Chapter Two
957 Words
Before the microphones.
Before the laughter.
Before the stage lights roasted her alive.
Zara believed in simple things.
Love.
Loyalty.
Forever.
Kai and she met in her senior year of college.
He wasn’t the richest student. Not then.
But he was ambitious. Focused. Confident in a way that made her feel safe.
She was a moth to its warmth.
“You overthink,” he informed her on their third date, chuckling as she spent too much time trying to figure out what to order at the restaurant.
“I just like to be cautious,” she said, with a shy smile.
“You don’t have to be careful with me.
The words curled around her heart and stayed.
After that night, Zara offered him what had to be with love.
Her time.
Her attention.
Her softness.
When Kai decided to launch his company, she didn’t think twice.
“Count me in,” she said right away.
“You don’t even know what the business is yet,” he teased.
“I don’t need to. I trust you.”
And she meant it.
She used her savings to help him with early expenses. Small amounts at first. Then more when needed.
“It’s temporary,” he promised.
She never asked for repayment.
Why would she? He was her future husband.
Mira entered the picture before Kai did.
Mira had been her best friend since secondary school.
Where Zara was gentle, Mira was sharp.
Where Zara forgave, Mira calculated.
“Men like Kai change once they get money,” Mira warned once, stirring her coffee.
“He won’t,” Zara insisted instantly.
Mira studied her for a moment—then smiled.
“Okay. If you say so.”
Zara missed the look in her eyes.
As months passed, Kai grew busier.
More meetings. More “urgent calls.”
More nights Zara spent waiting with untouched dinner on the table.
“You’re overreacting,” he’d say when she asked questions.
“I’m not,” she would whisper. “I just miss you.”
He would pull her into his arms then.
“You’re too emotional,” he’d murmur. “That’s why I need you. You keep me human.”
And just like that, she felt guilty for wanting more.
Her family adored him at first.
“He’s going places,” her father said proudly.
“You’re lucky to have found someone driven,” her mother added.
Slowly, the compliments shifted.
“Don’t hold him back.”
“Men don’t like clingy women.”
“Try to be smarter about business matters.”
Zara listened carefully.
She always listened carefully.
If something went wrong between them, she assumed it must be her fault.
She tried to read books about entrepreneurship so she could understand Kai better.
She stopped questioning him when he came home late.
She laughed less loudly around his colleagues.
She became smaller.
Without realizing it.
The first time she noticed something strange was at a company dinner.
Kai introduced her to investors.
“This is Zara,” he said with a polite smile.
Not:
This is my fiancée.
Not:
This is the woman who stood by me.
Just… Zara.
One of the investors asked, “What do you do?”
She answered softly, explaining her job.
The man nodded vaguely and turned back to Kai almost immediately.
Later that night, Zara lay awake staring at the ceiling.
“Do you think I should study business?” she asked quietly.
Kai sighed. “Why?”
“So I can be more useful.”
There was a pause.
“You’re fine,” he said eventually. “Just… don’t embarrass me in front of clients.”
Her chest tightened.
“Embarrass you?”
“You ask too many emotional questions. It makes you look naïve.”
Naïve.
The word stuck.
She spent the next few days replaying every conversation she’d had in public.
Had she sounded stupid?
Had she laughed too much?
Had she spoken at the wrong time?
Mira noticed the change immediately.
“You’re overthinking again,” Mira said when Zara mentioned it.
“But he sounded serious…”
Mira tilted her head.
“Kai is climbing,” she said slowly. “Men like that don’t slow down for anyone.”
Zara frowned. “What are you implying?”
“Nothing,” Mira smiled.
But her gaze lingered.
The bank account transfer happened quietly.
Kai suggested combining some finances “for efficiency.”
“It shows commitment,” he said smoothly.
Zara hesitated for half a second.
Then she signed.
Trust wasn’t something she rationed.
She gave it freely.
The last truly peaceful memory she had was simple.
A rainy evening.
Power outage.
Just the three of them in the apartment—Kai complaining about network issues, Mira laughing as she lit candles, Zara cooking noodles in the dark.
They looked like family.
She felt safe.
She remembered thinking:
Even if things are stressful now, we have each other.
She didn’t notice the way Mira and Kai exchanged a glance over her shoulder.
She didn’t notice the silence that followed when she left the room briefly.
She didn’t notice how conversations stopped when she entered unexpectedly.
She didn’t notice anything.
Because Zara believed.
Believed love was stable.
Believed loyalty was mutual.
Believed sacrifice would eventually be rewarded.
She never imagined that while she was shrinking herself to fit into Kai’s world—
He was already building one without her in it.
That was who Zara was before the stage.
Before the microphone.
Before the night that erased her.
A girl who loved without strategy.
A girl who trusted without limits.
A girl who never thought the people closest to her
were the ones carefully learning how to remove her.
- Writer
