Chapter 1: Bitter, Not Broken

Charlotte pov

“Oh no! Sean, go slowly!”

“You like it when I slide in slowly?”

“Yes, baby! Oh yes, baby!”

I closed my eyes gently. A whimper escaped my lips as I tried to block the taunting memories in my head. The memories were clear as day.

Even as I closed my eyes now, I was hit with the disgusting image of Sean, my long-time fiancé of three years, cheating on me with an average-height, dark-skinned Flora on our matrimonial bed.

Soon-to-be matrimonial bed.

I had found him fucking her on the supposed matrimonial bed we were meant to share after marriage.

When I arrived home to surprise my ex-fiancé, the first sound I heard was a loud moan as I opened the door. Clothes were flung around the couch and on the floor.

Following the trail, I picked up the bra and panties I saw on the passage leading to the room.

I kept trying to convince myself that my worst nightmare was not about to happen. But then the screams and moans became louder from our room.

I stood close to the slightly open door, desperately looking for the courage to peep inside. I waited, in and out, and gathered courage after a while.

I placed my hands on the doorknob, and after peeping into the room, my eyes saw the worst and most shocking sight.

Sean didn’t even notice someone had come inside the apartment.

He was deeply engrossed in the sex while the lady was busy stroking him, giving him a blowjob.

She continued to urge Sean as he pumped in and out of her mouth while I stood watching in shock.

And that was when I lost it.

Fuck.

I stamped my feet. Tears rolled down my cheeks and my lid opened instantly. I was heartbroken, sad, and mad as hell.

I disliked my boring lifestyle. If I had been bratty, surely this wouldn’t have gotten to me. I would have just gone out and gotten someone to fuck the hell out of me. That would have probably cleared my head of all the memories of Sean.

But I had no one. No flings, no hookups, as I had been faithful to Sean all these years.

Even though I was at a lounge, I would not say I liked the idea of picking a random dude to go home with and never see again. I would be a hole.

That’s what Sean called me when he had finished fucking that lady and they had caught me staring. No remorse on his face.

Sean had given me an evil smirk and told me right to my face that he did that on purpose because I don’t satisfy him sexually enough. And I never let him touch me enough.

Just once I had let him touch my pussy, and he said I was dry as hell, and penetration would hurt.

I was mad at how much he had shamed my body.

“I’ve been sex-starved these past few days, and you did nothing about it. Even after I complained,” he said.

“So I had to look for an alternative to satisfy myself. Dare I say, she did well. And I hope this teaches you a lesson, you slimy hole.”

“I can’t continue jerking off every morning in the shower when I have a girlfriend who can’t satisfy me but chooses her work over me.”

He had continued spewing trash, and it drained me so much not to walk over to where he was and smack him square in the face.

But I tried to put myself together.

As for the stupid-ass bitch by his side, she was lying on the bed trying to catch some sleep after they had gone God knows how many rounds.

I felt used and humiliated.

I scampered out of the house.

“Now, oh Charlotte, don’t tell me these tears streaming down your cheeks are still because of that self-centered idiot,” Angel, my sister, asked.

I just sighed sadly. I was so speechless I drowned my sorrow with a bottle of whiskey and mumbled bitterly with red-ringed eyes.

“I cannot stop thinking about it, Angel. You know how much I love Sean, and our wedding was supposed to be in four months.”

“Shit, cut that crap, Charlotte. You’re making me irritated now,” Angel cut in.

I ignored her and continued.

“It hurts so much, Angel. I can’t fathom being with someone else who is not Sean. He was my everything, and we loved each other so much—”

“And he cheated on you,” Angel cut in again. “Oh, get your senses together, girl. I dragged you here to have fun, not to cry around.”

Angel slurred. A bubbling laughter escaped her throat, and her mockery only intensified my pain.

I knew she didn’t mean any harm, but her words hurt.

“It’s his reasons. His reasons are just too absurd. You know, right?”

After a brief silence descended between us, coughing as I spoke, I began to say it again.

“He told me he cheated because I never let him touch me enough. Just… every time we had sex and I let him touch my pussy, he said I was dry as hell and penetration would hurt.”

And he knows how hard I’ve been in search of a stable job since I graduated, and how we need this money for our…

I gulched as Angel forced half a lemon into my mouth, telling me to shut up without words.

I shot her a bitter look instantly.

“You know what? You can’t keep being like this. It’s been two weeks since you caught that bastard cheating, and you have been mourning the relationship like a widow.”

“He’s probably out there with another Black woman having fun, and you are here crying out your balls.”

“Bitch, man up.”

The thought of Sean moving on or sleeping with another woman brought a bitter heartbreak to my heart again, and I grimaced.

“I just don’t know how to do it.”

“Oh, I know the best therapy for you. Sorry, for us, actually,” Angel said as she smiled and her eyes twinkled mischievously.

I slumped, gulping back the saliva threatening to spill out of my mouth.

“Well, how about we go on a vacation?”

“A vacation? Angel, I don’t have much money on me, and you know how well I’m trying to save up.”

“Well, my darling sister, it’s completely free, Charlotte. I got a free raffle, and I won four tickets to the London Festival. All-expense-paid trip, with free rooms, free food, and free towels.”

“I’ve been keeping it a secret till I saw who I was going to go with — and this is the perfect timing.”

“What do you think?”

I sipped my whiskey with my face squeezed as I considered Angel’s proposal.

“Angel, you know I just got this job recently, but I’ll have to find a way to take two weeks off.”

“You better do. London’s festival will be filled with so many hot guys. You could see your true love there.”

“Excuse me, I’m not going there to meet guys. I’m going there to have fun and to clear my head.”

“The joke’syou, baby girl,” Angel said.

“Let’s go on the freaking vacay.”

At this point, all I could think about was our short vacation to London, and a giddy feeling coursed through me.