Chapter 1

CHAPTER 1

It all came crashing down…

Tonight, her boyfriend of eight long years had finally achieved his goal – to have his own company.

With Serena’s guidance, Adrian had landed a deal worth twenty billion in investment, and this party was meant to celebrate it.

But now, while she watched that same man go on his knees to propose to another woman, all that perfection had quickly fallen apart.

Adrian is knelt in the center of the hall, a massive bouquet in one hand and a small velvet box in the other.

People had started to gather, their tones hushed and the whispers circulating quickly.

With her heart in her hand, Serena followed the movement of the crowd, pushing through for a better view. This had to be some sort of a mistake. 

They part readily for her, the murmurs growing deeper.

Finally, she reaches the circle, and her eyes take in the dreadful sight.

In front of her was Adrian, on one knee, holding up a shimmering ring to a familiar black haired woman she’d been seeing around lately.

Noting her presence, he looks up at her, a disdainful look in his eyes she'd never seen before. Before she could search them for answers, Adrian turns around without a single word, then continues smiling as he stares at another woman.

“A-Adrian! What are you doing?” She manages to sputter, her voice rising to a half-yell, momentarily shocked.

Adrian looks at her with annoyance, “What does it look like I am doing?” 

Without sparing her another word, he refocuses on the other woman with so much sweetness. “Cassandra… my Cassie, these past few weeks I have spent with you have been nothing but sweet, and because of your good-luck in my life, I have become a made man. Will you make me complete forever by being my wife?”

Serena stumbles on her own feet as she walks around to stand in front of the duo, watching speechless as Cassandra nods, holding out her ring finger, and nodding happily.

“You’re proposing to another woman? Adrian? Aren’t you making a mistake here? Who is she? Why—”

Looking angry at being disturbed again, he turns to Serena. “Just who the fuck are you exactly? What the heck do you want from me? That I should propose to you? She’s the one I want to marry, not you, frumpy and all submissive and annoying.”

His harsh response throws her off her mental balance. “Maybe not that you should propose to me, but at least respect the fact that we’ve been dating for eight years? All of these…” Serena waves her pale hands around, “…are all because of me. You did not even break up with me? Heck, I am here because of you. Why would you—”

“Let me stop you right there before you start to take credit for everything I have achieved by my own merit. Look at me now, I have my own company, and in the next edition of the Forbes magazines, I will be featured in it. Do you really think all of these are because of you?” Adrian scoffs, standing to his feet. 

“Don’t you think you are out of my league now?” He cocks his head to the side, before hissing audibly, making a show of holding Cassandra’s finger.

Out of his league?

No one claps as the onlookers are unsure of what to do but only watch the scene. Only a few of the people in the crowd actually give her pitiable glances, but they can’t do anything.

“What league?”She retorts, scoffing, “The league of cheaters? The league of men whose egos are bigger than the reality they should accept? If that’s the league in question, then yes, I am out of your league.” Serena manages a response, her eyes moist as she struggles to keep them back so she won’t seem weak.

Adrian only rolls his eyes before turning back to Cassandra, and just as he slips the ring into her finger, Serena turns to leave, the spectators parting to let her walk past. She hears whispering but they won’t change anything.

Even the staff had recognized her as being the one who did most of the work, but he had gone completely blind to that fact, choosing another woman… And that was not even the worst part of it all. 

He had deliberately raised her hopes, toyed with her feelings. Serena had suspected tonight was going to be more than a party. Adrian had been secretive these past few days, making calls out of earshot, going out in the early hours of the morning and trying to make sure that every inch of the event was perfectly set.

She had dared to believe he was going to use this opportunity to propose to her; that was probably why he was being so secretive, wasn't it?

Except, someone else was at the core of all the surprises and it wasn't her.

Sniffling and wiping her eyes, trying to not imagine everything that she had been given away, sacrificed for his dream, and when it came to his turn to fulfill her own dream, he pulled a reverse card on her…

She stumbles out of the venue, her eyes very moist and her vision blurry. Suddenly, she bumps into a man, but due to the tears in her eyes, she’s unable to see who it is. “I’m sorry.” She mumbles, side-stepping out of his way.

And now here she is, after spending eight whole years on him, she is walking out of his proposal, tears in her eyes.

Eight whole years, gone.

He’d been cheating, and he chose the woman he’d known for weeks over the one he has known for eight years. All those late night calls, staying up late ‘working’, all of those times he was busy, he had been spending it with another woman, and he did not even have the basic decency to break up with her first.

He used her to become a big man, before discarding her to the side like a piece of wet used rag.

Outside the event venue, she looked up at the sky, willing everything to go back to the way they used to be, the life she had before she even met the jerk, but life does not work like that.

Like they say, if the front is blocked, turn around… and that’s exactly what Serena did.