LENNOX ▸ RUBEN LOFTUS-CHEEK

EIGHTEEN • THE TRUTH WILL SET YOU FREE

"Why are we talking about this now, Ruben? It's been five years."

She didn't want to bring this conversation up ever again.

He stared at her, his brown eyes full of determination. "Just answer the question, Lennox. Did you let me leave on purpose?"

Lennox felt tears well up in her eyes as she recalled the heartbreaking event. "I've known you since we were little, Ruben, and in all that time, all you wanted was a chance to go play at Chelsea, a chance to prove yourself. And I wasn't going to hold you back from that. I started that fight so that you could think you resented me, to make it easier for you."

"That wasn't your choice," he snapped.

"I did it for you. I didn't know if you would've chosen to leave for London or if you'd have chosen me... I let you leave, because if I hadn't, you might've stayed and your football career wouldn't have existed. I was in love with you, Ruben, and I'd have been blind to see that football was the one thing that made you the happiest. So I sacrificed my love for your happiness."

That was a lot for Ruben to process. He took a seat at the edge of Lennox's bed, her standing by the balcony doors.

"Why didn't you ever tell me?" he questioned, his voice rather calm and low. "It's been four years."

Lennox took a seat beside him on the bed, staring down as she fiddled with her hands. "I thought about it. I wrote you letters when you left... I never mailed any of them out; I couldn't bring myself to do it. Besides, you never reached out... and I'm not blaming you for that," she cleared up. "I just... Did I make it that easy for you to walk out of my life? I mean, I was so thankful for your happiness and yet so distraught at my own loneliness. I let you leave because I didn't think you'd have been happy if you'd stayed.

"A little part of me, ever the hopeless romantic, thought maybe you'd be back someday, sooner than when you did. I thought maybe you'd be as lonely as me. But then I saw the tabloids and headlines and you were doing just fine on your own."

"Lenny, I—"

"I don't want you to feel bad about it. You couldn't have known how I felt."

He blamed himself. "I should have."

"I loved you; I'd have done anything for you... I don't regret it. You were my truest love, Ruben. You are my truest love. And I know it sounds cheesy and if Logan heard me, she'd probably whoop my ass into shape—" He laughed at that, through his own tears forming. "But it's true. And I don't want it to be a secret anymore. I want you to know what you mean to me... because, it's everything."

There was a moment of silence as the two let their story unfold in front of them. Lennox went to say something but Ruben silenced her with a kiss. It was a kiss unlike any other they'd shared, full of understanding and the promise of a long and everlasting love. After many painful years of fooling themselves that they would be truly content without one another, Ruben and Lennox found their way back to one another, as they always would.