Catching Coal Bonus Files

A Heart-Shaped Pendant

Length: 1586 words
Ships: Jenny X Ava
Description: After discovering that Ava doesn't want to get married, Jenny comes up with a different way to symbolize their love for each other.

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"Hey, Jenny?"

"Yeah, babe?" Jenny asked as she entered their bedroom, taking off her shirt as she went.

It was a long day at work for her, and she was happy to be back home with Ava.

"Listen, I... I want to talk to you about something. Something important."

"Uh-oh. Should I be worried?" She asked, looking at her with a smirk.

"Come on, I'm serious." Ava whined, rolling her eyes at her.

"Alright," Jenny said, jumping onto the bed next to Ava. "I'm all ears. What's up?"

There was a long moment of silence as Ava tried to find the right words. "Well... I've been thinking a lot lately about our relationship."

"Are you breaking up with me?" Jenny said, her eyes widening.

"No, no! Of course not!" Ava exclaimed, and Jenny sighed in relief.

"You can't start a conversation like this, Aves. You almost gave me a heart attack!"

Ava chuckled nervously. "Sorry."

"That's okay. But if you're not breaking up with me, what about our relationship?"

"Well..." Ava started. "I know it's too early to talk about it, but I decided that we should sort this out now. So that we can both be on the same page later on, you know?"

"Okay. So what is it?" Jenny asked curiously. It's been a while since Ava seemed so nervous when it came to their relationship. It's been over a year since they started dating now, and Ava seemed to get comfortable with her feelings for her.

"I..." She stopped for a second before continuing. "Please, don't ever propose to me."

There was a long moment of silence as Jenny was trying to process her words. Noticing her lack of reaction, Ava decided to explain herself.

"I don't know if you ever want to get married, Jenny, but I... I want you to know that it has nothing to do with you. I just... I don't want to remarry. At all." She stopped for a moment to look at the ring on her finger. "It's been so long since David left us, but I... I still wear his ring. It symbolizes our love. My love for him. And getting married again doesn't feel right to me. Neither replacing his ring nor adding another one. I feel like it'd be disrespectful, replacing him with someone else."

"Marriage is 'till death do us part', Ava," Jenny said, trying to hide the hint of disappointment in her voice.

"I know, but I... I can't do it. Even imagining myself taking off his ring feels wrong. I can feel him watching over me, Jenny. I can't do this to him." There was another moment of silence as Ava looked into Jenny's eyes. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be," Jenny said, nodding her head dismissively. "I understand."

"No, please, say what you really want to say, Jenny." Ava pleaded. "Do you want to get married?"

"I'm definitely not against it, as long as it's to someone I love." She said. "But it's just a stupid ring. I want you to be comfortable with our relationship, and if you feel like you being married only to David is the way you remember and respect him, then that's okay with me."