Heartbreaking birthday party

Emily was standing in front of Skyview Hotel. She was dressed in one of her favorite dresses. A long fitted red gown with a matching high heel. Today was her birthday. A day she has been waiting for. It would be the very first time she would be celebrating her birthday, and she was very excited.

Since she was born, she has only attended other people's birthday parties. Today, she would know how it feels to celebrate one. She has urged her rich fiancée, Desmond, to throw a birthday party for her. He declined at first, but suddenly, he changed his mind.

With an exciting smile, she walked towards the hall. Emily would have come with her best friend, Sandra, but Sandra had an occasion she couldn't miss. So Emily promised to send videos to her after the party. As she was getting close to the entrance, she started hearing noises coming from the hall.

She couldn't tell what was happening. Have they started before her? She checked her watch. It was 4:20pm. Desmond has told her to come by 4pm. He left in the morning, saying he had an urgent meeting in his company. So he would be in the party hall before 4pm to welcome her in a special way with his friends.

But when she opened the door, she couldn't believe what she saw. They were already singing. 'Happy birthday to you!' And it wasn't for her.

The crowd was huddled around a big cake. Emily stood frozen in the doorway, blinking at the sight as though she had walked into someone else’s birthday party.

She may have assumed she wasn't where she was supposed to be, but she could see her fiancée. He was standing behind a familiar figure. Tricia, a young lady he always introduces as her childhood friend.

Desmond stood at the front beside the cake and the childhood friend, laughing, looking excited and comfortable. Nothing like someone missing his own fiancée at her own celebration.

His mind and attention were focused entirely on Tricia to the point he didn't notice Emily's presence. Emily took a deep breath and started walking toward them.

Her heels sounded too loud on the floor, drawing a few curious glances. But Desmond didn’t look up until the song ended. Just as he saw her, his smile faltered. For a split second, she saw something like irritation flash across his face as if her presence was disrupting the party.

“Emily,” he said, straightening his posture. “You’re here?”

"Yes, and... what is happening? What is going on?" She asked, totally confused and curious.

"As you can see, the party is going well." He replied.

"Yeah, I can see." She nodded. "But I still don't understand what is happening. I thought it was my birthday. Or did you adjust the date without telling me? Because with what I'm seeing here, this is not my birthday party."

Desmond ran a hand through his hair. “Emily, don’t start. Tricia shares the same birthday as you. So I planned to celebrate it together. So this is also your birthday party."

“No way,” she replied, feeling heat rise up her neck. “You never told me you are planning to celebrate my birthday together with someone else.”

"Tricia is my childhood friend. I didn’t want her to feel left out.”

“Left out?” Emily repeated. “This is supposed to be my birthday celebration. You can't merge my first birthday party with another person. I planned everything. I chose the hall. The colors. The....”

Desmond raised a hand, silencing her. “Emily, please. Don’t act like you are behind the success of this party. The last time I checked, you didn't contribute anything to this. I paid for everything. So you don't tell me how to celebrate you. You should be grateful that I'm even doing this. Don't be an ingrate."

She opened her mouth to say something, and her eyes darted to the cake. She was bewildered at what she saw. The name on the cake didn’t even belong to her. It was written Tricia instead of her name, Emily. And... it was the only cake on the table.

“My name is not even on the cake. What is actually happening? Why is my name not on the cake?” She asked.

Before Desmond could answer, Tricia spoke up, “Is something the matter?” She asked and turned to Desmond. "I thought you said she will understand."

Emily didn't even look at Tricia. Her heart was already splitting into two. She focused on Desmond. “Did you pull this just to humiliate me? Why didn’t you tell me the party was never for me?”

Desmond stepped toward her, lowering his voice and trying to sound nice. “Don't say that. You’re being dramatic. We’re celebrating both of you.”

“If so, then where is the cake that has my own name?” she asked. At this moment, her eyes were already saturated with tears.

Desmond shot her a warning look, like she was embarrassing him. “Emily. Stop. It's just a cake. Besides, you can't eat the name on the cake. You eat the cake. Name doesn't matter.” His words landed like a physical blow, sending a sharp, stinging pain through her chest as if she had been pierced by an arrow.

“You would have told me I'm not worth celebrating. You are celebrating your childhood friend while I walked in like a stranger at a birthday meant for me. Is that how much less of a human being I'm looking in your eyes?"

The guests began to murmur, saying things they couldn't clearly pick out. Desmond reached for her arm. “Don’t do this here. Don’t ruin the mood. You can eat half of the cake alone if you want. Let's just continue from where we stopped.”

With a smile, he turned to Tricia. "You know I promised to get something for you."

He stretched his hand and picked a box. He opened the box and took out an expensive bracelet. Emily was dumbfounded. It was the same bracelet he promised to gift her. She asked him to buy it for her as her birthday gift, and now, he was giving it to someone else.

At this point, she didn't need a prophet to tell her that he no longer valued her. Ever since Tricia showed up, he had changed. He stopped caring about her and focused his attention on Tricia. Whenever she complained, he would caution her and tell her she was his childhood friend.

She stood and watched him slide the bracelet to her wrist. Tricia smiled and hugged him in excitement, then right on her face, she kissed him.

Emily's eyes widened in shock. She didn't see that coming. Emily was expecting Desmond to push Tricia away and caution her immediately, but to her surprise, he didn't. He responded and they kissed passionately which lasted for some seconds before he gently broke the kiss.

Desmond turned to Emily, who was clearly flabbergasted. Even the guests were surprised.

"Desmond!" Emily shouted his name.

"Don't take what happened now seriously. It's just a friendly kiss." He said, trying to sound innocent and calm the tension. "She was too excited, and I can't ruin the moment for her."

He reached out towards Emily, and she stepped back. The tears in her eyes were about to fall. She had never felt that type of humiliation in her life. Making her a guest at her birthday party wasn't enough for him. He went ahead and shared a romantic kiss with Tricia in front of her and everyone as if it was nothing.

“I can't stay here. I won’t stand here and pretend like everything is fine.” She mumbled as tears began to roll down her cheeks.

Desmond scoffed. “Emily, come on. Don’t be childish.”

“Childish?” she asked amidst tears she was trying to hold back.