Letting Him Go

Chapter 3 - Venice II

My eyes fill with tears and I hastily brush them away as I turn around to face her.

"Irina..." She gasps, a cloud of pink floating towards me. She stops, arms outstretched and head slightly cocked to the side, as if asking for my permission. I find myself stepping forward into her embrace. She uses her thumbs to wipe away the smudge of mascara under my eyes, and her hands move to my arms, rubbing them gently.

"What's wrong, love?" She smells like a strangely comforting concoction of elegant lavender perfume and a cup of chamomile tea in the morning. I can't tell her. The very woman who stands inches away, her smoldering green eyes brimming with nothing but genuine concern for me, is precisely what is wrong.

"I... just don't feel too great." I blurt out the first thing that comes to mind. "I'll be alright," I offer her a smile.

"Do you want me to get Brad?" She asks, her cool fingers moving against my shoulders. I shake my head.

"No, no, please. I'm alright. I just needed a minute, I think." I lie, turning back towards my reflection and adjusting the pins in my hair. She blinks at me through the mirror.

"Come on, let's get back out there?" She says gently, reaching her hand out to me. A glittering diamond ring decorates her ring finger. Christian. Relief tickles my chest. I take her hand, and we make our way to our seats for the screening. Heads turn at the sight of us walking together, and we are welcomed with warm smiles and nods of acknowledgment.

Bradley and Christian have already taken their seats, chatting animatedly as we approach them. Christian is in the middle of a thought when he spots us, his gaze immediately locking on his fiancée and his words abruptly trailing off. Bradley turns around, his eyes smiling at me in recognition.

"Hey," she breathes, pecking Christian on the lips. He looks at her adoringly before taking her hands and leaning in to kiss her cheeks.

"You look lovely," Bradley whispers in my ear, folding me into a hug. I pull back to look at him only to find him distracted, looking over my shoulder. I don't even need to guess at who. His eyes shift quickly back towards me, as if hoping that I didn't catch his stolen glance, and he releases me.

"I hope you like the film, I can't wait for you to finally see it." He kisses my cheek, and then he's gone. I shudder at the sudden rush of cold air that fills the empty space beside me. 

They say there is nothing more painful than watching your partner fall in love with someone else. I disagree. It's strange, enlightening...promising. Promising that love still exists—rare, but floating somewhere out there, waiting to be found. It's as if I exist outside myself, watching two souls explore each other, only to realize that they have met before in another universe...Until I remember that he is the love of my life, and perhaps even worse: I am the one who stands in their way.

The movie is brilliant. Of course it is. The hours spent singing in our basement, in the shower, to Lea, to me—I had absolutely no doubt that he would craft a masterpiece. He doesn't watch a single minute of it, though, and neither do I. Sitting in the row directly above the costars, I watch him watch her. It's as if there is no movie— she is the movie, and the only thing that could possibly matter to him is how much she likes it. She is shocked to see herself onscreen for the first time, completely bare, with no visible traces of the popstar she has become. It moves her to tears and he just stares at her, memorizing her features and reading her expressions—love oozing into the air between them. The movie plays on in front of him, and he pays absolutely no attention. He takes her hand and steadies her when she laughs, and he wipes her tears carefully with his sleeve when she cries.

The sound of her voice ripples across the auditorium as the final song ends, and the screen goes black. The audience is silent. Two heads turn to find each other in the darkness in front of me, and I can only imagine the blue oceans that are pouring out of his eyes and into her heart.

Christian leaps up to his feet next to me, whistling sharply. And just like that, the whole room erupts into a ten-minute standing ovation.

She is crying. Her tears are diamonds falling from her eyelashes as she looks around the room, holding her hands over her lips to contain her sobs. He reaches for her, and she steps into his arms, resting her head on his chest. The applause grows louder. All eyes are on the two embracing figures as he holds onto her tightly, afraid she might fall apart or slip away if he ever lets go.

Christian is the first who dares to break them apart. He leans down and taps her shoulder, pointing to a pink feather that has landed on Bradley's shoe. She smiles and bends down slowly to pick it up. Bradley watches her intently as she stands back up and holds it out to him. He grins and blows it out of her hands into the air in front of them. Laughter echoes the room.

"Make a wish," he whispers, his hand resting on the small of her back. She beams at him and laughs, her face wet with tears.

I'm completely out of my own body, a witness of an epic love story, and it's not the one that just played onscreen. I'm frozen in place. I slowly regain my senses, realizing that the stupidest smile is plastered on my face, and my hands are mindlessly clapping.

Bradley turns around to look at me, his eyes glowing with pride. I smile down at him and offer him a reassuring peck. His arm still holds her tightly to his side.

I look around the room for anything at this point— anything to distract me from the dull ache in my chest. My gaze lands on Christian standing beside me, his hands clasped, staring blankly out at the dark screen in front of us. He feels my eyes on him as he turns to me, and we stand there in silence for a moment, knowing.

Knowing that the sadness written on his face is exactly what he sees painted all over mine.

**THANK YOU! As always, please please feel free to request anything you want to hear. xx**