Hey guys! This story came out as a sudden inspiration when I was thinking of what happened after Neil and Reine are married. I hope you will like this story to although the starting point seem to be... well, I'll let you fill the blank on your own.

Disclaimer: I don't own Harvest Moon and all the characters in this story besides Reine Forrester née Kreiss. The song below is not mine as well. Oh the plot is mine. Hahaha. Anyway... without further ado

When the Colours Fade

Written in these walls are the stories that I can't explain

I leave my heart open but it stays right here empty for days

She told me in the morning she don't feel the same about us in her bones

Seems to me that when I die these words will be written on my stone

Written in these walls are the colours that I can't change…

(One Direction-Story of My Life)

"I want a divorce."

The sentence came out from her mouth when he drove her to her workplace, their alma mater, the place where they had first met. If there was anything for Reine Forrester, she felt there were nowhere else she would do it.

"Oh," was his only response.

Reine was not surprised by his flat reaction. In that respect, he had never changed.

He pressed the brake, stopping the car smoothly in front of the school gate. It was a sign for her to get out. Reine took her bag and stepped outside. There was no more word between them.

It wasn't an arbitrary request on her part: After their tenth anniversary, two years ago, Reine felt she was fed up with how her life had been. Mind you, she took pride in being Neil Forrester's wife, a mother of two lovely children, a teacher of her own favourite subject (despite the handful students) and the coordinator of her past club… she would ask for nothing more but a bit of affection from Neil.

She knew Neil was almost a different species from Allen Rosencrantz, her brother-in-law, who until now still bought Gwen bouquets of roses in random occasion, as well as Rod Braxton who would bake Yuri's favourite cookies (with small chance of succeeding, but it's the thoughts that counted). Neil was… different. He still wore his wedding band faithfully, and he remembered the important dates in the family, but he never, ever, in the course of their marriage said those three words:

I love you.

She still remembered what they had sworn to each other on their wedding day.

I will not forget that I love you.

I will trust you.

Whatever they had gone through when they had just started dating was good enough proof for her of his affection to her. And in those times, he still bothered those small little things such as holding her hands, telling her he didn't mind of the way she dressed, or just as he had sung to her once: he made her feel wanted.

But, after more than a decade of marriage, they were gone into thin air. They had turned from lovers to housemates; and as much as her efforts to keep it going, she was acutely aware that slowly their marriage had turned from one of love into one of duty.

People changed. And sometimes, they changed into someone else so different that they became barely recognisable; and that's what happened to the Forresters, or at least that's how it seemed to Reine. While she might be able to predict what Neil would say and do in a given situation, or the way he loved his coffee to be made, or the way he would hugged his bolster every night (it used to be her, but after Keith was born somehow the bolster replaced her), she had no idea of what he might feel towards her now, if there's anything left in his heart for her.

Even his flat reply to her request seemed to reinforce her beliefs.

Thanks for reading! Please share your thoughts ^^