Loving Hurts

She watched his face as he slept. When he was awake, the structures were hard and strong but when he was asleep, they were very soft. Gorgeous even. Her fingers softly ran down his jawline, feeling the tingling sensation of his stubble, stopping on his bare chest and let her hand stay there. Taking a deep breath, she laid her head on his shoulder, wishing that this moment would last forever.

Iwan slowly opened his eyes and brought his hand onto her head to stroke her head. Feeling it, Scarlett looked up and smiled at the icy blue eyes staring back at her. “Good morning, beautiful,” he said, his voice was hoarse from the lack of use.

“Morning.”

“How long have you been awake?”

“Long enough to stare at your face.”

Iwan smiled and kissed her forehead. “Would you like some breakfast?” She nodded. He got out of bed and went to the kitchen.

She looked around the room before grabbing Iwan’s t-shirt that was hung behind the door and wore it before going to the kitchen. She approached Iwan that was cooking eggs and wrapped her arms around his waist.

“I always love the eggs you cook,” she said as both of them watched the sunny-side up made a crackling sound.

He chuckled. “They’re just eggs. Everyone can make it.”

“Yours are the best eggs in the world.”

“Thank you,” he said, wrapping his arm around her shoulder.

She then kissed his shoulder. “I love you, you know that?” she mumbled.

He looked down at her. “You don’t need to say that – I can see the look on your face.”

“I’m that obvious, am I?”

“Sometimes being obvious is good,” he replied, looking back at the eggs.

She smiled as silence filled in. “Do you want some toast to go along with the eggs?” she asked as she let go.

“That’d be great, thanks.”

She grabbed two slices of bread and put them in the toaster. As she waited for the toasts to jump out of the machine, she made tea for the two of them.

- - -

She always thought she was very lucky to have Iwan as her boyfriend and she was grateful that all the ups and downs they’d encountered, they were still together. They knew each other inside and out; they read each other like a book. But there was something about Scarlett that Iwan didn’t know.

“Scarlett, dear, when are you going home?” Scarlett’s mum spoke through the phone.

“I’ll be back, Mum.”

There was a small silence in the other line before her mum spoke again. “You’re not with that Welsh boy, aren’t you?”

Scarlett bit her lip. “No, Mum.”

“Oh thank goodness. Now dear, please get home soon. Your fiancé is waiting for you – you know that your wedding is in a week.”

Scarlett held the dog tag that used to be Iwan’s. “I know, Mum. I’ll be back, okay? Just wait.”

“Okay, be quick – Jeremy doesn’t like to wait for too long.”

With that, she hung up. Scarlett only stared at the phone in disbelief. Just like that? But she knew she wouldn’t want to screw around with her mum.

Iwan opened the door and stepped into the flat, smiling widely when he saw her sitting on the sofa. He approached her once he closed the door and sat, snuggling into her. She giggled as his stubble came in contact with her neck. Sometimes Iwan could be so clingy in a cute way.

Iwan gently placed his lips on her neck. “How was your day?” he asked, sending vibrations through her body.

“I went out with some friends today. Seen Due Date, the one with Robert Downey Jr. in it.”

“Was it any good?”

She nodded. “How was yours?”

“It was okay,” he answered, leaning back into the sofa, placing his arm around her shoulder. “Robert, as usual, kept on being a prick. This time he wouldn’t stop talking about the girl he shagged the other day and he said she had massive tits.”

She laughed. “Once a Sheehan always a Sheehan.”

“Yep. So what are you up to tonight?”

She looked to see his eyes. They were staring back at hers. “Nothing.”

He made a lopsided grin. “I can have you all by myself, then,” he said, leaning in.

“Yeah,” she muttered. He watched her through his eyelashes and when he blinked, she got weak. His eyes had always had her through everything.

He put a strand of her hair behind her ear before leaning in again so that their lips could touch.

- - -

The next evening, Iwan went home from work to an empty apartment. Usually Scarlett would sit on the couch and greet him with a warm smile, but this time she wasn’t there. He closed the door and went in. The flat was dark and silent, so he switched on the lights.

“Scarlett?” he called out. No reply.

He went to the kitchen and there was no one there. He went to the bathroom and found no one too, but then he realised something. Scarlett’s toothbrush wasn’t there. And so did her shampoo, her soap, everything.

He started to panic. “Scarlett!” he called out again as he went to their bedroom. The bed was neat and he didn’t find anything that belonged to her. His eyes flicked to the vanity that was now empty and his heart seemed to stop for a moment.

On the mirror, Scarlett’s writing was written in red lipstick. I’m sorry, I had to leave. I love you. -Scarlett

Noticing something hung next to it, he approached it and took it. It was the dog tag he gave. His eyes tear up as he held the dog tag tightly. “Why are you doing this to me?” he whispered.

- - -

A year later, Iwan found himself in London to do some promo for the new series of Misfits. He was looking for food with Robert until he saw someone looked like Scarlett from behind. At first he didn’t believe it, but then he remembered that Scarlett came from London. He decided to chase the girl, leaving Robert behind, ignoring the call of his name.

He ended up at a train station, still looking around for the girl. He found her sitting by the bench. She seemed like she was waiting for someone. He approached her and as he was in front of her, she looked up and her eyes grew.

“Iwan?”

Lord, he missed the sound of her voice.

“What are you doing here?” she asked.

“I could ask you the same question. You left. You didn’t answer my calls.”

She pursed her lips, looking down. He saw her hands on her lap – he noticed the ring on her fourth finger.

“What’s that?” he asked, motioning at her finger. She didn’t answer. “Ah. So what happened? Did you cheat on him with me or did you cheat on me with him and decided to ran off with him?”

“It’s nothing like that!” she denied, looking back at him. “It was for business only – my parents wanted me to marry him for their business’ sake.”

He chuckled sarcastically. “You could at least talk to me about it.”

“I couldn’t. I didn’t want to hurt you.”

“You did in the end.” There was silence for a moment. “You know, I never stopped thinking about you.”

She nodded. “I figured.”

“I still love you.”

She bit her lip. “I’m waiting for him here.”

“Him?”

“Yeah, my... husband. He’s going home from Glasgow and I expect him to arrive in ten minutes.”

“Oh. Then I should leave.” He was about to turn around but he stopped himself. He took off the dog tag he was wearing and held it out for her. “You forgot something.”

Scarlett stared at it for a moment. “Leave it. I left it so you could give it to another girl.”

He shook his head. “There is no other girl. It’s only you.”

“No, Iwan...”

“Look, I’m not going to ask you to come back to me since that you’re... married. Just keep this.” He took her hand and put it on her palm, closing it with her fingers. He stroked her hair, looking at her eyes that didn’t look back at him. He kissed her forehead and whispered, “I’ll always love you, Scarlett.” He turned around and left, without knowing that Scarlett’s eyes were brimming with tears.