Chapter One—The Big Breakup

Chapter One—The Big Breakup

“I……I’m sorry.”

The words spilled right out of Zachary’s mouth right as the waiter dropped their lunch order right on the table. He looked somewhat perturbed. Anastasia had noticed this from the moment he curbed her kiss to a peck on the cheek at the entrance to the restaurant.

Her brows arched, “Zach?”

He loosened his tie, beads of sweat forming right at his forehead when he gulped down a whole bout of water. The conditioning of the room was perfectly tepid, and yet Zachary sweated like he was a prime suspect guilty of whatever accused crime.

“I…..I can’t do this anymore, Ana.” He managed so say.

She still remained confused, looking down at the seared fish on their plates, “You don’t like the cod?”

“No!” He snapped, shaking his head profusely, “I’m talking about you…..us…..our relationship.” He finally admitted, “I’m breaking up with you, Ana.”

It was the first of April. This only meant he was playing the usual fools prank. She checked her time and frowned as it was past 12 noon, which signified the end of the centuries long tradition. Zachary was late to his games, but then again he was known to be one of the tardy nature.

So she chuckled, “April fools is over babe. I think we’re both too old for—

“It’s not a joke.”

“Wh—

“I’m breaking up with you, Ana.” He rose to his feet, placing a hundred dollar bill on the table with a sorry look in his eyes, “I…I found someone new. Melanie. You know her already. We’re deeply in love and I plan to propose next week.” Adjusting his jacket with the same apologizing look, “I’m sorry, Ana. I hope you have a good life.”

She watched him leave.

In a typical romcom fashion, the female lead was expected to run after the man who’d hurt her. Anastasia Barlow remained frozen, dazed even, unable to fathom what had just happened to her.

It was still the first of April and certainly noon wasn’t a compulsory time to end the pranking, definitely Zachary still wanted to—

Nine years.

Seven months.

Five days.

Nine years…..Seven months….and five days into the week she’d been in a relationship with Zachary Levi, and in a span of ten minutes it was all over.

He claimed he was in love with another. Almost ten years of being together and he was in love with another woman—Melanie, his damned best friend, the very same woman who had caused multiple problems in their relationship over her unnecessary prying. He was proposing to her next week.

“Ma’am?” The waiter called, “Ma’am?”

She looked up at him, tear jerked and as pale as Casper the ghost himself, “Yes?”

“Are you enjoying your food?” The waiter asked, knowing fully well she wasn’t in the mood for such a question. He couldn’t tell what had happened but from the man leaving and now her in tears……yep, definitely a nasty breakup.

He felt bad for Anastasia. Men were such pricks; I mean who brings a woman to a fancy restaurant, all to dump her in the end?

“The…The Cod is nice.” Ana stuttered to distract herself from the onslaught of emotions that bombarded her, bleary eyed, “It’s perfectly seared. The….the salad is….is good too. Fresh.”

The waiter nodded. God he felt bad for her even more and leaned closer, “I’ll get you a glass of mojito. You deserve it.”

“You’ll do that?” She croaked, a stray tear finally falling down her cheek.

He nodded, “To be Frank, he was kind of ugly.”

She laughed. Her heart ached, she could barely breathe and she could swear her mind was in a whole sense of being mushed up, but she laughed at his joke. Zachary was kind of ugly—lanky, with frumpy hair and eyes she’d always thought were too hollow, but he was her boyfriend and she loved him.

They’d been together since they were teenagers. He played for the school’s lacrosse team, although he wasn’t the best player but she loved the perks of being with an athlete. They went to the same school together, heck she even gave up a spot at Stanford just to be with him in UC Berkeley all because he didn’t want to be alone.

She’d wanted to study law, he claimed it wasn’t suited for her, and didn’t want to be with a woman with so much power, so she changed her major to finance. She could’ve been a lawyer with her own practice, now she worked a stupid job in a cubicle as a financial auditor for GAMMA Excecutive.

She’d given up everything for Zachary and now he left her without as much sparing a glance. There was no ruse to being a strong woman, she wanted to scream, find something to end her sorrows or she would delve into a whole world of depression. She couldn’t do that again.

So she looked up at the waiter and smiled whilst the tears from her eyes drowned her whole face, “What’s your name?”

“Sebastian.” He smiled, “Seb for short.”

She nodded, “Do you know anywhere I can drink my life away until I pass out, Seb?”

“I know just the place.” He laughed, “You’ve come to the right person, Ana. Just sit tight and wait till my shift is over soon. Once we’re done, I’m pretty sure you’ll forget about that ugly boyfriend of yours.”

She sniffled, adjusting her poster as she stopped slouching and wiped her tears with a handkerchief he handed over, “Where is this place?”

“Have you heard of ‘The Big Club’?” He asked.

She shook her head.

“Oh your poor soul.” He looked on her with pity, “Just you wait.”

Ana watched Sebastian walk away with a stride she so clearly admired. He looked like a ray of sunshine, what she needed perfectly to rid of this pain in her heart.

He claimed she would forget about Zachary.

She hoped he wasn’t a liar.