EPOV
"Are you doing okay?" I asked Bella when I reached her apartment.
We had talked a few times over the texts and twice on the phone after she had left. She said she was doing okay, but I wasn't really sure. But I didn't really want her to push.
"I'm good," she said, "How was the wedding?"
"Just like any other wedding," I shrugged my shoulders, "You say... You wanted to talk about something once I returned."
"Ummm yeah," she said, "I don't think this is going to work."
I can't say I didn't have an idea that this was coming.
"Is that because of Jasper?" I said, "I understand if you want to end things because of that."
I mean, why would she want to suffer like that in a casual relationship?
"It's not just because of him," she said, "It's been a year, and I don't think our 'relationship' is going anywhere."
Okay, that wasn't something I expected her to say.
"What do you mean?" I asked.
I thought we were doing pretty good? We had a good understanding, we liked each other, and we understood each other's freedom pretty well. Wasn't that something that we both wanted from this relationship?
"When we started this, I didn't want anything serious," she said, "My mind wasn't in the right state with the way Jasper had treated me. You don't know all the details, but I hope you believe me that he treated me like a shit. I had no idea that he was a married man."
"I believe you," I said. I had no reason not to believe her.
She paused for a moment before she started again, "But it's been a year since we started dating. A lot of things have changed... I started developing feelings for you... I began to have some expectations from this relationship in the hope that someday you might also reciprocate those feelings, but... I don't think that's going to happen. Maybe it's better to end this now," she said.
I was a bit taken aback to hear that.
Since when had she started developing the feelings?
What kind of expectations did she have from our relationship?
Love?
Marriage?
I shuddered at that thought.
No, that was never going to happen.
There was no point in giving her false hopes and wasting her time.
"I agree," I said, "I guess it's better to end this."