CHAPTER 1

Iryna was worried.

She had been sitting on the same spot for more than three hours now and her back was aching. She took a napkin from her pocket and mopped the beads of sweat that had gathered around her brows. She knew she had to look good. It was an important day - the day she was going to finally going to say “Yes” to the handsome model, her high school crush and long time boyfriend, Michael Grant. She had been looking forward to this day for a very long time now and she was very much excited.

A message popped up on her phone screen and she opened it in a hurry to see who it was.

“Sorry Iryna. I almost forgot about the outing. I’ll be there in a few…”

Iryna smiled and adjusted her glasses on her face. She didn’t care if she had to wait for hours to see Michael. What mattered to her was that he was coming. She giggled in excitement and arranged the table quickly. Everything needed to be in order.

She turned around to see that the waiter was smiling at her. The waiter, Fred Walters was an advanced man in his early sixties. He was tall, smart and kindhearted and a few times when she had stayed up at the Downtown bar waiting for Michael, the waiter had made sure to entertain her with old jokes about the World War Two over a few shots of Tequila. Iryna had always wondered how an old man working in a bar was able to afford such an expensive drink and when she eventually offered to pay for the drink one day, the waiter refused.

Fred Walters walked up to her table and drew out the opposite chair. Iryna frowned and looked around quickly. She didn’t want Michael to meet her discussing with the old man and luckily for her, he was not yet in sight.

“Still waiting for him eh?” Fred asked as he poured himself a glass of wine.

“Yes I am,” Iryna replied, adjusting his glasses. “My boyfriend would be here anytime soon.”

Fred gulped down the glass of wine at once and started pouring out another. “ I wish you luck, girl. He sure does like to keep you waiting.”

“My boyfriend is a model,” Iryna replied smiling. “He is always busy with brands and endorsements and deals like that.”

“I see,” Fred nodded and stood up. “There’s him coming over now. I’d better get back to work. Think about the offer I gave you last week, Iryna.”

Iryna muttered a curse as Fred walked away. How on earth did a sixty year old man working in a downtown bar expect her to abandon her handsome model boyfriend and choose him instead. It didn’t even make sense to her.

Iryna looked up to see Michael approaching her. His thick black hair curled down his face and over his left eye and Iryna thought he looked hot as ever.

“Hello my angel,” Michael smiled as he admired Iryna.

Michael was no doubt a handsome man. His brown colored eyes always had this spark in them that could make any lady go nuts. His arms were taut and muscular, exactly how a model’s should look and Iryna couldn’t help but imagine getting lost in his warm embrace as usual. .

“Hello Mike,” Iryna smiled back at him. “You had a lot to do at the office today I guess?”

“Of course,” he sighed. “But I’m here now, and that’s what really matters.”

Iryna blushed and reached for his hand across the table but her hand hit the bottle of wine on the table and it came crashing down on the floor. Everyone in the bar turned to look at her.

“Shit!” Iryna cursed in her head.

Michael didn’t even make a move to help her clean it up. He stared at the mess on the floor and just then, he heard a voice behind him.

He turned around to see the waiter standing in front of him with another bottle in his hand.

“I didn’t order another bottle,” Michael frowned.

“You didn’t order the first either,” the waiter replied. “Your girlfriend did, and that makes me wonder the kind of relationship you two have.”

Michael stared at the waiter in shock and he turned to face Iryna. “Who the fuck is this old fool?”

Iryna turned to face Fred Walters. “Not today, please.”.

Fred Walters shrugged and walked away after dropping the wine on the table and Michael turned back to face Iryna who was now smiling again.

“Who’s gonna pay for that?” he frowned.

“Uhmm…I would,” Iryna smiled.

“Great,” Michael nodded. “Waiter.”

Iryna watched as he called for the waiter and took his order. All the while, Iryna’s heart was in her mouth as she prayed Michael wouldn’t order something very expensive and luckily for her, Fred was able to convince him that the two hundred dollar worth chicken wings was not yet available.

In a matter of minutes, the food was ready and they ate silently. Iryna was unhappy about the fact that Michael was making her pay for the meals but she didn’t dare say a word.

“I’ve been thinking,” Iryna said determined to break the ice.

Michael looked up at her. “Yes?”

“We’ve been dating for a long time now,” Iryna said. “And you know how I feel about you. I thought maybe you would want to take this forward a bit.”

Michael stared at her for some time, expecting her to burst into laughter or something, anything at all to show that she was just joking. Of course she didn’t mean it. She didn’t expect him, Michael Grant, the next big model in New Orleans to get married to a shortsighted nerdy farm girl.

“Just say it already. Make it formal,” Iryna pleaded. “You know I love you very much. We would make a good couple…”

“Stop it, Iryna,” Michael said in a tone a little above a whisper. “You’re embarrassing me.”

“I would love you and cherish you forever,” Iryna added. “I would take care of you like…”

“Take care of me?” Michael cut in, staring her down. “For God’s sake, Iryna, you can’t even take care of yourself! This was the exact gown you wore on our graduation from college four years ago and it doesn’t even size you anymore. I don’t want you to take care of me. Take care of yourself, first.”

Iryna Gallagher was shocked to the bone. She removed her glasses, cleaned it and wore it back. She was sure she was not seeing clearly. Michael could not be rejecting her. They had been dating since high school. That was more than five years already. This couldn’t be happening.

“I’ve already promised you that I’ll fix up,” Iryna pleaded. “Trust me, Mike. I would get everything in order very soon. I’m working on it already.”

“You’ve been working on it for five years now,” Michael said and shook his head sadly. “And it’s not about getting a job. It’s about how you look.”

“How I look?” Iryna asked.

“Yes,” Michael muttered under his breath. “You look like an abandoned little child. And that’s not all, I really need to tell you the truth now.”

The truth? Iryna’s heart was pounding in her chest now. She felt her whole world crumbling apart. He had just rejected her and now he wanted to tell her the truth?

“Wha-wha-what truth?” Iryna stammered. She blinked hard, trying to fight back the tears that had etched at the corners of her eyes.

“I never liked you Iryna,” Michael said. “It was all a dare. I couldn’t bring myself to tell you it was a dare because you looked so happy. I thought treating you badly would drive you away from me but you’re just too stubborn. I blame James for all this!”

Iryna could feel the air around her get hotter. The words were struggling to escape from her throat but they just couldn’t.

“A..a dare?” She managed to ask.

“Yes, stupid,” a feminine voice said behind her.

Iryna turned around to see who it was. It was Audrey Evans, the handsome and spoilt daughter of billionaire, Marcus Evans.

“I gave him a week to tell you the truth and break up with you,” Audrey frowned, taking Michael’s hand.

Iryna’s face twisted in horror and she turned to face Michael. “Audrey Evans? What does she have that I don’t?”

“A nice shape for starters,” Michael replied. “You’re so damn flat. Without the wig and make up, you could easily be mistaken for a guy.

In a bid to spite Iryna further, Audrey drew Michael closer and kissed him full on the lips.

“See you around loser,” Audrey said and turned around. “Let’s go babe.”

Iryna Gallagher watched, with hot tears dropping from her eyes as they made their way out of the bar. She was a failure, an hideous beast, and she had found out the hard way.