1. Our Anniversary Contract

Lena's POV

I check the oven again even though I literally just checked it. I know it’s fine. I know that. The chicken smells good. Really good. Garlic, butter, rosemary, all the stuff Ethan loves. He always says it smells like home when I cook like this, and that makes my chest feel tight in a good way.

I tell myself to stop fussing but my hands won’t listen. They keep moving. Wiping the counter. Touching the oven handle. Fixing nothing.

Tonight matters.

I keep thinking that like if I repeat it enough, it’ll stay true.

Our first anniversary matters.

I smooth my dress down again, fingers pressing into the fabric like it might suddenly wrinkle if I don’t watch it. It’s not fancy. Not cheap either. Just something simple. Something Ethan once said made me look beautiful without trying. I remember rolling my eyes at him and saying I always try, and he laughed and kissed my cheek and said yeah, I know.

That feels like another lifetime.

I miss that version of him already and he’s not even home yet, which feels stupid and dramatic and I tell myself to calm down.

The table looks nice. Candles lit. Two plates. Wine breathing like the book told me to do even though I don’t really know what that means. The napkins are folded weird. One keeps falling over no matter how many times I fix it. I leave it like that. It feels more honest somehow.

My hand slides to my stomach without me thinking about it and I freeze.

There’s nothing there yet. Nothing anyone could see. Not even Ethan.

I’m pregnant.

The words still don’t feel real in my head. Pregnant. I say it silently and then again, like maybe it’ll sink in the second time. After everything. After all those conversations about later, about someday, about when things slow down. I wanted to tell him tonight. I wanted his face to be the first one I saw when I said it out loud.

Just us. Just for a moment.

I check the clock again.

He’s late.

Not late late. Just Ethan late. Ten minutes, maybe fifteen. He’s always been terrible with time when work drags on, especially when Ryan’s around. I tell myself not to think about that. I pour myself water instead of wine, my nerves buzzing under my skin.

We’ve been together since I was sixteen and he was seventeen. Sometimes saying that out loud feels unreal. We didn’t just date. We grew up together. That’s different. That’s messy and deep and tangled in ways people don’t really get.

I didn’t have parents. I had the orphanage. Cold walls too many beds in one room. I larned real fast not to cry too loud because no one came anyway.

Then his parents started showing up. Charity stuff. Donations. Smiles that felt real, not the kind adults usually put on for kids like us. Ethan came with them he was awkward at first or rather quiet. Taller than everyone else. Unsure where he fit.

We became friends by accident. Then we did homework togheter we shared snacks. Sitting on the steps when visiting hours ended, pretending we weren’t watching other kids leave.

When his parents took me in at ten, it felt like everything changed all at once. I got a home, but I lost the only place that had ever been familiar. Ethan was the one thing that stayed the same. My best friend. and my safe place.

We fell in love before I even knew what love was supposed to feel like.

I look at the clock again. Twenty minutes late. I frown and reach for my phone, then stop when I hear the front door open.

My heart jumps so hard it almost hurts.

Finally.

I smooth my hair without thinking and hurry toward the hallway, already smiling, already imagining his reaction. The way his eyes always soften when he looks at me like I’m the only thing in the room.

“Ethan,” I say, breathless.

Then I see his face.

And everything inside me drops straight through the floor.

He’s standing just inside the door his shoulders tight, his jaw clenched and his eyes hard in a way I’ve never seen before. Not tired. Not distracted.

Cold.

Behind him stood Ryan. Ryan Cole. His best friend. His shadow. Leaning against the doorframe like this is casual as if he belongs here just as much as I do. There’s a slow smirk on his face and it makes my skin crawl.

I stop so fast my foot slips on the rug.

“What… what’s wrong,” I ask, and my voice is already shaking.

Ethan doesn’t answer instead he pulls a folder from under his arm and throws something at me.

Papers.

They hit my chest and slide down to the floor. “Sign it,” he says.

For a second, none of it makes sense. I stare at him back at the papers then back at him again.

“Ethan,” I whisper, laughing a little because this has to be a joke. It has to be. “What are you doing.”

“Read it,” he snaps.

Ryan shifts behind him, crossing his arms watching me like he already knows how this ends.

My hands shake as I crouch down and pick the papers up. The word jumps out at me and my vision blurs.

DIVORCE AGREEMENT.

My ears ring.

I look up at Ethan, my mouth opening and closing like I forgot how to talk. “This isn’t funny,” I say. “Is this some kind of sick joke.”

He laughs, short and sharp. “Does this look like a joke to you.”

I stand slowly, clutching the papers to my chest. “Why,” I ask. “What did I do, what is happening.”

“You know exactly what you did,” he says with so much venom.

I shake my head hard. “No. I don’t. I swear I don’t.”

“Stop pretending,” he snaps. “I’m done with you, Lena. Sign the papers and get the fuck out of my house.”

Our house.

The words slice through me. “It’s our anniversary,” I say weakly. “I made dinner. I had something important to tell you.”

Ryan lets out a quiet laugh.

Ethan’s lip curls. “Yeah. I’m sure you did.”

I step closer, my chest tight. “Please just talk to me. I don’t understand why you’re acting like this.”

“Because I don’t do cheaters,” he says flatly. The word hits me like a slap.

“What,” I breathed out shocked. What the hell does he mean by that?

“I know who you are now,” he says. “I’m not stupid.”

I laugh, broken and panicked. “Ethan, I’ve never cheated on you. I would never.”

“Of course you would,” he says. “A poor orphan marrying into money. You played the long game.”

Ryan’s smirk deepens.

I can’t breathe. “How can you say that to me. You know me. Your parents raised me.”

“Don’t drag my parents into this,” Ethan snaps. “They were naive and I was naive.”

Tears spill over and I can’t stop them. “You’re wrong,” I whisper. “You’re making a mistake.”

He steps closer. “Sign the fucking papers. You’re not taking another cent from me. I’m done being your charity case.”

That word hurts the most.

I wipe my face hard and straighten my back. Something inside me goes quiet. “If this is what you want,” I say, shaking but standing, “then say it. Say you don’t love me.”

“I don’t,” he says immediately.

I look at him really look, trying to understand how my husband turned into this stranger.  I walk to the table, pick up the pen and sign. My hand doesn’t feel like mine.

When I’m done, I press the papers against his chest. “Don’t regret this,” I say.

Ryan’s smile flickers. Ethan doesn’t move.

I turn and walk away before I break completely. I head for our bedroom, my heart pounding, my world collapsing behind me.

The candles keep burning. Dinner goes cold.

And my life ends right there in the hallway.