The doorbell was wrung and Jesse went to open the door. Her eyes widen in surprise. “Johan? What are you doing here?” She asks with a smile. Johan and Taylor's dad were outside.

Johan returns the smile and points back at Taylor's dad. “Me and Kerry were in the neighborhood. Are you going to invite us in?” He asks casually.

“Yeah, come in.” Jesse says as she pushes the door back, waiting for the two in the house. “You guys came for Taylor's fight, right?” She says with a knowing grin.

“Yeah, but don't tell the little turd that. He might get in his head that he can do whatever he wants.” Johan says as she follows Jesse to living room. Johan takes a seat and Taylor’s dad also chooses a chair to sit on.

Jesse sits next to Johan on the couch and leans her body forward. “When will you stop treating him like a kid? He even won that fight.” She asks, finding the matter amusing.

Johan lets out a chuckle. “I’ll stop treating him like a kid when he stops acting like a kid.” Johan says, unconvinced.

“And he blackmailed his way out of that fight. It was embarrassing.” Taylor’s dad says with a shake of his head.

“Anyways, is he resting?” Johan asks, curious where Taylor was.

“Yeah, he passed out when he got back.” Jesse says with some worry.

“Alright. I guess we can stick around for a while. Did you want to grab something to eat?” Johan asks with some expectation.

Jesse had already eaten lunch, but that didn’t stop her. “Yeah, let’s go out. Just let me get dressed.” She says as a small blush is expressed on her face.

Johan looks to Kerry and raises an eyebrow. Taylor’s dad waves his hand. He knew not to get involved in shit like this. “You guys go. I’ll treat the kid’s wounds.” He says with a sigh.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

“Great. I’ll be ready in a moment.” Jesse says before walking to her room.

…

…

When Taylor woke up it was already the next morning and his body was bandaged. Someone opens the door to his room and Taylor sees that it was his dad. Kerry points to the table next to the bed. “Take the medicine on the table. And drink all of it. Your internal organs are a mess.” He says as he walks over and pours a glass of water to go with it. “After that, just rest a while. Johan will probably come in later. It looked like he wanted to talk to you about something.” Kerry says before once again exiting the room.

Taylor raises an eyebrow. Talk to me about something? He thinks, curious what it was. Taylor decides to ignore it for now and leans over for the bottle of medicine and the water. After chugging the medicine, he drank all of the water before pouring himself another glass. That tastes like shit. He thinks with some displeasure.

…

…

A few hours into the day, Johan came to find him.

“It turns out I am going to marry Jesse after all.” Johan says as he lounges in the arm chair.

Taylor spits out the water he was drinking. “You’re what?” He asks not sure how to feel. He had a certain love for Jesse, and he would always have a certain love for Jesse. But he also knew that he couldn’t possess her. That didn't fit her style. Raz had tried and failed, so Taylor knew where their boundaires were. But if Taylor considered it… If there was a chance for anyone to tame her, it would be Johan. But Taylor certainly didn’t feel good about it.

“Oh, don’t be so butt-hurt. I know that woman’s effect on the men around her. You might not believe in Jesse’s curse, but I certainly do. She’s like a fruit, tempting everyone around her. People can’t help but hate her and love her at the same time; because she’s so deserving of that love, it’s natural to love her, but because people can’t possess her, they hate her.” Johan says with a sigh. He did not envy the girl. She must have had a tough life. He thinks, mourning for the way things were before looking back to Taylor.

“When I first intended to marry her, she was perfect and she was ripe. All I had to do was claim her. But I hesitated and you swooped in. If you’re feeling butt-hurt now, just imagine how I felt back then. It fucking hurt like a bitch. So I left her with you. I didn’t want to look at her. I was being pretty childish, but what could I do? That’s her effect on men.” Johan says, recalling some bitter memories. Taylor didn’t say anything and simply listened.

“But you know? Oddly enough, this worked out for me.” Johan says with a hint of a smile. Although the experience was bitter, he could still see it; it was still golden.

“Worked out? How?” Taylor asks, confused. As Taylor saw it, that experience would be a deep wound for anyone. Although he caused it, it didn’t stop him from sympathizing with it.

Johan let out a breath as he recalls his experience of the matter. “As I practiced the dao of gold, I always had this thought; that it was annoying. It was annoying how perfect things in my life were. It almost gave me the urge to just stop caring and to destroy. But I kept going. And the world didn’t fail to surprise me. It brought me Jesse. But at the time I just couldn’t pull the trigger. She was too perfect. She was so perfect that I hesitated to touch her.” Johan explains before a smile blooms on his face. “But luckily you were there, my dear Taylor. You tainted my idea of her, and weirdly enough, this was enough for me to accept her as she was. It brought me a new understanding of the dao of gold. For things to truly be perfect, some imperfection is necessary.” Johan says with a grin.

Taylor’s eyes widen. Damn. He thinks, not sure what to say to that.