Chapter 1: The Rejection

My wedding is next week, but my fiancé brought his ex-girlfriend, who also happens to be his first love.

I thought this must be a dream.

I never imagined I would see the two of them standing side by side again.

"She's pregnant with my child. I want to call off the wedding and our engagement, Rose."

With a face I had never seen before—one I didn't recognize at all—he coldly declared it was over.

"I'm going to marry Sarah soon, before her belly starts to show." Again, without a shred of emotion, he said this to me as I stood waiting.

My heart felt like it stopped beating. The air around me suddenly turned cold, freezing every cell in my body.

"Wh-what?" That was all I could manage. My voice sounded hoarse, foreign even to my ears.

Sarah, his ex, the woman who had always been a shadow in our relationship, looked down slightly, placing a hand on her still-flat stomach. Whether she felt ashamed or guilty, I couldn't tell.

"You heard what I said, Rose. I'm sorry," said my fiancé, David. His voice was flat, like he was reading a grocery list. "I hope you can understand. Sarah needs me. And my child needs its father."

"Understand?"

I repeated the word bitterly, as if poison was slowly spreading on my tongue. "I'm supposed to understand that my fiancé is calling off our wedding because he got another woman pregnant?"

My eyes burned, but the tears refused to fall.

I stared at David's face, the one I had loved so deeply. The man who had once been my home was now causing me unimaginable pain.

"Rose…" He tried to touch my hand, but I recoiled. His touch now felt repulsive.

"Don't touch me," I whispered.

My voice was almost inaudible, but it was enough to make him straighten up.

"Rose, please—"

"Enough!" I glared at him sharply, holding back every tremor in my chest to keep from breaking into sobs. "You don't even have the right to ask me to understand, David. I gave you everything, David. You destroyed all my love, my time, and my dreams as if they were insignificant. I raised my trembling voice, unleashing a wave of anger I could no longer contain.

David lowered his head, perhaps out of guilt, or maybe not. Meanwhile, Sarah just stood quietly beside him, as if she knew she had already won.

"Three years is not a short time, David. I kept thinking about a beautiful future for us. But—" I couldn't finish my sentence. I wiped my face roughly with my hand as the tears finally streamed down my cheeks.

Suddenly, Sarah spoke. Her voice was soft, yet piercing.

"Rose, I am truly sorry about all of this. It shouldn't have happened. But it has. I'm begging you, let David go."

I shifted my gaze from David to Sarah. A mix of pity and burning anger swelled in my chest.

She was apologizing, yet her calm gaze showed she had gotten what she wanted. There wasn't a trace of regret or guilt in her eyes.

"Let him go?" I laughed, a hollow laugh that sounded more like a sob. "Don't you think that's ironic, Sarah? You've already taken him, and now you're asking me to let him go. Was that your plan all along?"

David raised his head. "Rose, stop. Sarah has nothing to do with—"

"Nothing to do with it?!" I cut him off sharply. "She's pregnant with your child, David! Right before we get married! That is the heart of all this! Don't you dare try to protect her after what the two of you have done to me!"

David's breathing grew heavy. He looked a little more emotional now.

"I know your situation is bad, Rose. Even worse than that. But I can't abandon my child. I have to take responsibility; no matter what, he is my pure bloodline," he said, his voice now slightly pleading, as if trying to make me see the goodness in his actions.

"Responsibility?" I took another step back, pointing at Sarah, who was still standing quietly. "You already had a responsibility to me, David! The responsibility was to marry me next week! It was a responsibility that had cost me three years of my life!

I reached into the pocket of my dress and pulled out a small velvet box. The engagement ring, which was meant to symbolize our commitment, was in the box.

I threw it. I threw it not towards him, but onto the floor, between their shoes.

The small object spun and came to a stop. The sudden silence felt deafening.

"Take this," I said, my voice flat and cold again, all my emotions drained, leaving behind a frozen emptiness. "Cancel everything. I never want to see you again, David!"

David stared at the box, then back at me. A hint of surprise flashed in his eyes, as if he thought I would beg or scream longer.

"Rose, I—"

"Leave!" I cut him off. "Take her and your child, who needs a father, out of my house, out of my life. Right now!"

Sarah touched David's arm. "David, maybe we should go," she whispered softly.

David gave a stiff nod. He took a deep breath, his gaze avoiding mine. He bent down quickly, picked up the ring box, and without another word, he turned around.

They walked toward the door, Sarah a step behind him. Just before Sarah stepped out, she glanced back slightly, and what infuriated me the most was the small, almost smirk-like smile she gave me.

***

I decided to go to The Crimson. I usually avoided The Crimson, a nightclub downtown, due to its excessive crowds and noise. But tonight, the crowd and the noise were exactly what I wanted. I needed the blaring music to drown out the noise in my head.

Half an hour later, I was there. The smell of alcohol, sweat, and the pounding house music immediately greeted me.

I sat at the bartender's table and ordered straight vodka. One glass. I continued to order two glasses, until I could no longer recall the number of times I requested a refill. The burn in my throat helped, at least a little, to numb the stabbing pain in my chest.

I looked around at the bustling crowd until I decided to head down to the dance floor. Honestly, I was just moving to the rhythm, closing my eyes, and letting my body be taken over by the beat. I didn't care who witnessed my awkward dancing. I just wanted to get rid of all thoughts of David, the wedding, and the betrayal. I desperately wanted to forget, even if just for an hour.

After dancing for a while, my legs suddenly felt weak and my head spun. I decided to go to the restroom to splash water on my face. Half-drunk, I staggered through the sea of people.

Suddenly, my body crashed hard into something—or someone.

"Ouch!" I gasped. My balance completely vanished. I stumbled backward, resigned to hitting the cold floor.

However, before I could meet the floor, a pair of strong, muscular arms quickly wrapped around my waist. With a firm tug, he pulled me upright. His powerful grip propelled my body forward, pressing it against his broad chest.

At the same moment, someone from the dancing crowd bumped into my back quite hard from behind. The push sent my head lurching forward.

Smack.

Time seemed to stop. In that tumultuous instant, my lips made contact with his. It was just a brief touch, an accident caused by a stranger's push, yet it felt like a jolt of static electricity shooting through every nerve in my body.

***