Chapter 01

Aria’s perspective

It had been over an hour since I was seated at the restaurant where I met Anton for the first time, and it was the same restaurant we chose to have our third anniversary since we began dating.

He looked so charming when we first met, those his sparkling green eyes and a pretty smile got me wavering. He was the perfect boyfriend that I wanted, but I couldn’t believe he stood me up for our anniversary.

I left several messages and calls which he wasn’t responding to, and after waiting for hours, I was asked to leave the restaurant because they were closing up.

I thought he was going to propose on our anniversary tonight and I told my best friend Hadley about it, and the reason why Anton had never touched me was because he wanted us to get married first and I had been calling him for hours and he hadn’t been taking my calls.

He couldn’t forget about today, could he? He made the reservation at the restaurant, so what happened?

I got into a taxi and drove to his apartment. A message came in from Hadley, she wanted to know if he had proposed already.

I sighed and tucked my phone into my handbag, I didn’t know how I was going to respond to that, Anton didn’t even show up at the restaurant.

I remembered his lock which was my birth date, I pressed the button on the door and it opened. The living room was messy, clothes were sprawled over his chair, and there was a pair of sneakers and leftover food on his table.

Was he in his bedroom?

I made my way to his bedroom and flung the door open. “Anton, why didn’t...” The words trailed out of my mouth the moment I saw Anton on the bed, shirtless and the duvet covering from his waist below, the sound of their loud moaning didn’t make my presence known to them until the door slammed shut behind me.

The bed squeaked to their movement, and Anton was staring intently into the eyes of the person he was with, he had never looked at me that way.

Eyes filled with love. “Fuck, I don’t think I can get enough of you, Jero.” He whispered.

“Shut up and fuck me.” Jero kissed his lips.

My handbag fell out of my hand and I stared at Anton, words couldn’t form in my mouth except gasp.

“Anton?” I called in a doubting voice.

“Aria?” Anton pushed himself away from his partner, and I saw the face of the person he was with, Jerome.

My eyes widened, and I glanced at him and Anton trying to process everything that had just happened.

Was this some sort of a joke?

“I thought you said Jerome was your cousin?” I asked in a shaky voice.

Anton came down from the bed and hurriedly put his shorts on.

“It’s not what you think.” His voice came out in breathless pants.

I pushed my hair backward with both hands aggressively. “Not what I think! You think I’m a fool!” I shouted at him.

“How could you do this to me, Anton? I trusted you and loved you!” I picked up my handbag and hit him with it.

He reached out to touch me but I pushed him away.

“Do you think it was my fault?” He poked a finger on his chest.

“Are you saying it was my fault? You should have told me you were seeing him, Anton, you used me for three years!” I blinked the tears threatening to roll down my cheeks, my life was already hard enough, and now this...

“The whole time Jerome was with us, coming to date with you, visiting your apartment...” I took a deep breath. “You’ve been seeing him all these while?”

Anton ran his hand down his face.

“Aria, it wasn’t Anton...” Jerome interjected, I pointed a finger at him. “Don’t you dare say a word and stay out of this, you knew all about it! I was seated in that restaurant for hours, waiting for you, this was where you’ve been...”

“Aria you know my father would never accept me being gay, and I had no choice but to do this, and I never wanted you to find out this way.”

“Is that why you used me? Deceived me and lied to me.” I couldn’t hold back the tears, and they came running down my face.

Anton grasped my wrist, and I yanked my hand off his grip.

“I...I...” He sputtered.

I exhaled deeply, dabbed my eyes with my hand, and grabbed my handbag. “You didn’t think I was important enough, you should have explained all of these to me instead.” I blinked my eyes rapidly and cast a swift look at Anton, my tall boyfriend with his dark hair that had gone messy and fell on his face. His green eyes glinted with hurt. “You forgot about today,” I muttered.

He took his lips in and sighed. “I’m sorry.”

I shook my head at him, I had been with him for three years, and I had to find out that he was gay.

Was this the reason why he never made love to me, I thought he wanted us to get married, and I stupidly believed him and all the promises he made.

I didn’t know he was using me because of his family status and he didn’t want them to know.

“I didn’t mean to hurt you, Aria.”

“Who made the reservation at the restaurant?”

“Jerome did.” He answered and stared at Jerome.

I huffed and glared icily at him. He tried to touch me, and I hit him with my numbed arm.

“I lost track of time, Jerome helped, he wanted me to go to you. It’s all my fault.”

I shook my head at him, I couldn’t stay here and listened to him talk about his boyfriend.

I turned and stormed out of his apartment.

“Aria!” He called but I didn’t spare him a glance.

I waved down a taxi and hurried in before Anton could get to me and closed the car door. I buried my face in my palms and cried, my phone rang, I sniffed and took it out from my pocket.

“Where to miss?” The driver asked.

I told him to hold on for a minute and take Hadley’s call.

“...I texted you Aria, and you haven’t responded to my text yet. So how is it going? Did Anton propose already, you said you saw him with a box. Could be a ring in it.”

I chuckled bitterly and wiped my eyes.

“Anton is gay.” I blurted out. “He has been with Jerome all along, and the box was never meant for me. I guess it was for Jerome. I was the one who got it all wrong. He never loved me.”