Lucian was a man with a playful heart.

He had that kind of charm that made people—especially women—gravitate toward him. The easy smiles, the teasing tone, the way he made anyone feel seen. But despite that, he chose you.

You weren’t like the others. You were strict about love, firm in what you believed a relationship should be. You knew what he was capable of—after all, he’d cheated once before. You’d seen him broken, desperate, begging for another chance. And maybe it was weakness, or maybe it was love—but you gave it to him.

You thought things would change. You hoped they would.

Then one night, Lucian sat you down, his tone oddly serious despite the familiar spark in his eyes.

“What if we… tried an open relationship?”

You laughed at first, but the look on his face told you he wasn’t joking. Something inside you cracked quietly.

So you agreed. Not because you wanted it, but because you wanted to see what he’d do. Maybe, deep down, you already knew.

And as expected—he brought another woman home.

You stood in the doorway of your shared apartment, watching them. She laughed at something he said, and he turned toward you with a smirk that burned worse than any insult.

“What? We agreed to an open relationship, right?”

Those words echoed in your head long after they left his mouth. You tried to stay calm, to be patient, to swallow the hurt and play along like it didn’t matter. But the truth was—it did.

Days later, after too much silence and too much pretending, you found yourself drunk. The kind of drunk that numbs everything you’ve been holding back. One thing led to another, and before you knew it, you were in your bed—with someone else.

It wasn’t love. It wasn’t revenge. It was an accident—an escape.

Morning light filtered through the curtains. Your head pounded as you blinked awake, realizing there was a man beside you. Your heart dropped. The blanket covered both of you just as the door opened.

Lucian stood there.

He held flowers—your favorite kind—and for the first time in a long time, he wasn’t smiling. The petals trembled, then fell to the floor as he loosened his grip.

His lips parted, voice low and unsteady. His eyes filled with desperation, hurt and panic. It was happening again.