There is no happy ending

Not Bliss, not Bianca. Their relationship begins to go completely awry. Once broken, no amount of tugging will bring them back together. Bianca would make sure of that.

‘It’s disgusting, and I don’t care what you think. Jade. I’m not hurt. I didn’t cry.’

‘…….’

‘I’m not hurt by things like Bliss Winston.’

These were not the words of someone who had already been hurt. But for Bianca, it wasn’t the truth that mattered; it was the future she would create.

If you say you’re not hurt, and you think you are, it will go away. Bianca knew the truth was easier to mask than she thought.

She needed a stallion with a good pedigree. One with more pedigree than Bliss Winston…….

‘And I’m not going to be tied down to him.’

She loved Bliss, but that was in the past now.

She shouldn’t have left him behind. A piece of you, a feeling on your fingertips, was supposed to fade away unless you revisited it.

***]

Bliss Winston couldn’t shake the nagging feeling that she was missing something important.

But because what he was missing was only vaguely shaped, not fully laid out before him, …… he was unable to know what he was missing until weeks had passed.

‘It felt okay to picture a future with you because it seemed like the perfect future.’

Only that day, Bianca kept saying the same thing over and over again.

‘That I would marry you, have children with you, and that I would be okay with being Winston instead of Moening.

Do you remember the look on Bianca’s face?

Bliss had never doubted his memory, but strangely enough, she couldn’t remember that moment as vividly.

Was Bianca smiling, or was her face contorted? I thought I knew Bianca, or at least I thought I did.

Six years and years of believing they were alike had made me think so.

But why, why couldn’t he remember anything?

Maybe, Bliss thought, it was because of the way Bianca’s face had looked back at her in the hallway of Winston Manor. The tears she’d promised to wipe away, but hadn’t, and the redness at the corners of her eyes.

He knew for the first time that she was capable of tears.

In the six years since he’d met her, he’d never seen her agitated. He’d never seen her so angry.

The only words that could describe what Bianca Bliss knew were these. Dark. Icy. Violent. Selfish. Arrogant…….

None of these were appropriate labels to attach to the socialite, but that was Bianca Morning.

There were no words that could describe her better. But none of them could describe the tears and anger she showed that day.

Why? Why? Why? What had happened to Bianca Morning that day?

‘By all means…….’

After that day, Bliss’s anxiety never subsided.

Barely quelled by the busyness of the day and Odette’s smile, the anxiety was fuelled by the vagueness of the questions she pondered in the few moments she had alone. Then, on one of those rare occasions, Bliss approached the right answer.

‘Like …… had ever loved me.’

The thought was absurd. Bliss shook her head.

‘That can’t be.’

Bliss muttered, brokenly. Bliss’s despondency filled the afternoon sunlit office.

Unlike the parlor, which had been the focus of Bianca’s affection and anger, the office, decorated to the taste of the Winstons of the previous squadron, seemed strangely deserted.

‘……It can’t be.’

Bliss clamped her mouth shut and stared at the ring on her desk. It was a tiny ring, barely bigger than the tip of Bliss’s pinky finger.

The ornate, overly large, antique design belonged to…… Bianca. Or, more accurately, it ‘was’ Bianca’s.

Bliss picked up the ring that Bianca had thrown down the hall that day.

It’s a feeling I can’t describe. Bliss looked at the ring on the desk side by side with the one still on my left hand. The gun disappeared from Bliss’s eyes as the ring glinted in the light.

A certain presupposition…… shrouded Bliss’s eyes, just as it had shrouded Bianca’s belated realization of love.

Bliss Winston and Bianca Mowening have a strictly contractual relationship. Bianca Mowen does not love Bliss Winston. That’s the premise.

Love, what love is like.

It’s a warm sensation, like a smile and a tan in the sun. It’s the kind of love that makes you want to hug someone because you’re so fond of them. Love is something you want to hold tightly in your hands and possess without letting go.

That’s the love the world talks about and Bliss knows.

Bianca has been a bitter winter for Bliss. She wasn’t cruel to Bliss, but she was calculating. At least, that’s how Bliss sees her.

Bianca never smiled at Bliss like a ray of sunshine. She’d never looked at Bliss and fought the urge to hug her, clutching the hem of her dress more than once. She’s never wanted to own Bliss. Otherwise, Bliss wouldn’t have been so cavalier about the women she met through her business.

‘……Bianca, Morning.’

The ring on the desk slipped into Bliss’s hand. When it was on Bianca’s finger, the ring had sagged under the weight of the egg, but in her hand, it was small and light.

Bianca’s hand was just like this. Just this small.

Bliss closed his eyes. Bianca’s voice played in his ears once more. Bianca’s disconnection gave Bliss an unfamiliar feeling.

Bliss did. No matter how her contract with Bianca ended, …… she knew they would be good partners for all eternity. Even if it wasn’t love.

What Bliss felt for Bianca was not love.

It won’t be.

Bliss Winston was in love with Odette Halona. When he looked at her, he smiled and felt like he was standing in the sunshine. When he looked at her, he felt wistful, and wanted to hug her, to hold her tightly and not let go.

I didn’t feel that way about Bianca, so it had to be different.

Otherwise…….