Ethan;
"Soo… I'm thinking… Pastel? I mean–the usual white garden themed wedding just seems so boring, you know? BUT a pastel-themed garden wedding with flower-themed cupcakes, cute soft colours… You know what I'm saying?" I speak as I scroll through my phone, looking at wedding decorations.
I look up at my fiancé, on whose lap my head is resting, and I pause when I see that the morning's sun is reflecting off his perfect face. Making his eyes shimmer like still water.
He is staring ahead, clearly lost in thought, and I pout. He hasn't been listening to all I've been yapping about.
"Adrien! You're not listening… we're getting married in three months, and you act like we have all the time in the world." I whine as I sit up, and finally, he looks at me.
His blue eyes lock onto me, and my smile falters in worry when I see the look in his eyes. They look so… distant.
"Babe? What's wrong?" I whisper as I scoot closer to him and cradle his cheek.
"You've been awfully quiet. Did…" I begin, but he cuts me off.
"Let's break up."
I go rigid as the words leave his lips, and I blink as I stare at him. Not sure if I heard right.
His voice was so low I must have heard wrong.
There's no way he—
He clears his throat, takes hold of my hand, which is still cupping his cheek and gently pushes it away.
"I'm breaking up with you, Ethan." He speaks again, and I recoil slowly to get a proper look at him.
I stare at him— at Adrien, my boyfriend for two years and fiancé of six months— waiting. Waiting for the joke. Waiting for the teasing smirk, that dramatic eye-roll he always gives just before he tells me he was joking— but nothing comes.
He just sits there, stiff… distant… like a stranger holding a staring contest with another stranger on a train.
He's staring at me like he actually means what he just said, and that scares me more than anything else has in a very long time.
"W..What?" I can't help but ask, and my voice cracks with humiliating fear as I straighten my spine.
"Adrien… You can't go about joking like that. It's not funny—"
"I'm not joking." He cuts me off as he looks up at me, and I freeze.
The seriousness in his eyes turns my heart into a twisted mess that leaps into my throat and stays lodged there.
I try to swallow past it, but I'm physically unable to.
I feel sweat form along my back as I stare at the man I love more than my own life, and he looks away.
"Adrien… What are you talking about? Did I… do something wrong? Is this about the guest list? The venue? Did… did someone say something?" I question as fear begins to boil in my stomach, but he gives no response.
Then it hits me.
"Is it about my job!? Adrien… you know we agreed that I'd quit after we've gathered the money for the new house. I'm working as hard as I can. In two months, I'll be able to quit. You know that…" I try to reason with him, but he doesn't even flinch.
He can't be having second thoughts now because I'm a stripper!! He knew that before we got together! The first time he saw me, I was on stage! I asked him about this when he proposed. He said it wasn't an issue, so why…?
"Adrien…" I make to speak again as my scent shifts to fear, I know he can smell, but he cuts me off.
"We can't be together anymore, Ethan," He says in a quiet, steady… final tone that turns my blood to ice.
"I don't want to marry you, and it has nothing to do with your job." He adds, and a gong gets struck in my head.
The air leaves my lungs so violently that it feels like someone punched me.
He means this… he's serious!? He's really serious!??
"But… you proposed," I whisper in pure disbelief, and he looks away.
"You literally flew us to Seattle and proposed by the waterfront. You… l… Adrien, you said you wanted a life with me." I add with my voice rising and breaking in fear now, and he sighs.
"I thought I did." He replies, and my jaw drops at the same time my heart shatters.
"Thought!?" I demand with my voice, climbing an octave higher.
"You thought!? After two years and six months!? Adrien, you fucking marked me!!" I scream, still in disbelief, and he looks away.
My heart cracks open, and desperation bleeds out when the reality that this isn't a joke settles into my bones.
Why… Why is he doing this? He can't possibly mean it. He loves me. I know he loves me. And he knows I love him too.
He knows how much I love him! Surely that means something.
With our bond and everything… he can't just…
My pheromones shift to pitiful misery as tears blur my vision.
"Tell me. Just tell me what I did wrong so I can fix it. I can fix anything you want, Adrien, just please… stop this…" I begin, reaching out to hold him, and he sighs as he tears his hand away from mine like my touch is an illness.
"It's not something you can fix." He says, and I lose it.
"Then WHAT is it?!" I demand as my voice breaks like brittle glass.
"Tell me what happened! What's going on? We weren't fighting, didn't have an issue… So why are you suddenly doing this!? " I cry, and he shuts his eyes before finally saying it.
Words I wish I were deaf and unable to hear.
"There's someone else."
My entire body goes cold. My blood grows cold in my veins, and fresh tears escape my eyes.
"S… Someone else?" I choke out, and he nods like he's confirming an order.
"When? Who? Why… what!?? Adrien, you're joking. Right? Right!? Is this punishment for something I did?? Please stop this. Tell me what I did wrong." I cry like a fucking beggar.
A beggar crying for love from the man who proposed to me. The man who told me he loved me first.
"Adrien, why are you doing this? What did I do…" I finally break down, and he groans.
"You didn't do anything wrong," he answers. And somehow… that hurts more.
"But it's done. Ethan… I'm sorry." He adds.
He stands up before I can even process all this, and grabs his wallet and keys. Panic explodes inside me.
I'm a marked omega about to be dumped by the Beta who claimed he can't live without me.
"Adrien…wait." I cry as I scramble after him, with panic pulsing through me.
"Can we at least talk? Can you not just…walk out?!" I cry as I take a step towards him. He doesn't even turn around to look at me.
"I can't do this." He whispers as he pulls the front door open.
"Adrien!" My voice cracks, desperate, pleading as I call out to him.
"Please. Please don't leave. I need you!! Please… I've been marked by you, Adrien!! You don't… don't truly want to end us like this, do you?" I cry, but he doesn't spare me so much as a glance.
Not one.
He steps out, and the door closes with a quiet click that feels louder than a thunderclap.
More tears pour from my eyes as I stare at the shut door.
Suddenly, the apartment—the one we were supposed to move out of after the wedding— feels huge and empty… and wrong.
I just stand there. Waiting for him to come back, to say he panicked, that he didn't mean it, that this is all a horrible misunderstanding… or some sick joke.
But the silence answers before reality does.
He wasn't joking. Adrien meant it.
My legs give out.
I fall to my knees on the hardwood floor, hands shaking violently as they hold me up.
A sob tears out of me… raw, broken, and pathetic.
I clutch my chest like I can physically hold my heart together, but it keeps breaking, aching and tearing apart.
My phone, resting on the couch next to me, is still open to the pastel wedding inspiration board I was staring at.
Peonies. Garden arches. Soft pink decorations…
My breath shudders, and then a wail escapes me.
In less than five minutes…
My fiancé. My wedding. Two years and six months of my life just walked out on me…
Just like that… and that too, for no valid reason.
How could he do this to me!?
*****
AT ETHAN'S JOB;
"Listen… There are no hard feelings. Really. We just need to let you go. Business hasn't really been good, and we can't afford to pay all of you." Marvin— the manager of the club I've been working at for about three years now says to me, and I just stare at him.
Nothing he just said makes sense. In fact, I can't get past the fact that he actually just said what he said.
"And… your attitude towards work has been… off recently. For example, you know you are meant to be here and on stage by 8 pm sharp. And look at you. Walking in here by 10 pm." He continues, and I shut my eyes.
"Marvin, I told you I got dumped by my fiancé today. My showing up here at all is purely out of respect for you." I speak, and there's silence.
"You know how hard I work. Just yesterday, you were telling me I'm the club's star dancer. You were even begging me to abandon my no-touch policy and allow some of the club's VIP customers to spend nights with me. Is this because I refused!?" I rage, and he looks away.
"Yes. What's the point of being the stripper our clients request the most if we can't grant their requests? You're the only dancer who has refused to sleep with clients who are willing to pay fortunes for you!" He replies, and I'm stunned.
"Marvin… I thought you were my friend??" I whisper in shock, and he shrugs.
"I'm your boss. You've worked under me for three years. It doesn't make us friends. The club needs to let go of someone, and it has to be you. I'm sorry. Go to the changing room, pack your things and leave. Jumbo will give you your month's balance. It was… a pleasure knowing you, Ethan," he replies, and as he turns away from me, I see sadness in his eyes.
Like someone is forcing him to do this…
"Marvin…" I try to speak, but he cuts me off.
"Please don't come around here again. Neither of us will like the embarrassment that would follow." He warns, and my jaw drops as I watch him walk off.
What!??
What the fuck just happened!??
Is this a joke??
Some kind of nightmare!??
In 24 hours, I've lost both my Fiancé and my job??
How?!