His Promises

Kimberly's POV

I'm not a cheerleader, a popular girl, or one of those beautiful girls everyone wants to befriend.

I'm just Kimberly Myers.

The quiet girl who lives in the library, wears oversized sweaters, and carries too many books. At Waverly College, people like me don't exist unless someone needs help with an assignment.

And that's how I met Raymond, my boyfriend.

He was the captain of the hockey team and one of the most popular boys on campus. And I was the girl who helped him pass mathematics.

It began with private lessons in the library. Then came late-night calls, secret messages, and stolen kisses when nobody was watching. Before I knew it, I had fallen in love, and as expected, he loved me too.

For more than two years, I spent every free time with Ray, helping him with his assignments, and even helping him strategize his comeback as team Captain. Caspian Ashford has held the position since last year, making my man an alternate on the team.

Caspian wears the C on his jersey while Raymond wears the A. But I’m helping him strategize to become the teams captain next season and I’m rooting for my man to win because that Caspian guy is so cold and proud. Always frowning his face and acting all high and mighty.

Gosh... So annoying!

Raymond is so different from Caspian. He dotes on me when we are together, telling me how much our relationship has helped his grades and made him build a better relationship with his father. He was recently announced as his father’s successor and heir to the company because of his good grades.

All thanks to me...

Although our relationship is still a secret, he has a reason for keeping me hidden and I totally agree with him. He loves me, he always said I was different from other girls, and he wants to protect what we had.

Everyday he holds my hand beneath the library table, kissed my forehead when we were alone, and whispered that he couldn't wait for the day we wouldn't have to hide our love.

Of course, I believed every word. I looked forward to that day and I let him pretend he was dating the cheerleading captain Valerie. He said stories like that makes him more popular and increases his chances to win back his title as Captain.

Everyone on campus thought he was dating Valerie, the captain of the cheerleading squad. When people called her his girlfriend, he never denied it. He just laughed and introduced me as his mathematics coach, even when I was standing right there.

I should have been pissed, but I never took offense because he said he was protecting me from his admirers and jealous fans.

“I want her to take the heat for you, my love. Some fans can be crazy and obsessive about me. I don’t want you to handle such pressure because of me.” He always tells me. So I stayed quiet, convinced that one day he would make us public.

Meanwhile, Valerie hated me for no reason...

She doesn’t even know about my relationship with Ray, yet she glares at me when she see me studying with him. Her friends hid my books sometimes, making fun of me. They throw papers and other objects at me, poured drinks over my assignments, and left cruel messages on my locker.

I never understood why. After all, I was just his mathematics tutor to everyone, so why the hatred?

Well, I got the answer when I found out that Valerie was also my stepsister and she had already found out the truth before my parents did.

You see, I grew up in an orphanage until Carolyn and David Myers adopted me. They gave me a home, a name, and a kind of love I had never known. Money was tight, so I studied hard and earned a scholarship to Waverly.

Then, early in my second year, my biological family found me. The Rutherfords were my real family and I found out that they were a very wealthy family whose name opened doors everywhere.

They had searched for their missing daughter for years, and they welcomed me with tears, hugs, and more affection than I knew how to handle.

Valerie was the girl they had adopted after I disappeared. She had been raised in my place. I wanted nothing from her. But she didn't see it that way, she hugged me too like everyone did, then she whispered in my ears,

“You don’t belong here, Kimberly. Leave now, or I’ll make you wish you were never born to this family.” She told me boldly. She smiled as if she didn’t just threaten me, and she walked away, refusing to speak to me or discuss anything related to me.

“We’re supposed to be sisters, Val, why do you want me gone?” I’d asked her one day at breakfast and she smirks and looks straight at me and said,

“If I wanted a nerd as a sister, I could have told Mom and Dad about you two years ago when we both met in college.” She said

“You knew all this while?” I asked in shock.

“Of course, I knew. I took one look at you and knew you looked just like mom. But I never wanted someone to take my place, and I still don’t want you here.” She said furiously, pushing her breakfast away and walking out on me.

It was that day that I realized that she hated me and wants me gone. But I had to put up with her for Mom’s sake. She had healed their broken hearts when I went missing. I owe her for that.

At my welcome dinner, my father explained my late grandfather's will. The Rutherford inheritance would pass to me on my twenty-first birthday, with one condition. If I wasn't married or engaged by then, half of it would go to Valerie.

"Don't worry," my father said, laughing.

"You have plenty of time to chose a man, and we already have two suitors from reputable families waiting for your approval. I handpicked one of them myself and I know you will love him when you meet him." He said proudly, showing me off to everyone in the room.

I glanced across the table. Valerie was smiling, but her knuckles were white around her glass. After that night, her hatred for me got worse. In front of our parents, she played the loving sister. At school, she made sure her friends understood I wasn't welcome.

I tried to understand her, once I even invited her for coffee. I offered to share my closet allowance with her. I told myself she was only scared of losing her place as the only daughter.

I never imagined she wanted me gone...

Raymond was always there to comfort me. He held me close, kissed my forehead, and promised everything would be fine. He was the one who suggested I celebrate my twenty-first birthday with a big party in front of my whole family.

"I'll propose that night," he whispered.

"I’ll claim you in front of everyone." He told me. I cried happy tears, and I told Dad that I wasn’t interested in the guy he picked out for me.

“I have a man dad, and he will propose on my birthday.” I told my father, choosing my birthday as the date for my engagement party. When I asked about a ring, he smiled and said it was a surprise and I fucking believed him.