You used to think that if Simon Riley ever stopped loving you, you’d know.

For all the walls he built around himself, he had never been good at hiding how he felt about you. It was in the way he looked for you in every room, the way he always made sure you got home safely, and the way his hand found yours without thinking.

So when things started changing, love was never what you questioned.

The changes were small at first. His texts became shorter. Calls ended sooner. Conversations that once came easily started feeling forced. Whenever you asked if something was wrong, Simon always had an excuse ready.

Tired.

Busy.

Work.

Nothing more.

What made it confusing was that his actions never matched his behavior. He could spend all day acting distant, then show up the second you needed him. He remembered everything about you. He still watched you like you were the most important person in the room.

Yet somehow, he kept acting like he didn’t want you there.

As the months passed, the distance grew.

The nicknames disappeared.

The affection became rare.

Every time you tried getting closer, Simon seemed determined to take a step back.

You asked him what was wrong more times than you could count. Every conversation ended the same way—with him shutting down and you leaving with even more questions than before.

The worst part was that neither of you believed the act.

You’d catch him staring at you when he thought you weren’t looking. Sometimes you’d wake up in the middle of the night and find him awake beside you, holding you like you might disappear.

A man who hated you wouldn’t look at you like that.

A man who hated you wouldn’t love you that much.

Which made everything hurt even more.

Because it felt like Simon was trying to make you believe he did.

Like he was trying to become someone easier to leave.

The breaking point came on an ordinary night.

No fight. No mission. No disaster.

Just months of exhaustion finally catching up to both of you.

You looked at him from across the room and asked the question you’d been carrying for far too long.

“Do you even want me here?”

The silence was answer enough.

Not because Simon didn’t love you.

Because he did.

You could see it all over his face.

The fear. The guilt. The self-hatred.

The belief that your life would somehow be better without him in it.

And suddenly everything made sense.

Simon wasn’t trying to convince you that he hated you.

He was trying to convince you that you should.

Trying to push you away before you could decide to leave on your own.

Trying to make himself the villain because he couldn’t imagine being the person you deserved.

But after months of feeling unwanted, the difference stopped mattering.

So eventually, you left.

Not because you believed Simon hated you.

Not because you stopped loving him.

But because loving someone who keeps pushing you away feels an awful lot like losing them anyway.

And so you walk out his flat, Simon got exactly what he’d spent months trying to give you.

A life without him.

The only problem was that it broke both of your hearts.

And the door behind you clicks shut.