MCSM: A Rather Ridiculously Ravishing and Romantic Anthology

Act III: Jesse

"So lemme get something straight here. You saw Aiden abusing little Jesse, warned him to back off, practically saved her life, and you got snogged for it?!" Jesse excitedly said. All Lukas could do was blush red and coyly reply "Yeah. She and I. We had a moment, it was bliss..." Jesse turned all cutie-kid as he said "Aw that's so cute. You lucky bastard!" He then began to explain his side of the story. "Now that I've heard that, I envy you, Lukas. Petra never done such a thing to me as Jesse did to you. I wish Petra was as sweet-centred as her. Anyway, the closest event parallel to your "blissful" moment wih Jesse happened about 12 years ago..."

Jesse and Petra attended the same primary school when tbey were 4 years old. They never had any tension between them at all. Jesse was the more introverted kid, and due to this being said, he was never popular. He was frequently teased for taking a fancy on Petra, as he had seemed to grow red with disfomfort whenever she walked past, winked at, or said 'hi' to him. That red blush was accompanied by a sheepish smile of reassurance, which would always make her and others around him laugh their socks off.

However, on one afternoon, Jesse's class was watching a movie based on a book they read, and Jesse was frightened of it. Petra was sitting adjacent to him. When the film ended, Jesse began to cry. Petra, being the girl who is always nice to everyone, gently embraced him until he stopped. To speed this up, she comforted him with words such as "There there. It's OK. It's over now, please stop crying." Jesse did eventually stop, his head lay on Petra's chest, he was tuning to her gentle heartbeat. Before leaving, he tearfully whispered "Thank you. I appreciate that." Petra may've seen that off as potentially awkward, but she truly felt touché by Jesse's actions towards her. She felt appreciated, enchanté, loved.

Jesse even let out a singular tear when he reminisced that moment. It was of the first times when he felt he was being cared for. From that day onward, he felt that her unconditional care was a priceless debt which cannot be repaid with gratitude.

"Wow, that's... that was just beautiful." Lukas said in awe and amazement. 'I wish anybody could've done something so considerate for me. Petra really cared for you then.' Jesse nodded in agreement. "Yeah, so anyway, you stood up to the man then, why not today?" Lukas thought for a moment before saying "Jesse was in a dilemma, remember? She had to choose whether to save Gabriel or Petra. She called to me for help, but I... I... I was too cowardly, too scared to help my closest friend in a dilemma. I felt so bad, that I isolated myself, thinking that maybe I wasn't made for Jesse. Maybe I am just a coward. I failed you Jesse. I'm so sorry I couldn't be there when you called for help." I've reminisced that way since then, continuously blaming myself for cowardice."

Jesse now understood why Lukas had built his cabin so distant from the town plaza, so that he could live in isolation, as to repent for his wrongs. "Lukas... You living in isolation has gone for too long now. You need to stop this, you've repented for long enough. Move back to town with us, we missed you!" Lukas smiled, but refused his invitation. "That's alright. I've always felt that I belong here. Besides, I've grown used to living here, so close to nature..." Jesse acknowledged his decision, and without question, got up, said goodbye, and began to return to his treehouse. Hopefully, the date would go as well as he had hoped it'd be. Him and Petra, it would simply be pure bliss.