The Wedding Rings

Chapter 10: The Confrontation

His touch and kiss had completely overwhelmed her. As Hermione lay in bed after Draco had left, all she could do was think about what his confession meant. For his family and hers, for their friends and business associates. For their future. She knew there was no point in overanalyzing anything yet. Ron was still in the dark and Harry had been avoiding her calls. She decided that giving him time to accept what he had seen was the best course of action. She felt an incredible amount of guilt for lying, but she also didn't want to apologize for her choices. Yes, her life was chaos; nothing but one awful decision after another, but it had been that long before Draco had come into the picture. Draco, she noted with a smile, was an entirely different kind of chaos that she enjoyed quite a lot. He was the only unruffled chaos she needed.

Heavy footsteps echoed down the hallway, reminding Hermione of the unfinished business she had to draw to a close. It was strange, but living with someone for so long made you recognize even the smallest noise they would make. She knew Ron's walk when he was tired or angry, even a little tipsy. She knew how to read his body language and recognize when he needed to be alone, and when he needed her to be there for him despite claiming otherwise. But those little perks were not enough anymore. Somewhere along the way, she and Ron had managed to disconnect from one another, yet still pretend the spark was there to keep them united. It was all a lie.

"I know."

Those two words were enough to make Hermione's stomach twist uncomfortably. They were enough to make her swallow past the hard lump in her throat and blink away the oncoming tears filled with regret and apologies. This was what she was preparing herself for. This confrontation was inevitable.

"How?"

She didn't want to deny it. After everything that had happened, she owed him that much.

"Harry."

His voice was gruff and broken and she bit her lip to stop herself from crying.

"Ron... I'm so sorry."

The footsteps along with his heavy breathing suddenly broke the silence of the room and Hermione got up and slowly pushed the covers off her, turning around to look at him. His body looked rigid and robotic, almost as if he had trouble moving his limbs. He walked towards the bed and sat at the foot of it, not uttering a word for what seemed like hours.

"Ron—"

"Why him?"

Hermione crossed her arms and looked down at them, the ring on her finger staring accusingly at her. The shine it once had was completely lost, and all that was left was a piece of metal, a dead symbol of what they used to be. He understood it well. She could see it.

"I didn't choose it. I didn't plan on it. It just... happened."

"It just happened?" Ron repeated quietly, and she knew he was furrowing his eyebrows in confusion despite not being able to look into his face.

She walked towards him and stopped the moment she could see his face, fighting off the urge to touch him. It was obvious that he was crying. How Harry told him and where they were was unknown to her, but she didn't expect it to happen any other way. Harry was his best friend and he couldn't lie to him. She was his wife and, for Draco, she easily could.

"I don't expect you to understand. I don't either. It happened when I was least expecting it. When I was at my most vulnerable. I thought it would be a one-time thing, but it's much more than that and—"

"You love him."

Her heart sank at the fact that it wasn't a question.

"Ron... please..." she could hear her voice cracking even if she didn't feel it, the sudden onset of tears making the space around them blur and darken. She wanted to reach out and hug him, apologize for lying and cheating, but she knew nothing could console him now. She made a mistake and she had to own up to it.