I DO NOT OWN VAMPIRE ACADEMY

When Dimitri finally arrived, I quickly hid all of Adrian's pictures and grabbed my clutch bag. Just before we were about to leave, Dimitri caught my hand and frowned.

Shit. I had forgotten to put Dimitri's ring back on my finger. When I looked back at Dimitri's face, his jaw was clenched and his face was wiped off any emotion. He was back with his guarded mask and I knew that he was mad at me.

Rose POV

He basically ignored me the entire ride. I know I had made a mistake but he could vent his anger at me or shout at me instead of hiding behind his mask. He wanted me to open up, but come to think of it, it's not like he spoke to me about himself or about his life before we got married. I know I was wrong but I was trying to change. He wasn't around me anymore to help me forget Adrian. Lissa's brother Andre kept me company half the time. Even when he was around, we went to some fancy restaurant for dinner and had one word conversations. If he wanted to live like that he shouldn't have married me.

I wanted to make things better, but every time I looked at him, I saw the man who I married only because my dad wanted at. I knew he made an effort to get to know me but it wasn't enough. He was married to his work instead of me. I didn't want to live like this but I decided to take the first step. I would change first and then expect him to change.

I promised myself that no matter how hard it was for me to leave Adrian, I was going to do it. He wasn't coming back. He would just be a memory of something that could have happened but wasn't going to happen anymore. I vowed that when I was alone and Dimitri wasn't around, I would remove all the pictures of Adrian and pack them away. I still hadn't visited the apartment that we shared in Chicago because I knew that I had to sell it off and if I sold it off I knew that it would mean that he never existed. I would send all the pictures of Adrian to his sister Shelly along with the engagement and wedding rings. Shelly never really liked the fact that Adrian and I were together and I hope that she was happy now.

No matter what I did to grab Dimitri's attention that night, he completely ignored me like I never existed. He was the one who promised me that he wouldn't leave me in Russia and now he was going back on his words? What happened to the man I married in Russia? The man who tried everything to make me happy? Was it just a show in front of his family? Thankfully Lissa and Andre were there too and tried their best to distract me from my Dimitri problems. I couldn't help but notice a beautiful blonde who stayed by his arm all night. She laughed at everything he said and I couldn't say that her laugh was annoying because it was actually a very pleasant sound.

I knew that a lot of women were behind Dimitri but I thought that the fact that he was married would change their attitude. I was surprised to see another person at the other end of the room. Tasha. I was about to tell Lissa about Lissa that I thought that Tasha and Dimitri had an affair when Tasha walked over to Lissa and hugged her. I was shocked. Lissa knew the woman that my husband could possibly be in love with? Lissa introduced Tasha as Christian's aunt. How could I tell Lissa what I thought about Tasha when she was her boyfriend's aunt.

Tasha was nicer to me than she was in Russia and I wondered what brought about the change in her attitude. I also noticed that she kept shooting jealous glares at Dimitri throughout the night which made me even more suspicious about her and Dimitri. If looks could kill, I'm sure the blonde by Dimitri's side would be dead by now. A lot of people surrounded Dimitri and I heard one of them ask whether the blonde was his wife. To my relief Dimitri didn't ignore me then, and pulled me by to his side and introduced me to some of the people. Just because I was angry at Dimitri didn't mean I would ruin his reputation. I was perfectly polite to the guests and then Dimitri introduced the blonde as Sydney. She was his new secretary according to him. I could almost see Tasha's head blow over and I couldn't imagine why she was so jealous. Maybe there was nothing between him and Sydney I tried to tell myself but I knew that I was lying to myself.

He came home late and was at work all the time and had a hot secretary like Sydney. It made it so much more difficult for me to believe that he wasn't cheating on me. The whole night was miserable as Andre fed me more and more champagne till I was so drunk that I would giggle at anything. By the time Dimitri dragged me off to his house, I was dead tired. He tucked me into bed and when I asked him where he was going, he didn't respond. He simply shut the door behind him and left. I was too tired to talk and I fell asleep.

Dimirti POV

When I saw the ring on her finger, I could feel my heat break all over again. What was I doing wrong that she didn't like me? I was trying so hard to get her to like me but nothing was working. Was it really a good idea for us to stay married?

How could I expect Rose to be honest with me when there were so many things I was hiding from her. Yeva was right, I shouldn't let Rose go and that I should tell her the truth already. She thought that I hid behind my mask and she was right. I was scared of getting hurt again. Rose had the power to hurt me just like someone else had hurt me 4 years ago. And Rose could hurt me worse than anyone else could because I had fallen for Rose in the worst way. I couldn't leave her even if I wanted to.

I didn't share the room with Rose that night. At work, Ivan spotted that I was upset.

"Hey man, what's wrong? You look sick"

"I'm not sick, I'm in love" I had told Ivan the truth behind our marriage even though I knew that Rose didn't want him to know.

Ivan looked shocked. "Who?"

"My wife." I replied. Ivan burst out laughing. I had this urge to punch him. When he realized that I was serious he stopped.

"She's your wife, you've given her everything that a woman could want. Hell you've given her more than that. You're trying too hard,leave her for sometime, she'll value you when you're not around her all the time"

Maybe Ivan was right. I was trying too hard to get Rose to like me. I would back off. When I got home, Rose wasn't around. She was probably with Andre again and I was jealous. I knew that she liked him more than me. I waled into the room that we shared and took out all my things from the closet. If she wanted distance, then she would get distance. I knew it would be difficult for me to ignore her but I had to do it. She couldn't treat me like trash all the time.

Rose POV

When I came back from my outing with Andre, I noticed that my room looked more empty than ever. I opened the closet and found all his things gone. He left me. Just then I noticed that there was a paper on my bed. I was a note saying that he was at Ivan's place and that he had moved his things to the spare bedroom. Just when I decide to try and fix things he decides to shut me out. I wouldn't back down though, I would prove to him that i wasn't a broken girl anymore. I was strong and I wouldn't let some blonde secretary steal my husband.

I took out all the pictures of Adrian and me and burned them. The rings and the rest of the pictures, I packed and sent to his sister. I decided to dress up and make dinner that night. I shopped and brought all the things I would need to make Beef Stroganoff. Olena had taught me to make it. I also made some Russian apple pie and then waited for Dimitri to arrive.