01. The Betrayal

7 YEARS AGO

"Happy birthday dear Jumy, happy birthday to you," my parents sang, smiling lovingly at me as I sat in the expensive dress my boyfriend got for me.

It was my sixteenth birthday, which meant I was allowed a car and a little freedom.

 Jake, my boyfriend, smiled at me as he watched my parents sing, he was doing that thing he always did when he was in a hurry, he was bouncing his left leg to the real fast. Jake and I had a lot planned; firstly, we were going to have dinner in this fancy restaurant, then we were going to attend a fancy party with a lot of rich people, and rich snacks. I really loved Jake's family because they knew how to party.

"Mom, dad, I love you both so much, I'll be back soon" I kissed them on their cheeks.

"If she doesn't return though, she'll be safe in the house, my mom loves her anyway," Jake joked and we laughed.

"Take care of her," Dad told Jake, tapping him lightly on his shoulders.

Jake and I had been in a relationship for two years now, and it was awesome. Most people always talked about how overbearing and arrogant Jake was, but to me, he was the sweetest person. They always said they knew we would break up, but we never did. He always did the most thoughtful things; he even respected my decision to not have sex with him until collage, but of course that was only an excuse to get myself fully ready for tonight. I was going to have sex with Jake, he had been the most patient person, always telling me how it didn't matter that we weren't having sex, and that loving each other was what mattered the most.

Jake's parents on the other hand, were very happy to meet me, everyone was just nice to me, so much that it felt too good to be true, I mean how do you get people to like you so much without doing the bare minimum? I was still shocked.

"Let's go Jums," Jake grabbed my hand, leading me out of my house. My parents weren't rich, but we weren't poor either, we had everything we needed, when we needed it, and growing up like that made me content with what I had. Jake had told me countless times that he liked that about me, and it wouldn't hurt if I asked him for stuff, but I never did, so he just bought stuff he thought I needed without me asking, which I didn’t mind at all.

Jake led me into his white shiny Benz and drove off with speed, to the restaurant. We got there, placed our orders, ate, and talked a lot; but I noticed something, Jake was spacing out a lot, and he looked like something was bothering him.

"Are you okay?" I asked him, placing my hand on his.

"Yup, I'm all good. You look too pretty," he smiled, I didn't believe him, but I smiled anyway. After dinner, we drove to the mansion his family owned. It looked nothing like the mansion I knew and was used to. The decor was immaculate as usual; Mrs London, Jakes mom, really knew how to prepare for a party.

"Oh my lovely girl, happy birthday darling" Mrs. London hugged me, placing a peck on my cheeks.

"Thank you, the decor looks amazing as usual," I told her; she had the brightest smile in the universe as response.

"Come on, go in. Jake, take her to her cake, make sure she makes a wish before blowing the candles, and take pictures for me, okay?" She told Jake, he rolled his eyes at her.

"She's my girlfriend ma, not yours," Jake scolded and she laughed.

"Okay fine, I'm sorry" she smiled. I laughed at the two. They were my source of entertainment, all day, everyday. 

Jake and I went into the house and straight to the kitchen to see my massive six stepped cake. I screamed in excitement and ran to it, closing my eyes briefly to make a wish.

"No, you have to make a proper wish," Jake stoped me from blowing the candles.

"You know me so well," I smiled and closed my eyes again, this time, making a proper wish.

"I want to get married to you!"  I wished and opened my eyes.

"What did you wish for?" Curious Jake asked.

"Something, and I'm not telling, so don't sweat it," I kissed him on his cheek and blew the candles.

Jake took a couple pictures of me and then we went to join the party. Jake and I said hi to a few family members and friends; somehow it felt like we just announced our engagement and people were congratulating us; I mean we already looked the part, totally in love and clean. Two hours into the party, Jake told me to wait for him while he goes to get something from his parents room. My stupid ass assumed it was a gift.

Thirty minutes later, Jake was nowhere to be found, so I decided to check on him. For some reason, I felt like I was walking into a scene of a drama where the girlfriend finds her boyfriend cheating, but I shook that thought from my head immediately. Jake has no reason to cheat on me, if he was going to cheat, he wouldn't go through all these lengths for my birthday, and there hadn't been any funny behaviors from him, so it was not possible. But like Nigerians like to say "Men will shock you!"

I went to Jake's parents room first, he was not there; on instinct, I went to the guest room on the same floor, I opened the door and was met with Jake's dick in a girl's mouth. Her dress looked familiar from where I was standing; turns out she was one of the many people Jake and I said hi to.

"Jums, wait, I swear I can explain" Jake started.

I smiled at him and ran outside to the fountain in the backyard.

It was not on at the moment, so the lights that came with it, weren't on either. I sat there wondering what I did that made Jake do that to me. I mean we were happy, he wasn't in a foul mood, we didn't argue about anything, so what the hell.

"I think it's pretty depressing to see a young girl out here like this when she's supposed to be having fun" A very manly voice said from the other side in the fountain. He scared the cat out of me. I guess he knew I was there because of how loudly I was crying.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know someone was here" I apologized.

"No, it's fine. Why is the pretty girl in a pretty dress crying?" He asked me. I got up from the side of the fountain to where he was, I sat beside him.

"I think my boyfriend and I just broke up," I sulked.

The man was Asian, he looked way older than I was and he was very good looking.

"You know, I never thought he'd ever do that to me, I mean we were so happy," I cried.

"That hurts doesn't it?" He asked me. I nodded, crying even harder.

"You shouldn't cry though. I don't think he's worth it" he said.

"I don't even know why I'm telling you this" I cleaned my tears, rubbing my wet hand on my dress.

"That's because we'll probably never see each other again" he said and I smiled. I liked the thought of telling a total stranger things that you wouldn't tell anyone, hoping you'd never see them again. So I decided to tell him more.

"That's true, I mean I thought he was going to marry me; I wished for that tonight! I mean we've been dating since I was fourteen!" I threw my hands above my head.

"Oh marriage, and how old are you again?" He asked, clearly amused.

"I'm sixteen! You know I almost let him pop my cherry this night" I didn't know why I said that, but I blamed the heartbreak and tears. 

"Your che... wow that's a huge step" he nodded his head, looking at me like I had two heads.

"Why won't he want to get married to me? I mean you would get married to me right?" I asked him. The man was not handsome, he was beautiful, too beautiful. He looked like an angel in his black tux, with his pale skin shining like the moon.

"Yeah sure. If I get married to you, will you stop crying?"  He asked. He had an abused smile on his face. In that moment, he looked carefree; like the burden he had, that showed evidently on his face a few minutes ago, had been lifted up. 

"Really?" I jumped, he nodded. 

"Yes I will. Marry me" I smiled.

"Okay, let's go get married," he said. 

"Wait, give me a moment" I told him. I wasn't thinking clearly, my mind and heart were in two different places, so I just went with whatever.

I ran into the house, and to the kitchen to get my cake. What is a wedding without cake? I had a hard time lifting it, so I got one of the workers in the mansion to help me. The guy carried the cake out for me through the back door and to the fountain.

"Woah, are you allowed to take that," The man asked me.

"Yup, it's mine anyway," I smiled.

We got into his car and drove to a tattoo parlors that I suggested. We didn't have rings, so we were going to get matching tattoos.

"What do we get?" I asked him.

"Not something big, I don't think your parents will be proud to find out that you got a massive tattoo with a stranger" he said and I nodded.

"Let's get the number 16 with a heart beside it, between our ring finger and middle finger" he said and I nodded immediately.

I smelled like cake, Hell I had cake all over my body. I couldn't wait to eat it, so I started in the car. It was a good smell so I didn't mind and I don't think my husband did either.

"Wait, what's your name?" I asked him.

"Yu Bin" he smiled.

"Call me Jums" I smiled back.

We got out matching tattoos and said our sloppy vows, then Yu Bin drove us to a field where we had a lot of cake and water, while we talked about everything and nothing.

By 9:00 pm, It was time to go home. I really didn't want to go home because my parents would ask about Jake, and I didn't want to tell them I broke up with him and married a stranger, yet. I wanted to keep it to myself for a while, but I didn't have a choice, and I couldn't follow Yu Bin home, so he drove me home.

"Thank you for the ride," I smiled at him, holding what remained of my cake in my arms.

"Byeee" I managed to wave.

"Bye, sleep well. Don't you dare cry again, remember you're married now" he joked and I laughed.

I was the happiest I had ever been all my life, that night. A lot of wrong things might have happened, but I was thankful for the outcome, at least I got to smile and do something I never would’ve done.

I was able to escape my parents without having to answer any questions. I went to my room, took a shower, got dressed in my nightwear and collapsed on my bed.

I admired my new tattoo that hurt like a bitch, but it was worth the pain. When I slept that night, I slept with a gigantic smile on my face that noone could ever replace no matter how hard they try.