The brunette closed her doe somber eyes and in no time a lone tear escaped from within her eyelids. ”I’ve been thinking too,” she revealed weakly.

Tina catched the falling tear with her thumb, waiting for the brunette to go into particulars.

”I want you to be happy, and for that we need to stop seeing each other.”

”What?!” the blonde asked incredulously with a deep frown on her face.

”You will never be happy or safe with me,” Bette shook her head, not having enough courage to look her girlfriend in the eyes. ”I’m a criminal, Tina. I do horrible, unlawful things. One day I’m here, the next I’m thrown in jail for the rest of my life or shot down somewhere in the countryside so nobody would ever find my body.”

Tina swallowed the lump in her throat, trying very hard not to break down from the brutal sense load of Bette’s words. ”I just said we’ll figure something out. You-you mentioned something about leaving the city… We’ll–”

”You’re not getting it. Everything is way more complicated than that.”

Tina was growing very agitated once she realized that Bette was serious about their separation. ”Why does it seem to me like you’ve given up, like you don’t even want to work on it?” she let off resentfully.

The brunette shook her head. ”You’re not getting it…” she repeated in a low dispirited voice.

”Well, maybe because I’m kind of new here and you won’t even help me get it. All I can see is that you’re not too keen to change your life. Or to be with me, for that matter.”

Bette stared off into space, deep in thought.

”Are you, Bette?” Tina asked, upset and angry at her lover’s lack of response. ”Do you love me?”

Bette carried a pause, which furthermore enraged Tina. The brunette then let out some air stiffly and eventually raised her gaze at her lover. ”No,” she proclaimed without any affection or warmth in her voice or eyes. ”I don’t.”

Though the following slap across her cheek had been unforeseeable, the sting made her feel a little bit more alive.

”You are fucking lying to me!” Tina hissed out, burning the calm woman beside her with a combination of pure anguish and infuriation in her hazel eyes.