Chapter 1: The rejected fiancée

The rain was coming down in sheets, each drop heavy and tearing through the night, making a loud noise as it hit the ground. On the empty street, a skinny figure walked slowly, the heavy rain pressing down on her shoulders, making her look even smaller and weaker.

“Ernesta, honey, don't be so stubborn. I know you've had a tough time, but Kiera's not feeling well. Can you just give in to her a little?”

“Ernesta, can you stop acting like a spoiled brat from the wrong side of the tracks? You're making our family look bad!”

“Kiera's been spoiled rotten since she was a kid, so she's a bit fragile and can't handle pain and pressure. You've been through more, you're stronger, you can definitely handle it. Don't make a scene!”

“Ernesta, the only one I've ever loved is Kiera. So what if she's not the Meredith family's biological daughter? You can't force feelings, you should let go.”

Ernesta stumbled through the rain, her elegant evening gown soaked, her once-voluminous blonde hair now limp and plastered to her head. Her mind echoed with the harsh voices of her mother, her father, her brother, and her fiancé.

Just a few hours ago, she was in her fancy mansion, all excited for her big 20th birthday party, which was also supposed to be the night she announced her engagement to Ryder, the guy she'd had a crush on for ages.

But then, right there, Ryder hugged her sister and told everyone that the only woman he wanted to marry was Kiera.

Ernesta couldn't hold it together. If Ryder didn't love her, why didn't he just say so? Why did he play this hot-and-cold game, acting close to her then pushing her away, making her get her hopes up? Why did he have to do this today, with all these people watching, making her look like a total loser?

Her parents and even her brother just kept yelling at her and telling her to back down, instead of trying to comfort her.

Ernesta was done with this family. She didn't want to go back. There was no love there, which was all she'd ever wanted.

Thinking about it, Ernesta felt like her whole life had been one big joke. At three, she ended up in an orphanage after getting lost from her family. At seven, she got adopted because she was pretty. At ten, she was sent back to the orphanage because her adoptive parents had their own kid. At twelve, she got new parents, but they died in an accident. She didn't go back to the orphanage, but her adoptive mom's sister took her in. Her aunt, Clenda, lived in a red-light district and was a prostitute. She wanted custody of Ernesta because of her attractive features, hoping that Ernesta would make her a lot of money someday.

Ernesta wasn't dumb, she was actually super smart. She figured out her aunt Clenda was up to no good, so she started acting like a total mess. She wouldn't take baths, let her hair get all tangled, and wore thick glasses to make herself look ugly. She was grumpy, rude, and stubborn just to fight back and hide who she really was.

Then, when she turned sixteen, this rich family from a nearby city came and said she was their long-lost daughter.

Ernesta was so happy she almost couldn't believe it. She had parents, family, people who were actually related to her. She could finally have the kind of love from a real family that she'd always wanted, not the fake stuff she'd had to deal with for so long.

But Ernesta had no idea that when she went back to the Merediths, someone else was already filling her spot.

She had a real brother and a foster younger sister named Keira.

Yeah, Keira was adopted, taken in by their mom after she lost Ernesta. Her dad said their mom was so devastated about losing her daughter that he had to find another kid to take her mind off things. So, their mom poured all her love and guilt about losing Ernesta onto Keira, and she was raised like a real princess.

When Ernesta came home, she wasn't greeted with warm family love. Instead, she got her brother's judging look, her dad's critical attitude, and her mom's fake affection.

She was their real daughter, right? But she grew up in a red-light district, had a dark side, and never got a proper upbringing. She wasn't the kind of lady they wanted in their family. She was like a weird outsider who needed to be fixed. Because of her, her parents thought their adopted daughter, the one they raised, was even more worthy of their love and attention. They saw their daughter as a tool for arranged marriages, a way to keep the Meredith family rich and powerful for generations.

And Ernesta, she was always the one left out. She tried really hard to learn how to act like a proper lady, just to get her parents to accept her. Even though she was super smart, smart enough to go to any prestigious college in the country, she chose to go to a private college near home. She was holding on to her family and this idea of love she had for them. Secretly, though, she was scared. Scared that if she left, she'd have nowhere to go back to. Scared Ryder, the boy she liked, would forget her.

For years, she lived a pretty humble life, hiding how amazing she was, just to get a little bit of real love from her family and from Ryder.

But all along, the love she had been longed for meant nothing to them.

Now, walking alone in the freezing rain, her wet dress stuck to her, Ernesta finally understood something: love isn't something you get just by asking for it. She shouldn't have given up on herself just to chase after people who never loved her back. If she could go back in time, she'd take back all the love she gave her family and live a fabulous life on her own.

She brushed a strand of blonde hair out of her eyes. Her deep blue eyes, filled with tears, mixed with the raindrops as they both fell to the ground.

The rain was coming down harder now, but the roar of a car engine was louder than the storm. Out of nowhere, a red sports car came speeding through the rain, straight towards Ernesta.

The headlights blinded her, and then she felt herself flying up, only to crash back down hard.