(A/N: I highly recommend to grab some tissues and listen to the sad songs on SOUR by Olivia Rodrigo during this chapter lmao okay bye bye enjoy)
~ Their eyes
Athena was gonna experience heartbreak all over again, well, not really, because her heart had never completely healed, but it was starting to, until he would break it again.
Heartbreak is such an ironic feeling, because you know that you will eventually feel it, but you're never prepared for it. Athena knew it, she knew that getting with Niall would end up in her having a broken heart, but she couldn't help it. She tried, she really did try to control herself, her feelings, the way her stomach flipped, but she simply couldn't. The simple mention of his name could make Athena smile from ear to ear. And she completely hated that.
But Niall wasn't the only one that was gonna break Athena's heart, oh no, because Athena broke her own heart as well by holding on to him.
Niall had never, ever, meant to hurt Athena. Never in a million years he would've liked to see her suffer, but Niall thought he was being selfless, he really did think that at the end he would be able to look at Athena without being scared that someone was watching them.
Whoever the fuck told you that loving is easy, was completely and utterly wrong. Life is not a fairytale, and love isn't either. Snow White doesn't get saved by her prince, Ariel never gets her voice back from Ursula, and Niall doesn't get to be with Athena.
Being in love isn't enough to make things work.
"Hey," Niall muttered when he finally went back to Athena "sorry 'bout that"
Athena wanted to slap him across his beautiful fucking face.
"Yeah," She cleared her throat "I can tell"
"Why the sudden mood change?" Niall asked
Athena didn't miss a single beat "Who were you talking to?"
A lump formed in Niall's thorat, and he hated himself for what he was gonna say next.
"Uh, that was my- my um-" He stuttered "That was my girlfriend"
The five stages of grief, Athena knew them by hard. Denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and finally, acceptance. What you don't know is that for Athena, there would only be four stages of grief, because she would skip one of the stages.
Athena laughed "Yeah sure, a girlfriend"
Niall swallowed "I'm being serious"
Niall could see how Athena's face completely fell and her eyes widened.
"What?" She breathed out
"I'm being serious, I have a girlfriend now" Niall was having such a hard time saying those words, the only thing he wanted was to wrap his arms around the vulnerable girl in front of him.
But he couldn't. And he wouldn't.
Athena was already feeling hot tears stream down her cheeks, falling onto the floor like little drops of rain that would soon be forgotten once the sun came out.
Niall had broken his latibule, tearing it apart and making it everything but a safe place. The definition for latibule is a hiding place; a place of safety and comfort. But you don't break down your hiding place, because you may be found, and you won't be able to hide there anymore. The place won't bring you comfort because you tore it down apart, you broke it's walls, it's heart, it's soul, it's everything.
"You're kidding, right? You have to be kidding, this isn't possible" Athena shook her head
Denial
"I'm not" Niall whispered
"How? Since when?" The small cracks in her voice made Niall hate himself more than he already was, if that was even possible.
"About two weeks ago"
Athena scoffed "There's no way you can fall in love with somebody that quickly"
More denial
"Well I did fall in love with her!" Niall was beginning to get frustrated
"Well I don't fucking believe you!" Athena yelled back
"I don't fucking care about what you believe!"
"It's fucking impossible! Two weeks ago you kissed me! You told me you had fucking feelings for me while you were with her?! You're telling me you have no damn feelings for me and love her?!"
Anger
"Yes! I love her!" Niall didn't even know who he was talking about
"That doesn't answer my fucking question Niall! Answer my question!"
"I-" Niall sighed in frustration and ruffled his hair "I don't have any feelings for you"
The worst feeling Athena had ever experienced in her life, by far, was feeling unwanted by the person she wanted the most.
"You're lying!" Athena continued yelling "You perfectly know you're lying!"
"I'm not!"
"You promised Niall! You promised you weren't gonna let me go! You promised we were gonna make it work!"
"Well, this is who I am! I break promises!"
"No! You're not like this" Athena denied Niall's statement
"Look at me, look at me in the eye" Athena stepped closer to Niall "Look at me in the eye, and tell me that all those nights, all those talks, all those kisses meant nothing. Look at me in the eye and tell me that all of that meant absolutely nothing to you, and if you do, then i'll stop"
Bargaining
Niall looked at her eyes, they always looked greener when she was crying, and even if he loved the color green, he hated that he was the reason behind her eyes looking that color.
"Don't do this to me" Niall softly whispered
"No, you're not the one allowed to decide that" Athena shook her head once again "I'm not allowing you to break my heart all over again, I'm not letting you run away again. Please, Niall, please don't leave me" She whimpered
Depression
"I'm sorry, but you're not the one I love"
Lie.
"Am I really that easy to forget?" Athena softly spoke, as if she spoke a bit louder she would break into pieces.
"No, you're not. I just don't need to forget something that never happened" Niall shrugged
That. That was Athena's breaking point. Something that never happened? Had he been living the same life as Athena had?
"Do you realize that you lied, right?" Athena asked in between cries
"About what?" Niall asked, seriously confused
"Falling for you was the biggest mistake of my life"
And as I told you before, Athena would miss the last step of grief, because she would never accept that she wasn't the person Niall loved.
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A/N
MY MENTAL STABILITY AFTER THIS CHAPTER 📉📉📉📉
YALL PROBABLY HATE ME SM RN (Me too)
I cried writing this chapter btw
This is low even for me like wtf did I have to do that i'm mad at myself
but the drama is needed for the plot so yea
okay I hope you enjoyed this chapter, ily all sm
Lots of love,
S xxx