Chapter One
It should have taken more time for things to change and fall apart, but they never did anything slowly. When they fell in love it was quick and before they were even really together. They broke up quickly, got back together quickly, and got married without a second thought to everything that preceded it.
They wedding had been beautiful. She wore white even though she swore she wouldn't, and when he looked at her down the aisle everything in her world had pieced together perfectly. They made sense and fit together even when the edges were rough. They danced, drank, and made love the same way they did their first real night together.
It would have been so simple to wait and troubleshoot their problems within their relationship, but simple didn't seem to fit their life plan. A year went by and they were the perfect newlyweds. The second year went by and he had chosen to spend more late nights at the office. Towards their third year as a married couple she chose to spend her late nights with someone else.
He wasn't aware of it until one night they both managed to end up at Jake's without as much as a word to each other. He watched her sing and dance on stage with an older man. The smile that brightened her face hasn't been placed there by him in months, and he watched as her eyes never left the other man. She was smiles and giggles until she came across her husband in the crowd. Then the night had turned into nothing but drinks for the both of them.
Two months went by where he couldn't even look at her knowing that she had let someone else touch what was his, but it wasn't as if he was touching her either. He resented her not just for having an affair, but for making him feel like he was at fault. She never once told him that, but he knew deep down it was. He never reconciled his priories and when he wouldn't show her the love she needed she went looking elsewhere. Logically it made perfect sense, but there was no amounts of logic to stop pain in his gut when he realized his marriage could be over when he hadn't give it a change to begin.
There were times when she didn't feel like it was worth living, but thoughts like that were forbidden her family. It was a sign of weakness. In her mind there was no way to move forward and neither of them was willing to live in the present. The past continued to dissolve behind them.
The affair started as a flirtation that was innocent on the base level, but then brief quips turned into lengthy conversations. They found any excuse just to be around each other as if it were fresh air in their trapped lives. She had initiated the first hug, but the kiss was planted on her without permission. Before she could conceive what was happening to her hands were roaming her body, and she began to feel the physical pleasure she had been missing. The talking started and sex was all that was left. No matter how much gratification he gave her she never loved him. Deep in her heart, soul, and every inch of her being something longed for her husband.
It all ended two months ago and she was just a bystander as her lover's marriage fell apart. She feared for her own. Her husband still slept in bed next to her even though not so much as a finger crossed the enemy lines to her side. She was beginning to forget what it felt like to be in his arms, the softness of his lips, and the firmness of his body. She ached for it all. Even his voice was a shadow from a former life.
"Do you still love me, Lulu?" He had asked her out of nowhere and startled her as she poured her coffee one more. "Are you still in love with me?"
His words broke her soul in two and she fought back every emotion to respond as clearly as she could. "I am always going to be in love with you, Dante."
His eyes met hers for the first time in so long. He looked deep for the woman he had first fallen in love with. "I love you too." He watched as she unabashedly cried as his revelation. "I really love you… and I don't want us to end like this."
"I don't want us to end at all."
Author's Note: I was so so so so so nervous about writing this story because I'm almost sure everyone will hate me for Lulu having an affair…which in my opinion is a lot better than Dante having an affair. Please tell me what you think of it, and who do you think Lulu had the affair with?
Title is after the song "Broken" by Seether.
