"A sky full of stars and he was staring at her."

- atticus

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Andrew's face lit up in confusion. Why would he leave her? Where had she even heard that?

Was she planning on leaving him?

No, he wouldn't let her. She couldn't. She wouldn't. Not like this. They wouldn't end like this.

He wouldn't let her. He wouldn't.

Not without a decent attempt to try and save their marriage.

He had fucked up, majorly. But he never meant it to get this far, never this bad.

He never meant to hurt her like this. Nothing even close to this.

"We agreed to stay together for the kids, Anisha." His answer was curt and rude. But deep down, it wasn't the real answer.

The real answer was buried deep in his heart, somewhere between the walls of pain and betrayal. He wouldn't let go because he still wanted her. He still fucking loved her, a lot.

And it wouldn't end like this. It wouldn't.

More than once, he had tried to fix their broken bond, to approach her at least. But the fear of rejection pulled him back every time. And he had no idea as to how to fix them, to attempt to save the marriage he had spent years destroying.

He knew he didn't deserve a second chance. Hell, he knew she should've left him years ago.

But why didn't she?

They had both come to a mutual decision to stay together so the kids would at least have family, a stable household with both parents.

But still, she shouldn't have stuck around. Especially with all the pain he had given her, day after day.

It was hell to love someone like him. But Anisha did anyway. She fucking did. And in the end, she had destroyed herself while doing so.

But now as he stared at her pain-stricken face, he decided he would try. He would fucking try. Nothing would hold him back.

He would get back the woman he loved. He would fix the woman he had destroyed, the same woman who had saved him only in return to get herself broken.

In reality, she deserved someone far better than him. Someone who could love her the way she deserved to be loved, someone who wouldn't cheat on her at every chance, someone who would hold her and wipe her tears away instead of being the cause for her tears.

Someone like Sebastian.

But Andrew was selfish. Anisha was his and only his. He wouldn't let her go. Not like this.

He wanted to be the one to fix her.

After all, he had been the one to break her.

All because he had been stuck in the past for so long.

But that's the thing about getting stuck in the past, he didn't know how to move on, to a better future for him and his wife.

He had let the past ruin his future.

His eyes fixated on his wife, who looked like she was seconds from crying, barely holding herself together.

"Because we're really doing a good job showing the kids how love and how to be loyal to someone. Great fucking example."

"The actual fuck Anisha. We've talked about this before." His eyes were hard and his jaw clenched. He never meant for it to go this far, not this far. All the anger was directed towards him, he hated himself for all he had done. He had done this.

Anisha diverted her eyes to the floor, she didn't want him to see the tears that were gathering. Her voice was barely audible and her words were jumbled together. "But Amanda said..."

Andrew tensed immediately. What in the fucking world would Amanda have to tell his wife? What had she told Anisha?

Sharp pains stabbed his heart and regret shadowed his face. He hated rubbing his mistress in his wife's face.

It all started one drunken night at a bar and it just spiraled downwards from there. From random models that threw themselves at him to his PA, whose advances he whole-heartedly accepted.

Sure, it was wrong of him to openly cheat on Anisha whenever he felt like it. It was even more wrong for him to do it in front of his wife.

But he never meant to let it get this far.

He never meant to hurt her like this.

Grief. He was grieving. He was in pain. And people do rash things, unforgiving things when they're in pain.

He was still in pain. Pain doesn't just go away. It's always there. It gets less and less but it's still always there.

Fucking Amanda was simple. It was pure lust and nothing else. But it helped ease the pain around him. He would forget about everything from his broken marriage to his dead sister. He could block all the negativity from his mind, everything that made him self-destructive.

And as it all continued, he drifted further apart from his wife. And they both concentrated on trying to hurt one another, time and time again.

And that was what got them to where they were today.

On the brink of a divorce, looming shadows of a failed marriage.

"Amanda? Why the fuck would she tell you that?" He was furious, beyond furious. But it was really his entire fault, he was the one who encouraged and pursued Amanda. And he should've done a better job making sure Amanda knew her fucking place in his life as the extra woman, the other woman he was seeing but would never want.

"She said you wanted to get married to her and have a baby with her." Anisha's voice cracked on the word marriage. She couldn't bear the thought of Andrew marrying another woman, starting a family with someone who wasn't her.

But deep down in her heart, she knew it was time to let go. She had suffered far too much.

She was setting him free.

It was time. She had held on for so long but things were finally slipping out of her grasp. She couldn't anymore. It had finally gotten to be too much. She couldn't take it anymore.

And he was no longer hers, anyway.

Assurance, that was all she wanted. All she needed was some kind of assurance that he would be okay without her. She wanted him to be happy, to be able to live without her.

"It's okay Andrew. I understand. I...I just want you to be happy. This marriage, it's not doing anything good for the both of us. The kids, they'll understand. Some marriages just don't last. We...we just weren't meant to last."

She couldn't help the tears that slipped down her face. An utter fool she was.

For thinking that she would get a fairytale ending. For thinking he was her prince charming. She was always the damsel in distress, but no one ever came to save her.

And her happily-ever-after was long forgotten.

But maybe this was just the end of Part One for her. Maybe there would be a Second Chapter, a second part where she would get her fairy godmother and the chapter would start off with Once Upon A Time.

And this time it would end with happily-ever-after.

She looked up at her husband, who was already staring intently at her.

It was time to let go.

Andrew found it hard to breath, his heart beating rapidly against his chest as he grasped for every small breath. No, she couldn't leave him. Not like this. Not yet. He hadn't even had a chance to apologize to her, to beg her for a chance to start all over again.

No, not like this. They wouldn't end like this.

He gently cupped her face, his thumb brushing away the tears that streamed down her face.

"I'm not leaving you for her Anisha. Our kids need the both of us."

And he needed that second chance, desperately. Losing Cassie had ruined him, and losing Anisha would destroy him.

Losing Anisha would fucking destroy him, because he knew if he lost her he'd never be able to pull himself up again.

He stared back into her soft brown eyes, glassy from all the tears he had given her once again.

And slowly, the world around him stopped. In that moment, in the ballroom decorated with red and gold, the soft music fading in the background, it was just him and her.

It was the two of them, lost in their own little world. Their eyes set on each other. Her face still cupped in his large hands.

Slowly, his gaze flickered to her lips.

And again, the hammering in his heart reappeared. The adrenaline. The rush of adrenaline and excitement he had felt eighteen years ago when he had first kissed her under the starry sky.

It all came back. Every little bottled up feeling, every small memory that had faded to the past.

And it felt like they were struggling college students once again, going on their first date together.

Sharing a kiss, just outside the café, three blocks from the college campus.

It was just the two of them, under the California night sky.

That night eighteen years ago. The night he had pulled her close to him and finally gathered the courage to confess his feelings. The night he had first kissed her. The night he had held her hand and promised himself that he would marry the girl in front of him, that she would be the one he would spend the rest of his life with.

It was just the two of them once again. Still in love. Forever.

And slowly, Andrew found himself leaning in.

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Okay, so I have finals in three weeks and I'm stressed like crazy. And the next update will be after that. I'm so sorry but I have so much school work to do, things I probably should've done at the beginning of the semester. Oh well. But I will update a lot quicker after that since I have a few weeks off before Summer Classes start.

Remember to vote, comment and follow. It really means a lot and you all are so amazing. 11K? I am so shocked and I'm so thankful to each and every one of you for reading my little story. All your comments, support and love literally make my day every time. Thank you, my amazing readers.

Andrew: 11

Sebastian: 18

Undecided: 7 (ME TOO IDK WHAT TO DO)