Lois and Clark had been dating for a month now. Clark had come to pick her up for dinner and a movie.
"Clark, before we go out, I think we need to have a serious talk."
"It must be serious or you wouldn't have called me Clark," he said, taking a seat on her couch.
"I have a huge problem. I'm head over heels in love with you," Lois said.
Clark took her hand and smiled, "Then I have a huge problem too."
"You don't understand. I'm in the tunnel of love, over the moon in love. There's not the tiniest part of me that doesn't love you."
"What's wrong with that?"
"Do I have your whole heart?"
"Yeah."
"Are you sure about that or is there a small sliver of your heart that will always belong to Lana?"
"Lois, I promise that in this point in time and for the rest of time, this heart belongs wholly and completely to you."
"I love you so much that I know in any set of circumstances, you're the only one for me. No matter what, I wouldn't have ended up with any of my old boyfriends and I don't care if I ever dated them or not because they pale in comparison. Do you feel the same way?"
"About what?"
"About Lana. Do you think you would have gotten together with me, no matter the circumstances? Do all other women pale in comparison?"
"Of course, they're pale in comparison, but I don't know that I wish they never happened. Good and bad relationships are growing experiences."
"Do you think we would have ended up together, no matter what?"
"I don't know."
"What do you mean you don't know?"
"I hope we would have."
"It's just sometimes I feel that you tried everything to be with her and when Lana didn't work out because of circumstances beyond your control, good old Lois will do."
"That's not true. I love you and only you. If Lana came back into my life now, she wouldn't stand a chance."
"I know you would never be unfaithful to me. You're not that kind of guy. I'm asking what if you had gotten married to Lana."
"I came close one time, but it just wasn't meant to be."
"But you wanted it to be and so did Lana, right? What if you had gotten married? Then what?"
"I guess we would be married. What do you want me to say? I can't tell you what might've happened if something different had taken place. If I'm going to be truthful, I can only tell you what did happen."
"See and there's where the problem is. I love you so much that I know if I had married someone else, I wouldn't have been happy. I would've still fallen in love with you, but you can't tell me the same thing."
"So you want me to say I would have become an adulterous husband?"
"I want you to say you would still love me and not have lived happily ever after with your childhood sweetheart. But you can't and I can't date someone who doesn't love me in the same way that I love him."
"You're breaking up with me?"
"I'm sorry, Clark, but I'm sure it's going to hurt me more than it hurts you."
She gently shoved him out the door and shut it behind him.
sss
Clark lay in bed that night, repeating the break up scene in his head. What had gone wrong? He loved Lois now. The past shouldn't matter. She was wrong about it hurting her more. His pain at losing her couldn't get any worse. It had never felt this bad when he broke up with Lana and that was saying a lot. He wasn't going to lose her. His heart wouldn't stand for it. He would go see her in the morning and beg for a second chance. He knew right now that she wouldn't give him one unless he could say that even if he had gotten married to Lana, he would still have fallen in love with her. Could he say that and be completely sure of its validity? He fell asleep, pondering this question.