

Chapter 25: Making a Decision

AN: Before the chapter starts I wanna thank those lovely people here for leaving me some feedback: LynKiin, Deandra62930, EndieplaysMC, ZamaThePerson, Siempie_, ThatGirlAthens, MikeyBolts69, HyperGirl207, EmmoyDino_FTW & MistyMidnightFoxx!

Music tip:
Maroon 5 - It Was Always You
(look at the beginning of the chapter!)

For You

Chapter 25:
Making a Decision

"You have no idea how glad I am that you actually made it!"

His cheerful voice reached his smiling friend without a problem and just mere seconds later he embraced Adam with a more proper greeting. Despite the thick rain clouds in the sky his mood had not been this high in a long time and Jin, who knew about his momentarily troubled relationship with Alesa, skeptically furrowed his brow.

"What happened?" he asked, but instead of telling him Adam pulled his friend with him towards one of the countless shops. "Thank you for coming, Jin, I really need your help to be honest."

"Are you sure that everything is fine?"

"Could be worse... I hope."
Even though the grin was still plastered on his face, the nervousness began to seep through. When Jin finally discovered where they were about to go, he was hit by it as well and stared at his friend with wide opened eyes.

"You're kidding me, right?!"

"Am not."

"Oh my god, you want to marry her?!"
Jin's whispered scream arouse some attention from the people in the store of the jeweler, but his friend didn't seem to care about it one bit. He was holding on to Adam's arm and looked like it was his birthday all over again. Adam's own happiness about his decision was only chastened by the one detail Jin didn't know about.

For a moment he couldn't bring himself to answer his now curious friend, while he stared at some necklaces. The pendants were small and inconspicuous, still their shapes and patterns were something special. Mitch would like those, wouldn't he?

His heart fluttered at the thought of his former boyfriend.
He missed him dearly, didn't he? Otherwise he wouldn't be here.

But was it the right decision?
Not only would he possibly ruin his own relationship with what Adam had planned, he could easily mess the other's life up complete. Was Mitch even ready to so much as look at him? Maybe all of this was a mistake. Maybe he should just back away from a decision that could ruin everything and try to convince Alesa that she was the one.

...he was stupid, wasn't he?
It had taken him ages and a talk with his father to come to the conclusion that he wanted simply more, but now the fear of what could possibly go wrong was about to ruin his plan. He had to make up his mind once and for all!

"Yes," he finally answered Jin, but before his friend could congratulate him to his decision, he added, "Her or Mitch."

Silence.
When Adam slowly looked up from the necklaces, Jin was staring at him with a shocked face. It took his friend another minute to comprehend what he had actually said, then he asked with a much less cheerful voice than before, "Did you two make up again? And what about Alesa?"

Adam felt irritated for the lacking enthusiasm, but he reminded himself that he actually owed Jin some answers for forcing him to meet Adam on such a short notice. He sighed and began, "No, we haven't. But..."
With an unusual fearful expression on his face he turned to Jin.

"I still love him, that's what I'm sure of, you know?"
The smile on his face was a mix between the pain of feeling so conflicted and the warmth spreading in his chest, as he thought of the cheerful Canadian.
"Nonetheless Alesa is right, it's not fair to love both of them at once, so I have to make a decision."

To distract himself from the nervousness and the tension Adam walked over to some displayed rings. Jin followed immediately, but took his time to continue their low conversation, while a shop assistant glanced in their direction.
"A decision of what kind?" Jin asked and pointed out a random ring that must have looked nice to him. Adam shook his head and replied with more confidence than before, "I want all or nothing. I'm done with hanging in between."

Once more both of them kept quiet to think about Adam's words.
With good reason he had not informed anyone except for his prodding father and Jin about Alesa's thoughts and the decision that had been forced on him. With good reason he had not told anyone that he had grown to like the chance to start over with Mitch.
It was a topic that few of his friends would like to talk about, let alone agree with him. Jin though was one of the few, who was willing to share his honest opinion with Adam and accepted his decision no matter how stupid it might be.

"What about this one?"

"Are you blind? Definitely too much gold!"

"You sound like a girl, you know that?"

"Accept my inner goddess, you bitch!"

Both of them burst into laughter and ignored the nasty glare of the shop assistant, before they looked at the various rings again. A gentle expression appeared on his face and for a moment he couldn't suppress the low chuckle that he wasn't able to conceal from Jin. "What?"

"I just have to think about the fact that Mitch and Alesa both like completely different things, when it comes to jewelry."

"How so?"

Slowly he pointed a finger at a ring in the top right corner.
"This one for example would be more to Alesa's liking. She loves opals with a passion, instead of huge diamonds. Nonetheless they have to be something special, unusual, like this one with the small diamonds at the side of the opal. Mitch on the other hand..."

Jin stayed quiet and Adam searched for another ring, until he had found one.
"He prefers something like this. When he picks jewelry, it has to be more modest than the previous one I showed you. I'm not talking about those plain and large ones, but rather about those here. They have to be delicate with an entangled pattern, silver and with something special in the middle, like a small aquamarine. Those are his favorite."

The unexpected laughter of his friend made him look up and just now did Adam notice his own heated cheeks. "At least you know them well enough," Jin teased and patted him on the back.
Of course he still remembered. How could he ever forget? The knowledge about Mitch's favorite jewelry was etched in his mind for all of eternity together with his memories about their time alone back in Canada or in his house in Seattle. He had given up forgetting Mitch long ago.

"So Adam," Jin began carefully and by the tone of his voice he seemed to be unsure whether he would like the answer to his question or not.
"How will you decide which one of them you want to marry?"

"Isn't it obvious?" he asked with a smirk and looked back up to his friend, who frowned skeptically and knew the answer even before Adam continued.

"I'll have to talk to Mitch first. Face to face."