Grace had no words, no voice; she felt completely and utterly numb. It had been over a month since she'd seen Raymond, even when he stormed to her apartment building a couple weeks back demanding she open the door, she didn't. The last memory of Raymond still burned bright in  her memory. Office, Cheryl, affair and just like that a wild fire ignited in Grace as her eyes change from vacant to unbelievably furious.

"What are you doing here?" She sneers, pushing Raymond off and stepping back, her shoulders so curled up that they almost touched her ears.

"I came here for-" Raymond starts, casting his eyes towards the floor.

"You know what? I don't even care." Grace hisses, side stepping him and rushing to the door. "As long as I'm a whole continent away from you."

Throwing open the door, Grace quickly glances at the line that only seemed to lengthened in her short time here. Ignoring their green stares at the premium gift bag tightly held by her, Grace almost sprints away.

"How did he find me?" Grace mumbles, blinking back tears as she makes a sharp right.

"Grace!" A distant voice calls, a few feet behind but gradually catching up.

"No!" Grace shouts, quicken her pace as she shoves past people hauling trolleys and screaming children. "Leave me alone!"

Turning left, Grace's eyes widen as a white wall sits between her and her freedom.

A dead end?

"What? I know this mall like the back of my hand, how did I manage to corner myself?" She stutters, harshly running her hands through her tangled hair. "It's him, he's making me lose my shit."

Looking back she spots Raymond, his hands deeply stuffed in his khaki-coloured pants and eyes burning holes into her back.

No!

Grace walks towards him, hoping to just simply waltz past him even if she has to lose a heel for it but just as she's able to make out the deep creases in his forehead, he speaks.

"Forgive me?" He croaks.

Grace stops dead in her tracks. Although, she'd heard him say it at her apartment and read numerous texts from him, hearing him say it, now, here and with so much hurt and brokenness painted in the simple plea, she couldn't move.

Seeing her stop brought a small spark of light into his eyes as he slowly walks towards Grace.

"I'm sorry. I know its just words and they can't heal what I've done but I don't know what else to say, Grace." He carefully removes his hands from his pockets attempting to hold her but Grace quickly stumbles back.

"How did you find me?" She whispers, avoiding his gaze.

"Don't you remember?" He asks, a tentative smile on his lips. "You made me subscribe to Pandora's newsletter and practically forged my signature on the golden card application."

Idiot.

"Lovesick puppies do the dumbest of things, don't they?" Grace whispers, referring to herself.

Raymond scrunches his thick, bushy eyebrows as a familiar crease makes its way to his forehead.

"Grace-"

"Don't 'Grace' me."

"Fine I won't."

"Then what do you want?" Grace groans. "You stalked me for a reason, didn't you? Or were you just bored? Isn't Cheryl at the Marketing Conference in Ohio?"

"I haven't spoken to her since..."

"Since what, Raymond? Say it, if you have the decency to do it for almost a year at least have the balls to say it."

"Since the incident at the office." He murmurs, rubbing his neck.

"Why? Is the fun gone already?"

"Grace, it isn't like that." He mutters reaching for her. "I messed up, big time but I'm trying to make up for it, okay? I'm trying to win back the love of my life, my soulmate and my best friend."

"Love of your life?" Grace snorts. "You can't claim to love someone you proposed to knowing full well that you're an unfaithful bastard who can't keep it in his pants."

Raymond closes his eyes, hiding his face behind his hands.

The first thing that had attracted Grace to Raymond was his build, he wasn't very tall but he made up for it in his strength. Raymond's dark, chocolate skin that reminded her of a hot Cafe Latte on cold day had been the final sign she needed to walk up to him and introduce herself. Looking back at it now Grace wonders what she had seen in him. She was blinded by love and refused to see sense.

There had been many signs of unfaithfulness in her relationship with him, the way he glanced at woman walking past as they were holding hands in the mall, his weekly business trips out of town despite his job needing him to stay home and lastly the small collection of unused toothbrushes hidden in his bathroom cabinet. She ignored all the signs and could only blame herself for her heartbreak although, a large part of her knew that the blame was on him.

"How many?" Grace slowly asks, the question had been burning in the back of her mind the moment she had caught him with Cheryl but fear had stopped her from asking, until now.

"What?"

"How many girls have you been with while with me?"

"Grace I don't, I don't know."

"Tell me!" Grace shouts, her control slowly slipping.

"Excluding Cheryl, 7,maybe?"He answers as a tear slips past his eyes.

Grace drops her gaze to the floor, stunned, she hadn't expected that many.

"Grace look, I know-"

Ignoring him, Grace walks past him but stops when he firmly holds onto her wrist.

"I want to be with you, that's why I proposed. I loved you, I still do. I'm a fuckup and I wanted you but was scared to fully have you. I thought if I married you I could have you and..."

"And the entire female population?"

"I just didn't want you to leave me."

"You're deranged." Grace mutters, sniffing. "Now let me go."

Raymond only tightens his grip and attempts to pull her towards him.

"Please let me go, Raymond."

Slowly nodding his head, Raymond lets go.

Breathing in deeply, Grace pushes her head up and slowly walks to the parking bay ignoring the soft sobs of a broken man behind her.