One Wild Night

Bryan paused halfway through packing his bag and turned to look at her with blank eyes causing her to forget whatever she had wanted to say.

Sonia stopped in front of him, "Were you going to leave without talking to me?" Sonia asked, feeling an intense ache in her heart that she had never felt before.

"Jeff is waiting outside," Bryan said coolly as he turned away from her and zipped up his bag.

"Shouldn\'t we fix things before you leave? I\'m not comfortable with the way things are between us right now," Sonia said, and Bryan shrugged.

"I don\'t think there is anything to fix. You have made your stand in our relationship clear. I don\'t mean anything to you..."

"Bryan! How can you say that when you know I love you?" Sonia asked in disbelief.

"You may love me, but maybe you don\'t love me enough. Or perhaps you don\'t love me as I want to be loved. And you don\'t respect me either. You talked about me not trusting you, but I think maybe you don\'t trust me too..."

"How can you say that? Of course, I trust you!" Sonia cried.

"No, you don\'t. If you did, you would have listened to me at the station. Or maybe you didn\'t listen to me because you think I\'m too childish and mature to tell you what to do."

"For god sake Bryan! Are we going to let things get out of hand? I\'m sorry I called you that. I was only trying to help resolve things at the station..."

"I ASKED YOU TO STAY OUT OF IT!" Bryan yelled at her.

"I asked you not to do a damned thing! I asked you not to say a word to him. Did you listen to me? Did you listen to any words I said? You disrespected me in front of everyone. You showed them you don\'t trust my judgment and I\'m not sure I want to do anything with a person who can\'t listen to me," Bryan said, ignoring the ache in his heart.

Sonia blinked back her tears at his words, "What does that mean, Bryan? What are you trying to say?" she asked, raising a hand to her chest.

"Maybe you are right. We need some time apart. I need some time away from you to reevaluate if I want to be with you on your own terms. I love you, but this is not the kind of relationship I want..."

"Bryan!" Sonia cried, unable to control her emotion anymore.

"Please don\'t say that, Bryan," she cried as she held the edge of the dressing table, unable to stand straight.

"It\'s what you asked for. You wanted us to take a break..."

"That wasn\'t what I asked for Bryan. Please stop. You are hurting me," Sonia cried as tears dropped from her eyes.

Tears gathered in Bryan\'s eyes too but he looked away from her, "Let\'s take a break. I\'m leaving with Jeff for Ludus," Bryan said, and without saying another word to her or waiting for her to say anything, Bryan headed for the door, while Sonia felt herself collapse on the floor as her whole body shook with a sob.

Bryan met his parent standing outside the door, and while Desmond\'s face was blank, Evelyn couldn\'t mask the disapproval on her face as she walked past him to go to Sonia who was crying while Desmond followed Bryan.

Bryan waited patiently for his father to say something as they walked down the hallway and the stairs, but when Desmond remained silent after some time, Bryan turned to him when they got to the foot of the stairs.

"Say it," Bryan said, waiting to be scolded.

"What do you want me to say?" Desmond asked as he looked back at his son.

"Anything. Say whatever you have in mind," Bryan said, and Desmond sighed.

"Why did you fight with him?" Desmond asked, and Bryan\'s eyes darkened as he clenched his fist and gritted his teeth.

"I can\'t tell you about that," Bryan said, and Desmond sighed.

"I suppose you had a good reason for doing that other than blind jealousy?" Desmond asked, believing that Bryan would never have done that without a clear reason.

When Bryan didn\'t say anything, Desmond sighed, "I\'m sure Jeff can wait for some time. Let\'s have a drink before you leave," Desmond suggested and walked ahead of Bryan to the bar while Bryan followed him reluctantly.

After pouring some wine into two glasses, Desmond handed a glass to Bryan and sat down on the dining before gesturing to Bryan to do the same.

"Do you love Sonia?" Desmond asked, and Bryan sighed as he looked into his wineglass.

"I do."

"Do you want to break up with her?" Desmond asked once again and this time Bryan shrugged.

"I don\'t know. I need some time to figure that out," Bryan said, and Desmond sighed.

"Sonia is a good girl. And she loves you."

"Of what point is her love for me if she doesn\'t love me the way I desire to be loved?"

"How do you desire to be loved?" Desmond asked, and Bryan paused briefly.

"I want to come first for Sonia. I don\'t want to ever have to doubt her love for me or my place in her life but she keeps giving me a reason to feel that way. I could go all out for Sonia but I\'m afraid she won\'t do the same for me. She wanted a conflict in our relationship so she could flow better in her writing. For her sake, I was willing to generate one even if I thought everything was perfect. The conflict didn\'t turn out so well, and even though I admit I was wrong in handling things, Sonia blew everything out of proportion. She wants a break, now I\'m letting her have it! I\'m tired of having her run the relationship like it\'s one of her novels that she needs to have complete control over."

Desmond watched and listened patiently as Bryan ranted and complained, and when he was done, Desmond sighed.

"Are you sure you are doing the right thing? Don\'t you think you are taking things too far?" Desmond asked, and Bryan shook his head.

"It\'s what she wanted. I\'m giving her that."

"No. You are hurting her. You brought her here, and you are leaving here this way..."

"She hurt me first. She hurt me too. All I\'ve ever done was love her and have her back. I didn\'t think about my reputation or mind what people would think about me when I attacked that bastard for speaking about her in such a dirty manner publicly yet what did she do in return? Embarrass me at the station by ignoring me? Sonia called me childish and immature for expressing my feelings to her. Can you believe that? You know what, dad? I\'m done. I\'m leaving," Bryan said as he picked up his glass and downed the content before setting down the glass on the table noisily.

The more he talked about Sonia and all that had transpired between them, the angrier he felt. He didn\'t want to think about her or the ache in his heart right now. Sonia hurt his feelings too, so it was only fair that she was hurting as much as him.

Desmond sighed sadly as he watched Bryan walk away with his backpack in hand.

He and Evelyn had been roused from sleep when they heard Bryan enter the house and go up the stairs. He had come out to ensure that it was Bryan and he had locked the door after he got in when he heard Bryan yell at Sonia.

He had decided to listen to them and intervene if need be when Evelyn joined him outside the door.

It was glaring that Bryan was not willing to listen to anything right now and he understood that. Bryan had as much right to be angry as Sonia had to be sad right now. He wished there was something he could do for them.

Upstairs in the bedroom, Evelyn held Sonia and tried to comfort her as she sobbed, but Sonia couldn\'t control her tears.

"He is upset right now. I\'m sure when he calms down he will realize that he didn\'t mean that," Evelyn said, but Sonia wasn\'t listening to her.

At this point, Sonia was both heartbroken and confused. She wasn\'t sure what she was supposed to do anymore.

Moving to Ludus had been because of Bryan, and she had factored him into all her plans both personal and career-wise. What was she going to do now if truly Bryan meant what he said about not wanting to be in a relationship with her anymore?