Josh stared at Mateo in pure disbelief. This whole story was too crazy to be true.

„Justin immediately broke things up. He never planned taking her away from you. You must believe me this.“ Mateo continued talking. 

„Is that the reason, why they can’t be together in one room?“ Josh wanted to know. 

„Yes.“ 

„So? What now? Does she still want me?“ 

Again Mateo didn’t know how to reply and needed a moment to think.

„Of course. But you screwed up very hard, JC. You have no idea how hard.“ 

„I can’t do anything about my loss of memory! Do you think this is easy for me? I feel like an idiot, not remembering the last five years of my life! This is completely fucked up!“ 

„This is not about you, not knowing who your wife is. This is about you, bringing your ex girlfriend back into your life, although you know you’re married to another woman!“ 

„Nothing happened with Jen!“

„But you love her, right?! You love fucking Jen instead of Eve!“ 

Josh was completely overwhelmed. He didn’t know how to answer. Mateo turned out of mind. 

„Six months Eve was lying next to you every day in that bed, loving you so much, that she wasn’t able letting you go!!! She gave birth to the kid you wanted and all you do is putting into question if the baby is yours, just because Jake looks like her and not like you!!! And if this wasn’t enough to break her heart, you decided digging in your past and bringing Jen back into your life!!! Fuck you Chasez!!! Fuck you hard!!!“

Mateo was never furious like in this moment. His head was red and his heart was racing. Josh stared at him, processing every word he said.

„What do you want me to do, Mateo? Please tell me what to do and I’ll do it.“ 

„Nothing. I want you to do nothing!“

„What do you mean with that?“

„You’re toxic, JC! Eve is dangerously close seriously losing her mind. I expect you staying away from her and don’t standing in my way, while I am picking up the pieces.“ 

Eric was having a party at his place the same night, celebrating the birthday of one of his clients. The house was crowded and a DJ was playing some lounge music. As the doorbell rang, Eric expected further guests just arriving. But as he checked the front camera, he couldn’t trust his own eyes. 

„You’re the last person I expected to show up here tonight.“ Eric said, still in shock. 

„Looks like I came just in time. You’re having one of your famous parties, right?“ Jen replied.

She just left her rental car and walked towards him.

„Okay, seriously. What do you want here?“ Eric wanted to know.

„I need to talk.“

Josh was feeling miserable, when Mateo left the clinic. Million thoughts were running through his mind, causing a heavy headache. The things he just learned about Eve needed to be processed. But knowing about their past didn’t change the fact, that he still didn’t remember any piece of it. He needed to figure out how to deal with the circumstances. Mateo told him to leave Eve alone. But was this really the right thing to do? And then there was Jen. He really wished she didn’t show up at the clinic. Seeing her made it more difficult for him to accept the fact, that she wasn’t a part of his life anymore. At the same time he was asking himself, why she made that effort coming to Los Angeles. As they broke up long time ago, why did she even care about him right now?

Eric asked Jen inside and went with her into his office to be undisturbed. He closed the door and crossed his arms, waiting for her to talk. Jen looked at him, trying to figure out how to start the conversation.

„I came to L.A. because Jay informed me about what happened.“ She finally started to explain. 

„Jay contacted you?“ Eric said surprised. 

„Yes, he did. I’ve had the feeling he needed someone he trusted to process what happened to him.“ 

„That’s nonsense. He has enough people around who he trusts. He can talk to us at any time.“  

„Okay. Let me say it differently. I believe he misses me. I believe he misses us.“ 

Eric needed a moment to sort his mind. 

„Under the current circumstances, I can imagine that you might be right, Jen. But still I don’t see any reason for you coming here. He must be terribly flustered after seeing you. Is this what you wanted?“ 

Jen sighed. 

„Look. Things between Jay and me started falling apart because we weren’t at the same page about our future plans. I was disappointed from him and started distancing myself. But I didn’t do that because I didn’t love him anymore. I did that because I was hurt and because I didn’t see a way out of the problem. When we broke up, I was truly suffering, Eric.“ 

„I know your story, Jen. You don’t need to explain. But this didn’t answer my question why you came back to L.A.“

„When he started writing me, he was suddenly the man again I fell in love with. He seemed to be truly interested in me and I really enjoyed his attention.“

Eric turned uneasy.

„Jen, listen to me. Jay is having amnesia. His memory will be back some day. You can’t seriously believing, that his current interest in you is real. You just can’t be that naive.“ 

„What if he doesn’t want his memory coming back? I mean, if he put some effort in remembering, probably he would be okay again. But maybe he doesn’t like the way his life turned out.“

Eric couldn’t believe what he was listening to.

„Are you losing your mind? How you dare making such assumptions? You know nothing about his life as it is now! I can assure you, that he loves Eve! He even married her, for god’s sake! They are having a baby! How can you be so selfish interfering, just because he wrote you some nice text messages?!“ 

„Why are you so cold, Eric? We used to be friends.“ She blamed him. 

„Because I believe you came to cause trouble.“

Again Josh couldn’t fall asleep. After tossing and turning for a while, he grabbed his phone from his bedside table. 

„I need to talk to you. Can you come to the clinic?“ [C]

„Now?“ [T]

„Yes.“ [C]

„Sorry, dude. I drunk too much tonight.“ [T]

„Is there a reason for getting drunk in the middle of the week?“ [C]

„There is. Actually we really need to talk. I’ll be there in the morning.“ [T]

Eve couldn’t fall sleep as well. She felt like there was no air to breath in that big empty house. She sat down in bed and stared into space for a while. Then she suddenly stood up. She went to the closet and opened the door. Seeing her clothes right next to Josh’s made her eyes fill with tears. She came few steps closer and grabbed one of his shirts on the hanging rail to smell on it. Then she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. 

„If you stay here, you will lose your mind. You need to go. And you need to do this now.“ 

Justin showed up in the clinic early next morning, bringing two coffees from Starbucks. Josh was just finishing his breakfast, when he entered his room. Being relieved, that Eve wasn’t around, Justin came closer and sat down at the chair next to Josh’s bed.

„Hi.“ He said, looking at his best friend.

„Hi.“ Josh replied. 

Justin gave him one coffee and both took a sip, before starting their conversation. 

„So…?“ Justin finally said. „What are you having on your mind?“ 

„First of all I’m wondering why you barely show up here. Are you busy with work or are you trying to avoid Eve?“ Josh asked. 

Justin didn’t expect their conversation would turn that serious right from the beginning. But he 

was prepared for this.

„It’s because of Eve.“

„Is this also the reason, why you got drunk last night?“ 

„Yes, it is.“

Josh was surprised about Justin’s honesty. Obviously he wasn’t trying to hide what happened between him and Eve.

„I know from Mateo what was going on.“ Josh informed him. 

„What exactly do you know?“

„Everything.“

Justin needed a moment to process.

„Everything?“

„Everything Mateo knew about you and Eve.“ 

It made no sense for Justin why Mateo acted this way. 

„Why he came here and told you? It’s not like I didn’t plan doing it myself at some point. But I don’t understand why Matty suddenly intervened.“ 

„Jen was here.“ Josh admitted. 

Justin was shocked, staring at him with his eyes open wide. 

„What?! Why?! How does she even know where you are?!“

„I told her what happened…“

„You told her?! Why you told her?!“ 

„I felt the urge talking to her, T…“ 

Justin was sorting his mind. Then he turned upset.

„No… don’t tell me you’ve been in touch with her behind Eve’s back…“ 

„I was. And Eve found out. Then Jen showed up here without prior warning. Eve came as well and then things turned pretty ugly…“ 

Justin was shaking his head and processing hard.

„How could you do this… how could you do this to Eve… she didn’t deserve all of this…“ Justin stammered, still being in shock. 

„It’s not like I asked Jen for coming to L.A., T…“

„But she wouldn’t have done that, if you didn’t give her the feeling that you wanted to see her!“ 

„It wasn’t like this.“ 

„Then why the hell you wrote her at all???“

„Because I miss her! Is this so hard to understand???“ 

Justin grabbed his face, still not believing this was really just happening. 

„How can you be so reckless, C?! I don’t fucking care, if you miss your ex! You married another woman! All of this happened for a reason!“ 

Josh was upset as well. He was deeply frustrated about the fact, that everybody was blaming him for his actions and not even trying to understand his point of view.

„Why do you care so much about me and Eve being okay?! This selfless behavior doesn’t suit you at all!“ Josh hissed back. 

Justin was furious. 

„I stepped back! The moment you woke up I kept my hands off her!“ 

„It must have been pretty annoying, that I spoiled your plan making her yours, hm?!“

Justin suddenly raised himself. 

„Don’t you dare saying that!!! Don’t you dare!!!“

Josh stared at his friend, being shocked about his outburst.

„There happened more…“ He said next. 

Justin frowned.

„More shit than this?!“ 

„I called into question that the baby is mine…“ 

Justin didn’t know how to react. He let himself fall back at the chair, just staring at his friend.

„I really fucked things up, T…“ 

„Obviously…“ Justin almost whispered. 

„After hearing the rumors, I believed the baby might be yours…“ 

„I didn’t sleep with her… we never crossed that line…“

„I know. Mateo explained to me. But it was too late. The damage was already done.“ 

„She must be so devastated. Good lord… what did you do to her…“ 

„I feel awful. But Mateo told me to leave her alone. He said I’m toxic…“

Justin scoffed. 

„If Matty turned against you, this means things are fucking serious.“ 

„Will you look for her? I understand if she doesn’t want to talk to me after what happened. But one of us should make sure that she’s okay.“ Josh replied. 

Justin rested his elbows on his knees and grabbed his face once again. 

„I screwed up as well, C…“

„Because you broke things up?“ 

„I didn’t just break things up…“ 

„What do you mean?“ 

„Eve allowed herself opening up to me because she believed, that she lost you for good. But then you suddenly woke up. It was important to me making sure, that she didn’t feel guilty going back to you. That’s why I acted like a giant piece of shit. I hurt her feelings to make it easy for her to let me go…“ 

Josh needed to process what his friend just said. 

„Honesty… I really can’t believe you turned into such a selfless person, T…“ Josh replied.

Justin looked at him now. 

„I never planned taking her away from you. I gave you my promise.“