1. It all started there

In a garden, a well-dressed and handsome boy was standing in a corner, hiding one of his hands behind his back.

There was a birthday celebration in the middle. His eyes were fixed on a cute girl dressed in a blue princess dress, surrounded by a few kids of her age.

They were chatting and laughing.

The boy didn't approach them as he didn't know anyone except for that little girl.

He was silently watching her with a smiling face and affection reflecting in his eyes.

Suddenly, another little girl, dressed in a pink princess dress, appeared from nowhere and approached the boy.

"Hi, what are you doing here alone?" the girl asked.

She had been watching the boy for some time before she approached him.

The boy felt uncomfortable being seen in such an awkward moment.

The girl peeked behind his back and noticed the gift he was holding.

"OMG. You brought a gift for me!" The girl almost jumped in excitement.

"Thank you." she tried to take the gift from the boy's hand, but he didn't release it and tried to push the girl away.

"Hey, its for her. Today is her birthday." he said rudely, pointing at the first girl in blue in the distance.

The girl stopped immediately, her eyes filled with tears.

"Today is my birthday too." the girl said with a pout.

"Oh..I didn't know that.. I am sorry.. Happy birthday." the boy felt awkward.

The girl didn't budge.

"I will bring your gift next time." he said, seeing the girl looking sad. He tried to consol her.

The girl smiled and said "really? "

"yes, I promise."

"You are her sister, right?"

"Yes , she is my step-sister."

"Oh," the boy cleared his throat.

"Can you give this gift to her on my behalf?" he asked.

The girl stared at him for a moment.

"Sure, but on one condition." she replied.

"What's that?" The boy asked suspiciously.

"You have to play with me. It's a compensation for not bringing any gift for me."

The boy was surprised at her condition.

"Okay, but you make sure to give this to her." the boy agreed after giving it some thought.

"you can trust me." she shoved the gift in her little bag she was holding.

After some time, the first girl, who was wearing blue, finally spotted the boy. She waved her hands before running over to him.

"Hi, what are you doing here? Let's go play." the girl held the boy's hand.

"He is playing with me, he won't go there." the other girl in the pink dress declared.

"Why not?"

"Because he has promised me."

The first girl became angry at this.

All this while, the boy felt very helpless and awkward as the two sisters were fighting over him.

As much as he wanted to play with the first girl, but he couldn't as he promised the other girl.

So he reluctantly played with her throughout the whole party.

.....

After the party ended and everyone went back to their rooms, the little girl in the pink dress sat on her bed, holding the gift that the boy had given her to deliver. She was gawking at it.

"What might have been inside the box?"

After some time, she tore open the gift without any hesitation. There was a beautiful pendant inside.

"Wow, it's so beautiful."

It was a heart-shaped pendant made of blue diamond with gold wings on both sides.

She gazed at it dreamily.

On the back side of the pendant, there was a word engraved on it, 'Angel'.

She thought something in her mind and a devilish smile formed on her lips.

"I will keep it myself " she declared to no one.

A big smile adorned her face.

And this was how it all began. There is a saying, "All is fair in love and war."

But who will win this battle in the end?

..................

15 years later

A cake sat on a table in a room, in front of a bed. A girl around 22-year-old sat on the bed with a sad face.

The girl was Ariadne Miller and she was waiting for someone for the last two hours but there was no sign of the person.

Suddenly, the tone of an incoming notification drew her attention to her phone.

She picked up the phone, hoping it's a message from the person she was waiting for.

However, it's an unknown ID that sent her a video.

Confused, she hesitantly opened the video and froze in her spot.

It's a video of a birthday celebration party.

There was a woman and standing next to her was a man, the same man she was waiting for at home.

The woman was her step sister, Crystal Miller whereas the man was her husband, Xander Blake who supposed to be with her to celebrate her birthday.

Both Ariadne and Crystal shared the same birthday, but Xander had chosen to attend Crystal's party instead of his own wife's.

She frantically dialed Xander's number, but he didn't answer the call.

Tears streamed down Ariadne's face, ruining her makeup and beautiful doll-like face.

She threw her phone and buried her face in her knees.

She didn't need anyone to tell her that the unknown ID belonged to none other than Crystal.

Crystal had once again shown Ariadne that Xander always preferred her over Ariadne. He never participated in any celebration with Ariadne.

Still she had hoped that maybe it would be different today, but she was wrong. Ariadne cried the whole night and eventually fell asleep at dawn.

.....

The next day Ariadne was drawing designs in her notebook when her cell phone rang. She looked at her phone to find it was her best friend, Jennifer, calling her.

"Aria, have you seen the news?" Jennifer blurted out as soon as Ariadne answered the phone.

"News? what news?" Ariadne was Confused.

"Switch on the TV and watch for yourself."

Ariadne switched on the TV and played the news.

"Crystal Miller has been named the new CEO of Miller group. Businessmen from around the country congratulated her for her achivements at such a young age."

"We are standing outside Miller Group building to have a word with Miss Crystal about her remarkable achievement."

Ariadne watched the news with shock. Crystal had gone abroad for higher studies in business management. She returned recently and had already become the CEO. This was really shocking to Ariadne.

A beautiful woman dressed in business attire appeared on the TV screen, and all the reporters scrambled to record her words.

"How are you feeling, Miss Crystal, about being the youngest female CEO of your generation?"

Crystal smiled politely at the reporters.

"I am very happy to fulfill the expectations of my elders and make them proud of me. I believe in hard work and will do everything in my power to meet the goals of my people and the company."

"Oh, what a lovely lady, we are sure that you will excel your role as CEO."

"I hope the same. Thank you" Crystal replied confidently.

"Now that you have achieved a major milestone in your career, what are your plans for marriage? Your younger sister is already married," asked a reporter.

"As you can see, I have responsibilities on my shoulders, so I am not thinking about marriage right now. I believe that I will get eventually what is meant to be mine. I am not in a hurry. I will wait for the love of my life." she said, looking directly at the camera as if those words were a message to someone.

Ariadne was taken aback by Crystal's words as she recalled how she had become Xander's wife.

When Ariadne was 5 years old, her mother died in a car accident. Her father married Emma and brought her home along with her daughter, Crystal.

In the beginning, everything seemed fine. Both the mother and daughter were nice to Ariadne, but soon she realized that they weren't as nice as they pretended to be.

When Ariadne was 10 years old, William Blake, a family friend and the wealthiest businessman in the country, arranged a marriage between Ariadne and his grandson Xander, whom Ariadne had loved since childhood.

After that, everything changed for Ariadne. Emma and Crystal became rude to her, and soon Ariadne discovered their true nature. Once adored by all, Ariadne became an eyesore to everyone. Everyone started to see her as disrespectful, irresponsible, and spoiled. Even her father became distant from her. The mother-daughter duo took everything from her.

She endured everything silently, but the last blow for her was when Crystal started to get closer to Xander, the only person who mattered to Ariadne.

Though Ariadne loved Xander, they never dated. Xander was a solitary person, so she respected his space and focused on her own studies.

She was confident that they would eventually be together, so she didn't feel the need to cling to him.

However, what she did not realize was that, there were plenty of women who would like to be with Xander if they got the chance.

As Ariadne was working hard to build her career and make everyone proud, especially Xander, she failed to notice that her fiancé was growing closer to another woman. Rumours of their dating spread quickly.

When Ariadne found out, she was devastated.

William Blake also disliked Xander and Crystal's closeness and Ariadne grabbed the opportunity to seek his help, as William loved her like his own granddaughter.

William used the threat of disheritance to force Xander into marrying Ariadne.

Although Xander married Ariadne, he never treated her as his wife. He even chose to live separately in his penthouse.

Ariadne endured all of his mistreatment, hoping that Xander's anger would subside and he would eventually accept her as his wife. She completely devoted herself to the marriage and tried everything to warm Xander's heart.

But all her efforts were in vain, as nothing had changed in the last two years, and Xander still treated her coldly.

Crystal's return made her situation even more miserable. She spends her days in complete restlessness and hated that she can't do anything about it.

.........

A few days had passed since the news.

Ariadne was sitting on the sofa in the hall of their mansion, waiting patiently. She had spent the entire afternoon in the kitchen preparing Xander's favourite food. He had informed the head maid that he would come to the mansion in the evening to have dinner.

When the doorbell rang, Ariadne rushed to open the door. As she opened the door, she saw Xander standing there .

He was 6.2" tall with a perfectly tonned body.

God had not only blessed him with wealth but also with physique that every woman would die for, not to mention his handsome face with a pointed nose, perfect jawline, slightly fuller lips, and blue eyes.

Ariadne smiled at him. One could see the happiness in her eyes. After all, it was very rare for him to visit the mansion.

However, her smile faded when she saw Crystal standing behind him.