Roman had spent the rest of the Sunday trying to come up with something. It didn't matter how many plans he tried running through his head. In the end it all came down to her. She had to say no to Dolph. She had to walk away. She had done it once before, so she could do it again.

He walked into work Monday morning. Dean was already there, waiting for Roman to bring coffee from their favourite place like he did every morning. Roman handed Dean one of the cups and sat down.

They had started this business together right after college. They were designing and building smaller buildings for people. Sheds, garages, carports. Things like that. That was actually how he had met Iris. One day she had walked in, talking about her boyfriend wanting a carport. Of course they had never gotten around to build a carport for that boyfriend, the bastard Dolph, because Roman had stolen her away from the other man. They had both fallen in love that day, and it had went from there. Like a fairytale it seemed at first, but Roman quickly learned that every fairytale has a dark twist and a villain.

"So?" Dean asked.
"So?" Roman looked confused.
"How was your weekend?" Dean grinned.
"It fucking sucked," Roman sat down. "She's living with Dolph, and he's putting his hands on her. He was the one giving her that lip."
"What?" Dean stared in disbelief. "After all these years..."
"She still ended up with him," Roman finished the sentence with a sigh. "I lost her to him, and now I'm taking her back, or at least away from him."
"Roman," Dean tried.
"No, my mind's made up. You didn't see what I saw. She's not in love with him. She wasn't back then either. She's scared, and she thinks this is all she deserves. He's spent years making her believe she's worth nothing, so she stays with him because at least she knows that hell and that devil," Roman said.

Dean smirked at Roman. Same old Roman, still in love with her.

"So what? You're gonna be her angel?" He chuckled.
"No, I'm gonna be a man treating her normal," Roman said. "If she'll let me."
"She will," Dean said.
"I wish I could be sure," Roman said.
"She still loves you, Roman. It was clear to me Saturday. And I agree with everything you just said. She's scared, and for some reason she doesn't think she deserves any better," Dean said. "But you and I know better, don't we? She deserves you."
"She deserves me," Roman smiled. "She fucking deserves me!"

He jumped up from his seat, swallowed down the remains of his coffee, and threw the cup in the trash.

"You can handle this for an hour, right?" He asked.
"Of course. Where are you going?" Dean asked.
"If I'm lucky she still works at the library," Roman answered.
"Go get her, tiger!" Dean laughed.

So many times Roman had wanted to walk into the library over the last five years, just to see if she was okay. He never went though. It would hurt too much to see her, and he didn't have an excuse. He wasn't much of a reader, and she knew that. He took a deep breath as he walked into the building. He spotted her right away. She was sitting behind the counter, reading a book. She wore a bright red lipstick, trying to cover up her bruised lip with makeup, but it didn't work.

"Excuse me, miss," he said.

She snapped her head up by the sound of his voice.

"I was wondering if you could help me," he said.
"Roman," she sighed.
"I was looking for something, and I know you have it here," he continued.
"Fine," she crossed her arms. "What are you looking for?"
"You," he said.

She rolled her eyes, and he smirked in return.

"I can't do this," she said.
"Yes, you can," he said.
"Please, leave," she said.
"Not until you talk to me," he said.
"Fine, follow me," she said.

He followed her into a room in the back where they could talk privately. She crossed her arms again and stared at him.

"Talk!" She demanded.
"Why are you living with him?" He asked.
"Because I am," she answered.
"Okay, we're going with the hard way once again. Nothing new there. So you bought a house together, and..." He said.
"No," she cut him off. "It's his house. I live there from time to time. He put my name on the mailbox. I don't always live there."

He tried wrapping his mind around it, but he couldn't.

"What does that mean?" He asked.
"We've been on and off since college. You know this. You've seen it first hand how hard it is for me to escape him. Sometimes I get away, but he always convinces me to come back," she said.
"How?" He asked.
"He can be quite the smooth talker," she answered.

She sighed deeply, and stopped crossing her arms. Instead she let them down, and she looked tired and defeated.

"I don't have much self confidence, Roman. I never did. That's what made it so easy for him to get with me," she said.
"And whatever little self confidence you actually did have, he took it away," he said.
"I wanted to be seen. I wanted to be loved," she said.
"I loved you," he placed his hands on her cheeks. "I still do. Even after all these years, even after all the pain and heartbreak, I still love you."
"I don't deserve you," she whispered.
"Yes, you do," he whispered back. "You deserve me and so much more. You deserve the world, and I'll give it to you."

He didn't care about anything but her in that moment. He knew he was crossing the line, especially since she was at work, but he needed to feel her lips against his own again. He leaned in for a kiss. It was soft at first, almost experimental, but when she wrapped her arms around him, he deepened it and gently pushed her up against the nearest wall. The world disappeared around them for several seconds as the kiss became heated and greedy. None of them could get enough. She was the first one to come back to reality.

"No!" She pushed him away. "I can't do this. I'm not a cheater."
"You're not his girlfriend either. He treats you like trash," he said.
"I am trash," she said.
"Ssh princess," he said. "Don't let his words come out of your mouth."
"It's too late for us, Roman," she said.
"I don't agree. I'm right here, Iris. Right here in front of you," he said. "All you gotta do is take the step. Come with me. Stand up to him, and tell him no."
"It's not that easy," she said.
"It really is," he said.
"I gotta get back to work," she said.

She fixed her lipstick in a small mirror that hung on the wall. She walked out of the room, and he followed behind. Before she could walk back to the counter, he gently grabbed her arm.

"I'm still here," he said. "I'll always be here. I'll be waiting for you for as long as it takes."

He let go of her arm, and she walked back to the counter. He walked out of the library and went back to work.

"Any luck?" Dean asked.
"We talked," Roman answered. "I told her I still love her, and that I'll wait for her."
"You should have kidnapped her," Dean joked.
"Yeah, that'll be plan B," Roman joked back. "I hate that bastard."
"Dolph?" Dean asked.
"Who else? Such a tough guy putting his hands on a woman, but he looked fucking scared yesterday when he came face to face with me. He's a coward. He never dared coming close to me back then either. He walked into the library where she couldn't run from him, and he kept pouring his poison down on her," Roman said.
"Do you think she's with him to keep him away from her work? Maybe it's easier for her to deal with him alone rather than have him come and go that way. Imagine always having someone stalk you at work like that, and you can't do a damn thing about it," Dean said.
"I never thought about it that way," Roman said. "That's gotta be it."
"By the way, you got lipstick on your face," Dean chuckled.

Dolph was leaving the house when Iris came back. They met in front of the mailbox, and he leaned in for a kiss.

"I'm going out with the guys. I'll be back late," he said.
"What about work tomorrow?" She asked.
"I'm calling in sick," he said.
"Your boss warned you," she said.
"He can fucking fire me if he wants. We still got your paycheck. We'll get by until I find something else. I hate that job anyway," he said. "I'll see you later."

She watched him get into his car and drive away. She should go inside, but instead she stared at the mailbox. She never wanted her name on it in the first place. She never wanted to live there. She started scratching at the sticker until her name was gone. Roman's words from yesterday kept ringing inside her head.

"It all starts with you telling him no."

"No," she whispered.

Nothing bad happened by saying it. She looked around, almost expecting Dolph to come back and yell at her.

"No," she said a bit louder.

Still nothing. Dolph wasn't coming back. Of course not. He couldn't hear her. She walked into the house and looked around. She felt like a stranger in this place. A stranger who was lost and hadn't been able to find her way out.

"No!" She yelled. "No, Dolph! I don't fucking love you! You don't deserve me! No, fucking no!"