Roman
I was sitting on the steel chair backstage and I went through four water bottles. I didn't know how to tell Ashley about taking a break from this relationship for awhile. I tied my hair into a small bun, looking down at the ground with a melancholic expression until I heard her voice emerge from afar.

I looked at her with sadness in my eyes and was speechless; not knowing how to tell her.

"Roman, I missed you. I hope you're feeling better."

"Ashley, I-" I stopped myself.

"Roman, what's wrong?" She asked me.

"Ashley." I sighed, "We need to talk." I said, closing the door and sitting her down in private.

"Roman?"

I looked down again and sighed whilst holding myself together.

"I love you, Ashley. I'm so sorry." I apologized.

"Sorry for what?"

"What I wanted to talk about with you is important and it's only temporary, but please hear me out."

"Talk to me, babe." Ashley pleaded.

I sighed, "First of all, I've been so stressed out with the authority and with Seth to where everything's been taking a toll on me."

"I promise that we'll find a way to get Seth and the authority to leave us alone, Roman." I interrupted her.

"Please don't take this the wrong way, Ashley, but I feel like we need a break from this relationship. No, this isn't permanent, and it's until I can work things out and get the authority to leave us alone so we can get Seth off our backs." I glanced back at the floor, "I hope you understand."

"Roman? This isn't like you. I thought we were doing just fine together."

"It's not you babe." I said with a monotone voice, "I just need to get things situated before we get back together. Until then, I love you." I kissed her for the last time and walked away, picking up my duffel bag and drove back to the hotel. I was trying not to show emotion, but deep down, I was about to break.

Ashley
I was shattered and completely heartbroken; emotions were everywhere. I watched him look back at me with sadness in his face as he continued to walk away. I kept it together and walked to my locker-room to pack my championship and attire in my duffel bag. When I exited the room, I ran into Dean again.

"Any luck?" He asked.

"Yeah, I guess. I need to get going, Dean."

"Ashley?" He said, worried. "What happened?"

I shook my head, "It's nothing."

I took an Uber back to the hotel and bumped into a tall man with a black hoodie over their head. As the hood went down, I realized Roman was in front of me. I looked down at the floor with disparity. He then looked behind himself to seeing me holding my luggage and waiting to check in.

"Hey, Ashley."

"Hey."

Silence filled the front office.

"Are we still roommates together or not?" He asked.

"It depends. I guess we can be."

"That's fine with me." He says while we walk beside each other, carrying my luggage to the room.

After he opened the door, I sat the backpack down on the floor and sat on a separate bed, remaining as silent as a mouse. Roman was currently changing into his casual clothes before glancing over at me with worry in his eyes from across the room.

"Ashley?" He said, "You know that I still love you, right?"

I scoffed, "Sure you do."

"Sure?" He raised an eyebrow, "Look, I still love you. I just want to make things right before we get back together."

"Well Roman, when things get tough, you can't just leave somebody all because you're stressed out. It doesn't work like that."

"I know, but..." I cut him off and looked into his eyes.

"But what?"

He gave up and looked away from me, feeling defeated. "Nothing."

"Yeah, nothing. That's what I thought. I just want to be left alone for awhile."

Walking out the door, I ran into Dean for the third time tonight along with Renee in the hallway. I attempted to avoid them as much as possible until they stopped me in my tracks.

"Ashley, what's going on?" Dean asked.

"Yeah and where's Roman?" Renee asked, concerned.

"It doesn't matter. I need to get some fresh air."

Dean
Ashley wasn't acting like herself at the end of the show, and neither was Roman. I assumed the worst had happened and they broke-up, but I didn't know for sure until I called him and demanded an answer.

"What's up, Ambrose?"

"Dude, what's going on between you and Ashley?"

"Nothing, it's personal."

"It doesn't sound personal. I just walked past Ashley and she looks heartbroken. What the hell did you do to her, Rome?"

"Well, I..."

"You what? I want to know." I interrupted him.

"I wanted to take a break from the relationship."

"Are you fucking serious?" I asked.

"I'm not playing around, Ambrose. I just have so much weight on my shoulders and I just didn't want to hurt Ashley. I told her that I still loved her and that this wasn't permanent, but there's so much that's running through my head and she's not the problem." I paused, "It's Seth and the authority."

"Roman. Relationships are hard, but you have to work for it and not give up on somebody you love; even if it's temporary, all because you're stressed out. Ashley thinks that you love her less and from what I saw on her face just now, she looks heartbroken."

"I just can't do this right now." He said.

"Rome, you guys really need to work things out."

"I will later when everything's better again."

"You need to do it right now."

I couldn't believe what I was hearing and this wasn't coming from the man with whom I consider a brother. He sounded different and confused in his voice. And it wasn't long ago since we just bailed him out of prison because of Seth.

Ashley
I managed to avoid Dean, Roman, and Renee's messages and calls over the past few hours. I turned off my phone and walked into the woods to be alone with my thoughts. I wasn't happy about sharing the same room with Roman; even though I still loved him. Small break or not, I just felt heartbroken on the inside and felt alone like before.

Ever since I was alone with my thoughts in the dark woods, I began sobbing uncontrollably thinking that this entire small breakup was my fault somehow.