Chapter 3 Florian Hunt

• ROXANNE'S P.O.V
• My fairytale was crumbling in front of me, but there was nothing I could do. The illusion I had made up in my head was shattering, and I realized just how my own mind was my biggest enemy. How everything that I had carefully glazed over came back, glaring at me. How Damien's inconsistencies now stared right back at me, daring me.
• That secretary two years ago that he had assured me was nothing. She was, after all, his employee, and he wouldn't have anything to do with her. That time, he had stayed out throughout the night, and he had come back to tell me he had fallen asleep in his car. The strange number in his phone that was saved under my name, but I knew it wasn't me.
• I blinked hard, my chest heaving as I struggled to breathe. I should have seen it all. I should have known that this... this drunk man speaking gibberish, swimming in despicable acts of shame with no remorse whatsoever, this was the real Damien. Everything else had been a fragment of my own imagination. A shield I had taken to avoid being hurt. A path I had carved out to lead me to a field of dandelions that would later burst into flames and leave me stranded.
• Just like right now. I was stranded right now.
• My knees were weak, and I slowly went to the floor, my hands covering my face. My chest felt like it would implode on itself, and I hit it again and again, hoping at first that it would loosen up and let me breathe. At some point, I just kept hitting it because of the pain. Because every hit distracted me slightly from the heartbreaking sight in front of me.
• "I am sorry," the woman said again, her voice low. "Will you be okay? Do you want a man from downstairs to take the edge off?"
• I turned to her, and she flinched, her hand on either side of her in surrender.
• "I mean, it's normally the best option, but I understand if it isn't for you."
• I bit down on my lips, then slowly stood up, my chest heaving. I walked into the room, my eyes taking the place in. The others were on the floor, all drunk, and I could only imagine how hard they had partied. How little care they had for me who was at home, waiting, practicing the violin for a fucking cheater.
• It hurt even more that my own brother was here, too. I would have expected him to be the one to shut this down. To tell me he wasn't. He was here, lying on the floor, his back resting on the bed frame of the bed where my fiance had just cheated on me with three call girls.
• The rest of the friend group was there too, and I recognized each and every face. They were mostly Damien's friends whom my brother had warmed up to because of my relationship with Damien. There was only one face missing, however.
• Florian Hunt. I closed my eyes. I didn't want to remember the name. He was... the last thing I wanted to think of right now. The last thing I wanted to remember.
• I walked to where Damien was lying, then slowly pulled off my ring. My finher had a mark from all of the time that ring had stayed intact, and my tears rolled down my cheeks steadily.
• I leaned and dropped the ring next to him, and without waiting for much longer, lest I lose my mind, I walked away, my fingers clenched into fists.
• I didn't need guidance to walk out of the place, and I soon found myself at the door, my feet wobbling in the mismatched shoes I had thrown on. I looked up at the sky, my eyes filled with a layer of tears thick enough to blur out the stars. My hand was empty, and I realized I most have dropped my keys somewhere.
• I couldn't walk back in there for anything. I couldn't let myself see that again. I couldn't let him shatter me completely again.
• I started to walk forward, abandoning my car, my hair slowly falling in front of my eyes, my lips parted. I had barely gotten to the middle of the road when my feet gave out on me, and I slowly went to the floor, my knees rooted on the warm ground, my lips quivering hard. I didn't know where to go or what to do, but I had zero survival or self-preservation instincts at this point.
• I just stayed there, in the middle of the road, my eyes watching the stars, like if I looked hard enough, the life, the illusion, the lie I lived just two hours ago would be miraculously given back to me.
• A loud honking sound caused me to turn to my right, and I swallowed, my tears turning the blinding lights to a sea of separating colours. The sound came again and again, as the light grew brighter and brighter, but my brain had shut down, and I could hardly register that I was in danger, or that I needed to get out of there.
• I just sat there, watching the car approach me.
• "Rox!"
• My brows furrowed, and I started to turn the other way, but I didn't have to. I felt myself being pulled out from the car's path violently. I gave a small yelp as I stood, guided by this person's strong arms, my body falling freely into him, my lips parting.
• "Fuck. Fuck, what were you thinking?"
• I knew that voice. I knew that person. And I dreaded it. I dreaded this person.
• I slowly moved, my eyes looking up to him. The two coloured eyes I remember finding extremely attractive on my eighteenth birthday came into blurring view, and I felt my knees go even weaker.
• One eye was a dark grey, and the other was a light green. None of them looked very happy.
• "What the fuck are you doing?" He asked, his hand cupping my face, his eyes darting across both of nine. "You are getting married tomorrow, and you want to die today?"
• "I am not getting married!" I yelled, my chest heaving hard as my eyes met his. "I am not fucking getting married! You should have let me die."
• "Don't be stupid, Rox."
• "I was already stupid," I said, my voice low with all the weight of the puzzle pieces that fit way too well for me. "I saw the signs, and I ignored it. I loved him too much, and I knew he was always cheating on me, and yet... yet... I let it get here." My hands came to my face, and I swallowed, tears running down my face like broken dams. I slowly looked up to Florian, my chest heaving.
• "What do I do? What do I do?"
• "Let me take you home," he said, and before I could say anything, he leaned, taking me into his arms bridal style.
• I gave a sigh of exasperation, my eyes flooding with more tears as my body went cold. He turned around and headed towards his parked car, a little distance away from mine.