Leave Your Lover: Prologue

Anastasia

"You promised me that you'd never leave me!" He screams as I quickly shove some of my clothes into my Louise Vuitton duffle bag.

"Why shouldn't I leave you, when you're constantly leaving me?" I whisper through my deep cries as I look at my boyfriend.

"I have never once left you!" He grits out angrily and I can see the tears build in his eyes. Those eyes that I've spent so many years looking into, hoping that one day I'd feel love looking back at me. But I never have, not truly.

"Bullshit. What about the night that I told you I was pregnant? And then when I lost the baby? You left me. Alone. I had to deal with things without you because they were too hard for you. How do you think I felt? You've always run away. I'm the one who has always stayed."

"It's not as if you were alone, Anastasia. You were with that friend of yours. You were with him. You always are."

"He's the only one who is ever there for me." I tell him sadly and zip up my bag.

"Don't leave me." He begs once more as large tears drop from his eyes.

"I'm sorry." I manage to choke out before I grab my overnight bag and sling it onto my shoulder.

I'm barely able to make it out of the front door of my house before I am completely overcome by my tears. I can feel my throat burn from holding back my heart wrenching cries and my head hurts from the enormous strain I am putting on myself and my boyfriend. The man of so many women's dreams. But after 2 unhappy years together, I know things need to change and time apart from each other might do that. I knew going into our relationship that things would be hard. I wanted to marry a man who was married to his work. It's not his fault, he warned me of the danger in the beginning. But I never listened. When I met him, I was so enthralled with his charming personality and god-like good looks that his overall self seemed to outshine the hardships that would face us in the future. We moved in together soon after we started dating, much to the dismay of my friends and family, but I just had to have him. He had women throwing themselves at him, and yet he chose me. I had to jump into a life with him while I had the chance.

There have been long and lonely nights that I have had to spend without him, but I always thought that it was something that I could get used to. However, when I woke up alone on our 2nd anniversary and didn't hear from him until afternoon, I knew that a life with a man that would willing to leave a woman he loves on a day such as that for a day at work without a second thought, wasn't one that I wanted. That was three weeks ago, and after using that time to try and talk myself out of what I was doing, I finally told him today that I wasn't happy. It seems selfish to me, but I want to feel loved and I want to be with someone who wants to be with me over everything else. If he can't see that, I don't know what that will mean for us.

I unsafely drive my disoriented self to the one place I know will bring me comfort. To him. He's been my best friend for so long, and to the dismay of my boyfriend, he and I have remained close friends through my dysfunctional relationship. As I pull into the apartment's underground garage, I grant myself a smile as I think of what he'll say when he sees me at his door. 'My sunshine.' It's what he says each and every time he sees me. This is always where I come when something is wrong. He's always the one that's there for me.

I stand in the elevator waiting to be whisked into the foyer where he'll greet me. My bag is clutched tightly in my right hand that's clammy and shaky as I impatiently wait. As the elevator pings announcing its arrival to his apartment, I take a deep breath and step out of the cart. I let myself in and stand motionless in the foyer where I see him standing across from me, leaning against the wall with a wary smile playing on his lips. I know it's not a sincere smile, but one that's meant to try and comfort me.

I drop my bag where I stand and rush into his arms. He immediately clutches me tightly to his chest and with one arms like a steel band around my back, the other lets his hand brush gently through my hair.

"Ana." He breathes in my hair and kisses my ear. "My sunshine."

I can't help but start crying all over again as I feel the comfort of his embrace. I know that no matter what happens in this world, I'll always have this. I'll always have him.

"How'd you know I was coming?"

"The security system dinged when you entered the code for the elevator, and who else would be coming to visit me?" He chuckles at the last bit and pulls back to look at my face. His hand leaves my hair and cups my cheek as he looks deeply in my eyes. And that's when I finally see it. That look in the eyes of someone that loves you, where you feel loved by that person, just by the look in your eyes. The look that's been absent from my boyfriend's eyes, I finally see in the eyes of my best friend.

I gasp in realization of the emotions I feel in this moment and close my eyes as I savor his touch on my face. I feel his thumb drawing circles on my skin and I swallow hard as it hits me deep down in my stomach. I love him. When I open my eyes again, he's still looking at me and put my head on his chest, where only I can touch, and hold him tighter.

"Christian." I whisper as it's the only thing willing to come out of my mouth.

"I'm here, my sunshine. I'm always here." Christian tells me as he keeps me in his arms and sways us back and forth.