Between Heartbeats

"Aiden, is it true?" My voice trembled as I searched his cold, distant gaze, feeling the ground shift beneath me. Tears blurred my vision, but I fought to focus, desperate for him to deny the accusations. I needed him to assure me that the man I had loved since college had not betrayed me.

I wiped my cheeks and grasped his hands, the warmth of our shared moments now a painful memory. "Please, Aiden... say something."

For a heartbeat, silence enveloped us, thick and suffocating. Then, his voice sliced through the stillness, sharp and devoid of emotion. "Isla, I'm sorry. But what you've heard... it's true."

Time seemed to freeze as disbelief crashed over me like a tidal wave. His words lingered in the air, cold and final, as I searched his eyes for the warmth that once danced there. But all I found was emptiness. Where had the man I loved gone? How had everything we built vanished in an instant?