What She Deserves // Lisrene

4

You've got this, you're beautiful and I love you. Everything is going to be fine.

Everything is going to be fine.

Irene read the last sentence of Jisoo's text over and over about a million times before she finally took a deep breath and got off her bed. She wasn't prepared for breaking up with Hank in the slightest. If anything, she felt like she needed fifty more years of pep talks and self-negotiation skills.

Unfortunately, she didn't think Lisa would understand and wait that long. And well, Lisa was worth cutting ties with family members she'd known her whole life so it was now or never.

Standing up and smoothing the front of her blouse down; her way of faking self confidence, Irene took another deep breath and walked out of her bedroom door. Taking the stairs one by one, she slowly meandered her way into the kitchen where Hank sat eating his breakfast of steak and eggs. When she closed her eyes and pictured the near future, it was Lisa sitting on her counter top, eating blueberries straight out of the bowl and peppering her with those early morning kisses that could make a mute angel sing.

With that in mind, she sat tensely in the seat opposite of Hank, gently asking, "Can we have our talk now?"

"I guess, babe. Is it gonna take long? I work in thirty."

In a perfect world, you'd make this easy for me and it'll take less than five.

Straightening her shoulders and feigning the confidence that had fled sometime during the night, Irene began the second hardest conversation she'd ever have in her lifetime.

"Hank," she started, ironically sounding self-assured, "I'm not going to drag this out. I don't think we should be together anymore."

Hank's hand paused mid-air, fork hovering with his next bite of food.

Irene's fingers tensed and clenched into fists, waiting for him to say something. Anything. When he neglected to respond, she repeated, "Hank, I—"

He began uncontrollably laughing. Irene retracted backwards, wanting to make sure that he was actually—

"Oh, shit, Irene. That's a good one," he managed to get out between the laughs. "You're funny, babe. You almost got me there."

Her mouth dropped open, frozen in a look that could either become a scream or animalistic screech that expressed all the built up anger inside her body that he had built layer by layer. Remembering to try and sound self-assured, she spit out, "I'm not joking. I have never been more serious about anything."

He carefully placed his fork down, laughing once more in her face. "That's funny. I don't think we should break up at all." He angled his head to the side, fixing her with an amused grin that made shivers roll down her spine.

"Hank, I'm serious. I want you out." She was tired of playing these games, trying to convince herself that maybe she shouldn't leave him, that maybe she was making a mistake. These thoughts plagued and nagged at her, though she was well aware they were nothing more than intrusive thoughts that derived from her self consciousness. Then she thought about Lisa; how soft spoken she was, how badly she wanted to treat Irene so well. Things got a little easier.

"I've packed your side of the closet, and I can send you anything else whenever you want." She could see the shock flash across his face when he realized that she was truly not kidding.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" His nostrils flared in anger, causing her to pull back even further. "After all this time? You just woke up this morning and decided to kick me out? Are you out of your fucking mind?"