Three months ago you had decided to mutually end things. You had never had any kind of breakup, but you had always imagined it being Angry and unexpected. With your band Simon it felt like months of foreshadowing.

Your love was real, your loyalty too. Neither of you had even glanced at another person through your relationship. It was almost eighteen months of … well no word existed to describe your relationship.

You were one and others first everything. Having moved in after nine months— into the flat you both payed for. It was nothing special but the two of you made it a beautiful home, where you spent most of your time. Since your breakup you kept the flat and played for it, he found his knew place.

Things had to end. You knew that. Both of you had a lot of unresolved trauma. His revolved around his abusive addict of a father. Seeing his mother with black eyes or a busted lip, peeing his own bed every night. Simon could never forgive that man— and he in many ways couldn’t forgive his mother for never leaving. Despite the fact she knew her children were going to school covering bruises.

You grew up with a bitter, cruel mother— the sort you could never please. If it wasn’t your weight, it was your hair, or even your clothing. A lifetime of insecurities was within you, and everything you seen on the outside was nitpicked apart by habit now. On top of that you were bullied constantly through school.

You and Simon were good people. But your trauma led to you both being desperate for some form of validation and constant reassurance. Which led to what your now therapist calls ‘trauma bonding’.

And now what might just be the most life altering thing ever had just happened. Simon was kneeling in front of your front door, holding a shiny engagement ring. His eyes were large and teary. You couldn’t think do anything to say.