My Billionaire Fiancé, You Don't Deserve Me

AURELIA

"I'm going to be honest with you, Aurelia. I don't have the intention of getting married to you." 

The coffee cup slipped from my hand slightly, dropping onto the table. A few drops of the content slipped out as my lips shook.

"Wh...what?" 

"I don't want you to be tricked into agreeing to love me," Theron, my supposed fiancé to whom I'd been engaged for five years, said calmly. I had always known he'd been a calm man, and maybe that was what made the punch in the gut deeper. The fact that he sat opposite me, in his suit and tie, so neatly fixed around his neck, made me feel a stirring in my stomach.

"Why are you telling me this now? When it's just three days to the wedding?"

"Because I'm not attending it." 

The flat tone sent the stab deeper, slicing against my heart effortlessly. My fingers trembled slightly, and I folded them into fists. 

"Theron, we've been dating for five years and...and," my voice shouldn't tremble, "you are just telling me you can't marry me. That doesn't make sense."

"It does," Theron said. "Logically, the fact that I am breaking up with you before the marriage is better than you coming into a loveless marriage itself."

Loveless.

My heart pounded recklessly against my ribcage, "Y...ou don't love me?"

"I tried to," his palm smoothly went over his dark brown hair, just like it did whenever he was frustrated, "but, Aurelia, no matter how I act, my heart knows the truth."

"And it took you five years to find that out?" My voice had gone slightly higher, pulling the attention of those at the nearest table. They glanced at us and then back to their food.

Theron's eyes narrowed. "I thought you knew."

"Thought I knew?" I repeated, pressure building at the back of my eyes. I blinked, trying to keep the tears out of my eyes, but how could I?

I've had a crush on Theron for years, ever since my family moved into the city the moment their business boomed and they became millionaires. When the news of the proposal came between our families, I'd been excited, rushing over to meet him. He hadn't looked too excited about the news, but he hadn't pushed me away.

He had been with me throughout the biggest milestones of my life: my high school graduation, my award-winning art in college, my 25th birthday had proudly been sponsored by him, with dandelions lining up the place...so why, why exactly was he saying this? Why had he done all of that if he wasn't interested in me, if he didn't love me?

"This is a joke, right?" My own voice sounded ridiculous even as I spoke. I knew Theron; he didn't do jokes. He had hardly smiled since the first day I knew him, to the extent that I could count how many times he had smiled in my presence on one palm. But still... I hoped Theron would