Taking the plates from the kitchen counter to the dining room, I placed them on the decorated table. The rose leaves were thrown around and a few candles were positioned in the middle.
The dining room was fairly small but had a big window and the view was very beautiful. It was my favorite part of my apartment.
The sun was setting and Sam was going to be home any moment. I have prepared us a dinner. I always did. Sam loved my cooking.
I did the last touch-ups, like placing the forks and knives on tissues.
After I did everything, I went to the bathroom and quickly did my makeup. It was not heavy or anything. Just concealer, mascara, a little bit of eyeshadow liner, blush, and red lipstick.
The dress I wore was black and clanged to my body like a second skin. It had a square neckline with thin straps made of small fake diamonds. It was short, way shorter than I would initially wear and I paired it with black high heels.
My dark hair was for once straightened and pushed back. Because of work I always had it tied up in a bun or ponytail. I hated when my hair was in my way so it was always up.
Sam was supposed to be here any moment. He's usually done with work by 7 pm but till he arrives home, the clock always strikes past 8 pm.
I didn't mind it though, I knew how important his work was to him. We weren't really spending too much time together during the weekend but I decided to surprise him today. Also, I found out something that I had to tell him. He will be surprised as much as I was.
I sat by the table and waited for him to arrive. The food was in the oven so it wouldn't get cold and I tapped my short acrylic nails on the wooden surface.
About ten minutes later, I heard the door click. He was here. I quickly stood up and walked towards the entrance.
And there he was. His suit jacket was off and his tie as well. The briefcase was in his hands and the dark blue jacket was thrown over his arm. He looked tired.
Sam had brown hair that almost resembled an auburn one. His hazel eyes didn't have the glow in them as he was probably exhausted.
"Babe!? Wow, you look..." He trailed his eyes over my figure and they stayed a little longer on my bare legs.
"You like it?" I asked and placed my hands on my hips.
"Of course I do." He took off his shoes and made his way towards me. His arm sneaked around my waist and he planted a kiss on my cheek.
"Is there a reason for you dressing up like this? Or maybe we have an anniversary that I don't remember?" He cocked his head with a smile.
"No, none of that. But I have some news for you. And I made us a dinner." I doubt he would have remembered if we had an anniversary though.
"Oh, okay." He nodded and squeezed my hip.
My hand flew to his damp hair. "Where did you take a shower?"
"Um, I was at the gym. Work ended earlier today and I went there. You know there's a shower there." He explained. "But if I knew you made special dinner, I would have been home by 7 pm probably."
I hummed and didn't push him to talk more about it. He hated it when I did.
I just wanted to tell him the news.
"It's okay, babe." He let out a sigh almost in relief and closed his eyes for a second.
"I'll go and change first. And then I'll be in the dining room." He kissed my cheek again and disappeared in the hallway.
I used that opportunity to go and take the food to the table. I have been making the dinner for the past four hours. I finished work earlier today since it was Friday.
I took all of the stuff that I needed and then waited for Sam. He appeared by the door, dressed in black slacks and a grey T-shirt.
"This looks delicious." He said as his eyes traveled around the table.
"Thank you." A soft smile formed on my lips while I sat on my chair. He did as well and we dug into our food. Sam talked about his work. It was what he was mostly talking about. He was an accountant.
I didn't speak much about my work as an architect because Sam found my job boring even though I loved it.
We were slowly finishing with our food and I watched him lean back on his chair with a hand over his stomach.
"Wow, that was... You always know what I need. And I definitely needed this today." I'm glad he did.
I stood up and picked up our plates and took them to the kitchen. After that, I took the red velvet cake I made and went back to the dining room.
Sam was on his phone and after I walked inside, he quickly put it down.
We ate the dessert as well and I wiped my face with the napkin that was placed on the table.
"So what were you going to tell me tonight?" He questioned. His eyebrows arched and his lips tugged upwards.
"I'm breaking up with you Sam," I said with an expressionless face.
His smile fell and his eyes widened.
"Honey, what are you talking about?" The words came out rushed, barely understandable. I couldn't care less.
"I said I'm breaking up with you, Sam," I repeated and lifted my hand, taking off the engagement ring. It was a beautiful with round shaped diamond but meant nothing to me at the moment.
He watched my movements, shock clearly written on his face. What an asshole. The guts to act like nothing happened.
Two weeks ago I found out that Sam had been cheating on me for months. Months!!
I didn't want to act caressed and believe some random person online who slid into my dm's and told me what my fiancé was doing.
But the suspicions were eating me from inside. I had to see if what the person was saying was really true.
I valued privacy and that's why I was never going through Sam's phone, neither did he go through mine. It was one of our agreements because I thought I could believe him. He was my fiancé, after all, the person I was going to marry and spend the rest of my life with.
Guess all of that is over now.
When I went through his phone I saw the emails and photos, I knew that our relationship was one-sided the whole time. What a waste of three years.
The fact that I was in love with the person in front of me, makes me want to throw up. Our relationship wasn't the best but I thought that it would somehow work out. I don't know if that was a women's thing to try over and over again to fix a relationship but I was done. I won't keep putting myself down for him.
"Babe, please why this all of a sudden?" I heard his voice again and stood up, picking up the remaining plates.
"All of a sudden? Sam, you have been cheating on me for months! That doesn't seem like all of a sudden thing. You know I would never forget such a low act. You should have known that."
"Lei, babe, please. It was a mistake. I'll end things with her. It wasn't even that serious." A sarcastic laugh broke through my lips at the foolishness I was hearing.
"Yeah, just because I found out. You weren't thinking of breaking up with her a few hours ago when you were at her place." I knew that very well by the wet hair. He rarely visits the gym and he would never take a shower there.
"Honey, please I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done it, I know." He walked towards me and placed his hands on my hips. My blood boiled by his acting.
"Take your hands off me, Sam." He did as I said and rubbed his face in frustration.
As I walked to the kitchen I heard his footsteps behind me.
"You can pack your stuff and I want you gone tomorrow. I'll be nice enough to let you spend the night here on the couch, but tomorrow when I wake up you better not be here. Understood?" Turning around, I folded my hands in front of me.
Sam fell on his knees and leaned his forehead on my stomach.
"Lei, I said I'm sorry please, babe. I swear I'll change." His voice shook and I fought the urge to lash out and kick him out of the apartment at this moment.
But I always tried to suppress my anger, I wasn't going to step on his low level.
I moved away and walked towards my office/storage room. He'll be gone tomorrow and everything will change. My life will be back as it was before I met him.
Pushing the door behind me, I locked it and sat on the armchair. I had to be away from him for a while.
As much as I tried to be strong, I felt the tears start to sting my eyes.
"You did the right thing, Leilani. You did the right thing." I whispered to myself while I lowered my head in my palms. The tears staining my skin.
â¢â¢â¢â¢â¢â¢
"Leilani this is the plan for tomorrow's meeting." Susanne placed the folder full of papers on my desk and exited the space after I thanked her.
Today was Wednesday and a day when I had more work than any other day in the week. Also tomorrow we were having a big meeting which is causing me a lot more stress.
Somehow I was glad that I had a lot of work, it took my mind off of my breakup that occurred a month ago.
It had been one month but the betrayal was still fresh. Like it was yesterday when I saw the pictures of him and the girl whose name was apparently Vanessa.
I didn't care anymore.
Also, I had no idea where Sam was. The morning after our break up he was gone, just like I asked him to. There was a small note saying 'I'm sorry'.
Pathetic.
I just couldn't understand. Was I doing something wrong?
As much as I tried to push those thoughts away they still lingered at the back of my head.
The loud sound of papers being placed on my desk again made me jolt.
The strong perfume clouded the air around me and I knew exactly who it was.
Alexander Piotrowski.
A perfect word to describe him would be... headache. A painful one that makes you go crazy. He was my coworker for about two and a half years.
"What do you want?" I said without looking up at him. Even without looking, I could practically feel the smug smirk on his face.
"What crawled up your ass today?" Closing my eyes, I let out a breath of frustration. I swear he knew how to make my day worse. Couldn't he just go on with his work without bothering me?
"Can you respectfully leave?"
"I need a word with you." Yeah sure he did. He was probably going to bitch about tomorrow's meeting and fill my head with his nonsense.
Tilting my head, I looked up at him. His dark brown eyes were on me and his very light hair was pushed back, styled like always. Alexander took care of his looks, I'll give him that.
A white shirt was stretched over his broad shoulders and chest and tucked into his beige dress pants.
His silver watch was wrapped around his wrist and hid his small butterfly tattoo that was barely visible.
"If you're done checking me out, please I need a word with you." His lips tugged upwards in a sly smile and he slid his hands into the pockets of his pants.
"You wish Piotrowski. You can say whatever you want here." His gaze traveled around us. This was an open office and there were a few other coworkers. Their eyes were focused in front of them but I'm sure their ears were pointed at us.
It has happened a couple of times that me and Alexander have had fights here and they were waiting for the drama.
But I was tired today and had no intention of entertaining them.
Rolling my eyes, I pushed myself up. I straightened my black shirt and adjusted my black dress pants. It was my usual outfit at work.
"Lead the way, mister." I gestured and looked at him with a bored face.
He started to walk in front of me and we made our way to the hallway where the storage rooms were. It was quiet here and not many people passed during the day.
We went to the end and he turned around to face me.
He was tall, like really tall. It wasn't that I was short though. I also had heels but my head reached his chest.
"And... spit it out. I don't have all day."
I doubt he was going to say something smart, but it did make me wonder why he wasn't saying anything in front of our coworkers. He usually used every opportunity to embarrass in front of everyone.
Today, there was something else that was bothering him.
He tapped his polished shoe on the floor and I watched him bit his lip in nervousness.
"I want you to go with me to the Annual event. As my date." The company was having an event every single year where a couple of other companies were invited, such as the engineering company that worked with us and many others.
It was to say a big thing. It was going to take place next month.
His words did catch me off guard because I'm sure Alexander would rather cut his arm off than ask me to accompany him in front of so many people.
"And why would I do that?" I questioned while folding my hands in front of me.
"Because I asked you nicely, Collymore." He said with a duh voice.
"You didn't even ask me, Piotrowski."
"You are being difficult for no reason."
"Well ask me first."
"Okay... fuck." He sighed in annoyance and lifted his hands in surrender. "I'm crushing my dignity for this." I waited for him to continue.
"Will you be my date for the event?"
"No," I said bluntly and smiled at him.
"What the fuck?" He looked surprised at my answer. Did he really think I was going to say yes?
"You asked me and I answered you. It's a no from me, Piotrowski. N-O." I spelled out the last word.
I watched his face twist in frustration and I enjoyed every second of it. There was no way that I was going to be seen next to him there. I didn't even know if I'll go. I would rather spend my night alone drowning in sorrow.
"I really need you to say yes." He wasn't going to give up I see.
"Why do you need me? Don't you have a girlfriend?" I knew he did because he mentioned it once or twice. It wasn't my business but I expected him to take her and not some random person.
I didn't fail to notice how his eyes changed at my comment. He tilted his head back and closed his eyes for a second before he looked at me again.
"She..." It seemed like the words were stuck in his throat unable to escape.
"She cheated on me." My face fell and chills covered my body. Not because of what had happened to him but because the same words reminded me of the stuff I fought so hard to forget.
Now I felt bad because I knew the feeling. It was not easy.
Definitely not easy.
"She cheated on me with some engaged guy." He huffed and looked past me.
Wait...
I unfolded my hands and my mouth stayed agape. Did I just hear that right?
"Wait a minute... is your girlfriend's name Vanessa?"
His eyebrows pinched together as I finished my sentence.
"How do you know her name?"
I placed a hand on my forehead and a bitter laugh escaped through my lips.
"Because she cheated on you with my fiancé. Well, now ex fiancé."
"What...?" He sounded lost and I don't blame him for that. I was shocked as well. Of all the people, he found Alexander's girlfriend to cheat on me with.
Great.
"Yes, that guy was my fiancé. We broke up after I found out." He slowly nodded his head in realization.
"So that's why she hated you." He continued when he saw me lift my eyebrows in question. "She saw you once and she didn't shy away from talking bad about you. I was weirded out by that because she didn't know you but I guess it sums up now." The guts to hate me when she was the one who was sleeping with my fiancé and cheating on her boyfriend.
What a joke.
So while we had our little office wars, we were being lied to behind our backs? Wow... wow great.
"She will be there and I guess your ex will be with her."
I debated for a minute and nodded my head. "Okay, I'll go with you." Maybe I was childish for accepting it and hoping that Sam will be there and see me with another guy, but I didn't care. Not right now at least. I just hope this doesn't bite me in the ass later on.
A relief washed over him. "Alright then." He extended his hand and searched my face for further answer.
"Deal?" I placed my palm into his and we shook hands.
"Deal."
CHARACTERS AESTHETICS
LEILANI COLLYMORE
27 years old
ALEXANDER PIOTROWSKI
29 years old
Thoughts on this one?
I will focus more on the ONE SHOTS after I finish with In His Hands and After You. :)
And I'll try my best to post second parts for most of them. <3