I'm sorry", Brayden whispered
"For what?" I asked, my voice breaking despite my effort to sound steady.
He hesitated. But I could see it in his eyes- the ego wrestling with the love. " For tonight" he said, "For putting you in that uncomfortable situation in front of our parents".
"That's not the problem Brayden", I said while sitting up and pulling the duvet closer to my chest. The problem is we both know you were right, I have to give up my career and it's really difficult for me to process I don't think I can… I can't at least not now!
He ran his hand through his hair, frustrated, he hates to see me this way. "Sam he said drawing closer to me I know this is hard, you love your job so much, if there were another way to compromise and have both of us keep our jobs I'll take in an heartbeat but you know I have a company here. Employees, people look up to me to feed their families. Responsibilities. I built everything from scratch.
"And I didn't?" I shot back. "You think becoming a lawyer was easy? You think defending people who can't defend themselves is just some hobby I picked up?"
"That's not what I'm saying."
"Then what are you saying?" My tears were falling freely now. "Because every time we talk about this, it sounds like my career is optional and yours is mandatory."
Silence.
Heavy. Loud. Suffocating.
He sat up too, leaning his back against the headboard. "I grew up watching my dad carry everything. My mum stayed home. That's what I know. That's what worked."
"And I grew up watching my mother work twice as hard to prove she wasn't just somebody's wife," I replied softly. "That's what I know."
Our worlds. Two different blueprints for the same house.
"I don't want to lose you," he said finally, his voice cracking in a way I had never heard before.
"Then don't," I whispered. "But loving me means accepting all of me. Not just the parts that fit into your plan."
He looked at me like he was seeing me for the first time — not as his fiancée, not as his future wife, but as a woman with her own dreams.
"What if… we try long distance for a while?" he suggested cautiously. "At least until we figure out something permanent."
I stared at him. "You said you'd never do long distance again."
"I also said a lot of things I thought I believed," he replied. "But I'm starting to realize that maybe I've been trying to control the outcome because I'm scared."
"Scared of what?"
"That if you stay in Manchester… you'll realize you don't need me."
The honesty hit me harder than the argument ever did.
I reached for his hand. "I don't need you to survive, Brayden. I choose you. Every day. There's a difference."
He swallowed hard.
"But I won't choose a life where I have to shrink," I added.
The room was quiet again, but this time it wasn't suffocating. It was thoughtful.
Maybe love wasn't about who sacrifices more.
Maybe it was about building something neither of you has seen before.
Brayden leaned forward and rested his forehead against mine. "Then let's build something different," he murmured.
And for the first time in weeks, the fight didn't feel like a wall between us.
It felt like a doorway.
He smiled at me and leaned in for a kiss.
The next day was all smiles and laughter like nothing had happened, like we hadn't just had the worst argument of our lives since we knew each other.
"Coffee?" Brayden asked, I smiled "yes please extra strong no sugar" coming right up Brayden said looking at me, he brought the coffee over to the kitchen counter and stood behind me kissing the nape of my neck, then slowly trailing his lips down my back, I smiled and turned over to look at him.
"Arghhh I can't believe I have to leave you to again, I wailed, I'll miss you baby I said "I'll miss you too baby" said Brayden. C'mon drink up let me drive you to the airport. No don't worry I've got it all under control you are late to work already I'll drive myself to the airport then after work you can go pick up the car. Brayden insisted " you've forgotten I own the company missy" he smiled at me, " hurry up, I've got this".
We set out on our journey to the airport, the drive to the airport was heavy with everything unsaid. The radio played softly in the background, some love song neither of them had the energy to turn off.
They approached an intersection just five minutes from the airport. Morning traffic was light. Brayden's phone buzzed on the console — a call from his operations manager.
He ignored it.
It buzzed again.
He exhaled sharply. "I need to take this. It's about the investor meeting."
Sam nodded. "It's fine."
He picked up the phone, placing it on speaker.
"Yes?"
As he turned slightly to glance at the GPS, the light ahead shifted from yellow to red.
He didn't see it.
Sam did.
"Brayden—"
A horn blasted.
From the right.
A delivery truck sped through the intersection, unable to brake in time.
Impact.
The sound was deafening — metal colliding with violent force. The front passenger side absorbed most of it.
Sam's side.
The airbag deployed, but the force was brutal. Glass shattered across her lap. The car spun before slamming into a traffic pole.
The world went still.
Brayden's ears rang. His vision blurred. His shoulder throbbed from the seatbelt restraint, but he was conscious.
"Sam?" His voice was shaky. "Sam!"
She wasn't answering.
Her head had struck the side frame despite the airbag. Blood traced a thin line down her forehead. Her breathing was uneven — shallow and frighteningly irregular.
"No. No, no, no…" Brayden's hands trembled as he reached for her. "Baby, look at me. Look at me."
Her eyelids fluttered faintly.
"I didn't… finish my sentence," she whispered weakly.
Tears streamed down his face. "Don't you dare do this right now."
Sirens wailed in the distance.
Within minutes, paramedics surrounded the vehicle. The passenger door had to be forced open. Metal groaned as it was pried apart.
"She's losing blood pressure!" one medic shouted.
Brayden tried to step out but staggered, dizziness hitting him late.
"I'm fine!" he yelled. "Help her!"
They lifted Sam carefully onto a stretcher, oxygen mask secured to her face.
"Is she going to be okay?" Brayden asked desperately.
No one answered him directly.
"Sir, she's critical. We need to move."
Critical.
The word echoed in his skull louder than the crash.
As the ambulance doors closed, Brayden stood on the roadside, blood on his hands that wasn't entirely his own.
Five minutes from the airport.
Five minutes from Manchester.
Five minutes from a life that now might never happen.
" what have I done" Brayden said.