The morning sun crept through the curtains to light up the room. A beautiful start to, what should have been, a beautiful day. Lisa fantasised about the day ahead. Micheal was coming to get her, 10AM sharp he said, wear something nice. She imagined a thoughtfully laid picnic with rose petals and champagne. The whole package. The ring his grandmother was going to hand down sat nicely in a polished red box, shaking has he held it in his hands and asked for her hand in marriage. She shook the fantasy away and checked her clock. 07:37. She shot up and panicked around the room, she wasn’t late she in fact had plenty of time, but she wanted to make sure it was perfect. That she looked perfect.

After what felt like hours of deciding, she finally made her way to the kitchen in her decided outfit. The dress was a beautiful shade of red, sitting perfectly at the top of her knees and hugging her figure right the way up to her shoulders. Lisa thought about some breakfast. Only a light one, she didn’t want to have a bloated look for her perfect day. Before she could give a second thought to what she would eat, the doorbell rang. Lisa didn’t expect anyone, and the rustic clock on the wall above the door showed a couple minutes before 8:30. She took an idle walk towards the front door and brought her eye up to the peep hole.

He stood there with a sense of importance. He was tall, dark and handsome, the cliche of all cliches. Lisa couldn’t understand why he would be here. After 7 years, she finally had managed to not think about him everyday. She had healed from a hurt that she had never experienced before and dealt with her world crashing around her. And that, was all down to him. And now he was at her door, like no time had passed and as if he hadn’t ripped out her heart, shredded it and chucked it. The doorbell rung again, Lisa shot back from the door. A whole host of situations running through her mind. She couldn’t help but feel like he came back for her, her heart was screaming out to open the door, hold him in her arms and never let go. But she didn’t. She just stood, staring at the brass door handle, wondering what would become of her if she did open the door. And without another thought, she turned away from the door and walked back down to the kitchen.

As she sat at the marble top counter, Micheal was on her mind. The man who showed up for her, who healed a heart he didn’t break and made her feel worthy of love again. Jordan showing up today, did not change that. And today Micheal was proposing. Lisa was adamant to not let Jordan’s surprise arrival ruin this day for her. She got up off the stall and started darting around the kitchen cupboards. Oats, strawberries and bananas. A light, tasty breakfast. A great start to the day.

10AM came round quickly, and as she sat on her worn out sofa, tapping her foot in anticipation, her phone buzzed. _‘Outside there is a car waiting for you, get in and no asking questions!_’ It was from Micheal. Lisa smiled with glee, she picked up her white clutch bag, chucking the gold chain over her shoulder and skipped to the door. She grabbed the brass handle and started to turn it, remembering how she refused to do this exact thing for a man she once saw her life with, and choosing to do it for the man she was about to start the rest of her life with. She locked the door, and started to head down the gravel path, her white sandals pattered along the path and she walked with her head held high, looking forward to her perfect day. At the end of the drive was a beautiful black limousine, a well dressed man stepped out of the drivers side and took a long walk down the side of the car to open the back passenger door. The bright white leather seats shone against the sun and was blinding. She thanked the chauffeur and made her way in, sitting in the middle seat and taking in the surroundings. Just infront of her sat another 3 seats, the same beautifully kept white leather, a single cup holder between the first two and a double cup holder between the others. Before she could take in anymore, a small window opened above the seats infront. The chauffeurs face popped up, he had a friendly smile, and inviting eyes. Wrinkles followed the movement of his face from his eyes to the top of his cheeks. “Morning ma’am, we have a little ride ahead of us so get yourself comfortable. A bottle of champagne has been placed in the ice bucket just left of your feet there. Enjoy, and I’ll be sure to let you know when we are close to arrival. Just give a knock on the window if you need anything’ he gave Lisa a nod, and she gave an approving nod backwards, whilst reaching over for that bottle of champagne. It was there, and there was no need for it to go to waste.

The limousine approached a slow, steady stop. Lisa couldn’t contain her excitement, her foot started to tap against the floor, assuming the chauffeur would open the door for her again she waited in angst. It seemed a long while before the door opened, but with the length of the limousine it wasn’t a surprise it took a while to get round to the door. As she stepped out her sandals clopped against the floor, the golden chain on her bag got stuck on the seat, and she fell out the door. The chauffeur was quick to act, and caught her as she fell. She blushed and accepted his invitation of help and got herself up. ‘Gosh, I’m so sorry. How clumsy of me.’ She messed around putting her dress back in place and clearing her throat. Once she had herself together, she looked up. There was an arch, covered in all colours of sweet pea. Beautiful red roses bloomed out of the bushes around and shouted its beauty from the rooftops. Lisa was so taken back by the beauty all around her, that Micheal coming up behind her and covering her eyes, nearly scared her silly. ‘M’lady, I hope your ride here was comfortable’ he spoke softly as his hands slowly made their way down to her hips, he spun her around and they indulged in a slow, passionate kiss. They both giggled like two young lovers having their first kiss.

‘It’s so beautiful here Micheal, what’s the special occasion?’ She gleamed with happiness as she stared into his loving eyes, both adoring each other. ‘You are the special occasion. Follow me’ he grabbed her hand and pulled her towards and through the sweet pea arch, the path led down to a secluded spot under a beautifully large blossom tree.

Lisa’s eyes widened as she looked under the tree to the very thing she fantasised that morning. The beautifully laid picnic, the petals, the champagne, all but micheals grandmothers ring, that would most certainly come into play soon, she just knew it. They made there way down, Micheal grabbed her bag by the gold chain and held it as she sat herself down on the blanket. Micheal placed himself opposite her, popped the champagne and poured Lisa a glass. She took a sip while admiring the beautiful country view. Grass for as long as the eye can see. Micheal looked nervous. He kept fidgeting and moving things around, like he was still trying to perfect the atmosphere, but Lisa didn’t see how it could be anymore perfect than it already is.

Micheal cleared his throat and turned to face Lisa, he smiled and grabbed her hands. He took a breath, and attempted to settle his nerves. ‘The past 2 years with you, have been sensational. You have held my hand through times I wouldn’t have got through on my own, you didn’t give up on me when I gave up on myself. Everything I have, I have you to thank for, I wouldn’t be here without you.’ He cleared his throat, and blew out some air with a nervous laugh. He wiped away the tear slowly rolling down his cheek, and put it straight back to holding Lisa’s hands. They were clammy, she thought about this moment all week and the nerves started to real kick in. Micheals words touched her, and took her back to all their memories together, remembering the day they met to the day they confessed their love. Her tears travelled down her cheeks at a higher speed than micheals, before she could try to wipe them away, she tasted the saltiness of them as they followed the path to the corners of her mouth. Micheal let go of her hands, he slowly reached into his pocket and pulled out a small black box. Not quite the polished red box she imagined, but a box, the size right to fit a ring, was still able to keep up with her fantasy from the morning. He opened the box and sitting neatly in the velvet foam was a silver banded ring. A diamond, sitting with elegance on the band, shining proud and loud. ‘I had a whole speech and on the way here, I decided this should come from the heart and not a piece of paper.’ He cleared his throat, Lisa felt the silence went on for ages, she was holding her tounge in, trying not to scream out yes before he had even asked her the words. He rubbed his hand on his leg, passing the box to the other hand as he did so. ‘I love you Lisa. I have for a very long time. The way you hold yourself, how caring you are for everyone around you. Each day you do something that makes me fall even deeper in love with you.’ They shared a love filled look before he carried on; ‘and because I love you, I want you to be happy. I want you to be happy for all the days that you live. And that’s why, Lisa,” he snapped the ring box shut and placed it down. ‘I can’t ask you to marry me. I can’t use my grandmothers ring to put you in a marriage you will be unhappy in.’ Lisa froze in shock, confused and frustrated as to why it didn’t end the way it was supposed to end. It was absolutely not what she had imagined that morning, and not the words she ever expected to hear. She stood up and paced a few steps backwards. Her voice was shaking, her hands shaking just as much, ‘I don’t understand. How could you love me but not ask me to marry you!? Why would I be unhappy this is everything I ever wanted, Micheal.’ She looked into his eyes, searching for an answer he wouldn’t give her. He just sat, staring into the long valleys of grass. ‘I love you, Lisa. And sometimes you have to leave the things you love. For them, and yourself. I’m leaving you, because I love you’

She was disgusted by his words, confused as to how you can love someone but not want to be with them. Her heart felt like it was, yet again, ripped out, shredded and discarded. She looked down at Micheal, her face begged him to change his mind, she locked eyes with him, her vision getting blurred by the tears but she refused to look away. She needed to know why. Why he brought her here, brought the ring here and made such an effort, just to tell her he wasn’t proposing and never would. His words swam around her mind, ‘_sometimes you have to leave the things you love_.’ A sentence that did not make sense, that was until she repeated it and repeated it. It slowly started to make sense. She remembered Jordan, showing up at her door, and her heart begging her to open it and hold him, and how she did nothing, how she just walked away and didn’t open the door for him, how she loved him, but couldn’t be with him. “Sometimes you have to leave the things you love”, Micheal looked up to her, surprised to hear her voice so calm, surprised to hear her relay back his words without the anger he had imagined. They waited in silence, both hoping the other would speak first. Lisa picked up her glass of champagne and poured it down her throat, she wiped the excess around her mouth and dropped the glass onto the blanket infront of Micheal, she reached over, grabbed her gold chained bag and the opened bottle the champagne. ‘Micheal. You love me, so your walking away. And I love you, so I will walk away first.’