She stared at him in shock, taking several moments to process what he had just said.

‘W-what?’

‘I don’t want to be with you anymore’ Ken said. ‘I don’t love you anymore.’

She stared at him, body frozen.

‘What?’ she said again. ‘I…how could you say that?

‘I've come to realise’ Ken spoke slowly, ‘marrying you………is not what I want.’

‘But why?’ Alyssa whispered, tears brimming in her eyes then. ‘How could to say such a thing?’ she said beginning to cry. ‘Why…what have I done?’

Ken stared at her with a flat expression. He had never made her cry before, and before this day, would have tried to comfort her.

But he came to realise as he watched the tears rolling down her cheek, that he truly felt nothing for her.

He did not love her. Not anymore. He began even to doubt, whether or not he loved her at all in the first place.

‘But we’re supposed to be married’ Alyssa sobbed, crying into her hands. ‘Why…? What have I done? This isn’t you? Things were going so well…how could you say this to me…?’

She tensed then, glancing up at him, suddenly frozen. ‘Is there someone else?’ she asked him in a quiet voice.

Ken tensed slightly then, furrowing his brow at her.

She slapped him then, hitting him hard.

Ken’s cheek burned as he turned back to face her.

‘I hate you’ she hissed through gritted teeth, before turning on her heel and storming away.

*

Ken stared after her, staring at the back of her head as he watched her go.

He turned and walked away.

*

Ken sat on a bench in the park somewhere else, crying silently as he leant forwards, elbows resting on his knees.

This was a quieter part of the park now, where few people walked by. He thought he would not be bothered here. But he was wrong.

‘Ken?’

The tentative voice was one he knew all too well.

Ken wiped his eyes with the back of his hand, turning to face Mustang who stood behind him.

‘Why are you crying?’

Ken gave a humourless laugh, turning away from him.

‘Are you following me now?’ he said glumly.

‘Ha!’ Mustang laughed. ‘Don’t flatter yourself.’

‘What are you doing here anyway?’ Ken asked him flatly, turning away from him and staring ahead again.

‘I was just visiting the graveyard.’

‘What?’

Mustang didn’t answer.

‘Did someone you love die?’ Ken asked tentatively.

‘No’ Mustang answered, standing behind him still.

‘Then why would you go there?’

The light breeze rustled the leaves of the tree hanging over him, the fallen leaves dancing around his feet.

Ken turned around, but saw that Mustang was gone.

Why do I feel like our paths are intertwined? He thought, facing ahead again.

Ken bowed his head, left alone to brood in silence.

*

That evening when he sat with his family for a meal, he felt extremely uncomfortable, something he had never felt before around his family.

He could feel their eyes upon him as they ate, constantly flickering towards him. Ken felt sick, as he forced himself to continue eating his food, until all of it was gone.

When his mother had cleared the plates away, she spoke to him at last. The entire meal prior to this, had been in complete silence.

‘Have you spoken to Alyssa?’ she asked bluntly.

Ken’s heart skipped a beat, as he forced himself to look her in the eye.

‘No’ he answered, trying to sound calm.

‘Why not?’

Ken bowed his head, avoiding her gaze.

‘Why?’ his mother demanded. ‘Why haven’t you spoken to her?’

‘I don’t know’ Ken answered quickly, ‘I just…I don’t know…’

‘You're supposed to marry Alyssa’ his mother spoke harshly. ‘What happened? Why have you suddenly changed your mind?’

Ken stared at his mother uncertainly.

‘Why are you so desperate for us to be together?’ Ken asked her. ‘It’s my life.’

‘I only want what's best for you’ his mother said to him.

‘Then why don’t you let me make my own choices?’

His mother fell silent, biting her tongue. Ken with increasing trepidation, saw how livid she was, barely containing her anger.

‘Ever since you met that boy with fake red hair’ she whispered dangerously, ‘you’ve changed. You’ve changed’ she repeated. ‘This is all his fault.’

‘He saved my life’ Ken told her. ‘Do you still wish I hadn't met him?’

‘You are not yourself’ his mother told him, ‘not since you met him.’

‘Why are you treating me like this?’

His father and siblings watched them silently, none of them intervening.

He went to his room after that, wishing only to be alone.

He was angry at his mother, angry with all of them, with his father and siblings for not defending him, with his mother for constantly berating him.

I hate this Ken thought angrily to himself. This isn’t fair! I hate this. I hate them! Why are they doing this to me…?

*

‘They’re always talking together’ Ken grumbled resentfully. ‘My parents and her parents……I never realised until now how controlling they are. They don’t understand at all. None of them do. I don’t love her anymore, I don’t know if I ever really did. But they’re still trying to get us back together…….even though she hates me now.’

‘Yup’ Mustang said casually, sitting opposite him at the table and slurping loudly on his milkshake. ‘Girls do that. They're very emotional I hear…not that I’d know myself mind you.’ He sat back, staring with bored eyes up at the ceiling. He had paused in slurping through his straw loudly to speak that sentence, before continuing to slurp.

He paused again.

‘Isn't this the coffee house you visited with your girlfriend?’ he wondered aloud.

‘So?’ Ken shot angrily. ‘Are you even listening to me?’

‘This is weird’ Mustang said ignoring Ken as he gazed about him with narrowed eyes, taking in every detail around him, before his attention returned to Ken. ‘Hey. This is kinda like a date. You're not falling for me are you?’

‘Hu’ Ken glowered, knowing somehow he would say something like that. ‘You wish.’

‘Because I wouldn’t mind if you were’ Mustang went on, locking Ken with a seductive glare. ‘I actually find you kind of handsome.’

Ken narrowed his eyes.

‘Why are you like that?’ he asked.

‘Like what?’ Mustang asked innocently.

‘So open. You always speak your mind no matter what's on it. And that time ages before when we first met and you kissed me. No one else would do that.’

‘No one else is me’ Mustang smirked.

‘It’s like you don’t care about anything at all’ Ken went on. ‘Why did you kiss me?’

Mustang shrugged casually. ‘I just felt like it.’

Ken sighed heavily, slumping back in his seat, hand going to his head.

‘Oh Mustang’ he said wearily. ‘You only think with your cock.’

He froze suddenly then, realising what he had just said

‘I don’t know why I said that’ he mumbled.

‘Looks like you're changing more than you thought’ Mustang told him. For a split second he too seemed surprised by this outburst.

‘The truth is’ Ken began reluctantly, bowing his head, ‘I'm jealous of you. You're so carefree…so free………I wish I could be the same. I wish I had your life.’

‘No’ Mustang replied in a mumble. ‘You don’t.’

‘Why?’

‘You don’t want my life’ Mustang told Ken. ‘Trust me.’

‘But you seem so happy.’

‘Aren’t you?’

Ken faltered then.

‘I never realised how strict my parents were’ Ken mumbled. ‘I thought I was happy…until I wanted something they didn’t.’

‘If your parents really cared for you, then they will accept you no matter what.’

No matter what…

‘Why did you leave your girlfriend by the way?’ Mustang asked.

‘It just…’ Ken began, hunching his shoulders and turning his head away, ‘…didn’t feel right.’

Mustang stared at him, adopting the same bored expression as before, and continuing to slurp as loudly as possible through his straw.

‘My parents do care about me’ Ken said absentmindedly, more to himself than to Mustang. ‘If I just talk to them…maybe tell them the real reason I left Alyssa….’ He bit his lip. ‘I'm sure they would understand……I'm sure of it...they’re my family…they love me…’

*

His mother slammed his head against the table, nails digging into his skull as she pushed down on his head painfully.

‘What the hell is the matter with you?!’ she screamed at him. ‘How could you say such a thing?!!’

Ken stared wide eyes straight ahead of him, tears shimmering in his eyes as he lay forwards on the table.

‘Y-you're hurting me…’ he uttered.

His mother pulled him back, turning him around and slapping him.

‘You don’t mean that’ she hissed at him, grasping the front of his shirt in her fists, snarling at him in pure rage.

Ken stared back at his mother in shock, beginning to tremble in fear.

He had never seen his mother like this before, his mother had never raised her voice to him, let alone physically hurt him, and for the first time in his life, he was afraid of her.

‘Please…’ he begged, ‘please stop…’

‘How could you say such a thing?’ she repeated, shaking him violently with every word. ‘How could you?!!’

Behind his mother, the rest of his family stood in shock as they watched, though none of them stepped forward to protect him.

Ken was disowned by his entire family that night, and thrown from his home.

He wandered the streets, lost and alone, still in a state of shock.

Ken sat on a bench in the street a time after that. The main road before him had long since become deserted, and the town around him quiet, as the night began to descend.

‘Why?’ Ken uttered to himself, hand going to his head as his body began to tremble, only partly because of the cold. ‘Why is this happening to me….how…how could this have happened…?

*

‘You're a good man’ Alyssa gleamed at him, ‘and your family are good people.’

‘Oh stop’ Ken mumbled shyly, picking up his cup of coffee and sipping at it. ‘You're really too good to me.’

‘You're good to me’ Alyssa said to him, reaching for his hand across the table and grasping it firmly in her own. ‘Very soon we’ll have a house of our own and children. Our parents have it all planned out.’

‘And…’ Ken asked slowly. ‘Is that what you want?’

‘Yes of course it is’ she gleamed without hesitation, looking ever more beautiful as she smiled. Her long corn coloured hair fell about her shoulders, as her blue eyes shone from the light through the window outside. ‘My parents said to me it’s what a woman should do. Find a good man to marry and have children with. This is my life’s dream.’

‘As is mine’

*