Zendaya

CHAPTER 2

Zendayas pov

The mask of indifference slipped the moment I stepped onto the pavement. The tears I had fought to hold came crumbling down my cheeks like a broken dam. 

I paused and let it fall. 

I had done everything to keep him. Despite the insults from friends. I had sacrificed every fucking thing just so he would know I cherished him above every fortune I could get. 

But it wasn’t enough. 

I thought about my parents. I could still remember the disappointment that coated their face when I told them I would be dropping everything just to follow the love of my life. I was meant to take over the company after my fathers resignation. I had studied business management for three years and even had a PhD for it only to dump it all for a man who never loved me. 

I felt so foolish. I should have just listened to them, now they died thinking I was the useless daughter they wish they never had. 

Before Derek and Vanessa would find me back there, I quickly ordered a ride. The entire way I looked through Derek’s i*******m. I bit my lip as I realized how blind I had actually been to his infidelity. Only two posts had me and him together. The rest were filled with him and Vanessa.

In the past, I had just thought they were that close because of me. We always hung out together as friends from the same group so I never saw anything to it. 

I swallowed the heavy load in my thrust and checked the comment section. I had never been a fan of social media so I never really spent much time on it, but looking at the various comments from our friends I felt sick to the stomach. 

“Oh you look so good together,” Isiah, one of our mutual friends, connected under a post with just Vanessa and Derek. “A match made in heaven!”

Another comment sat at the bottom. 

“Derek looks the most happy whenever he’s with her. I wonder why he settled for that dumb cripple,” Savannah, my college roommate commented. 

I choked on a sob and slammed my hand on my mouth to stay quiet. 

Was this what they really thought of me?

How low had I gone not to see the hate?

I didn’t even notice when the cab stopped at my apartment. The driver let me out of the car and assisted me into my wheel chair carefully. I paid him and added a heavy tip. 

With a heavy heart I wheeled into my lonely cold apartment. Immediately the door shut, I received a text message. Half expecting it to be Derek, probably apologizing and telling me it was a mistake, I quickly opened it. 

It was shameful, but I couldn’t deny that I still felt something for him despite his betrayal. 

But It wasn’t Derek. It was my big brother, Adrian.

Seeing his name made an influx of emotion rush in. We had kept in touch over the years. Despite my public resignation to the company, I had still kept secret involvement. Over the years, I had helped the company win several multimillion contracts through my brother. I couldn't just abandon the family’s business. 

Adrian was the boss, but I was the secret mastermind behind all the operations. 

“Little sis, you did it again! The Owen’s just awarded the contract. Just say the word…and the position is yours. You earned it!”

Despite everything, he still cared. 

I wanted to tell him that our parents were right. Derek was nothing but a gold digging asshole. But hot shame burned through me and I couldn't bring myself to type the words. 

I dropped the phone on my thighs and felt the cold metal against my skin. For a moment, I had almost forgotten that I could walk again. The pain of the betrayal had dialed down the excitement. 

I was still a little bit doubtful. I mean, it had been years since I stopped feeling any sensations there, but after numerous therapies, I began to get my sensations back. I hadn’t told Derek any of this. I wanted the progress and miracle to come as a big surprise. I had planned to use it as a big grande surprise on our wedding day, but I couldn’t contain myself when the doctor said I was completely healed. 

I held the arms of my wheelchair and slowly pushed myself up. Though my legs felt weak and strange, I pushed myself further. Slowly I started to move my legs in front of each other, though they trembled, I was able to walk. 

“Oh my God! The doctor was fucking right! I can walk!!” I cried in excitement. 

I should have just stayed in my apartment and celebrated with a chick flick romance and a glass of wine, but I didn’t want to be that pathetic girl with a broken heart. 

My legs were still a little bit weak, so I used my wheel chair and drove to a night bar downtown. 

When I got to the entrance, I heard laughter bubbling, and glasses clinking. It was the perfect space to help my mind relax. 

But when I wheeled myself past the entrance, I regretted my rebellious decision. 

In the middle of the room was none other than my ex fiancé, my ex best friend and the rest of our mutual friends. They screamed in laughter, Vanessa’s fingers twirling inside Derek’s mop of dark hairs as she sat on his thighs. 

“I’m so happy for you, mate!” Isiah threw his drink up as he burst into another loud laugh. “You finally got rid of that disabled fool! Funny how I was beginning to think you were starting to fall in love with her. It took you so long.”

Derek threw him a dirty look before rolling his eyes as if that would be the last thing he could ever do. Fall in love with a cripple like me. “ I wouldn’t love her even if I was paid a billion for it. You should see her on the bed. She’s always lamenting when I refuse to touch her,” he barked out a laugh. “I just told her I’m scared to hurt her because she’s so fragile and then watch her flush crimson like a dumb teenager.”

I thought he couldnt hurt me more earlier that day, but I guess this was a new low for him. He wasn’t lying. In the three years we dated, Derek had never touched me like a woman. I had never felt his hand on my naked skin. And I had stupidly believed it was because he thought I was fragile. 

I couldn’t stand another session of embarrassment. A new set of determination flashed through my eyes. He had gone out of his way to deceive me. So I would return the favor back. 

I won’t rest till I make him eat every word he just said. I would go out of my own way to make him end up below my feet. 

I brought out my phone and found my brothers contact. 

“You win, Adrian. Please come take me out of here. I’m ready to step up.” I pressed the send button and shared my location with him. 

I turned my wheel to turn back but I wasn't that lucky. Vanessa’s sharp voice sneered behind me.

“Leaving so soon, girlfriend?” She snickered and I felt all heads turn to me, their eyes burning mockingly at my back. 

I turned, quickly putting on my mask of indifference. Vanessa stood up from Derek’s thigh and he walked up to me with a smirk. 

“Look at you,” he said as he looked down at me, his fingers trailing faintly at my jaw. “I told you you would come crawling back. It hasn’t even been 24 hours yet and you’re back to begging.”

A bitter smile crossed my face. I wondered what I saw in such an arrogant bastard like him. It couldn’t be love. I had mistaken my infatuation for love in the past, but now I saw it clearly. 

“Get over yourself, Derek! I only came here to have fun. You’re the last thing on my mind, trust me.”

Him and his friends let out another round of laughter, mocking me. Belittling me. My hand clenched into a fist. Humiliation burned into my veins like liquid fire. 

“Stop being so proud, Zen! All you have to do is beg,” Vanessa said, grinning behind him, her eyes glaring at me with unfathomable hatred. “You're nothing but a cripple. No one can love you. No one will accept someone who can’t even stand up for themself! Let go of your ego and maybe we’ll pity you and even offer you some money for the trouble you went to.”

“I’m sure your brother wants nothing to do with you. You probably have no one to run to now. It won’t hurt if you just beg me to accept you as my maid. I’m very generous and forgiving you can say,” she finished with a triumphant smirk. 

I felt anger burn through my whole body at her words. Had she forgotten so quickly who I was? Me? A maid for her?

Bile crawled up to my throat, saliva filling my mouth. Before I knew it, I threw a heavy glob of spittle at her feet, my face squeezed with disgust. 

“Go to hell!”

Vanessa face morphed into one of pure rage and I didn’t see her feet coming at my leg before it was too late. 

“You bitch!” She shrieked before her feet kicked my knees, throwing my wheel chair off balance and sending me off to the hard ground. 

I waited for the painful impact. For my face to plant flatly on the fall. But it never came. Instead a familiar scent surrounded me. 

Brother. 

“How dare you try to hurt my sister!” His thick angry voice carried through the room, making everyone go still in their position. 

“Adrian???!” They all gasped in shock.