Maxon's POV

"Bonjour, darling." My eyes widened at the sight that I saw.

It was Daphne.

Not America.

Daphne.

"Daphne, Uhh…how nice to see you. What are you doing here?"

"Oh, Maxon!" She jumped up from my bed and flung her arms around me. I pulled away, "Maxon, it's great to see you! I came to Illea, wanting to surprise you. We have quite a lot to discuss."

"Don't play dumb. Everyone in the world knows…America Singer again, huh?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" I said this with a rising anger.

"What do you think that means? I waited so long, Maxon. From the day you said you didn't love me through the Selection to today. I can't wait any longer. I need you."

"Are you kidding me? You have absolutely no right to march into my palace and demand such an absurd idea!" At this point, I was just plain yelling at Daphne.

"Are you kidding me? Don't tell me you actually love that Five!"

"Five! Five! That's all you think of her! She is so much more than that! She used to be a Five, but she fought her way to the top and now she's a bigger star than you'll ever be with all this people who love her, including me!" I was so exhausted and frustrated and getting that out felt so good.

Daphne looked possibly even angrier than me and did something she shouldn't have done unless she wanted to die. She pinned me to the wall and passionately kissed me. At the exact moment this happened, someone came in the room.

"Maxon?" It was America. Of course, she has to appear now. The hurt was obvious in her eyes and she looked close to tears.

"How dare you address him simply as Maxon? You're his subject."

"No, America, don't listen to her. I swear nothing happened." I reached out to her, but she ran away. I chased her outside where I grabbed her.

"America, listen to me."

"Maxon, I'm tired of this. I can't go on with you any longer. This isn't the kind of life I want," She pulled away from me, walking towards her car.

"America, what are you saying? Come back and we'll talk about it. I can explain what happened with Daphne. Just come back."

America shook her head and got in her car and drove off. Just like that, my love was gone again.

America's POV

I couldn't believe it! I went to the palace, wanting to tell Maxon we couldn't go on anymore, but all I saw was Maxon and Daphne kissing. If I didn't have enough of a reason before, I definitely did now. Would there always be drama if I tried to love Maxon? Every single time in the Selection, something went wrong. It seems like history keeps repeating itself.

I got back home and only Gerad was home.

"Hey Ames," He said, barely looking up from some video game.

"Hi." He looked up and saw my tear streaked face.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just allergies."

"Oh, okay." I went to the bathroom to freshen up. Then I went to my piano to just escape from everything.

I played the piano to keep me busy, but that didn't stop my mind from wandering. I kept thinking about Maxon. I thought about the Selection, about all the hardships during it. I thought about the day he proposed to Kriss. I thought about my new life. I thought about my happiness when I was reunited with Maxon. I thought about how everything went wrong.

I felt like I was in there forever. At the end of it all, I felt broken. I burst into tears. Why was loving so hard for me? Maybe I wasn't cut out for it. Every time I tried to love, it just didn't work out. True love, does it exist?