Making The Most Out of A Second Chance in Life!!!

Third person’s POV Ciara glanced at the wall. Her worn out clock was ticking slowly. She felt like it was taking forever for the time to move. Her heart was racing and her face was flushed red. She started tapping her feet rhythmically on the floor. She was clearly waiting on someone. Her hands were fidgeting around and she kept glancing towards the door. She was in her room wearing her best dress which was already worn out and had few undone seams. Her heart dropped a little when she saw her ‘best’ dress. Thinking that it probably looked like she was wearing old clothes. ‘I’d work and keep my money for me and my husband. And I’ll buy new dresses.’ She thought to herself while taking a few deep breaths. “Where’s Eric? He’s supposed to be here now,” she muttered. Eric Willies was her fiancé, a handsome man with good wealth and the top three in the town. She was betrothed to him when his mother was alive. Willies family had been in the wealthy generation for 30 decades. Their family name rose due to the first Willies; Robert Willies to have accumulated a lot of wealth during his times. Now, the next generation was only continuing his effort in maintaining his business. They owned a big company called Willies Corporation. Ciara was clearly in love with Eric. He was kind and soft-hearted. He had a nice subtle voice with a sweet smile hanging on his face whenever she met him. Ciara had never wanted any other guy than his fiancé to be married to her. A knock could be heard twice from her door. She could also hear subtle footsteps slowly dying down as if there was a person walking away from her room. “Yes? Come in,” she yelled. But, there was no one coming in. She hesitated a bit before getting to her door. As soon as her face was near the door, there was a loud giggling coming from the hallway outside. She heard a man and woman’s voice laughing loudly. She opened the door and saw Eric. Her face lit up as soon as she saw him. However, she froze when she saw another woman was holding onto his hand. “Jenny,” she uttered with a loud voice. Jenny, who was clinging onto Eric’s arm turned her head towards Ciara. Her smile widened and her pointy eyebrows were moving slightly. She showed no sign of remorse or shocked. “Oh sister, why are you outside? Aren’t you sick? You should just stay in your room,” she said nonchalantly. Her grip onto Eric tightened in an intimate way. Ciara noticed her action. However, she paid no heed to that. “I’m fine. I was waiting for Eric. Do come in, Eric. We need to talk,” she opened her door slightly. Eric’s face was monotonous. He was acting slightly different from her memories. He was supposed to be welcoming her in his arms instead of Jenny’s. “I also have things that I need to discuss. The three of us.” Ciara couldn’t understand for his words were a bit confusing. Three?! There were only two of us. Her eyebrows twitched in disbelief. “With me, of course, my sister,” she interjected. “I have talked to Jenny regarding this engagement. You know I don’t love you, don’t you? My mother set it up without my consent.” He explained without waiting for a closed area to discuss. His voice was clear and without any hesitation. Her lips trembled a little. But she didn’t want her sister to see it. She could hear all the maids in the house were gasping and gossiping around. Jenny smiled in delight. It all exceeded more than what she wanted. She wanted to see that wretched face to be destroyed, crying in disbelief. Her heart was screaming in joy. She took a deep breath before looking at Eric. “We fell in love, sister. Eric and I. I thought of you first. But, Eric insisted that we both tell you the truth. Now I hope you would give us your blessing, sis.” She elaborated on the part that it was Eric who wanted all this to happen. Eric was also nodding on that part as well. The gesture hurt Ciara badly. She didn’t know that Eric was not happy like her. She had always been one-sidedly in love. Her heart shattered in pieces. She thought that she could seek refuge in Eric’s warmth and affection. But, it was all just a dream. “If this is what you wanted, why are you telling me now?” Ciara clenched her right fist tightly. So tight that it numbed her palm. Eric was still unfazed and unbothered by Ciara’s reaction. He stared at the wall next to Ciara instead. “I’m sorry, Ciara. I never loved you and never agreed to be engaged to you. It was all my deceased mother’s plan. Now that she was no longer here in this world, I consider that the engagement bond between us is invalid. Not that I have a feeling for you.” He added the last line that burned Ciara’s heart that had shattered. Ciara could not see anything. Her heart was thumping loudly. Her eyes started to burn and get wet. Was she feeling delusional all this time? Was it all not worth the wait? Eric started to feel sympathy for this woman, who had been waiting on him romantically. But, he was saying the truth. Never had he loved her nor liked her. All he had for the poor girl was a tiny bit of sympathy. Her background was also quite bad. He heard rumors that she was seducing men around the town. Not that he had ever seen her doing so, but her bad image and rumours were surely not good for his reputation. “I heard you love going around men. Is that true?” He asked while glancing around the maids. They were no longer hiding behind walls and being discreet. It seemed to be the most rightful thing to do to their own employer. “Have you ever seen me do that?” She asked back. Her eyes were wavering. She could hear small giggles and laughter from the maids. “No, but I could see why people talk about you. You don’t even take care of yourself. Your dress is shabby and worn out. Your style is outdated even though you do have the look. I must say, your face is the only thing worthy to look at. Must be why those men were going after you.” He concluded. Ciara was taking deep breaths and fuming in anger. She could not believe her ears. He told her all that without hesitating at all. Jenny grinned wider as soon as Eric started degrading Ciara. Her eyes flinched a bit when he heard Eric praised Ciara for her looks. But she managed to smile back and looked at Ciara with mocking eyes. “Yeah sister, I heard the rumours too. There were just so many bad things that they talked about you. You were seen going around men’s houses and stayed for many nights. I mean, I don’t believe in them but there were also many days that you haven’t joined us for dinner.” She uttered shamelessly while making a sad face. She covered her mouth with the back of her palm while eyeing Ciara from her head to toe slowly. Eric’s face was somehow readable. He looked surprised from hearing Jenny. Then he shifted his glance towards Ciara. His profound sympathy had simply turned into an utter disgut. He had clearly shown his disgusted face after listening to Jenny. Ciara was clearly shocked from listening to the nonsense. She had never set foot outside the house except for visiting the back garden. Even though there were no maids with her accompanying or keeping an eye on her, she would never disobey the rules of going outside the house without the maids or guards. However, it also bit her back where there were no witnesses that could support her statement. Ciara chose to be silent. She found it difficult to speak the truth knowing so well how Jenny could have twisted everything. She might have bribed everyone to be her accomplices. “How do I give the blessing?” She started calming down. Being grumpy and irrational wouldn’t help either way. She needed to get out of here first. Jenny was startled. She expected that Ciara would be crying unhappily while whining about letting Eric go. “You simply just have to sign the document. I’ll give it to your maid later. For now, I need to buy some wedding necessities for Jenny. If you’ll excuse me,” Eric walked past Ciara nonchalantly. Jenny also followed Eric’s back while flashing a mocking smile to Ciara’s back. She managed to stare at the maids. They also unexpectedly dispersed as if it was planned.