It was over. I knew it and he refused to acknowledge it. I was still his. He was afraid; ours wasn't the first relationship to crumble, even though that one ended almost three years ago, mutually, and for entirely different reasons. It meant no one was safe. Ours, ours was ending right now, and I wanted it, he didn't.

"I will always love you, always, but I'm not in love with you anymore! Maybe… maybe if I had stayed that seventeen year old girl, I would have been in love with you forever… but you didn't want that, you let me grow up… you made me grow up. You don't understand me anymore; you're still in love with who I was. That girl, she still loves you, but me, this woman, I am fond of you, but you are not my equal."

He had always thought himself to be superior to me, and this declaration of mine left him speechless. Which was fine with me, I was tired of being controlled. We stared at each other for long moments without speaking.

"Edward, I'm leaving now."

I stood up and looked down at him, he looked heartbroken. It hurt, but in the end, I knew this was best for both of us. I gave him a sad smile and ran my fingers once more through that riotous mess of bronze and walked out. I got in my car and I drove. I didn't look back. Not even when I parked the car at the airport, leaving the keys under the mat, not even when I handed the front desk agent my ticket, and not when the plane lifted off, not even when it landed. Not once… not once did I look back… and when I looked in the mirror of the hotel room, I didn't recognize the woman looking back at me.