The Ring That Never Meant Love

On the fifth anniversary of our wedding, a video of me proposing to my husband went viral.

I thought it would be filled with blessings, but the top-rated comment was this:

[Your boyfriend didnt look at you first. If Im not mistaken, the girl he used to have a thing with was also at that dinner.]

[All of his friends were looking at her, which means they all knew about them.]

[When you put the ring on him, he wasnt excited. He looked like he was just playing along. He doesn't love you!]

I wasn't angry. I was actually impressed by the internet's wild imagination. The person sitting there was my best friend, Sophiewho was also my husband's adopted sister. She had helped me plan the entire relationship, from our first date to the proposal. Their relationship had always been one of polite, distant siblings.

How could there possibly be anything between them?

The internet was just being paranoid.

I shrugged it off, set the video to private, and got up to start dinner.

Just then, the door opened. My husband, Declan, walked in, flakes of snow melting on his coat, his face etched with exhaustion as he unwrapped his scarf.

"Let's get a divorce," he said. "I have never loved you."

...

"I think we need to talk."

Declan's voice was heavy with fatigue. He didn't pull me into his usual warm embrace. Instead, he sat on the sofa with his back to me, a solitary figure in the dimming light.

Maybe it was the video, or maybe it was just how strangely distant he was, but a cold dread washed over me. I tried desperately to stop what was coming.

"It's our fifth anniversary. Can't this wait until tomorrow? I... Oh, I love this cake. Do you want to try some?"

"Cake?"

Declan's gaze shifted to the dining table, and then to my tear-filled eyes. He paused, letting out a soft sigh. "My secretary sent that over on her own. I'm sorry. I don't like sweets."

We had been together for nine yearsfour dating, five married. He had never once missed a gift or a surprise for an anniversary or holiday. This time had been no different. I had mentioned a famous cake offhandedly two days ago, and he had spent a fortune to have it flown in, custom-made by a five-star Michelin chef.

Just moments before he walked in, I had snapped a photo of the half-eaten Black Swan cake and pinned it to the top of the video's comment section:

[Thanks for the concern, everyone. We've been married for five years and are very happy!]

Now, Declan's words were a slap across my face, sharp and stinging.

I stood frozen, my head bowed in silence. After a long moment, he came to me, pulling me into a gentle hug. But the fingers he used to wipe away my tears were colder than the tears themselves.

"Annalise," he murmured, "I think we should separate."

"Why?" I choked out. "Did you cheat on me?"

"No," he said, his voice flat. "I just don't love you. I tried."

That single sentence drained all the strength from my body. I didn't understand. How could this be happening? We never fought, there was no infidelity, everything was perfect. How could the love just be gone?

The door was still ajar, but the vast apartment suddenly felt empty, with only me inside.

Perhaps it was the two bold, red exclamation marks next to his contact, but I found myself opening the video again, my actions mechanical.

Declan and I were each other's first love. After four years, I decided to be the one to propose. My best friend, his stepsister Sophie, was the only one in on the secret. That day, I was so nervous I kept messing up my lines, my hands shaking so badly as I held out the ring. I closed my eyes, waiting. A warm hand gently took the ring from me. "Yes," he said.

The room erupted in cheers and congratulations. In that moment, I was the happiest person in the world.

But now, I watched it again, frame by excruciating frame.

And I saw it. The first person Declan looked at was not me. There was no surprise in his eyes, only a mixture of pain and longing that I couldn't comprehend. That slight hesitation before he said yesit was a silent plea directed at Sophie.

The realization made it hard to breathe. The two people I trusted most in the world had a secret history I knew nothing about.

But it couldn't be true. The breakfasts he made me every morning, the way he stayed by my side when I had a fever, his gentle restraint during our intimate moments, the way he shielded me with his own body during a car crashnone of that could have been fake.

I refused to believe that after nine years together, he didn't love me at all.

And I refused to believe that Sophie, who despised injustice, would ever get involved with my husband.

Sophie arrived right on time. She was wearing her usual white pleated skirt, looking like a little angel.

I cut straight to the point. "Declan wants to divorce me. He's in love with you."

Sophie shot to her feet, her face flushing with anger. "What son of a bitch is spreading these lies? Declan is my brother! How could he possibly be in love with me? And you, Annalise! We're closer than sisters. How could you suspect me?"

Her outrage seemed genuine. I would have believed her, if not for the necklace she was wearinga perfect match to my own. Declan had given it to me for my birthday last year, a one-of-a-kind piece meant for the love of his life. I cherished it, rarely ever taking it off. When the plating started to chip, I had even complained about the poor quality of the luxury brand.

But now, the diamond on Sophie's neck sparkled, flawless and new.

The original was on the one he truly loved.

But they were siblings. And Sophie had been married for years!

"Sophie," I whispered, "please, just make him give up on you. I'm begging you."

Sophie looked lost, her eyes suddenly welling with tears. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. I didn't want to hide it from you" She gave a choked, tearful laugh. "Annalise, you have no idea what Declan was like in high school. He was horrible. He refused to even acknowledge me as his sister. He led the others in bullying me, pouring cold water on me in the winter, locking me in classrooms, cutting my hair. I fought back, I stood up to him, but I don't know how it happened, but I fell in love with him. He changed later, he became so gentle, but with our family situation how could we ever be together?"

I sat there, stunned, listening to this portrait of a man I didn't know. So Declan wasn't naturally caring. He wasn't born gentle. He had once been filled with so much rage and malice.

Sophie apologized over and over, even slapping her own face in despair. Finally, she grabbed my hands, her grip tight. "Believe me, after college, I let it all go. I would never hurt you, Annalise."

Of course, I believed her. When we were twelve, she had shielded me with her own body, protecting me from my father's drunken rage. I would have been beaten to death without her.

I heard myself say, "Sophie, you've been divorced for two years. Let me set you up with someone."

"Okay," she said, forcing a smile through her tears. "Whatever you say." She ruffled my hair like she used to, but her eyes were filled with a deep, bitter sadness. "I'll talk to my brother. I won't let him divorce you."

Just when I thought things might be okay, Declan burst into my bedroom that night. He was like a different person, his eyes bloodshot with fury. "You just can't leave Sophie alone, can you?" he snarled.

"She finally escapes the shadow of that bastard ex-husband, and you immediately try to push her into another pit of fire! If I hadn't gotten there in time, she would have been assaulted! How can you be so venomous?"

His voice was thick with a mixture of fear and hatred.

A tearing pain shot through my scalp. "Declan," I screamed, "Sophie is my best friend! Why would I ever try to hurt her?"

It was like he couldn't hear me. He dragged me forcefully through the house. I stumbled, and he threw me into a dark, hidden room. On a rack were blood-stained whips and ropes.

"What is it you love about me? My gentleness? My thoughtfulness?" he sneered. "That was all an act. After I had to leave Sophie, I developed a severe sex addiction. I could never get enough with you. I had to torture myself, then put on the mask of a good husband."

I never knew this room existed. It was like another side of Declan I had never seen. A chill ran down my spine.

He laughed, a crazed, unhinged sound. "See, Annalise? You're afraid of the real me too."

"I love you, so what? The man you love is a lie."

Annalise could be afraid of anyone in the world.

Anyone except Declan.

From a young age, I was the illegitimate child of a prostitute. After my mother's looks faded, she forged a paternity test and found me a "father." A couple of years later, she ran off. The man would take his anger out on me whenever he was drunk. When he was broke, he'd force me to play "games" with the old drunks in the village for cigarettes and liquor.

In my world, all men were scum.

But Declan was different. He was restrained and respectful. When I was afraid of intimacy, he waited a whole year for me, his touch never crossing the line. Even after I finally overcame my trauma, he was always mindful of my feelings, stopping even in the heat of the moment if I so much as frowned.

I never imagined he had been in so much pain.

Staring at our wedding photo in the bedroom, my mind went back to that dark room.

"I'm not afraid," I had said.

His only response had been to flee.

If Declan could save me, why couldn't I save him? I slowly unbuttoned my clothes and changed into a sexy "battle outfit" I'd bought online. I buried myself under the covers, my mind racing with possibilities. Things that once felt shameful now felt like a sacrifice I was willing to make.

BANG!

The door to another apartment was thrown open. Heavy breathing and moans filled the darkness as a man and a woman moved with wild, reckless abandon.

"Brother, I told you last time was the last time. Why did you come looking for me again? Annalise almost found out this time! You know she's the most important person in my life!"

"Annalise has no one but you and me. She won't agree to a divorce. This is your punishment for trying to end things." The man's voice was low and hoarse, filled with a chilling certainty.

The woman sobbed, a hint of resentment in her tone. "Annalise loves you so much. You shouldn't hurt her like this."

"Hah!" Declan's voice turned vicious. "You're the one who shamelessly seduced me first. Why should I accept you pushing me onto someone else? I'm telling you, Sophie, if you dare try to marry someone else to hide from me again, I won't mind crippling another man. I mean it. As for Annalise, if she wants a divorce, I'll give her a generous settlement. If not, I can afford to keep her. That's benevolent enough."