Eight years later...

October 2026

Jesse frowned as he wrote something on a piece of paper and immediately scratched it out. He had been working for almost two hours trying to find the perfect tune to accompany the song Jane had written, to no success. It was unusual for him to feel uninspired while writing music, but he guessed it was one of those days. He put down the pencil and sighed; there was no point in forcing himself when he clearly wasn't in the mood to work.

He and Jane had been working together as a songwriting team for eight years. Jane's younger brother, an aspiring director, had invited her and Jesse to collaborate with him on his senior thesis project—a short film called The Time We Lost—. The film premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival to critical acclaim, and it had been picked up for limited release a few months after that. Jesse had composed the score while Jane had written an original song, and their work had been well-received amongst critics and audiences alike. The project marked the beginning of a successful partnership between the three of them, and after The Time We Lost Richard wrote and directed his second movie, a comedy called Alone For Days, and its score—composed by Jesse—had received acclaim.

However, their biggest success had yet to come.

Once he had gained a reputation as one of the best up-and-coming directors of the year, Richard went on to write and direct his third movie, a musical called The Other Side Of The Story which plot drew inspiration from The Time We Lost, so much that Jesse had described it as a high-budget version of his first project. The movie, a musical with original songs written by Jesse and Jane, was a box-office hit and received rave reviews from critics, and was nominated for several awards. Jesse and Jane won the Oscar for Best Original Song and Jesse won an individual award for Best Original Score, while Richard won the Oscar for Best Director. His brother-in-law quickly became one of Hollywood's most sought-after directors and Jesse and Jane formed an extremely profitable songwriting team. In the two-and-a-half years since their Oscar win they had written songs for movie franchises, TV shows and specials and, more recently, Disney movies.

In fact, he was working on one of the songs they were hired to write for the movie when the creative block came. He began playing random notes on his piano in an attempt to clear his mind, but his fingers felt clumsy against the keys. He heard footsteps approaching and, a few seconds later, a knock on the door.

"Come in."

A small child opened the door and entered into Jesse's studio. Jesse smiled at him. "Hey Jamie."

"Hi daddy," the kid walked toward his father and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

"How was school today?"

"Fine, we played soccer and my team won."

"Really?"

The kid nodded. "I scored two goals."

"That is awesome! I'm very proud of you," he said, as he gently ticked his son. "And Jack? How was his day?"

"He won a spelling bee contest and he hasn't stopped bragging about it."

Jesse rose an eyebrow. "His reasons to feel happy are as valid as yours. I suppose you too spent all day bragging about scoring those two goals."

Jamie went quiet, as if weighing in his father's words. "I guess."

"Do you have a lot of homework?"

"Not really, but can I do it here with you?"

"Sure! You know I love it when you keep me company."

The boy smiled. "Okay. I'm gonna go for my backpack."

Jesse loved spending time with his kids. He liked reading them stories, playing videogames with them or teaching them to sing and play the piano. Jamie, ten years old, was the spitting image of his father, albeit he was quieter and reserved, while nine-year old Jack physically resembled his mother but was more relaxed and outgoing than his older brother. Jesse loved them both with all his heart, and everything he did he did it for them.

Twenty minutes had gone by. Jamie was doing his homework in complete silence while Jesse kept playing random notes on the piano, his mind a thousand miles away from there.

In Atlanta, to be exact.

"Daddy?" His son's voice brought him back to Los Angeles.

"Hmm?"

"Can you help me with something?"

"Sure. As long as it isn't math we are good," he said, and he turned to face his son.

"It is not homework," Jamie looked up at his father, a slight trace of concern in his voice. Jesse had never heard him talk that way before, and he knew his son well enough to notice whatever he wanted help with was important for the boy.

"Okay."

Jamie took a deep breath. "How do I know if I'm in love with someone?"

Jesse was taken aback by the boy's question. "I'm sorry?"

His son blushed. "There's this girl in my class, Sophie. She just moved here from San Francisco; she is very smart, kind and funny. Oh, and she is pretty, too."

Jesse was perplexed. He never imagined he would be having that conversation with his ten-year old son. However, he tried his best to hide away his nervousness.

"I see," he said, keeping a straight face. He wasn't sure where to begin. "Are you guys friends or—"

"N-not really, she doesn't have many friends because she is new at school but we get along just fine. Today, during the soccer game, I kept looking at her to see if she was rooting for me."

"And was she?"

"Well... she did cheer when I scored both goals. But I don't know if she did it because of me or because of the team."

"Okay. So you are wondering if you like her more than a friend, aren't you?"

Jamie blushing got worse. "Yeah. I have never felt this way before."

"Of course you haven't, you are ten," Jesse said, and he couldn't help but chuckle. He moved closer to Jamie and he steepled his fingers. "Well, first thing you gotta know is we all experience falling in love differently. What you feel is not the same thing I felt the first time I fell in love, or your mom, or anybody else. It is different for everyone, but I guess there are some common elements."

"Right."

Jesse let out a nostalgic sigh. "Let's see… For starters, you can't stop thinking about her. You think about her smile, her eyes, her smell. When you are not together you wonder what she is doing. You cherish every moment you get to spend with her, and once the moment is over you wish it would have lasted forever. When you lock eyes it feels like electricity. You want her to have a good time whenever she is with you. You are always reminiscing the time you spent together—"

"Reminiscing?"

"Remembering, like when vacations are over and you feel nostalgic about it, but in a good way," Jamie nodded and Jesse continued talking. "You want her to feel comfortable around you and you try to come up with stuff to make her laugh, or at least roll her eyes at you because she thinks you are an idi—ehem, a dork. But the most important thing of them all: if you love her, if you really love her, you support her in whatever she does, especially if that means she gets to be happy; even if you have to let her go."

Jesse went quiet, allowing his words to settle into his son.

"You feel that way about mom?"

Once again, the boy's question shocked him to his core. "I—I do."

Jamie remained pensive, and after a few seconds he smiled. "Thank you, daddy. I knew you would tell me."

Jamie finished his homework a few minutes after their conversation. He left to play videogames with his brother, leaving Jesse alone with his thoughts.

I don't understand. I love Jane, I really do. But moments ago, as I described how being in love feels like, I wasn't describing what I felt for her; I was describing what I felt for Beca. The truth is I never felt that way about Jane. Well, not exactly. I did think about her constantly and there was that electricity whenever we locked eyes—wait, why am I talking in past tense? —but with Beca… I felt everything.

He panicked as a thought crossed his mind.

He shook his head, annoyed at himself for even considering that possibility. He had always criticized emotional cheaters and now he was doing the same thing. However, a seed was now planted. He visualized Beca's face and he got tingles down his spine.

Could it be I'm still in love with her? No, that's not possible. It's been over ten years since we broke up.

He got to his feet and started pacing around the room, with his hands behind his back.

But even when it's been so long I haven't been able to stop thinking about her. My feelings—they haven't gone away. Whenever I think of her I feel the same way I felt years ago.

"That was a nice thing you said to Jamie," Jane's voice surprised him. He turned and saw her standing at the door.

"Hey. I didn't realize you were listening to us."

"I came to ask Jamie if he wanted me to help him with his homework. I stopped because I heard him asking you that question, and I listened to your answer. I think it was a very good one."

Jesse shrugged. "I never thought our ten-year old son would ask me that question. I figured being honest and speaking from the heart was the best thing I could do."

"Yeah," Jane said, and she went quiet. She had a strange look on her face. "You were talking about her, weren't you?"

"About whom?"

"Beca."

Jesse felt as if someone had poured a bucket of cold water on him. "What?"

"Don't deny it, I know you were."

"What makes you think that?"

"I've been watching you, Jesse, and sometimes it seems as if you are not even here. You seem… absent. Nostalgic, even."

"What does that have to do with Beca? I haven't talked to her or heard anything about her in over ten years."

"And nevertheless, you still love her."

"You are imagining things," Jesse said, trying to sound as calm as possible. However, Jane became upset and Jesse immediately regretted his words.

"Oh, I'm imagining things? Are you telling me whenever you look absentminded it is not because you are thinking of her?"

"Of course not!" He exclaimed. Jane let out a sarcastic laugh.

"Okay, let's suspend reality for a second and pretend I believe you. What about a few minutes ago when you were talking to Jamie? Are you going to deny you were thinking of when you fell in love with her?" He didn't answer the question, and Jane took his silence as an admission of guilt. "I know you never loved me the way you loved Beca," she continued. "And it's my fault, because I always knew what I was getting into. When we started dating I knew you still had feelings for her, but a part of me thought I could make you forget her. That was my biggest mistake," she said the last words as if holding back tears.

"I won't deny Beca was very important to me, she was the first woman I fell in love with. But I never lied to you, Jane. You were never a rebound girl. I did fall in love with you."

"So you have never wondered what your life would be like if you were still with her?"

"No," he said, although he couldn't lie to himself. Jane shook his head in anger.

"I can't believe you dare to say you never lied to me when you just did!" She snapped. "When Richard invited us to work with him in The Time We Lost I came home after having lunch with him and I told you the news. Jack started crying and you calmed him down by holding him and talking to him. Do you remember what you said to him?"

"Come on, Jane. How am I supposed to remember something I said eight years ago?"

"The only reason I remember is because the things you said have haunted me ever since. You said you loved me, but you wondered if we had settled down too quickly. You also said you regretted not spending more time with Beca."

Jesse didn't remember saying those words, but it definitely sounded like an idea that had crossed his mind at least a couple of times. And now he felt worse because Jane had caught him in a lie.

She had finally cornered him. He sighed, defeated. "Fine. I accept I have wondered if you and I married young and what had happened if Beca had come to LA instead of going to New York. Are you happy now?" In that moment Jesse knew their relationship had been damaged beyond repair. No matter what he said or did, things would never be the same between them. "Jane, don't you realize none of that matters anymore because I chose to be with you? You are my wife. I don't know what else to do for you to believe me."

Jane didn't say anything. Instead she crossed her arms and took a deep breath as she paced around the room.

"You and I have a professional relationship," she said, after a while. "If we separate—it would hurt our careers. So, from my point of view we have to options: we can end things here and now, or we can keep going and leave this behind."

"Jane—"

She gestured to silence him. "Just listen to me. I care about my career and I know you care about yours, too, so I think it would be for the best if we stay together. For the sake of our partnership. I choose to believe you when you say you love me. We are young and talented, and things are looking good for us. We can become a legendary songwriting team, we can do great things together if we put our differences aside," she seemed and sounded calmer than before, but also colder. "I'm not asking you to forget her, I don't expect you to. I'm just asking you to help me achieve my dream, so I can help you achieve yours. What do you say?"

It was a calculated proposal, and objectively speaking Jesse knew it was the best for their careers. Besides they were a family, they had two sons together and they loved each other. They needed to have a fight like the one they just had in order to set the record straight. He was willing to play with the cards that had been dealt.

He felt exhausted. Their discussion had drained his energy.

"What is gonna be, Jesse?" She insisted.

"Okay," he finally said. "We'll do as you say. We'll find a way to make this work."

And they would. But, as Jesse had thought, things would never be the same between them.

You say it's all in my head
And the things I think
Just don't make sense
So where you been then?
Don't go all coy
Don't turn it round on me
Like it's my fault

You grace me with your cold shoulder
Whenever you look at me and wish I was her
You shower me with words made of knives
Whenever you look at me and wish I was her

These days when I see you
You make it look like I'm see through
Do tell me why you waste our time
When your heart ain't in it and your not satisfied...