The Heart’s Echo
Jaafar Jackson x reader ft Maddie
Jaafar has it all…a thriving career and a stable 10 years relationship with his fiancée, Maddie. But what’s really happening behind closed doors?
Part 1. Part 2.
The knock came just after sunset, Y/N wasn’t expecting anyone.
The golden retriever shot off the couch so fast his nails skidded across the floor.
“Moon?”
His tail was already wagging, Y/N frowned and walked toward the door.
Then her stomach dropped when she pulled it open, Jaafar was standing there.
For a moment neither of them spoke, Moon immediately solved that problem by throwing himself at Jaafar.
The force nearly knocked him backward. “Okay—okay, buddy.”
A tired laugh escaped him as he scratched behind Moon’s ears.
The laugh disappeared almost instantly.
Y/N’s chest tightened because he looked exhausted physically and mentally.
The kind of exhaustion that settled deep behind someone’s eyes. “What happened?”
Jaafar looked at her, for a second she thought he might not answer.
Then he swallowed. “It’s over.”
Y/N felt something twist painfully inside her, “Oh.”
That was all she managed, because she didn’t know what else to say.
Ten years. An engagement. A future. Gone.
The silence stretched then she stepped aside.
“Come in.”
The evening settled around them slowly like neither of them wanted to disturb it.
Y/N made coffee, Moon refused to leave Jaafar’s side.
The television played softly in the background, and as usual they started talking about stupid & safe things.
The neighbor who sang at two in the morning, Moon getting kicked out of a dog park for stealing somebody’s sandwich, a movie trailer they both hated.
Anything except the giant thing sitting between them and just like that the conversation eventually faded.
Neither seemed in a hurry to replace it, the living room filled with comfortable silence.
Jaafar sat staring into his coffee, the mug that had gone cold twenty minutes ago.
Suddenly he laughed, a small humorless sound.
“You know what’s stupid?”
Y/N glanced up. “What?”
His eyes never left the mug. “I don’t know what I’m supposed to do now.”
She frowned slightly. “What do you mean?”
Jaafar leaned back, his head resting against the couch, and he looked up at the ceiling for a moment, then he sighed.
“For ten years there was always a plan.” The words hung between them.
“The engagement.” A pause. “The wedding.”
“The house.” His jaw tightened. “The next five years.”
Y/N’s chest ached because he wasn’t talking just about Maddie, he was talking about certainty, about waking up every day knowing what came next since he was 19.
About a future he’d spent years building, a future that no longer existed.
Jaafar rubbed a hand over his face. “I thought ending it would feel different.”
Y/N stayed quiet.
“I thought I’d feel relieved.”
His laugh came again. “ Instead I just feel empty.”
The confession settled heavily between them like neither of them knew what to do with it.
For a while only the television filled the room then Jaafar spoke again. “You know what’s even worse?”
“What?”
He looked down at his hands. “I don’t even know what food I like anymore.”
Y/N blinked. “What?”
“I’m serious.”
A humorless smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. “I spent so long making decisions as part of a couple that eventually I stopped making them for myself.”
His voice lowered, quiet enough that she almost missed it.
“I don’t remember when it happened.” Her chest tightened.
“When what happened?”
For a moment he didn’t answer.
“When I stopped being me.” The words landed like a punch.
Y/N looked at him, at the man everyone assumed had it together.
The man who always made people laugh, the man who carried things quietly.
The man who somehow spent all his energy making everyone else comfortable.
And suddenly he looked lost.
Not heartbroken…Lost.
Like someone had handed him his freedom and he had no idea what to do with it.
The sight broke something inside her .. before she could think better of it, before she could overanalyze, her mouth spoke.
She stood. “Come here...”
Jaafar looked up and for a moment he didn’t move.
Then he got up.
Y/N barely had time to open her arms before he stepped into them.
His forehead found her shoulder immediately, like he’d done it a hundred times before.
Like he didn’t have the energy to be embarrassed by how much he needed it.
His arms wrapped around her waist.
Tight.
Not because he was trying to comfort her, because he needed comforting.
Y/N hugged him back instinctively, one hand sliding into his hair.
And slowly, she felt him relax. The tension slowly leaving his shoulders, his breathing evening out.
Y/N swallowed hard, because feeling him vulnerable and trusting her like this..
Did something dangerous to her heart.
Something she wasn’t ready to examine, so she didn’t.
She pushed the feeling away, held him a little tighter.
Later, they moved back to the couch.
A different movie was playing now or maybe the same one.
Neither of them knew. Moon was sprawled across the floor, snoring loudly.
Every so often one of them would make a comment about something happening on screen.
Most of the time neither was actually watching, the emotional heaviness had eased slightly.
Jaafar looked exhausted, his eyes kept drifting shut.
“You should sleep.”
“I’m awake.”
“You literally just fell asleep.”
“I blinked.”
“You were unconscious.”
A real laugh escaped him.
The sound made something warm bloom inside her chest.
“There he is.”
Jaafar rolled his eyes. “Tough crowd.”
Y/N smiled, and the silence that followed felt easier.
And for the first time all evening she thought maybe he’d be okay.
Not today or tomorrow but eventually.
After a while, Y/N stood. “I’m getting water.”
Jaafar barely looked up.
“Hm.”
“You want anything?”
He shook his head. “No.”
“You sure?”
He gave her a tired nod.
“Okay.”
She disappeared into the kitchen.
Truthfully she didn’t need water, she needed a minute.
A moment to breathe away from everything she’d been feeling.
She leaned against the counter, closed her eyes and exhaled.
Then grabbed a bottle anyway, when she returned to the living room,
She stopped.
The television cast a soft glow across the room. Moon had somehow climbed onto the couch, half of his body draped across Jaafar’s legs.
The dog looked outrageously comfortable but Y/N barely noticed him.
Because Jaafar was asleep on the couch, head tilted awkwardly against the cushion.
Breathing slow. Even. Peaceful.
The sadness was gone from his face, altho the exhaustion remained on his eyebrows.
But the sadness was gone and the sight hit her harder than anything else had all evening.
She stood frozen in the doorway watching him.
Y/N’s throat tightened.
God.
She wanted to protect him, the realization arrived suddenly.
She wanted to protect him from everything, heartbreak, disappointment, every cruel thing anyone had ever said to him, every burden, every lonely night spent wondering if he was enough.
Her eyes teared because realization hit her that friends shouldn’t feel like this.
Friendship didn’t make your chest ache when somebody else was hurting, didn’t make you wish you could carry their pain for them, didn’t make their happiness feel more important than your own.
The truth settled quietly and patiently, like it had been waiting for her all along.
Every piece clicked into place, the relief every time he smiled, the panic every time he looked sad, the reason she’d stayed away.
Not because she didn’t care but because she cared far too much.
Y/N stared at him and at Moon sprawled across his legs.
At the peaceful expression she’d missed more than she’d ever admit.
She was truly, madly, deeply, in love with Jaafar Jackson.
Carefully, she grabbed the blanket from the back of the couch and draped it over both of them anyway.
Then she stood there for a moment longer than necessary, looking at him and wishing that alone was enough.
Her gaze lingered on his face and for a brief, reckless moment, she wanted to reach for him.
To brush the hair from his forehead, hold his hand, peck his lips, tell him he wasn’t alone.
The urge was so strong it almost hurt, but she couldn’t, not when his heart was still breaking over someone else.
Her eyes burned, Y/N quickly looked away, wiping at a tear before it could fall.
Because suddenly the distance between them felt impossible.
He was only a few feet away and he had never felt further, so she took a step back then another.
Leaving him with Moon, the blanket, and the first peaceful sleep he’d probably had in weeks.
While she carried the weight of her new realization upstairs alone.
A/N : damn we are in deep sh’t fr! *sigh*
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