Jerrie One Shot-ish Stories | Book 2

Breathe - I

People usually embark on romantic relationships in search of intimacy, companionship, and mutual support. Life's challenges often become easier to manage when someone else helps shoulder the burden. One might turn to one's partner for comfort and guidance when something comes up that one can't handle alone.

Yet relationships can't thrive without balance. If one partner regularly provides most of the financial or emotional support, you might have a one-sided, or unbalanced relationship.

It can be disheartening to put effort into showing up for a partner who doesn't seem to have a similar investment in the relationship. Beyond causing frustration, one-sided relationships can sour your affection and negatively affect your emotional health.

The story of the path to coldness in love is well known. We start off full of affection for one another and then – with time – feelings fade. We start prioritizing work; we check our phones while they're speaking; we don't especially want to hear how their day went anymore.

There's a popular surface explanation for this emotional frost: that people naturally get bored of one another, in the same way as they get bored with everything else – the gadget that once seemed so amazing, the film they used to love. Growing cold towards your partner is simply the unavoidable consequence of familiarity.

Jade never really knew why Perrie had been acting so cold on her after their first year of marriage. She knows she'd done nothing wrong to offend or hurt her wife, and if she did, she wasn't sure what it was that could make the blonde loathe her so much.

Sure, they're married, and people think that they have a happy and loving life, but that's all for show. As soon as they're alone in their house together, they sleep in separate rooms, and Perrie doesn't seem to look at Jade straight in the eye anymore. And Jade would be lying if she said that didn't hurt her – it hurt her to bits. She couldn't fathom why the woman she loves so much, now suddenly hates her.

As the saying goes, there's only so much a person can give to fight for someone they love. And tonight, Jade has had enough.

She's meeting up with Perrie at the café where they first met. As she rubbed her thumb on the warm mug she's holding, staring blankly at her cappuccino, she was expecting Perrie to ditch her like what she always did. Jade has heard countless alibis from the blonde from being busy finishing a project, to being caught on meetings with important people, to going out of town unexpectedly, the list goes on and on, really.

When the blonde did show up, Jade still felt the fervor in her heart just like the first time she saw and met Perrie in the café a couple of years back. Time seemed to have stopped for a moment and nothing else mattered – it was just her and Perrie in a smart-casual attire with her captivating, electric blue eyes, striking her like lightning from a distance.

Jade shakes her head, realizing this wasn't the first time they met, and Perrie wasn't the same woman anymore. She thought that this kind of thing only happened in the movies, but here she was, anxiously waiting for Perrie, to ask her a very important question.

As soon as the blonde sat opposite her, Jade straightened herself from her seat. She knows that Perrie doesn't like to beat around the bush. It didn't matter now how many times Jade has practiced what she's about to say to the blonde because it was now or never.

"I want a divorce," she blurts out.

Knowing Perrie, she showed no expression. Her eyes didn't twitch, her nose didn't wrinkle, her eyebrow didn't shoot up. Her gaze was serene, which startled the brunette.

"Why do you want a divorce?" Perrie asked in a calm and soothing voice. The café wasn't busy tonight, and Jade was smart to pick a table that was far from everybody else.