I don't know if it's the last chapter yet but here you go :)

Lily called him up and made plans to meet. Stay in and watch a couple of movies, she said. He didn't want to betray Jackie and so all he needed to do was make his mouth work and say no. But before he had enough time to, Lily ended the call.

When he met her again, her hair was tied back in a ponytail and she was wearing a black tracksuit and a pink floral top. The top was something she would wear a year ago, but not the rest of the style.

"My mom's going to be out for a few hours," Lily said before taking his arm and leading him to the kitchen. "So we can raid the fridge!"

She opened up the fridge and took out a bottle of wine.

"You should put that back."

"I'm only having a bit of it!" she said insisted. She carried on forking through the fridge. "There's nothing else that's exciting to snack on because my mom is such a health freak!"

She perked up suddenly however. "We can make popcorn though!"

While she prepared to make popcorn, he began to get cold feet.

"When is your mom coming back?"

"I don't know," she shrugged. "She just said a few hours."

"And how long are we going to watch movies?"

"Oh my god Tom, I forgot how uptight you are," Lily laughed. She then teased him by throwing a kernel directly at his chest.

"Are we ready to party?" a unfamiliar voice interrupted.

He turned round and saw a young guy. He was pasty-faced, wore a red tracksuit and had an over-sized black beanie hat on his head.

"Hey!" the guy laughed when he noticed they had a guest. "Is this the copper guy you were talking about?"

"Yep!" Lily replied.

"He looks like a kid."

"And you are?" he asked in an annoyed tone.

"Ash."

His jaw almost dropped. What the hell is she doing with this guy? Just in the first few seconds of meeting him, he could tell he had a bad attitude. He could have been Dennis Booker's son!

"How much do you get paid?" Ash asked.

When he told him, Ash laughed. "I get paid more than you and all I do is stand there and get snapped."

Before he questioned what he meant, Lily explained.

"He works as a model."

Ash had the face to be a model but the fact he dressed rough and had tattoos all over his arms come to a question.

He didn't like this at all. At first, he felt uncomfortable being alone with Lily and wished her mom would come home. But he was granted with an alternative wish and didn't like it at all. He didn't want around another minute with this guy.

Next up, Ash took old a rolled cigarette from his pocket. He could tell right away it was weed so before Ash had the chance to light it, he snatched it away.

"It's illegal."

Ash laughed. "Lilz, I thought you said he was cool?"

Lily frowned directly to him. "Tom, give it back."

"But it's illegal."

"Don't worry about it, I've got another," Ash grinned. He took a step back to safety and re-lit another.

He would've left right there right then but instead he stayed with them at watch a movie. He drove back, regretting the visit. He felt angry the whole time he was there, believing Ash to be a bad role model for Lily. He didn't even enjoy the movie because it was about gangsters. He had enough experience with gangsters as an undercover cop already.

To make things worse, he learned Ash's age while he was there. He first thought he was younger than him but it turned out, he was a year older. He was twenty-five. He was outraged. It was like a slap in the face because all that time, the age difference between him and Lily greatly bothered him. He was also confused as to why she picked someone who looked rather similar to him. He was pale like Ash and young looking like Ash. The main thing that was missing was maturity.

Lily's choice bothered him so much, he did something irresponsible.

Instead of spending his evening with Jackie, he slipped out of the door to go for a walk. And that walk ended up leading into a small bar and ordering himself a draft. He very rarely drank but that night was no exception. He had an intention to drink away the confusion that clouded his head.

Why should I even care who Lily falls in love with?

As long as she's happy, it's fine right?

When he wasn't thinking about Lily, he thought about Jackie, wondering how he could betray her and felt like the worst person in the world.

He downed drink after drink in the loneliest bar in the city until his brain was too sloshed to come home to Jackie that night.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

When the sun rose, he went into work un-showered, with yesterday's clothes and unruly hair. Going into work wasn't the best idea because he was suffering from his very first hangover, introducing him to a splitting headache and a stomach full of nausea. He tried to get on with his first tasks at his desk but ended up dropping his head in his hands and closing his eyes for a while.

After a long stretch of time passed, he heard some commotion and something being placed on his desk. He mustered up enough strength to lift his head to find Doug had given him a mug of coffee.

He was going to thank him for his odd generosity but the expression on his face was enough to take the words out of his mouth. His friend's expression was creased in concern and worry.

"Jackie phoned me last night wondering where you were," he began. "She said you slipped out in the middle of the night and didn't come home."

Dammit.

It was like he committed a crime and was being put up on a court stand. Fortunately, he had the legal rights to be silent.

"Where did you go?"

He felt lucky to have an old friend who keeps him together... not Doug but the coffee. But like all friends, there can be disagreements as the once, soothing hot liquid, was no thick and picking up at the back of his throat. He let out a groan and covered his mouth.

"Have you been drinking?" Doug questioned. He didn't even need to reply to that because the way he was sitting there with his hand over his mouth said it all.

"No way!" Doug cried. "I would've applauded you for getting your first hangover but the fact that you didn't come home to Jackie and possibly drank alone, I don't think so. This is so unlike you, Hanson."

The nausea sliding up his throat was warning enough that he had to get to the bathroom - quick. So he stumbled over where his legs could take him into the bathroom. But once he got there to the basin, nothing came out. He should've been thankful but the nausea still felt unpleasant.

"You alright?"

Am I alright? He rested his palms upon the basin to hold himself up and glanced at the bathroom mirror. He knew the answer to that one. His eyes were bloodshot and his complexion was sickly pale.

"I'm fallen for someone else," he finally spoke. He thought he might as well come out of it because like the nausea, he couldn't stand it picking up and fighting to get out. Besides, the bathroom as like a confessional booth in the chapel.

Now it was Doug's turn to be silent as shock and surprise must have took hold of him. He was the one who set him up with Jackie after all and thought things were going great.

"The thing is, she probably doesn't feel the same way about me," he said. "Because she's already dating some other guy."

"Oh right..."

"And she's a seventeen year's old Doug," he blurted out.

"Seventeen? That's pretty young," said Doug in surprise. "Where did you meet her?"

"While I was undercover in some school..."

"You what?" Doug cried. "You know that's not allowed Tom!"

"I know. It was some case I did last year. I didn't have any feelings for her until I bumped into her again recently."

"What was the case?"

He didn't reply to let Doug's brain do all the ticking.

"I'm not good at guesswork Tom, so just tell me."

He fought against the sickness as he came out with a big confession. "Lily Rose."

His friend looked at him blankly.

"...Depp."

"Depp?" he suddenly cried. "As in, movie star whose worth millions, Depp?"

He didn't even let him reply as he cried out. "Are you crazy?!

"Maybe, I don't know. Ever since I bumped into her recently, I hadn't been able to get her out of my mind."

Doug let out a breath. "You should tell Jackie."

He laughed in disbelief. "I can't hurt her like that. And besides, nothing would probably happen between me and Lily."

"But you're not being fair to Jackie!"

"I know..."

"If you're not going to tell her, you could at least forget about the girl because you know there would be some major consequences if you date her. Eternal Affairs would be up your ass, you could end up in the media and you could end up losing your job!"

"I'm not stupid, Doug, I know what would happen."

"Then forget about the girl!"

"I've been trying to, Doug believe me," he argued. "Why'd you think I got myself drunk last night?"

His friend looked at him sympathetically. "Drinking doesn't solve anything, Tom."

He knew that because not only did he wake up in the bar with a hangover, but he also woke up thinking about her again. He didn't know what to do. He loved Lily but didn't want to break it off with Jackie because a part of him still loved her. And the reality was, it wasn't possible date her anyway considering the circumstances.

"Don't tell a word to Jackie while I sort this out myself, okay?"

"Okay... but think carefully about this because one decision could end up completely destroying your life."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

In the end he decided to carry on trying to forget Lily. Although it was hard. He never confessed to Jackie. And when she asked about that night when he didn't come home, he lied that he had to finish off a mountain of paperwork at the chapel. She didn't bat an eyelid and carried on loving him without question. In return, he tried his hardest to love her back while pushing Lily out of his mind.

Over the next few weeks, things were going great. They went bowling together a lot, watched movies and went to a sushi bar the other day... it wasn't until he did a quick top up shop and one of the items included a magazine for Jackie. While traffic was slow on his way back, he idly picked up the magazine and had a flip through. At page fifteen, he saw his other love.

Lily.

It showed pictures of her walking through an airport with luggage and wearing a hood over her head. Beside her was a tall looking guy, wearing an over-sized shirt, black leather jacket and a beanie hat. In the article it said the couple were flying out to Venice to attend a film festival premiering Lily's new film called Planetarium.

There was something else that bothered him. In the article, it said the Ash guy had a kid. He couldn't help but feel jealous. Even though he couldn't stand kids sometimes, he still wanted one.

Suddenly a horn blared from behind him, demanding him to move along with the traffic.

Although painful, he tried to forget about it because he had to be rational. At least Lily was happy. The drama between her father and Amber she was centered around, was forgotten. It hadn't hurt her movie career and she was blossoming into a young woman with a good head on her shoulders.

As long as she's happy...I don't care, he kept telling himself in his head.