The soft chime of the restaurant door signaled their arrival, but it felt as if the world outside had just faded away. Daisy's heart pounded in her chest, each beat louder than the last. The dim lighting of the cozy, upscale restaurant wrapped around them like a cloak, creating an illusion of intimacy. But it wasn't enough to mask the storm brewing between them.
They were seated at a quiet corner table, the kind meant for lovers, but tonight, it felt like an interrogation room. Alex glanced at the menu without really seeing it, his jaw clenched, his eyes distant. Daisy, on the other hand, couldn't take her eyes off him. She had always loved the way he carried himself—so confident, so untouchable. But tonight, there was something different. A coldness in his gaze, an emptiness that made her question everything.
"Do you know what you want?" she asked softly, breaking the silence that had stretched for far too long.
He nodded, his voice barely above a whisper. "Yeah, I'll have the steak. Medium rare."
Daisy ordered her food absentmindedly, trying to ignore the growing sense of dread clawing at her. The waiter took their orders and left them alone again, the quiet hum of conversation around them amplifying the tension between them.
Daisy shifted in her seat, her fingers tapping nervously on the table. She couldn't stand this silence anymore. She had to know. She had to hear it from him.
"Actually, Alex…" Her voice faltered as she tried to push the words past the lump in her throat. "What's going on? Why do I feel like you're… pushing me away?"
He paused, his eyes flicking up to meet hers for just a second before looking away again. His expression hardened, and for a brief moment, Daisy saw the mask he wore so well—the one he had perfected over the years, the one that hid everything he was really feeling.
But not tonight.
"I know why I'm taking this decision," Alex said, his voice low, controlled. But the edge of something deeper lingered, something Daisy couldn't place. "It's for the better, Daisy."
Her heart stopped. "For the better?" She repeated his words like they were a foreign language, struggling to understand. "What do you mean? I don't understand you!You can't just—"
"I can," he interrupted, his tone sharp now, the cracks in his calm demeanor showing. "You don't understand, Daisy. You don't know the whole picture. I'm doing this to protect you."
Her breath caught in her throat, and for a split second, she thought she might suffocate. Protect her? From what?
But before she could ask, he continued, his voice lower, almost as if he were speaking to himself more than to her. "I can't afford for anyone to know I have a weakness. Not now. Not when things are this… fragile."
Daisy's pulse quickened. His words were like a slap to her chest, each one echoing louder than the last. "Weakness? Is that what you think I am?" she whispered, her voice trembling.
Alex didn't answer immediately, his jaw working as if he were battling something inside himself. The seconds stretched into eternity.
Finally, his gaze locked with hers, but this time, there was nothing but cold resolve in his eyes. "It's not about you, Daisy," he said, his voice tight, controlled. "It's about them."
The air between them seemed to crackle with the unspoken, and Daisy could feel her world unraveling. The man she loved—had loved—was slipping through her fingers, and all she could do was watch as he built walls she couldn't scale. And then the waiter arrived with their food, breaking the tension like a knife cutting through glass.
But even as they began to eat, Daisy couldn't shake the feeling that this was the beginning of the end.
"Alex what—-" daisy could not get to complete her words when his voice came in.
He glanced up at her, his eyes sharp but avoiding hers. "I told you, Daisy, I've made my decision. This is for the best."
"For the best?" She repeated, her words thick with disbelief. "For you or for us?"
Alex hesitated for a moment. Then, with a slow, almost imperceptible sigh, he leaned back in his chair. His jaw tightened as he spoke, but his words hit her like a cold slap.
"I think it's time we end this," he said, his voice steady but final. "This relationship. It's… it's not working anymore."
Daisy's heart stopped. Her mind raced to catch up, but the world seemed to blur around her. The words hung in the air between them, too heavy to grasp, too sharp to ignore.
"You're serious," she whispered, barely able to hear her own voice over the sudden rush of blood in her ears.
Alex didn't respond immediately. Instead, he reached for his water glass, avoiding her gaze. A moment passed, a moment that felt like hours, and still, he didn't say anything more. His silence was the answer.
Daisy's chest tightened, the pain too much to bear. She could feel the tears pricking at the edges of her eyes, but she swallowed them down, forcing herself to stay composed, to stand strong even when everything inside her was crumbling.
"You're really going to walk away from this?" she managed to ask, her voice steady now, but her hands shook beneath the table. "Just like that? After everything?"
"Yes," Alex said simply, his voice detached, as if they were talking about something trivial. "I don't have a choice."
Daisy stood up abruptly, the chair scraping harshly against the floor. Every eye in the restaurant seemed to turn toward her, but she didn't care. The room spun as she struggled to steady herself. She glanced at him one last time—a fleeting, desperate look that said everything she couldn't put into words.
"No," she said, her voice now trembling with emotion. "No. I can't… I can't do this. I won't let you decide this for me."
She turned on her heel, her heart pounding with every step as she walked away from the table, from him, from everything they had built together. She didn't know where she was going, only that she couldn't stay here. Not with him.
As she neared the door, her vision blurred with tears she hadn't let fall yet. She yanked the door open, stepping out into the night air, the cool breeze hitting her like a slap to the face.
And yet, as the door closed behind her, the finality of Alex's words echoed in her mind like an unbearable weight: It's over.