"What? How could you?" Mara felt tears stinging her eyes and couldn't find the strength within her to stop them. Freely streaming down her flushed cheeks, Jerome was able to see what a vulnerable state she was in. She cursed her weakness- she didn't want him to see her cry, he'd think she was even more of an idiot than he already did. Because he obviously thought she was an idiot to have not seen the signs, to have not noticed the way he suddenly looked at her. The awful thing was that she had, she could tell just by the way his eyes no longer shone when he looked at Mara that something had changed for him. But not for her, never for her…

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry okay, what more can I say?" Jerome sifted his hand through his bronze locks, his guilt-ridden expression showing Mara exactly what she needed to see. For he didn't look heart-broken that he'd crushed his girlfriend's heart; he didn't even look upset. He just looked guilty.

"THAT YOU DON'T LOVE HER! That you could never love her because you love me!" she screamed, not even caring anymore that tears raced down her face, she was even happy about it. He needed to see how much he had wounded her, how she already felt dead inside.

"Mara, I do love you-

"NO, you can't SAY THAT! You love someone unconditionally, you love someone so much that it hurts, you love someone so much that it feels like a dagger in your side when you notice them start to drift away from you. When you feel physically sick when you notice that suddenly, you're not the only person they look at in that way. When you break down into tears just thinking about the possibility that there's someone else. Because that's how I love you, Jerome. That's how I've always loved you" she cried at him, but her words didn't puncture him the way that they should have.

In her mind, he wouldn't have even let her finish what she was saying. He would have told her, screamed at her even, that it wasn't true what she was thinking. That he loved her, there was no two ways about it. He would have wrapped her up in a momentous kiss that made all their other kisses seem pathetic and passionless. But she knew that he was gone, this new Jerome wasn't the one that had fallen in love with her all those years ago and just waited unwaveringly for her to give him a chance. This new Jerome wasn't the one who would have done all those things. This new Jerome was the one who was slowly but steadily developing feelings for someone other than Mara, for someone who he'd just kissed. But it didn't matter to Mara, because she loved both of them. That's what made this so hard.

"…What do you want me to say?" he shrugged, sighing exasperatedly. He wasn't even fighting anymore, this was him giving up and it was killing her.

"I want you to tell me that you don't love her" she whispered, trying so damn hard not to look into his eyes. Those void, impassive eyes that only she could read would draw her in if she couldn't control her urges. But it was too much, he was too much. And so she gave in, but so wished she hadn't when she saw how his eyes darkened in sadness, not in defiance.

The silence was suffocating and she couldn't take any more of it.

"Oh my god…" she exclaimed, immediately clamping her hands over her mouth just letting herself succumb to the harsh sobs that rocked her body.

"Mara, plea-

"No, no, NO! YOU CAN'T DO THIS TO ME! YOU CAN'T DUMP ME AND THEN TRY TO COMFORT ME AFTERWARDS!?" she screamed, pushing him away from her.

"Dump you? We're breaking up?" he looked horrified, just assuming that this was another 'Jara disagreement' as Amber had begun to refer to them, every time him and Mara had quarrelled.

"You actually believe that after you just told me that you kissed another girl and can't even say that you don't love her, we're going to stay together?" she laughed hysterically, not feeling like real laughter at all.

The way his mind worked just boggled Mara; how could he be so idiotic and insensitive? Even if she considered taking him back after cheating on her with another girl, did he not realise how painful that would be for her? Every time she'd see Willow, it'd be the same heart wrenching experience all over again. Like a blade reopening the same wound time after time- how could she deal with that endless suffering? Just knowing that, for that one moment, he'd chosen her over Mara.

But that was only the minority of the reasons they wouldn't stay together, that they couldn't stay together. Mara loved Jerome with every ounce of herself. She'd spent the first half of her life doubting herself, struggling under the burden of expectations. Her parents expectations to be the sporty child they dreamed of, all of her past teacher's expectations that she'd ace every one of their tests, and society's expectations for her to be beautiful. But she wasn't any of these things. There was always a more athletic girl, a smarter girl, a prettier girl. She knew she wasn't perfect, but just being with Jerome made all her insecurities become lost in the passing wind. He made her heart flutter in all the ways she'd never experienced before, his touch was addicting and his kisses were intoxicating. All she wanted, for every minute of every day was to be with him. To be able to call herself his.

But what made this all possible was that he felt the exact same way about her. That when he looked into her eyes, he could see nothing more perfect. Being with someone who didn't love you was the worst torture that Mara could imagine. Just knowing that, given the choice, he could happily be with Willow if Mara was to end things stopped her from even considering fighting for this to work. Her heart tore and burnt into ashes the moment he told her what had happened between the two, and he didn't have enough love for her to put it back together again. He would forever hold her heart in his chest, but she no longer held his.

"I'm sorry it all had to happen this way" he stated honestly, pain etched into his eyes. This was his goodbye, his 'I hope we can still be friends' attempt, and it didn't even bother her to see him upset. Because she knew that he could run to her and he'd easily forget about all of this. Forget about Mara.