Chapter 1: Caught In The Middle

"When someone leaves, it's because someone else is about to arrive."

-Paulo Coelho-

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“Elliot, how could you do this to me!” Eva couldn’t believe her own eyes. What she saw before her was the sight of her boyfriend of two years kissing one of her close friend, Regina.

Eva wasn’t exactly a crybaby, but at that moment, tears streamed down her cheek like waterfall.

When the man saw her, he acted a bit shocked, but then, his face hardened and he approached her with a calm demeanor.

“Well, at first I wanted to tell you in person, but since you already find out about it yourself, everything’s easier now.” He crossed his arms and looked at Eva straight in the eyes.

“I am sick of you, Eva. I don’t love you anymore.” Those words stroke her like thunderstorm.

She knew her relationship with Elliot hasn’t been that well recently, but she didn’t think he would actually have the audacity to cheat on her with her own friend.

“You’re really cruel, Elliot. After everything I have done for you. How can you be so heartless!?” Eva screamed and punched him in the chest.

“Why did you even date me then? You told me you loved me back then and wanted us to start dating. So why?” Eva was utterly confused.

She didn’t know what she did wrong. He flinched a bit but before he could say anything, Eva turned toward Regina.

“And you, Regina, I thought you were my friend. I treated you well and even invited you to my house, how could you stab me in the back like this!?”

Instead of making up excuses, Regina just stared at Eva with a cold and mean demeanor before she opened her mouth.

“I never once considered you as friend, Eva. I only befriended you so I could become close with Elliot. I mean, who in the world want to be friends with an ugly and nerdy loser like you?”

Eva was completely speechless. She was absolutely hurt and humiliated by these two people she trusted the most.

An hour earlier, Eva had come to Elliot’s house bringing a homemade cake for him.

They had a small fight the day before over Elliot’s distant behavior toward Eva since the past few weeks and Elliot just walked away like that without replying to her texts or answering her calls.

That’s why she wanted to see him in person to apologize and got her closure from him.

When she came, Elliot’s mother who didn’t know anything about the issues between these two and had always liked Eva since she thought Eva was a good girl, let her in, but it was a mistake because what she witnessed next was too much for her to bear.

“Stop it, Eva! You’re being ridiculous. You know, the only reason why I dated you since the beginning was because you were an easy target and I needed you to help me with my study. Do you think someone like me would ever fall for a girl like you? You’re too naïve, Eva.”

That was the last straw. Eva couldn’t bear to be in the same room as these two anymore. Her body was shaking in anger and disappointment. The longer she stayed, the more humiliated she felt.

“Fine, fine, you two really compliments each other. Two cheating and backstabbing devils. What a perfect match made in hell.” Eva let out an ironic laughter from the pain and grabbed the cake back.

“The two of you will regret it one day!” She promised before walking out the house still with tears streaming down her cheek.

Her glasses had gotten foggy as well from the tears and once she reached the front yard, she had to stop for a moment because she couldn’t see anything.

She placed the cake on the ground and removed her glasses to wipe the lens when she suddenly heard a man’s voice above her.

“Why is such a lovely lady like you crying on this beautiful sunny day?” She looked up and could tell there was a man standing in front of her, but since her vision was so bad, she couldn’t see his face clearly.

“I’m sorry, it’s fine, let me just put on my glasses first.” She said before putting it on and was slightly taken aback when she saw one of the most gorgeous looking man in existence.

He couldn’t possibly be younger than thirty and couldn’t be older than forty.

The man was tall with a slightly tan skin, brunette hair, thick brows, hazel hunter eyes, stubble and a gorgeous body that showed this man was probably a regular at the gym.

“Can you see me clearly now?” He asked as he smiled. On top of everything, he also had perfectly straight white teeth.

Eva thought at that moment there was no was this person was a real human. He looked a bit too perfect to be real.

“Yes, yes I can.” She quickly tried to wipe away her tears and felt so embarrassed on the inside because she hated crying in front of other people, especially a man she just met.

“I think you may need this.” The older man handed her over a piece of handkerchief and she took it to wipe away her tears.

“Your handkerchief is dirty now, I should probably wash it and return it to you later once it’s clean.” She innocently spoke.

“It’s fine, you can take your time. Don’t worry about the handkerchief, I can always get more.” He replied casually as he turned his attention to the house.

“What’s your name, lovely girl?” He asked.

“My name is Eva. Well, actually, it’s Minerva Sterling, but everyone just calls me Eva for short.” She replied.

“Minerva, that’s a beautiful name. It suits a charming lady like yourself.” He complimented. Eva was not sure what this man was doing or who he was, but she could really use a compliment at that moment.

“Uncle, what are you doing here?” Eva suddenly heard Elliot’s voice from behind. She turned around and saw Elliot looking at the man in front of her with a slightly nervous expression.

When Eva heard Elliot calling this man uncle, she turned around to look at him again and gasped in surprise.

This man was Elliot’s uncle?

Eva raised her brow curiously. No matter how you looked at it, these two were so different it was nearly impossible for anyone to think they were related in any way.

Elliot, her ex-boyfriend who she met when she was studying in the university, was a blonde, blue eyed man who looked like he came straight out of an European fairytale.

The kind of prince charming all girls dreamed of having when they were younger.

He was handsome and smart, there was no denying that and his brain was the reason why Eva was so attracted to him in the beginning.

He was also popular and had many friends. So different from her who was more of a lone wolf and socially awkward. From afar, Elliot seemed so perfect.

Until she started dating him. It was actually kind of funny. These two had nearly nothing in common except for the fact that they both studied journalism.

But Eva was star struck at the time and said yes when he unexpectedly confessed to her.

She should have known better and used her brain instead of her heart. It wasn’t her fault, he was just a douchebag and he didn’t deserve her at all.

Hearing Elliot’s voice again, Eva’s body began to shake in fear as she recalled what just happened a few minutes earlier. The older man noticed this and he put his hand on her shoulder.

“Breath.” He whispered to her before removing his hand from her shoulder and turned to Elliot.

“What am I doing here? Nothing, I just thought I would pay my brother and sister in law a visit. Can’t I?” He asked.

“No, it’s not that, it’s just.” Elliot noticed that Eva was still there and rushed toward her. Eva didn’t want to turn around, but she could feel the younger man’s footsteps heading her way.

Her body froze at that moment and she shut her eyes, hoping another humiliation wouldn’t come her way.

“God, please help me.”