‘I still love you.’ The words rang clearly in the cold, dark morning.

She turned her head towards him; he lowered his eyes for a moment. Just for a moment, though. The black pools of nothingness pierced her mind, her soul. She felt suspended in the frozen waters of his gaze.

‘I still love you,’ he repeated.

She thought she could hear the promise in those simple but oh so powerful words. Hope blossomed in her heart; there is such promise in those four words. She opened her mouth, wanting to say it back, wanting to assure him, to reassure him that his feelings were returned, that they could, would go back, they could, would be happy anew.

His gaze was as cold as the morning. She closed her mouth, the words swallowed by the sudden lead that was weighing upon her tongue.

‘I still love you. But I can live with that, and I can live without you.’

He turned his back on her and stood there, waiting for the sound of her leaving.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
AN: It won't go any further...I have a second chapter, but it just doesn't fit...this story has reached the end.