The wind howled through the streets, its furious gusts rattling their apartment windows as though nature was trying to break in. The storm outside was relentless, each gust of wind sending the rain tumbling down in sheets, blurring the world beyond the window. Yet, inside the apartment, it wasn’t the storm’s violence that carried the most weight it was the tension between Christopher and Catherine. The storm outside was nothing compared to the one brewing between them.

Catherine stood by the window; her arms wrapped tightly around herself as though trying to hold in the growing sorrow that threatened to spill over. She gazed into the darkness, her reflection distorted by the droplets tracing down the glass. The rain seemed to mirror her emotions each drop, a fragment of her heart breaking a little more. Inside, her chest felt heavy, an ache that pulsed in time with the storm outside. The city was alive with the wind and rain's chaos, but the quiet devastation within their home was tearing her apart. The place that had once been filled with laughter, love, and promises was now a silent battlefield.

Across the room, Christopher stood with his back to her, his posture rigid and tense, his body language an impenetrable wall. He stared into the night, his eyes fixed on the abyss of the street below, but there was nothing left to focus on just the dark emptiness that reflected how he felt inside. The silence between them had been thick, unbearable, for hours now. Neither of them knew where to begin. How could they? The love that once seemed destined to last forever was unraveling in slow motion, and neither could find a way to stop it.