A/N: So... I planned to make it within the 1k word count, but before I knew it, it exceeded more than that. Still, I hope this doesn't impede on my eligibility of this entry in any way. Also, this story contains swearing >_<' 699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8lbyX26bdk
699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpQ3UUWqHA9
“How could you do this to me? I HATE YOU!!”
A crash sounded.
*EARLIER FLASHBACK*
Carrying the shopping bags with her, Elise Morgan walked towards her fancy car and put them in. Her tight fitted dress rode up her thigh as she entered the car. Elise looked at the rear view mirror and smiled at the gifts sitting in the backseat.
“I don’t really like surprises, but if you’re the one who gives them, then I don’t mind.” Her lover had said to her once when they were on a vacation last year.
That night had been a precious moment for her, because she had gotten a proposal from the love of her life. They were high school sweethearts; best friends before lovers, and looking back at how far they have come made Elise almost choke in emotion.
At 28, she thought her plans she had set for herself was moving in the right direction. Graduate college at 22, secure a job at a law firm, and get married at 28 – well this one was in the planning. These things doesn’t happen to most people, but she was one of them who managed to get their dreams realized, and she couldn’t be more thankful for that.
Ring. Ring.
“Why is he not picking up?” Elise wondered to herself, as she tapped the steering wheel.
Flipping a mirror while placing a phone on her shoulder against her ear, Elise checked her make-up and applied another layer of red lipstick. After the third ring for the third time, a voicemail got through. Rolling her eyes at that, she ended it. Maybe he got hold up by a meeting. He’ll call me back, anyway.
She smacked her lips and smiled to herself.
Switching gears, she drove out of the shopping mall’s basement and hit the road.
Figuring she'll drop by her best friend’s house and leave some gifts she had bought, she reached the residence and drove slowly when she saw another car parked by the curb.
Thinking it was a little odd that her best friend and her lover were at the same place without her knowing, she shrugged and dismissed it as another thought occurred. They must have planned something for her.
Today’s her birthday after all.
Giddy with excitement, Elise almost jumped out of the car as she couldn’t wait to enter the house. She wondered how her reaction should be; will opening her mouth a little wide a reaction too forced? Or maybe expressing her surprise with her eyes?
Since she had lived with her best friend before and had often crashed the night whenever she was too drunk, they decided to make a set of keys for her. Fishing them out, she took the gifts from the backseat and strode towards the Georgian manor.
As she set the keys in and turned the door knob, she heard a short but muffled scream that sounded from upstairs. In the midst of preparing the reaction, all was forgotten as she pushed the door open and dropped the bags down before racing up the carpeted staircase as fast as she could in her heels.
“Marianne?” Elise shouted as she burst open the door where she heard the sound.
Nothing could have prepared her for what was happening before her eyes.
Her best friend and lover were both in an indecent position, tangled together in the sheets, and as they registered who was standing before them, surprise, guilt and embarrassment all etched on their faces.
She looked at Alec in apparent hurt and disgust. “What the fuck? How could you?”
In the haste of getting out from under the covers, Alec raised a hand up and his heart broke with the sight of Elise; tears pooling in her eyes as she tried to make sense of the situation.
“Wait, Elise! Thi-this is not what it looks like – ” Alec tried to reasoned.
Elise’s eyes narrowed into slits at that and she exploded. “Then how the fuck does it look like, Alec? Huh?”
Elise was frustrated, confused, and…betrayed. It was like the dam in her had burst and in the midst of figuring out how to deal with this rationally, her emotions got the best of her. She zeroed in on Marianne with blazing eyes.
Marianne gulped as she tried to weasel her way out of the mess. While Elise could be as sweet as a lamb, she also knew her temperament.
“E-Elise! You…this is a surprise.” Marianne started lamely. Her mind was racing to come up with an explanation.
Is that all she has to say?
Anger fueled her words as she spat out, “Well, surprise bitch!”
Marianne winced and spluttered, “Babe, calm down. I can explain all of this.” She stumbled upon her words and not knowing how else to save the situation, she cried, “It-it was Alec. He…he seduced me!”
Alec, who was hastily trying to put some clothes back on, turned to her, astonished. “What?”
Marianne looked at him haughtily. “You heard me – “
Infuriated by the accusation, Alec said. “You wench.” Then, he turned to Elise. “Don’t listen to her! Please, Elise, you know I don’t mean to hurt you – “
“I think of you as my brother.” She said quietly, her voice hoarse and eyes wide at this mind-boggling situation.
Elise looked at Alec, the man who was her best friend and adopted brother. After all they went through, she never thought she’d be betrayed by her family. She thought back to all the times he had protected her and promised her safety.
“If anyone ever messes with you, show them to me, Elise. Because I’m your brother and I will never let anyone, even me hurt you.” Those words were said when they were sixteen and he had taught a harsh lesson to those who had toyed with her heart.
Lies.
Alec looked at her in agony. “Please, Elise. I didn’t mean this. She…Marianne…I thought you guys had broken up. And she said you were okay –“
Finding some humour in that, she burst into a laughter that had no warmth in it. “And you believed her? You know she’s not into guys.”
“Actually, I think I am.” Marianne started slowly. Her heart raced with a heavy guilt as she realized who was to blame here, but she couldn’t bring herself to admit it. Marianne Lowry was beautiful in every way but she was a coward who flees when she couldn’t handle the trouble.
She wanted to hightail out of there but the more she watched her beautiful lover in pain, she just couldn’t take it. It wouldn’t be fair to Elise, her fiancée.
When Elise looked at her in confusion, she elaborated. “I’m bi, Elise. I wanted to tell you that but I…I couldn’t bring myself to. At first, I wasn’t sure, and I struggled to make sense of it myself, and I just…I’m sorry.” Marianne whispered and looked away in shame.
Elise blinked. She was starting to lose her way in all of this mess. What the hell is even going on now?
“So you decided to fuck my brother to sort that out? Is that it? Tell me, who am I to you, Marianne? Am I just a booty call or someone who has an infinite place in your heart?” Elise’s voice cracked at the end.
Marianne couldn’t even bring herself to look at her.
Elise looked utterly devastated. She had dedicated half of her life to loving Marianne, and this was what it has come to.
A grand betrayal by none other than her only family and soulmate.
Suddenly, the air felt constricted and she couldn’t wrap her head on this anymore. Elise needed to get out before she gets suffocated by this whole mess.
She was just done with all of this.
But before she took a step back out of the room, her mind focused on one thing.
“When?”
Both of them looked up in surprise. “What do you –“
Impatience laced her tone of voice. “When did this all started?”
It was as if they had come to the ultimate question and their faces became pale as the blood drained.
Alec tightened his jaw as he looked at Marianne, as if saying that she should be the one who break it to Elise, since this was mainly her fault.
Marianne narrowed her eyes in disgust at Alec before closing her eyes tightly and opening them to look at Elise’s gorgeous but heartbroken face.
She took a deep breath, letting out a quivering sigh and said, “A week before I proposed to you.”
Elise knew then that that was the final blow.
Marianne knew all of her fears and insecurities, her dreams and wishes – and one thing out of that was that she knew Elise hated being played with.
And she had done exactly that.
Stringing her along with promises of hopes and dreams when she was screwing with men – her brother – was just something her heart knew was too much.
Her vision became blurry as tears fell on her cheeks as she shook her head at Marianne and Alec.
“The worst.” She choked out. “How could you do this to me? I HATE YOU!!”
A crash sounded.
Elise had thrown the nearest thing she could reach – a small but expensive looking night lamp on the dressing table – towards their direction. It hit the mirror on the wall by Alec’s four poster bed.
“I don’t want to see the both of you ever again. From now on, you stay the fuck out of my life, Alec.” She spat at him, though her eyes were void of emotion. Then, she looked at Marianne who was now crying silently. “I’m calling the wedding off, because we’re fucking through.”
And just like that, she walked out on the future that she could have had with the people she had loved.
*A MONTH LATER*
Humans are wonderful but weak beings. For the most part, they can withstand anything if they put their mind to it. The only thing that would be their weakness if they let it be was their heart, which are just like glass. Get hurt and they cracked, break or shattered. For others, they’re tougher to break, but Elise wasn’t like them.
Hers was fragile – a glass heart.
Elise felt lifeless. That day, after she reached her apartment, she had bawled her eyes out, moaned and mourned for what had happened, and what could have been. She took out everything that reminded her of Marianne; their photos for every holiday they went together, their first night, the silly gifts they gave each other, the letters they wrote for each other since high school…
The embers of fire had died within her after she exploded on them, but even so, every now and then, she felt a dull thudding in her aching heart whenever she thought of Marianne and Alec.
As much as she wanted to forget everything, the wound was too fresh to move on. She hadn’t gone out like she used to, unless to buy some groceries which was done at night, and was always holed up in her now shambled room; clothes, gifts and bed sheets strewn about, photos scattered everywhere.
Still, despite what had happened, Alec and Marianne continued to text her and called her, which was all ignored and left unanswered. By the fourth week, they had stopped and she couldn’t be anymore glad of it.
She hated how naïve she had been, but she hated more on what Marianne and Alec did to her.
The nerve of them, she thought with hatred that she couldn’t quite muster.
As she sat down on the wooden floor of her bedroom, facing the long fitting mirror, she thought she couldn’t look anymore pathetic with her unkempt hair, messy make up with mascara staining her face, and shabby clothing.
This is not me. I don’t even know who I am anymore.
Though her emotions were still unsteady, she long realized that she needed to get rid of things that only reminded her of her past. It was the first step that she needed to do – yet her body wouldn’t cooperate.
I have to do this. I need to.
Mustering some strength, she scooted closer to the pictures on the floor, some torn and others intact. She picked up the one which had her smiling brightly with Marianne – it was the night when she had been proposed to.
She wiped away the runny nose and feeling her eyes watering again, she closed them tightly before opening them, knowing what her resolve would be.
Grasping the lighter on the floor, she held the photo and whispered brokenly, “No more. You won’t haunt my dreams anymore, Marianne.”
She set the photo on fire and watched it burn.
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