CHAPTER 001

Anna’s hand shook slightly as she reached for James’s apartment door, her body heavy with exhaustion. Rain was falling steadily outside, soaking through her coat and leaving damp strands of hair clinging to her face. In one hand, she carried a paper bag, nearly soaked, with a small box inside containing James’s favorite cheesecake.

She had decided to surprise her fiancé, James, and spend the night with him, so she came straight to his place after work. It had been a long, stressful day for her, but the thought of curling up on the couch with James still made her smile.

She reached for the doorknob, then paused when she realized the door wasn’t locked.

James always locked the door. Always. But tonight, it was slightly ajar, and a cold knot twisted in her stomach.

Her fingers tightened around the paper bag as she pushed the door open.

She stepped inside and closed the door behind her. The apartment was silent. Too silent. She slipped off her coat and hung it on the rack. Her eyes moved around the dim living room as she noticed most of the lights were off.

Anna walked to the kitchen and set the cheesecake on the kitchen counter, then headed upstairs. Her footsteps were soft, but each one felt loud in the still house. The air smelled different. James’s usual cologne was there, but something else clung to it. Something unusual.

Halfway down the hallway, a low moan slipped through James’s closed bedroom door, making Anna stop in her tracks.

“Ahh… yes, fuck me harder, I wanna cum.”

Another groan followed.

Anna’s heart pounded, her mind scrambling for an explanation. “Maybe it was just the TV,” she whispered, almost silent. “Maybe I’m imagining things.”

Her legs felt weak as she stepped forward, approaching the bedroom door, breath hitching in short, uneven gasps. Every movement was heavy, like her body was warning her not to go further.

At the door, her fingers trembled around the knob. She hesitated, frozen for a heartbeat, then drew in a shaky breath and pushed it open.

The scene before her knocked the breath from her lungs.

Clothes were scattered across the floor—James’s jeans, a bra, a half-empty wine bottle near the bed. A couple of used condoms lay discarded on the floor. The room reeked of sweat, sex, and alcohol.

Then her eyes landed on the bed.

She saw her fiancé, James, and her best friend, Monica, having sex on the bed. The same bed she used to sleep in.

Monica was straddling James, naked and breathless, riding him with a rhythm that made Anna’s stomach twist. Monica threw her head back with a loud moan, while James gripped her hips, lost in it.

“I’m gonna cum, baby,” Monica gasped, voice trembling with pleasure.

“Yes, cum for me,” James groaned, gripping Monica’s ass cheeks and spreading them apart as he thrust up into her, buried balls-deep.

Then his eyes shifted, locking onto Anna’s. For a long second, he didn’t move, just stared at her, frozen.

Without a word, James pulled out of Monica, shoved her off him, and yanked the blanket up to cover himself. Monica sat up slowly, her hair a mess, lipstick smudged across her mouth, her bare chest rising and falling with shallow breaths, eyes wide as she saw Anna.

Silence filled the room.

Anna stood frozen in the doorway with her mouth hung open and her eyes glassy with tears.

She looked at the bed, then the floor, then back at them.

Her voice came out quiet but steady as she faced Monica. “So this is why you said you’d be busy tonight.”

“Anna, I swear it just happened—I didn’t mean for it to—” Monica said as she tried standing up, pulling the sheets around her.

“JUST SHUT UP, YOU DISGUSTING BITCH!” Anna yelled, cutting Monica off, her voice sharp and broken.

Then Anna shifted her eyes to James, searching his face for guilt, regret, even a flicker of shame. But he wouldn’t meet her gaze. He kept his eyes down, jaw clenched, hands motionless at his sides.

Finally, James stood up from the bed, completely naked, without a hint of shame. He pulled on his boxers, then grabbed his T-shirt off the floor and slipped it over his head. The silence stretched as he walked toward Anna, stopping just a few feet away.

“I never meant to hurt you,” he said quietly. “But our relationship… just isn’t working.”

Anna’s eyes brimmed with tears, her body trembling.

“You didn’t mean to hurt me?” she whispered as her voice cracked. “You were literally just fucking my best friend.”

James exhaled and glanced at Anna, his face blank. “I didn’t plan for it to happen this way,” he said. “But we can’t continue this relationship anymore.”

Anna looked at him, lost. “What are you talking about?”

“I’m saying I want to break up with you.”

The words hit Anna so hard, her body shook.

James swallowed hard, avoiding Anna’s gaze as he continued, “I… I’m in love with Monica.”

The words hung heavy between them.

Monica didn’t speak. She sat on the bed, clutching the blanket to her chest like it could shield her from the weight of what she’d done. Her eyes avoided Anna’s completely. Her shoulders were hunched, face pale, lips pressed into a tight line. She stared at the floor, motionless, as guilt clung to her like sweat, thick and undeniable.

Anna’s body was frozen, her mind screaming while James’s voice echoed in her chest.

Nothing felt real. Anna’s world tilted as she stepped forward, tears running down her cheeks, her voice barely a whisper.

“James… how could you do this? We’ve been together six years. We made plans. We were supposed to get married.”

James ran a hand through his hair and gave a light shrug. “Plans change.”

Anna’s chest twisted painfully. “Plans changed? Just like that?” Her voice cracked. “We’ve been engaged for three years, James. I waited—God, I waited—for you to be ready. I stood by you through everything. And this is how you end it? Just like this?”

James stared at Anna, speechless, then shifted his gaze to Monica, and back to Anna again.

“I haven’t been happy,” he said at last. “You just never saw it.”

Anna shook her head in disbelief, her voice trembling. “You’re not even trying… You’re just walking away like none of it meant anything.”

“Maybe it didn’t,” he said flatly.

Anna’s face went pale. “How can you say that?”

“You made it feel like an obligation,” James said, his voice low. “Like marrying you was something I owed—not something I wanted.”

Anna’s knees buckled. She grabbed the wall to steady herself. Her throat burned, but she kept going.

“I loved you,” she whispered. “I still do.”

James didn’t flinch. “Well, I don’t love you anymore.”

The air left Anna’s lungs. She shook her head, unable to believe what she was hearing. “You don’t just stop loving someone. We had a life.”

James sighed, rubbing his forehead. “You’re making this harder than it has to be.”

“Because it’s hard, James. I don’t know how to just walk away.”

“You’ll figure it out,” James said, flatly.

“Please… don’t do this,” Anna whispered, her voice breaking as she reached for his arm, fingers trembling and tears falling freely.

James jerked his arm away. “Stop begging. It’s pathetic. You need to leave.”

“You’re kicking me out?” Anna asked, her voice barely holding together.

“It’s over, Anna. I’m done. I’m calling off the engagement,” James said, not even blinking.

Anna flinched, her voice cracking as she spoke. “No… no, I’m not leaving. You don’t get to shatter everything and just walk away like it meant nothing.”

James’s jaw clenched tight. His hands curled into fists at his sides. “If you won’t leave, then I’ll make you.”

Before Anna could say another word, James grabbed her arm forcefully.

“James, what are you doing? Let go of me!” Anna said, struggling to break free from his grip.

James didn’t answer Anna. He just dragged her out of his bedroom, down the hallway, and then down the stairs. Her feet slid against the floor as she tried to pull away from his grasp, but she couldn’t.

“James, stop—just talk to me—”

He kept going, ignoring Anna as he passed through the living room and made his way to the front door. Without a word, he opened the front door as rain poured heavily outside and shoved her out into the cold.

Anna stumbled, crashing onto the cold porch, pain flaring sharply in her side as the rain hit her skin and soaked through her clothes instantly, chilling her to the bone.

She scrambled up to her knees, coughing, gasping at the shock of the cold. Her hands pressed against the wet concrete as she looked up.

“James,” she choked out, standing up as heavy tears spilled down her cheeks. She turned back toward the door, her eyes wide with disbelief. “Please, don’t end us like this—just talk to me. Please.”

For a brief second, Anna saw James standing in the doorway. His face held no emotion. No regret.

Then, without a word, he slammed the door in her face.

The sound of the door echoed louder than the storm.

Anna stood there, soaked and shaking, the rain cutting across her cheeks like glass. Her hands trembled at her sides. She couldn’t breathe. The silence wrapped around her chest, squeezing until it hurt. Her heart splintered in a way she couldn’t piece back together.

Then James’s voice came through the door, cold and hollow, like she’d never meant anything at all.

“Don’t come back. It’s over between us.”