Contracted Hearts

Charlotte’s pov. “Hello my beautiful daughter”, I heard my mum's voice as she opened the coffee shop and walked straight to me and gave me a hug. “Am good Mum,how are you doing?”I asked her,while releasing myself from the hug. “I'm good also,your aunt has been taking care of me and the coffee shop” she answered. “That’s great to hear.Now observe your coffee shop. How do you like the decorations?” I asked her in a very excited voice. She took time now to carefully look around and the shock on her face showed me that she loved it. “Ohh my goodness,Charlotte, you did all this for me? Ohh my gosh it’s so beautiful”she said dramatically, making me laugh at her reactions. “Anything for you mum” I said, giggling. And she hugged me again, this time tightly, making me unable to breathe well. “Thank you, my baby,” she said to me, still hugging me tightly. I had to tap on her shoulders “ I-I can’t breathe, I’m dying” I said to her dramatically, making her laugh as she let me Go. “You can’t give all the credit to Charlotte, I helped out also,” my aunt Harper said,as she walked in, holding a tray of delicious-looking cookies. “Ohhh Harper,you helped her also? Come, lemme give you a big hug also”, mum said to her, moving towards her and my aunt quickly avoided her. Aunt Harper is not much of a hugger, especially with my mum. Seeing them run along and play like kids always brought joy to my heart. My name is Charlotte Thompson. I am 22 years old. I studied in the art department of Interior design in college. I'm currently at Beverly Hills,California. I’m an only child. My Dad died before I was born.I only saw his pictures and heard good things from my aunt who has been with us since I was born. She and Mum raised me like every other parent would, though we weren’t rich, but we could put food on our table. My mum and aunt opened this coffee shop in order to properly take me to school and put food on our table,and it did because my mum and aunt made the best coffee and desserts. That’s why it keeps buzzing with customers every day,so I decided to decorate it and make every day even more modern so it attracts more customers for them. I am self-employed,I have an online page where I post my works and I get lots of contracts to decorate and design their space. I loved decorating and designing. It brought a sense of peace and calmness to my body. “When are you going to meet Daniel? I prepared the box of cookies you asked for”, my aunt asked me. Ohh that’s right, I almost forgot my fiancé Daniel,we’ve been dating for over four years now,since my college days and he proposed to me a month ago,and I gladly said yes. Daniel is a very hardworking man,he works at one of the biggest companies here in California, The Addams Enterprises, and he works as a senior manager there. “Ohh yes that’s true aunt,I will just go and freshen up, then come back and get it” I said to her. I went to the staff-only room and started freshening up. I cleaned my face and applied a little makeup. I’m not really a fan of makeup but I had to put on a little today because I was giving my fiancé a surprise visit. It was four days since we'd last seen each other and he was always complaining about how work was stressful and how he always got home late. So I decided to visit him if he's not back yet. I will just wait for him inside. I knew his password to his house. He's been acting off since he proposed to me, but I guess it’s because of the workload at work. I wore a knee-length dress that captured every curve in my body. I looked pretty as I looked at myself in the mirror. This dress was not really expensive but it looked pretty and simple. I rarely get compliments from anybody, even from my boyfriend, just my aunt and mum, who tell me how beautiful I look. When I was in high school I usually got bullied for my look and shape. Although I was thin, I had shapes in all the right places. After looking at myself in the mirror, I went back into the coffee shop.I saw mum and aunt gossiping as usual and laughing like kids. I could only shake my head in amusement. “You look pretty darling” my mum and my aunt said at the same time, making me laugh hard. “God should have just brought you both as twins into this world,” I said to them as I continued to laugh, making them laugh also. “ and thanks for the compliment,” I added. “Here” my aunt said, handing me a box of cookies. I took it from her and said goodbye before heading to the car. When I got to my car, I got in and started the engines and I was on the road heading to my boyfriend's place. I took my phone from my bag and tried calling his number but he wasn’t answering his calls. ‘Maybe he's still at work’ I thought within When I got to the estate, I drove in and parked my car in the parking lot. I took the cookies out of my handbag from the car and locked the car with its keys. I headed straight to his apartment. When I got to his apartment door,I was about to put the password on his door when I saw the door was slightly opened. “Strange” I said softly. I opened the door slowly and saw the lights were not on. I got scared, so armed robbers came to rob his apartment, but I slowly pushed the door open and went in and the next thing I heard made my blood run cold. I heard a lady's voice, to be precise, a lady moaning. I went towards his bedroom. On my way there, I saw a lady hill scattered on the floor.I went straight to the bedroom, this time increasing my pace and when I got to the door I felt my hand stuck on the door handle. My heart was about to fall out of my chest. I had all the courage in me and opened the door slowly and my breath got hitched the moment I saw the sight in front me. In the dim light, two figures could be seen on the messy bed. The woman dug her fingers into the man I thought was mine hair. They looked so completely lost in their s****l pleasure that they could not notice her presence. My four relationships were thrown away as he continued to grin at another woman as he kissed her and she moaned out loud, making him groan out as well. He continued to f*Ick her hard, making her scream his name. “Ohhhh Daniel baby, yess y-yess, just like that baby, o-ohh I love you so much” she uttered. But what made my heart scatter into millions of pieces was his reply. “ I love you too, baby,” he groaned out aloud. And with that, the cookie box in my hand fell to the floor, shocking them both and they quickly turned their heads to face me. Shock was very evident on his face, but confusion was on the woman's face. Too broken, I couldn’t even move or say anything. I just stared at them in disbelief. “Who’s this baby?” the lady asked him with a look of anger now. And he quickly turned to face her,totally forgetting I was here. “Oh no baby, she’s just my maid working here” he said to her. OK what the f*CK did I just OK? “You f*cking bastard,, who is your maid you idiotic cheater, you wasted four good years of my life” I yelled at him clearly very angry now. I looked at the ring in my hand and took it off. “This stupid ring that you used to propose to me”. I threw the ring at him. “It’s over between us I pray you get killed and die on top of her you f*cking scoundrel” I yelled at him and stormed out of the apartment, not waiting to see or hear what he had to say. Immediately I got to the car I burst out in tears,I was furious, I was angry, my heart was full of revenge. I wanted to show him that it was his f*cking loss. Too conflicted in thoughts and my heart scattered, I started my engines and drove off looking for the nearest bar to drown my sorrows. I saw a big bar that looked expensive. I didn't mind what was expensive. I needed to get high and waste till I stopped thinking about that bastard. I parked my car in the parking lot and went off. I cleaned my face but my eyes were still red and puffy due to all the crying. I walked inside the bar and was immediately hit by the wave of music. I went straight to the shot station and sat on the chair and the bartender walked and stood across from me. “What shots do you care for?” He asked me “Give me the strongest shot you have,” I said. “Start with 6 shots first,” I added. “Coming right up” he said and started shaking some unknown bottles and mixing them up before pouring them inside the shot cups. “Here’s your Devil’s breath” he screamed loudly because of the banging music. I nodded my head at him and took a glass. “Cheers to single life” I screamed out loud, before drowning the liquid in one go. I squeezed my face as the strong alcoholic taste went down my throat. “More” I screamed out loud. I listened to music and sang along with it and danced while seated. I was definitely going to get vengeance on him. I turned my head to my right and saw the most handsome gentleman seated right next to me.I was so lost in my grievance that I did not notice such a handsome man that looked like a Greek God staring at me with his ocean blue eyes and his smooth black hair that fell on his forehead made him even look better. Maybe it’s alcohol that’s making me think like this. I couldn’t stop staring at him and he couldn’t stop staring at me. His gaze made me feel hot and wet. This was due to the alcohol and I did not know when I got the courage to speak up. “Why are you staring at me like that?” I asked him in a very calm and sweet voice that surprised me and he looked at me with an expression I couldn’t point out. “You are staring too,pretty” he said in the most amazing and deep voice that shook every core in me. My mind was screaming danger but my body betrayed me. I smiled at him “ oops, have been caught”, I said to him giggling. And he looked at me still with an unreadable expression when suddenly I thought I read his expression. He looked surprised but he quickly masked it out. Mr stranger here sure knows how to hide his expressions very well. “What is a pretty young lady like you doing here all by yourself?” He asked me. Just the thought of it brought pain to my face. As if sensing my discomfort, he yelled for the bartender to get more drinks. I looked at him. Was he planning to get me drunk? And he laughed at the way I looked at him. “Don’t worry, it's not for you kitten,” he said to me. I was surprised we could both hear each other under this buzzing sound of music. How can a man call me so many names in one night? Well, I enjoyed it. Let's play the game for tonight only. “Have a one-night stand with me,I will be gone before you even know it and we won’t ever cross. Even if we do, I tend to forget people easily”, I said to him, totally shocking him. Jack pot.