Chapter Text
Maybe it's intuition
But some things you just don't question
Like in your eyes, I see my future in an instant
And there it goes, I think I've found my best friend
- Savage Garden, ‘I Knew I Loved You’
At this point in time, if you were to ask Robin Ellacott whether moving to London was in retrospect a good decision, the answer to that question may surprise you.
Just a few months ago she’d moved there with her childhood sweetheart, Matthew, as he took on what he’d boasted to be a prestigious accounting position, leaving the familiarity of the small northern town of Masham in hopes of building a future together in the big city. Robin had been excited initially, however they were barely settled in their modest flat when a boring routine quickly befell them and she began to feel a prickling sense of unease; the temp jobs unfulfilling, the idea of a career in Human Resources unappealing, her love life uninspired.
When, about six weeks after their move, Matthew had dropped to one knee Robin thought things would improve, however this turned out not to be the case. As time wore on Matthew began spending more time preening for his bosses and working much later hours, dragging her to fine dining establishments they could scarcely afford and showing her off like an accessory rather than introducing her as his partner and equal. Many times she’d tried to express her concerns, this often resulting in a row in which one of them ultimately slept on the sofa.
In an attempt to ease her troubled mind, Robin took on some personal hobbies - a creative writing course, fitness classes at the local gym - only to be met with disdain from Matthew as he seemed to expect her to play the part of the dutiful wife and be home to cook his meals and entertain his colleagues, rather than indulge in silly hobbies like writing and yoga.
As seeds of doubt continued to plant themselves firmly in her mind, Robin rebelled against them, telling herself she was the one being unreasonable - that this was the life she wanted, who she wanted - and that of course it wasn’t too much of him to ask for her to be supportive. And it was with that thought in mind she’d decided to skip her class one evening and head home early to make them a nice candlelit dinner, only to walk in and find Matthew in the midst of already enjoying a meal in the form of Sarah Shadlock - the other woman’s expression a mixture of shock, pleasure and even a trace of smugness as she looked up to see Robin in the doorway, mouth agape in disbelief as she watched her fiancées head bobbing between the blonde woman’s thighs.
Matthew, hearing a strangled gasp behind him, had turned around just in time to see Robin swiftly remove her engagement ring, the small solitaire smacking him squarely in the forehead as she flung it at him before spinning on her heel, Matthew tripping over his half-shed boxers in a clumsy attempt to chase her down the hallway.
Retreating to a nearby hotel with only the clothes on her back, Robin had collapsed onto the small single bed and cried until she’d felt depleted, ignoring the barrage of incoming calls and texts from her now ex-fiancée, begging her to come back and talk it out, as if there were anything he could say that would explain the scene she’d just unwittingly witnessed.
For a fleeting moment Robin had considered calling her mother, however the thought of returning to Masham after only a few short months, locking herself away again in her childhood bedroom to be spoken about in hushed whispers behind closed doors, to be coddled and pitied was not something she had any desire to revisit. And so she’d phoned the only friend she had in London, a woman named Amber whom she’d befriended in her writing class and occasionally met for coffee, to see if she could possibly crash on her sofa as she figured out her next steps. As fate would have it, the woman had recently broken up with her own boyfriend and was actively seeking a new flatmate. And so Robin, with Amber’s help, went back to her place the following day while Matthew was at work, packed up her share of the belongings, and set out to forge a new future for herself.
At this point, just two weeks after leaving her cheating fiancée and being thrust into the relative unknown of the big city, one would expect Robin Ellacott to be cynical, to regret the decisions that led to her being here, to be angry at the world and the injustices she’d been dealt. However, on the contrary, Robin was pleased that the universe had brought her here - where she was able to discover the truth about the man she had once loved, had been able to stop herself from making a mistake in marrying him, was finally able to consider a future that she herself wanted, rather than what others wanted for her. A silver lining in the otherwise gray cloud of the overcast London sky.
And so, on a bright Monday morning, Robin exited the corner coffee shop with a smile, a fresh cup clutched in her hand, humming a catchy tune as she made her way down the pavement headed toward her latest temp job. Her mind wandered as she thought again about what her future may hold, absentmindedly taking a sharp corner and immediately colliding with sixteen unseeing stone of disheveled male.