ILLUSION

Chapter-1

I'm not going to start with a classic introduction like "My name is Natalie," of course. Today is my birthday, and things are a bit complicated... well, "a bit" is an understatement. The man I thought was my boyfriend has a wife and even a child.

And I found out today, on my birthday. Let's rewind a bit...

"Darling, it's your birthday today, cheer up a little." Reynold, whom I thought was my boyfriend, always said such silly things. "Where did you get the idea that I'm unhappy?"

We were driving in his car to the restaurant where we were going to celebrate my birthday. He stopped at a red light. "You look a little tired. Did I do something to upset you?"

"No, but since you're asking that question, should I be suspicious?" I asked, looking at him.

He coughed and said, "No, of course not," and chuckled artificially.

I turned up the radio, and we continued the rest of the way in silence. When we arrived at the restaurant, I went in first, and it was empty. Suddenly, confetti exploded, startling me, and I saw all my friends there. "Hey Natalie, happy birthday girl!"

Lucy yelled, "Reynold planned all of this! He really loves you!" I hadn't been so sure even 20 minutes ago.

Reynold walked into the restaurant, smiled, and hugged me. "Happy birthday, my love."

They pulled me to a table to blow out the candles. Lucas called out, "Make a wish first," and just as I was about to blow out the candles, a woman entered the restaurant and shouted, "Reynold!!!!" The woman was pregnant.

Reynold immediately removed his hand from my waist and looked at the woman, "Darling, what are you doing here..."

I frowned at Reynold, and İ felt nauseous for a moment."Darling?" That's when I understood everything.

"Are you cheating on me with this?" the woman asked, crying.

"No, darling, where did you get the idea that I was cheating on you? This is Natalie, my coworker, isn't it, Natalie?" he said, turning to me and winking.

At that moment, my mind was completely focused on how I was going to tear Reynold to pieces and kill him. All my coworkers and university friends were watching. I couldn't say anything, I was really shocked and really didn't know what to say. I was so disgusted with him at that moment. Suddenly, Lucy grabbed my arm and dragged me to the restroom.

"Did you know this?" Lucy asked.

"You ask me? If I knew, would I still be dating this i***t?"

I headed towards the door, wanting to leave the restroom. My hands were trembling with anger, and my eyes were filled with tears."I'll ruin him! How could this i***t do this to me?" I yelled and ran outside.

Lucy chased after me and stopped me. "What are you going to do? The woman is pregnant; she shouldn't know anything, leave that i***t alone, don't do anything stupid."

"But I can't let him fool her."

"Believe me, that's the best thing to do right now, Natalie."

When I returned to the living room, Reynold and his wife weren't there; my friends had told me they'd left. Lucas said, "They're gone, don't worry. Besides, it's your birthday today, forget about what happened, and try to have fun."

I ignored Lucas, left the restaurant immediately, called a taxi, and went home. I didn't want to hear anything; I just needed to go home and rest. After what happened, I went home and thought I didn't actually love Reynold. He begged me too much to go out with him. I went out with him out of pity, but getting hurt like this by someone like him really shocked me. I thought the best decision was to stay away from him, but he deserves a little hurt, too. Oh God, what am I going to do...

The next day, when I went to work, the CEO called me into his office. "Natalie... is what I heard true?"

"It depends on what you heard..."

"You can't convince the author under your supervision to write the rest of the book? And you sarcastically say, It depends on what you heard? You really want to be fired. If you don't want to work, hand in your ID and leave."

I lowered my head and looked at the carpet. "The carpet is a little dirty. Should we send it to a cleaning company?"

"You little..." he said, and then his phone rang. "Come on out," he said, and I left his office, went to my desk.

Lucy appeared at my desk: "Hey, are you okay?"

"Yes, I'm fine. Why did you ask? Is there a reason for me to be upset?"

"Come on, are you kidding? What did you think about what happened yesterday? You're not going to do anything stupid, are you?"

"Let's drop the subject, okay?"

Lucas said, "Lucy, why are you asking such silly questions? What's he going to do? She's not going to go and tell the woman, 'Your husband cheated on me,' is she?... Wait... would you say that?"

"I have things to do, I'm leaving," I said, and immediately left the office to meet this writer at a cafe to close the subject. She was a young writer, not even of legal age yet, but she is one of our top 10 writers.

Her name is Lily, a bit conceited and rude, but I needed to speak to her in a sweet tone. "Would you like some coffee?"

"No, I'll get it myself if I want it, and besides, what do you want to talk about? You're wasting my time," she said, rolling her eyes and looking around.

I smiled calmly and began to speak, placing my hands on the table and leaning closer, "Lily, your fans are dying to read the sequel to your book; you should finish it for them."

"I don't want to write anymore, you can't convince me."

"No, no, look, you're almost finished with the book anyway, you can finish this book with a happy ending, writing is like breathing, isn't it?"

"You've talked enough... I'm hungry..."

"What would you like to eat? You can have whatever you want, look, this company card is at your disposal," I said, trying to lighten the mood.

"Then let's have ice cream."

"Okay, let's go."

"Or wait, no need, I have important things to do now, I can't waste time with you," she said, standing up. Playing with her phone, she left the cafe.

I buried my head in the table and muttered to myself, "What am I going to do now...?"

"I don't think you need to do anything, just let it go."

"Huh?" I looked towards the sudden sound. For a moment, my ears were ringing, and I found myself walking towards home. How could this be? I was just at the cafe! I looked back; the road was completely dark, and only a few streetlights were on. I immediately checked my watch; it was 2 PM. I took a step, my vision blurred, and I felt dizzy. When I regained consciousness, I didn't realize I was lying in a bedroom.

Looking up, I saw a man about 180 cm tall staring at me coldly. "So you're awake..."