Chapter 2

Yara

"We don't belong together. "

" We don't belong together. "

I repeated those words, over and over, shaking my head, in denial, in disbelief.

I looked at him, searching for the boy whom I sacrificed everything for. The boy who once promised me a forever. The boy who, back then, swore to always love me. That warm, kind and considerate boy that had once captivated my younger heart, teaching the younger me to love.

He was my world. He was my everything. My first love, my first kiss and...tears streamed down my face as I thought about everything.

The heartwarming vows that he once recited to me, the blissful future that he once promised me? Was it all a lie? What happened to us growing grey hair together? Was he the same boy who once made those promises to me?

But looking at him now, I felt like I was living in a nightmare. There were no traces of that boy. There were no traces of the man that I once fell in love with.

He looked different, unfamiliar, a stranger just with a familiar face. Bathed in the glory of his new status, clothed in an expensive custom-made suit, there was a glint of loathing in his eyes as he looked at me. No, he was looking down on me.

Next to him stood his fiancée. Beautiful and elegant, her entire aura screaming money and status. A rich heiress, a perfect match to the heir to the Fox fortune.

For a brief moment, I closed my eyes, unwilling to look at the perfect pair that they made. They were like a beautiful painting, and I was out of place, the only flaw in the perfect painting.

"That boy is dead, Yara. Andrian Fox and Yara are worlds apart. Stop embarrassing yourself." He whispered, his lips twisted into an amused grin.

" We weren't supposed to meet in the first place. It was an accident. Cherish the days that we once spent together and stop being greedy."

" And yeah, I got lost when I was six years old, and I ended up in an orphanage. But before then, I had a life, and a childhood sweetheart."

"And that person is not you. It's her, my fiancée. " His words penetrated through my ears, assaulting my senses.

For a long time, I forgot how to breathe. I stood there, frozen to the bone marrow.

By the time I reacted, they were long gone, and I only got a rear glimpse of the luxurious car that they were in.

He had a childhood sweetheart, and that person was not me. The thought of it all left a bitter taste in my gut, and I was stifling a puke.

It was happening. The betrayal was happening. My best friend, my love and my husband betrayed me.

The moment he found his silver roots, the moment he found his parents, he gave up on me. Forgetting about the life that we once lived. Forgetting about that one person who had stayed by his side for the last twenty years. He forgot about the one person who never left him, that one person who could give up anything for him.

I wore a sad smile, gazing into the distance that Adrian's car had disappeared into.

When I had no one else, I still had him. When we had no one else, we still had each other and now? He had found his parents, and I was all alone. He even had a fiancée.

I was all alone, betrayed and heartbroken. After loving him so much for so many years. After all the devotion, sacrifices and care.

After graduating, I gave up my career, choosing to work, doing three odd jobs a day to fund his start-up, for our future, for the future of our children. But children?

More tears blurred my vision as I caressed my flat belly.

" Here, maybe you could use this." My train of thought was broken by the chief guard's voice. He wore a kind smile as he handed a bottle of water and a handkerchief to me.

With a small nod, I accepted the handkerchief.

"It's getting late. Maybe you should leave first." I could see the pity in his eyes as he suggested.

But he was right. I had nothing more to look forward to.

*************

I sat listlessly on the couch, surrounded by gloom, and a photo album on my lap. I didn't know how I managed to, but after the heart-wrenching betrayal, I found my way back to our apartment, the place where Andrian and I had spent the last few years together. A place that once used to feel like my safe haven, filled with warmth, love and laughter, but now? It felt hollow and abandoned, just like my heart.

A particular photo caught my eye. It was the first photo that Andrian and I took together. We had just met. I was around three years old while Andrian was six.

From what I heard, I was brought to the orphanage by an elderly woman who happened to run into me while I was lost. By then, I was at the age of two, and before that, I didn't have the memories of the life I lived before.

For one year, life in the orphanage was dull and boring until I met him, Andrian. A young and lovely boy who brought a smile to my lips in just a few hours after I met him.

In the picture, Andrian was saying something, and the younger me was laughing heartily; it was a hearty picture, captured discreetly by the orphanage director. A picture that told a story of two fated souls, lovely and inseparable, their union captivating many hearts in the orphanage...

As I stared at the picture, I couldn't help but remember how happy the three-year-old me was after I met Andrian. He was funny and protective. At first, he was like an older brother to me, but as years progressed, my feelings changed, and I fell for him.

Fat tears streamed from my eyes to the picture as I remembered the day that Andrian confessed his feelings to me. I was sixteen then and he was nineteen. It was exactly thirteen years since we met at the orphanage entrance. That day marked the happiest day of my life. I said yes, and we officially started dating.

Slowly, I flipped through the album, looking at many of our pictures that were discreetly taken by the orphanage director from the moment we met to the moment we left the orphanage.

In that picture, I was in a white dress, a dazzling smile adorning my lips as I stared at my ring finger. I had just graduated from college, and Andrian had proposed to me. It was a cheap silver band, but the joy in my eyes was so rich, so pure, like I had the whole world under me.

Then the background changed, and in another picture, I was in a wedding gown, and Andrian stood next to me, wearing a happy smile, his eyes shining with stars. Our eyes were filled with joy and hope as we gazed into our future together, looking forward to building a happy family, the family that we had always dreamed of having. And now?

'Why?' I questioned, staring at Adrian's picture.

'We were happy, weren't we? You made promises to me! You...you..' My voice died down in my sobs as I scratched his picture, tearing it apart.

Just as I was about to hurl the album away, another picture caught my eye. In the picture stood a couple, wearing sunny smiles and between them stood a young girl, probably around ten.

I was that girl, and the couple was Aunt Rosa and her husband.

Looking at our picture, a surge of regret washed over me. I was a fool, wasn't I? They had offered to adopt me. They both loved me, and the feelings were mutual. I honestly liked them, but because of Andrian, for Andrian, I had turned down their offer, choosing him over myself.

Sadness washed over me as I recalled the many times that I had had to choose Andrian over my happiness, over and over, and what did I get?

The betrayal. The moment he found his parents, he abandoned me, blocking my number and cutting all links between us. It was like I never existed in his life. To meet him, I had to camp outside his family company for hours...

My whole life, I had only known and loved him, and now that he was gone, I didn't know where to start. It was like I started living the moment he came into my life. There were traces of him everywhere, in my heart, my house and my body.

And the album? There was not a single picture of me without him. For my entire life, he was like my shadow. And now?

With a bitter smile, I removed Aunt Rosa's picture from the album, and I flipped it over, caressing the numbers that were carefully scribbled at the back.

Lost in those memories, I was yanked back to reality by urgent knocks on my door.

I didn't even have the strength, but I dragged my body to the door, and I came face to face with a familiar yet unfamiliar face.

Adrian's mother.