Hunter's Departure

Alex's POV

"The heart is a battlefield, where loyalty and desire clash in a never-ending war."

One month after vows were exchanged under a sky drunk with celebration, the champagne haze had cleared, leaving behind a stark reality: Hunter was leaving. Three months. Business, he'd said, but the word felt like a flimsy shield against the storm brewing within.

Ava folded crisp dress shirts with a practiced hand, her movements precise, almost clinical. I double-checked his passport for the fifth time, my fingers tracing the embossed letters of his name. Hunter. A name that echoed in every corner of my heart, a heart that now felt strangely fractured by a feeling I dared not name. Relief.

The word hung in the air, unspoken, a silent accusation. He was her husband, as much as he was… what was he to me? The question spiraled, a dizzying vortex of love, loyalty, and a guilt so profound it threatened to suffocate.

Ava's jaw tightened almost imperceptibly as she snapped the suitcase shut. The silence stretched, taut and fragile. I knew she felt it too, the underlying hum of tension that buzzed beneath the surface of our carefully constructed normalcy. She was good at this, at masking the storm within. I, on the other hand, felt like a poorly constructed dam about to burst.

How could I admit, even to myself, that a part of me welcomed his absence? That the thought of three months without the constant tightrope walk of our shared life was a balm to my soul? It felt like a betrayal of everything we were, of the love we shared.

As we stood there, the packed suitcase a heavy symbol between us, I felt a wave of uncertainty wash over me. The conflicting emotions warred within, a chaotic dance of joy for their future and a desperate, selfish craving for the quiet solace his absence promised.