Chapter One Birthday
Ariana’s P.O.V
I couldn't contain the excitement that was building inside of me as I held the cake while my friends, Amanda and Whitney sauntered behind me with a bright smile evident on their faces.
They were happy for me and Sebastian and the new feat that Sebastian was able to achieve.
After months of fighting with his brothers concerning who would inherit the family’s business, Sebastian won. However, underneath my joy for him, there was this quiet fear that lingered in my heart.
“Ariana is so lucky, I wish I had a perfect husband like her,” Amanda remarked wistfully.
“I also want someone like Sebastian! It is just such a pity that I ended up with that jerk” She pouted petulantly.
I stopped in my tracks, shaking my head at their words.”shhhh. He is in his office and he would catch a scope of the surprise if the two of you keep talking like this”
They bobbed their head before I made way for the stairs and in that moment, their words lingered in my mind, occupying my thoughts.
Only if they knew! Because if they knew, then they would never wish to have what I have.
Ever since Sebastian’s grandfather died, he had changed the way that he acted towards me. It was more like the love that he had for me vanished with every passing second.
But, I knew that it was his grandfather’s death. Ever since his parents died in a plane crash, his grandfather was the one who looked after him and his siblings even though his grandfather raised them with an iron fist and like turned the brothers against one another.
Sebastian still shared a greater connection with his grandfather than any of his siblings and that was one of the reasons why he inherited the business.
However, one thing I was sure of was that since Sebastian had gotten what he wanted, things would change for the better and we would go back to how we were.
Climbing up the stairs, I was soon filled with regrets, wondering why I didn’t take the elevator. If I had taken the elevator, that could have alerted Sebastian of my presence.
I heaved a sigh, glancing at Amanda and Whitney who probably looked stressed by climbing the stairs to the tenth floor.
“This is a totally bad idea….” I muttered.
“If we had taken the elevator, then we would have gotten there since” Whitney lamented, carrying the bottle of champagne.
However Amanda soon uttered something that caused anger to course through my veins and at the same time, it scared me.
She said. “Wait for a second, I am not trying to jinx this day but isn’t it weird that your husband is actually at the office right now when he should be home celebrating this feat with you?”
Amanda continued, glancing at her wristwatch. “This is like midnight and your husband is at the office by this time?…… No! Something doesn’t add up”
Whitney yelled at her. “What are you even talking about? What does it matter? He inherited the business, surely he must have a lot of work to handle. I am sure that Ariana understands him more than you do so stop spewing gibberish”
My heart slammed against my ribcage as soon as Whitney’s eyes met mine. Did I understand him like she said?
Did I understand those eyes that once stared at me with so much love to those eyes that stared at me with mixed emotions?
Was it anger? sadness or to worsen it all, hatred?
Sebastian’s attitude changed towards me drastically and I began to suspect that he was having an affair but after hiring a private investigator and the investigator claimed that nothing was going on, that was when I decided that it was just stress.
“It is just the stress and pressure. I should not bother myself concerning things like this” I muttered to myself, ignoring the continuous banter of Amanda and Whitney as we made way for the elevator.
My gaze landed on my wedding ring and I rubbed the glittery diamond with my thumb. “It is all going to end this night, things are going to go back to normal”
As soon as we got to the 10th floor, my heart began to palpitate with fear— Fear of the unknown.
Fear of the expression that would be on his face when he sets his eyes on me.
Jolting me out of my thoughts, Whitney gasped. “Damn! This place is fabulous. You are such a lucky girl, Ariana. I wish that I was as lucky as you are….”
Amanda cut in. “Lucky? You don’t honestly mean that she is lucky because she got married to Sebastian….”
I shot a glare at Amanda who soon shrugged. “I am saying the truth and you know the truth. You were married out of pity! If it weren’t for the fact that your father died in that fire…..” Before she could complete her words, Whitney jabbed her by the elbow.
“Watch your tongue!” She warned.
I loved both my friends equally but at the same time, Amanda annoyed me to the extent that I wished she would just disappear. I loved the fact that she was always blatant with me and yet, I hated the fact that she was so insensitive.
“Call it pity or whatever you call it, but he loves me!”
The light that emanated from Sebastian’s office assured me that he was around and in that very moment, we all planned on how we were going to present his surprise cake.
However, as soon as I pushed the door to his office open, the world seemed to freeze.
For a second, I thought that I was having a problem with my eyesight as my jaw dropped but when Whitney and Amanda’s gasps echoed in silence, then the realization hit me that everything that was happening before my eyes was real.
The moonlight that seeped through the blinds, cast his shadow over the wall. Not only his shadow but the shadow of the woman whom he held in his arms as they both stared into each other’s eyes.
I gulped and slowly, Sebastian turned to look at me and when his eyes met mine, my heart shattered into pieces.
His jet black hair which was coiffed in perfection, accentuated the angular line of his face even though his jaw was clenched as he stared at me with a face devoid of any emotions.
There was this aura that swirled around him in that moment— an aura that evoked elegance and a cold demeanor at the same time.
Not taking his hands off the waist of the woman who buried her face in his chest, his voice echoed through the whole room, causing me to shudder.
“What are you doing here?”
Mustering the last bit of courage inside of me, I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to assure myself that the sight before me was nothing but an illusion. “This isn’t real, this isn’t real, this isn’t real” I tightened my grip around the cake that I held, exerting the muscles in my arm while holding it like my life depended on it.
However, the doubts and fears that I had held concerning my marriage began to creep into my mind.
My eyes fluttered open with tears, pressing at the back of my eyelids. My eyes traveled to the woman who wrapped her hands around him but when my eyes met with her’s, the cake that I held onto, fell to the ground.
“M-Maya”
With a smile creeping at the corner of her lips, she responded. “We meet again Ariana. How does it feel to know that I am right to take back the place that belongs to me”
With my heart squeezing like it was about to explode, I darted my eyes to Sebastian who stared at me with a stoic expression evident on his face.
Maya chuckled in his arms. “You ruined the cake that you brought to celebrate the new feat in your life!”
I glanced at Sebastian. “What is happening here? Why are you not saying anything” I almost raised my voice at him.
Slowly Sebastian released his arms around Maya while she strutted towards me, with her hips swaying side by side. “Nothing is happening here! He is just back into the hands of the woman whom he has ever loved”
I scoffed, glancing at Sebastian. “You are cheating on me with her? The same woman who left you at your lowest? The same woman who ruined you”
Sebastian raised a brow and the blank expression on his face made every part of me crumble into pieces.
Sniffling in my tears, I darted my eyes back to Sebastian. “I don’t know what this is about but I am going to overlook this. I know how Maya messed up with your mind then and being the manipulator that she is, she might have done something to you again”
Maya tilted her head to the left, waving at me. “Hello, miss! Stop being delusional, I am carrying his child…..”
I froze, staring at Sebastian with my jaw dropped.
“So, there is no need to…..”
Before she could complete her words, Sebastian approached me, taking long strides in my direction. With every step that he took towards me, my heart kept beating fast in my chest.
The same man who had a bright smile on his face as he slipped the wedding ring through my finger was the same person whose eyes held no emotions for me.
Every part of me ached for him to take me in his arms and tell me that everything was just a joke.
His words snapped me out of my reverie. “Ari…..” I prised his hands before he reached for my face.
“Tell me all of this is not true”
Sebastian glanced at Amanda and Whitney who were behind me, obviously stunned to silence. “You brought your friends here? Why?”
I scoffed, resisting the urge to explode in anger. “Does that matter! How are you going to explain all of this”
He lowered his head slightly. “Did you receive the parcel?”
I stared at him in confusion. “What parcel?”
“Today is your birthday, Ariana so I prepared a gift for you. Happy Birthday, Ariana.”