Rosalie

When I was in college, I had a friend, Tessa, who was in a relationship with a boy. The two of them were adorable together, until they weren't. I never found out the reason behind their break-up, but Tessa was heart broken. She refused to speak to anyone for a month, only leaving her room to attend classes. The situation had been hard on her. Both she and her boyfriend had been in love and when things ended, she found it really hard to cope. That semester, Tessa ended up failing all her exams.

That was when I decided, I would never let anything as trivial as love ruin my life. Up until my forced marriage, I had managed to succeed. I never dated and kept my focus solely on work. I wasn't going to let feelings destroy everything I had worked so hard to achieve. There was no danger of falling in love when you didn't waste your time with anyone.

I sometimes worried things were starting to get weird between me and Dylan. No matter how much I tried to avoid it, there was always a moment here or there when I would feel butterflies in my stomach because of something he said or did, when my skin would buzz if he touched me, or when my heartbeat would accelerate if he came near.

That night, when he had asked me to stay with him, I had listened to him. I don't know what had gotten into me in that moment. It made me feel vulnerable and weak. I was scared that if I let that happen, I would most definitely end up having feelings for him. So, the moment his breathing became steady and I figured he was asleep, I sneaked out.

I tried to avoid him as much as I could after that, making random excuses just so that I wouldn't have to spend time with him. I never thought it would actually bother him. And then when I thought I was pregnant, he acted so calm about it. I should've known right then that he wanted something more from our relationship. Something that I wasn't ready to give. No wonder he had gotten so upset when I celebrated the fact that I still had the opportunity to get rid of him in a few months.

Dylan's words swam around in my head. He had looked so hurt at the things I had said. Or actually, the things I hadn't said. I wish I could take that back, but honestly, what else could I have done in that moment.

He never returned home after that. The next morning, I returned from work to find all of his belongings gone. The only reason I knew where he was, was because my mother had called me, worried why Dylan had moved back into his old house. I had made up some excuse about how he needed a few days alone because he was way too busy with work and didn't want to disturb me, when the truth was, he just didn't want to see my face again. I couldn't really blame him for that but it had made me feel bad.

I never wanted things to get so horrible between us. I actually missed having him around the house. I enjoyed being with him.

Two days ago, when I had succeeded in attaining another contract, I had unconsciously picked up my phone to call him. For some reason, he was the first person I wanted to tell.

I missed him making fun of me. I missed him forcing me to watch horror movies with him. I missed the way he took care of me when I wasn't feeling well. I even missed him calling me Rose. I always liked my name and insisted people call me by it. The only people that didn't call me Rosalie were my parents and some very close friends.

"Ms. Stevens," I heard someone call me.

I turned my head towards the voice. I was sitting in a conference room, listening to a presentation, or pretending to listen to it.

"Are you okay, Ma'am," another voice asked. It was Alex. She was sitting right beside me.

"Uh, yeah. Sorry, got a little distracted." I mumbled as I turned my head to look back at the man who was giving the presentation. He was the one who had called me before.

"What were you saying," I looked up at him.

"I was just informing you that our hydroelectric power plant is undergoing a few reparations and should be up and running in a week," he stated.

"Alright. Anything else?"

"No. That's it for today," he informed.

"Great. I'll be in my office," I announced as I made my way out.

I knew I had some confusing feelings for Dylan, but I had hoped they would eventually go away. It had been more than a week since he had left and my situation was only getting worse. I had never been distracted at work before. The sole reason why I had been so resistant to feelings was that I didn't want to lose my focus. It was like the universe was punishing me for being against love.

I decided to call Jess once I returned home. She was the only one I trusted to give me good advice regarding my predicament. She was also the only one who knew of the whole fake marriage situation.

She picked up on the third ring.
"Hey, girl! It's been a while," she greeted enthusiastically.

"Hi, Jess. I know. I'm sorry I've just been super busy with everything," I replied.

"No worries. So, how you doing? How's being CEO treating you? How is that hot husband of yours?" She went on excitedly.

"Too many questions, Jess," I pointed out.

"Alright, tell me about the hot husband then," she chuckled.

"Actually that's kind of why I called you," I mumbled.

"Ooh! Dish, babe, dish," she demanded excitedly.

"Jess, this is serious."

"Rosalie," she scolded. "What did you do?"

"Why do you assume it was something I did?" I asked, sounding offended.

"Was it?" She asked flatly.

"I mean, yes. But still. You know Dylan. He's an ass so it could've been him as well," I mentioned.

"But it wasn't, though."

"Alright, alright," I said as I began to narrate everything that had happened between us.

Jess was absolutely horrified when she heard about our stupid deal and said she already knew this wasn't going to end well before I had even finished the story. Of course, she was right. It didn't end well. I told her everything from the time we spent together to how he was so nice to me and even laid down all of my confusing feelings.

"Babe, it sounds like you two are in love with each other and are in denial about it," she stated after I was finished speaking. I didn't tell her about our most recent conversation, just that we had a fight and how Dylan had moved out of the house.

"Come on, Jess. I'm not in love with him. You know I don't fall in love," I retorted.

"You wouldn't know love if it punched you in the face," she added.

She went on to give me a lecture about why the only reason I hadn't fallen in love before was because I had never let anyone get close to me and how, right now I was in complete denial about my feelings by labelling them as confusion.

Could it be possible that I shared the same feelings as Dylan? No. Definitely not. Right?

"But Jess, it's not even about what I want. I just can't be distracted right now," I exclaimed after she forced me to admit that I enjoyed being with Dylan and he made me happy.

"It's a little late for that, don't you think, Ro?"