Ayesha pov.
I woke up to bright lights over me. Blinking a few times.
What. The. Fuck. Happened.
I was-
I was just walking to the store. All I wanted was to spend time with my boyfriend.
I fell.
I was pushed. Hard.
I was hit. He stood above me. Belt loosening.
I gasp out loud, my breath getting sucked out of me.
I hear a chair get pushed back.
"Ayesha. Are you ok." Someone asks quickly. And loudly.
I wince at the sound as my ears are slightly ringing. I manage to sit up but everything hurts.
"Stephen." I mumble.
"He'll be here honey. He's just gone to pick up your dad. The car broke down so I ran here." My mum said hugging me. I flinched but relaxed into her arms.
"Mom. Did he-
"No." She said.
"Stephen got there in time. Beat the crap out of him apparently."
"Apparently?" I repeat. Did they not catch him.
"Sweetie he got away." She whispers.
I was about to respond when the door crashes open. I see a very breathless Stephen. His knuckles are bright red and bruised and his clothes are a little dirty. He's still in his suit.
"Ish. Oh god are you ok." He practically runs to me.
Throwing his arms around me and pulling me into a soft kiss.
"Ayesha. What happened?" My dad questions looking as if he just lived through his worst nightmare.
"I- I don't know. I was just walking to the store to get some painkillers. And out of nowhere a man came and pushed me. He-" I trailed off. Stephen rubbed my back soothingly.
"He hit me. Allot. I could barely move. He was speaking I'm sure of it but I couldn't hear him. I can barely hear you."
"The doctors said you burst your left eardrum." My mom said. Tears were very apparent in her eyes.
"What did he look like?" Steph whispers as his chin rests on my head.
"He was wearing a hat. I remember I managed to knock him in the head and it fell off." I hear Steph's breath hitch.
"Was he... Did he have cigarette burns in his hat?" He asks.
I furrow my eyebrows and think. When my hand brushed against his hand there was a rough spot.
A burn.
"I think so. Why. How did you know that?"
I hear him gulp.
"The police say they saw a hat but didn't class it as evidence. When they went back to retrieve it. It was gone."
"He's still out there?" My voice wavers and Stephen hugs me tighter.
"He won't hurt you again Ayesha. I'll make sure of it. Don't you worry." He kisses my head.
Stephen pov.
I love her. I know that. Everyone who knows me knows that. She knows that.
The thing is, he doesn't. Or at least he doesn't want to.
Arthur.
That's what his name was.
The top hat man.
It wasn't actually a top hat. It simply was just a cover for his face. It wasn't extravagant or dramatic. It was made to conceal his ugly features both inside and out.
Here's the deal.
I am to be engaged to his daughter.
This makes me laugh. It actually sounds like I'm in some fantasy book or tv show but no.
It's real.
I would be engaged to her for five years.
Yes five years.
In that five years I would work up to success.
Get picked in a good spot in the draft. Become a good rookie in the NBA. Be an amazing player.
Then become one of his legacy. Marry his daughter.
She divorces me after two years so she has the fame without being tied to me.
The perfect plan.
Except I have to leave the one thing in this life that makes me so happy I forget everything else.
Ayesha Alexander.
I always thought one day she'd become Ayesha Curry. My girlfriend turned fiancé turned wife.
That's how my dream goes.
I now have to leave her. And live the next seven goddamn years a lie.
The day she gets attacked I have to break up with her.
Her family will hate me.
Her friends will hate me.
My friends will hate me.
She. Will despise me.
"Stephen. Are you ok. You've been staring at me for a while." Ayesha says chuckling lightly.
God am I going to miss that.
Her parents were with the doctors. We were alone.
"Ayesha what would you do if I said I cheated on you?" I randomly ask. Maybe I can get her to hate me so she'll want me to go.
He expression doesn't drop.
"I'd break up with you within seconds."
"Ok I cheated on you." I wait for her reaction.
She scoffs. "No you didn't." She looks completely unfazed.
I gasp offensively "I could have." My voice goes ridiculously high.
"You are the worst liar I know. Why would you say that?"
Rip the bandaid off.
"We need to break up."
Her face falls.
And I will never forget it. Ever.
"What?"
"We need to break up. I need to go. I'm going." My tone is emotionless but my eyes are beginning to get glassy. After I leave her, he will pick me up. And I will start my new disgusting life.
"Shut up Stephen what are you talking about. Is this because of what happened. Because he didn't do anything to me." My heart actually shatters and I loose composure.
I grasp her face in my hands.
"Ayesha. I love you. With everything I have. But I have to go. This has nothing to do with you."
She laughs bitterly.
"Is this your 'it's not you it's me' speech." Tears begin to make their way into her eyes. I hate being the one to make her cry.
"No. It's not. Ayesha please believe me. God I love you."
"That's funny. I don't seem to recall breaking up with someone cos you love them being in the boyfriend handbook." She shoved me away from her.
"Were you actually cheating on me?" She asks, eyes wide.
Go on. Say yes. She'll hate you and want you gone. That's one job done. Just say yes and walk away.
"Of course not I love you!" Well that wasn't great now was it.
"Funny." She looks down.
"Almost two years. Two years! How in a matter of minutes are you going to walk away. With no explanation!" Her voice cracks.
"I'm sorry." She starts saying something but I walk out.
Coward.
Pathetic.
Idiot.
It took me all of two minutes to break an already broken girl. She doesn't even know why. She'll be wondering for weeks maybe months.
She'll hate me.
And that's the way it will remain until I have the balls to do otherwise.
I just left the love of my life in a hospital bed.
And I would never see her again.
How very morbid.
"Bye Ishiboo." I whisper. And walk away.