‘I said,get out.’
I swallow hard, reaching for the door handle, fingers trembling, heart pleading:pleasestop me, please change your mind, please please please.
He doesn’t.
I step out and close the door, eyes trained on him through the glass.
He doesn’t even look at me, but his face is ravaged by it. Not the pain he’s inflicting on me, but the grief for a life he didn’t even know he wanted.
A child.
Fatherhood.
A version of himself he never pictured… until me.
I didthat.
I cover my sob with my hand, turn and flee. Wave down my concerned concierge as I fly past, bashing the lift button until it opens and once I’m inside, I let it out. My entire body convulsing with the truth.
The finality of it.
I’ve lost him.
Axel.
Not the baby we started all this for.
Not the dream that pushed us into each other’s arms.
Him.
The man who cracked open my chest and showed me what it meant to love someone so much, it hurts.
The man who taught me to trust.
The man who made me want it all. My very own fairy tale. Not just a child, but a life, a home – with him.
And he ended it. Ended it because he thinks he can’t give me what I want most in this world.
But what I want most is him.
I don’t care about DNA.
I don’t care about biology.
I don’t care about whose cells combine with mine.
I just want him.
I want us.
And now… I’ve lost him.
I sink to the floor, the leaflets scattering all around me asthe sobs take over. I can’t bear it. Not alone. I dig my phone out of my coat and ring the one person I know will catch me.
‘Hey Tay!’ comes Sadie’s chipper greeting, ‘I was just?—’
‘I need you,’ I whisper, choking on the words. ‘I need you, sis.’
