THE AFTERMATH

The engagement party ended in chaos and confusion. The guests left the hall in a hurry, some of them gossiping and laughing, others shaking their heads and sighing. The band and the DJ packed up their equipment and left as well. The decorators and the caterers cleaned up the mess and left too.

Only four people remained in the hall: Gerald, Hazel, Arin, and Annie. No one said a comforting word and that felt like the most humiliating moment of Gerald's life. This was exactly what Arin and Annie wanted. They knew it wouldn't take him a long time to cede once he kept on getting humiliated like this.

They were all silent, each of them dealing with their own emotions.

Gerald was sitting on a chair, holding his head in his hands. He felt like he had been hit by a truck. He couldn't believe what had happened. He couldn't believe that his sister and his assistant had betrayed him. If he could imagine Arin doing this, he couldn't believe his sister could do it too. He couldn't