Chapter 1

"God, Taylor, what do you want from me?" Ryan said looking at her with these big, angry and frustrated eyes she had never seen before. "I said I was sorry what more do you want?"

It was like the thousandth time Taylor had heard those words in the past few months: what more do you want; and every time she heard them she had started to wonder what exactly it was that she did want. She wanted so many things… She wanted to stop fighting all the time with the man she loved. She desperately wanted to stop, because every fight was bigger and bigger and it always ended up worse and worse… she was always the one who ended up hurt. She wanted to be able to talk to him like before. All those times in the past when they didn't see eye to eye on something, she was the one who got frustrated, rambling and yelling in a pretty cute way that always made him smile and that was it, that was as far as it went. They always managed to find a way to compromise without ever hurting each other… she wanted to be able to talk to him like old times.

She wanted to wake up the next morning without feeling guilty because they had gotten to bed angry at each other once again, pretending things were gonna blow over by it self. She wanted to stop pretending… She wanted so much! She wanted HIM back! Ever since he got started on that job things started changing between them. At first she could understand it. He wanted to give the best impression possible. He had gotten the job of his dreams at this prestigious architecture firm and the last thing he wanted was to lose this opportunity. He started working hard and crazily, looking for the way to stand out from the other employees. She could definitely understand that. After all, she was the one who used to sleep with the Dean of discipline just to get Social chair. She understood the feeling of wanting to be on top so she didn't mind sacrificing a few days a week of not spending time with her fiancé so he could achieve his dream, but she never thought things were gonna get like this.

She rarely saw him anymore. Whenever he got home she was already asleep. Their sex life was practically nonexistent at the moment and they only talked when they were like this: fighting. How had things ended up this way? Just a few months ago everything seemed perfect! They were deeply in love, everyone could see that. They had been engaged for 8 months for God's sake! How come they had gone from being a couple living heaven on earth to fighting as much as they did? It wasn't that they didn't love each other… She was still crazy about him and she was almost certain he loved her just as much, it was just that he hardly said it anymore.

"What I want from you is for you to start caring again! God, Ryan, you just missed Sophie's birthday! You know how much she loves you, and you had promised her you were gonna be there to take her to the carnival. How do you think she felt when you didn't show up? She was devastated! You know, one thing is to leave me waiting for you to come home late at night, or to cancel on me whenever we have a date, but your sister? Come on! And you're just gonna tell me that you're sorry?" She was so mad at him right now. Just to remember how sad Sophie was that night broke her heart. Sophie was waiting on the porch for almost an hour and a half just looking to see if Ryan's car passed by and all Taylor could do was watch. She had desperately tried to reach his cell to find out where he was but it went straight to voicemail. Finally, Taylor had taken her to the carnival herself but she could feel that what Sophie wanted was Ryan.

"Taylor, I told you I was in this important meeting I couldn't get out off! The important thing is that she went to the carnival", was his response with this angry, yet at the same time cold tone in his voice.

"I can't believe what I just heard! No Ryan, that's not the important thing! The important thing here is that you promised her that! You promised you were gonna take her there and she was expecting you to! She wanted you there. She wanted you as much as I do!" she said, trying not to get the knot in her throat to stop her from finishing what she was gonna tell him. "It's like I don't even know you anymore! You've become this workaholic machine, which is something I could expect from anyone else on the face of the Earth except for you!"

"Are we gonna start this again? This thing where you tell me that I've changed so much now, and that you feel like you wake up every morning next to a total stranger? Cause if that's what you feel, then maybe we're too different, maybe we shouldn't be together anymore!"

Once those words came out of his mouth he immediately started regretting them. He loved her, he really did it was just that this was really important to him as well. It was just as important to him as writing, reading and reviewing French literature was to her. He had finally found something he was good at and that people actually thought he was good at too. He had never had that before. He was finally feeling like he was in the right place in his life. For the first time he didn't feel like he didn't belong. Whenever he was in that office, no matter how stressed out he was, he enjoyed doing what he loved. But he was finally realizing that maybe this was gonna take away the love of his life. This could take away his everything! But maybe he was starting to realize it was a little too late. She was there, standing in front of him with her eyes covered in tears and he knew it was because of what he said.

She was heartbroken. She could feel her eyes filling with tears and she couldn't control it. Her boyfriend, fiancé… her everything had just suggested to break things up! And it didn't matter if he said it because he was mad… That hurt her, deeply, more than anything he had ever said before in any previous fight. No matter how bad things got, she'd never even considerated that a possibility, and the fact that he said that just less than a minute ago was something she couldn't handle. She just put her head down and looked at the floor for about two seconds as she felt a tear run down her cheek. She cleaned it up as fast as she could and looked straight into his eyes… "Maybe we shouldn't, Ryan… maybe we are too different after all."

She looked down to her finger and saw the ring. That ring that had brought her so much happiness 8 months ago was now the symbol of this excruciating pain she was feeling in her entire body. It was too much to bear. She reached for her left hand and slowly pulled the ring away from her finger. She stared at that ring for almost 3 seconds, and then she took his hand. Those precious hands that she loved to feel go through her hair whenever he kissed her… those hands that had meant more to her than anything else in the entire universe… She had never thought she was gonna do what she was doing, but then again, life wasn't turning out like she had always thought it would. Therefore, she deposited the ring in the palm of his hand and without even looking him into his eyes, she just said "Goodbye Ryan", and she was out the door.

As she closed the door behind her, all he wanted to do was go after her, to hold her in his arms and tell her that everything was going to be ok...but he knew that that was a promise he wasn't ready to make.

It was over… It was definitely over.