My parents just stabbed me. Straight through the heart. And now I'm bleeding on the foot of the dining table, trying to catch my breath.

I'm replaying the words over and over again, trying to make sense of it. Divorce. A divorce. Your mom and I decided to get a divorce.

I press my hands against my cheeks and suck in a deep breath. God, how can this happen? How? I knew they were fighting a lot recently but I just thought that it was just a phase. That it was something that they would get over. My parents had been together for over twenty years. They were childhood best friends. High school sweethearts.

The ultimate golden couple.

How the fuck can this happen to them?

I thought my parents could withstand anything. They're Lanes for fuck's sake. We don't give up. We push and push and push until we conquer, or nothing at all. That's what my dad told me. And that's what our family embraced.

So what the fuck happened between then and now?

How can my parents just give up on twenty years of marriage? Just like that?

I can't believe this. My mind and my heart is refusing to register what has just been uttered to me. Nobody wants to hear that their parents are getting divorced. Nobody. Because everyone knows that divorce doesn't only affect the parents—it affects the children too.

I don't know what to feel. I'm hurt and sad and angry at the same time. My hands are shaking and my lips are trembling and I can't stay still. My heart is aching and my blood is boiling and my head is hurting because it's refusing to believe that what is happening is happening right now.

"What?" Beth says, looking absolutely shocked. Her mouth is hanging right open and her eyes are lost. Her eyes are whipping back and forth between mom and dad, as if she can't quite believe what was just said. "What?"

"Beth, baby..." My mom wipes a tear from her eye. Little does she know that a thunderstorm is raging within the depths of me. "I know that it's a very huge thing to process and if you need time, we'll give it to you. No pressure."

Beth just sinks into her seat, looking smaller than ever. Both of us are still trying to let the revelation sink in that everything from this moment forward is going to change. Forever.

I don't know how long it's been, but it's long enough for both mom and dad to look at us uncomfortably. Awkward silence fills the air and I'm not going to be the first one to break it. It's bad enough that I'm breaking and shattering and collapsing from the inside out already.

"Uh, well, now would be a good time to say something," my dad clears his throat. "Girls?"

"This is fucking unbelievable," are the first words to come out from my mouth. All three pairs of eyes snap to my direction.

My mom's eyes are spilling with tears. "Sienna, I know it's hard to understand—"

"No, no it's not," I say steadily, trying to calm the storm that's raging in my body, drumming against my chest. But it's hard to contain it. I'm not that strong. I bang my fist against the table. "This is ridiculous. It's fucking ridiculous!"

"Sienna, calm down-" My dad starts off but I cut him off.

"Don't you dare tell me to calm down," I stand up, pointing an accusing finger at him. He immediately stills, his eyes wide with shock at the strength and sharpness in my voice. I look at the both of them. They don't even look sorry that their marriage completely fell apart. I can't even believe it. "Twenty years of marriage? For nothing! You guys just gave up!"

"No, baby, no-" My mom gets up from her seat and tries to reach for me but I recoil quickly. My response is like a slap to her face. "We tried, so damn hard, Sienna. We really did-"

"Well, clearly you guys didn't try hard enough," I snap back at her. "Otherwise, you wouldn't have to break this stupid news to us in the first place!"

"Sienna," my dad says steadily. "I can only imagine how you feel right now-"

"Oh no, you really don't." I growl at him. I'm not even angry. I'm beyond furious right now. It feels like my parents had betrayed me. Had betrayed each other. "You don't even know a fraction of what I feel right now."

"We've already made up our minds, Sienna," my mom says desperately. "This is what we wanted for a while now-"

I scoff. "So you've been planning this for months now and didn't even tell us?"

"Because we knew you'd act this way!" My dad counters. He's getting frustrated with how this conversation is going. He lets out an unsteady breath and places his hands on his hips. "Sienna, nothing has to change. Nothing. We still love you and Beth. You guys are our entire world. It's just I can't afford to pretend that everything's okay anymore."

"Then don't pretend!" I scream. "Who initiated this divorce? Was it a mutual decision?"

My mom glances at my dad. My dad shrugs. "I asked for the divorce," he says quietly.

Both Beth and I look at him, completely baffled.

"What?" my sister says.

"Look, girls, it's not something that we want talk about right now." Mom shakes her head, wiping tears from her eyes. "The point is, eventually, I agreed to it."

"I can't believe it," I breathe.

My mom loved my dad fiercely. I can't believe she would agree to something like this. But then again, I couldn't believe that my dad would ask for a divorce in the first place.

"I... I want this, girls." She says, glancing at my dad again hesitantly. "It's not the best decision, but it's one that we know we have to take. I'm just so tired of all of this. I need a break from your dad. I need a break from here."

The impact of her words dawned on both Beth and I. I open my mouth to speak, but I'm lost for words.

"Y-you're leaving?" Beth stares at my mom with shock. Tears are shining in her eyes and falling down her cheeks but she makes no attempt to wipe them away.

"I can't stay, girls." My mom shakes her head. She wipes her face with her napkin and takes a deep breath. "I think it's best if I take a breather from all of this, away from here." She utters the last word with sorrow and disgust.

"You have got to be fucking kidding me," I hiss. "How long will you be gone? Days? Weeks? Where are you going to go?"

Mom shakes her head. "I don't know yet. But somewhere far. Spain, maybe. Or Puerto Rico. "

Puerto Rico?

    What the actual fuck?

I can't believe this. I can't believe anything that's being said right now. Mom and dad getting a divorce. Dad staying to take care of us while mom abandons us to 'take a breather'.

This is all happening too fast. My mind and my heart can't take it.

"I know this is a quite lot to take in-" My dad starts off.

"It's a shit load of information to swallow in an hour, fuck!" I swear. "So let me get this straight: you guys are separating and mom's abandoning us because she can't even stand to be in the same country as you?" I say with a laugh. It's so ridiculous it's almost comical. "Jesus christ, what the fuck happened to the both of you?"

"Sienna-" My mom says pleadingly but I thrust a hand to keep her from taking another step towards me.

"Don't," I warn her. "Don't come near me. I don't know even you anymore. Puerto Rico? Really? You're leaving us, are you? And something tells me it's not going to be a temporary thing. It's going to be a permanent thing."

My mom stares at me, speechless.

I can already see the answer in her face.

She's really going to leave. She's leaving us.

"Y-you can't leave!" Beth cries. "Mom, please. Y-you have to stay. You have to. We're a family." She says, shaking her head. She's refusing to accept the situation, just like me. "We can f-fix this. We can. You guys can go to marriage counseling or something. I'll s-set it up—you guys can talk through your problems and solve them—just p-please, please don't resort to this—p-please don't leave—"

I close my eyes at the sound of my sister's voice and heart breaking. It's too excruciating to listen to this.

"Beth..." My mom's calming voice directs to my sister but she won't have any of it.

"You have to try again." My sister grabs unto my mom's hand desperately. She's clinging unto the last shred of hope that this situation will fix itself, even though that hope has already disintegrated into nothing. "You have to! This—it can't end like this—"

"It's useless," I tell my sister, shaking my head. "They won't listen to you, Beth. They've already made up their minds."

"It's not like we chose to hurt you guys like this—" My dad frowns.

"But you did it anyway," I snap at him. Then, I direct my next words to the both of them. "The two of you are pathetic. Just when things get tough, you guys choose to bolt. I'm fucking furious and disappointed in the both of you that you gave up. Just like that." I snap my fingers at them. "You guys are weak as fuck."

"Sienna, you have to understand, we just weren't happy with each other anymore..." my mom says.

"Then what the fuck are we? Are we not your source of happiness too?" I yell. "You were so wrapped up in each other that you forgot you had us. We could have helped you. We could have talked about this as a family and think things through. But no. Instead of consulting us about it, you chose the easy way out." I spit at them. "You know what? Get a divorce. Mom, run off to the other side of the world. I don't care. Honestly, I don't even know who you guys are anymore. I no longer recognize my own parents anymore.."

I want to swallow the last of my words down but I'm just too angry that it comes bursting out of me. "And guess what? I don't even want to. I don't want to be associated with either of you right now," I say, exiting the room. And after grabbing my car keys, I look at both of my parents one last time and bow down dramatically, an ugly smirk forming on my face. "Have a nice fucking divorced life. You can count on fact that I'm sure as hell not going to be part of it."

And with, I'm gone.

* * *

I'm sitting on the steps of Universal Fighter's Gym, wondering what the hell am I going to do next.

I only left the house with my phone and my car keys, which come to think of it, is a huge mistake. I probably should have thought more about my dramatic exit before actually executing it. Because with no money and no fuel, I'm done for today.

I don't know why I came here. When my car was about to die out on me, I thought about coming here for a split second and the minute I switched lanes, my mind was already made up. I just didn't know where to go. There was no way in hell I was going to go back to that house tonight, not when my skin is still boiling and there's a storm raging inside of me.

Part of me feels bad that I left Beth to deal with my parents. I considered going back for her, but I just wasn't in a mood to see her right now. I can't look at her knowing that my parents' revelation destroyed her. Because I know that once I see her, I'll get even more angry at my parents and I can only take so much rage in a day.

I rest my face against my knees and hug my legs, sighing. Tonight was a shitty night. I never knew that one simple family dinner could break us apart like this.

     I keep shuffling through my memories, memories of my parents, trying to figure out if there was anything I missed out, anything that made my parents so unhappy to the point where they needed to do what they did, but I come up with nothing. And that makes me even more frustrated.

I clench my jaw tightly. I'm furious. Furious to the point where my eyes are clouded with red. The betrayal stings deep and latches unto my bones.

I used to think that my parents would be there for me. Always. We used to be the perfect family. My mom and my dad loved each other fiercely, and they loved us too.

How could something be so perfect be ruined so fast?

"Sienna?" A familiar voice calls out to me. My head whips up and my eyes meet with embers of kohl.

"Jax, I-" I quickly get up, brushing the dirt of my butt. "Um..."

"So you finally broke, huh?" A grin forms on his face. His blonde hair is slicked back and he's wearing a white T-shirt and black leggings. He gives the strap of his gym bag a small tug. "You couldn't resist me any longer? Couldn't wait to see me?"

I roll my eyes. This arrogant son of a bitch.

"Please," I scoff. "I was just leaving."

I start to walk past him but his hand reaches out to grab me and hold me still. "Fuck, I'm sorry, wait," he says. "I'm joking, Sienna. Calm down."

"Don't touch me," I hiss.

He lets go of me reluctantly, noticing that I'm not in a mood to play around. "I'm sorry, just..." He sifts his fingers through his hair and sigh. "What are you doing here?"

I don't know. I want to say, but instead, I shake my head and give him another response.

"I'll tell you what I'm not doing here and that's to see you."

     Lie.

     I wouldn't have just spontaneously decided to visit some gym that I've never been to. And the only reason I know the name of this place is because Jax keyed in a message inside my phone telling me where he worked out the night he gave me his phone number. 

His lip quivers. I can tell he's amused by my response but he doesn't want to show it. "Alright, then," he says, crossing his arms over his chest. "Suppose I believe you. Then, why are you here? You looking to punch some bags?" He eyes my trembling hands and shrugs. "You look like you could use a hit or two."

I close my fist in hopes to get rid of the trembling."I'm not here for a workout."

"Okayy," he says, stringing his word. "Then, what do you want?"

I take a deep breath and sigh. "To be honest, I don't know either," I say. "I just needed to get away from some stuff and for some reason, I ended up here."

Jax grins. "Maybe you were thinking about me. That's why you ended up here."

     Yes, I did.

But the question is: why?

"Whatever," I mutter. "I guess I should go-"

"No, don't." He shakes his head. "You don't have to go. Why don't you come inside? We can talk about what happened, if you want."

I eye the place warily. "In a gym?"

"This isn't just a gym, princess," he drawls. "It's a sanctuary. A retreat." He steps forward and brushes a lock of hair away from my face and tugs it behind my ear. His fingers brush lightly against the skin and I shiver. Though he keeps invading my personal space, I don't stop him from touching him. I want it. So bad. Because it's the only thing keeping me from spiraling off the edge. "And something tells me you need a little escape."

He's right. I do need a little escape. I'm shaking with rage and I need an outlet to express my emotions, even if that means that outlet is Jax. And though he's somewhat of an asshole, he's never been an asshole to me. He has taken care of me since that night I met him and despite the fact that I barely know him, I have a feeling that I can trust him.

"Yeah, I do," I say, hugging myself tightly.

     "Good." Jax grins, pleased with my answer. He places a steady hand on my back and guides me towards the entrance. "Welcome to Universal Fighter's Gym, princess."

* * *

A/N: Can you tell it's starting to get good? Can you? BECAUSE THERE WILL BE MORE JIENNA!!!

So tell me what are your thoughts on this chapter! What do you think? What do you anticipate next?

Also, omg I'm so close to 100K followers like it's so exciting!!!

Maybe I should celebrate soon by doing something for you guys. What would you guys like? Should I be like Noelle and do book promos? Or maybe another contest? Send me your suggestions by commenting down below!

PS: I found the guy I met at the visa place on Facebook and now we're talking. I'm so happy about it LOL.

See ya'll soon!

Love, Claudia.