The King's Heir

Chapter 5

Aira

"I am fine, nothing serious. Just a bump," I said, changing the topic. "I think this may cover the car's damages," I said and kept the black card on the table.

"This is good," I said as I took a bite of the crunchy chicken wings. But her eyes were wide and stuck on the card.

Her mouth was wide agape with fries which she was chewing. "Close your mouth," I said as she just stared with the same expression. She gulped down the fries in haste, almost choking herself. I saw her red face, alarmed. I opened the bottle and was handing her the water. Instead, she was sipping the beer. I huffed, closed the cap and kept it aside. She rubbed her hand over her trousers before picking the card with utmost care as if it were some precious item. She flipped it again and again, I rolled my eyes. "Where did you find this?" she asked, disbelief clearly in her eyes and voice. I groaned, " He gave me."

"Who?" she asked, confused. I sighed again. I explained to her slowly as we both ate the rest of our food. "Mmm..seems he is smitten by you to hand you his black card," she winked. "Smitten my a**," I said as we started to walk back to her office.

She glanced at me.

"What?" I asked.

"Nah...nothing."

"Did you hear from the hospital?" she asked. I shook my head saying NO. Silence enveloped us as we continued to walk. Soon we said our goodbyes as we dispersed to our work.

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I woke up early the next day and got ready quickly. I wore a blue shirt and black pants and had minimal makeup on. Brianna had an early meeting so she left without me. She used to drop me off at the cafe and go to her office. I prepared bacon and eggs and ate them quickly, packed sandwiches for lunch and took the public transport to reach the cafe. Mornings and Evenings are peak times. They served breakfast too. A new girl had joined today, I was explaining, her role.

Bri and I were best friends. She was an orphan and was taken under foster care. Later, she was adopted by Miller's family. I, on the other hand, had lost my parents very young, and my grandma took care of me. I met Brianna in school, she didn't have any friends and used to be alone. We became friends and helped her with little things. Soon, we became inseparable. We used to have more night outs at our home and she used to stay with me most of the time. This continued till we got into college and she lost her foster parents in a car accident. I was working in a cafe to support my grandma. I was a scholarship student so college fees were not a problem. My grandma was financially ok. We didn't have much but we could survive. However, Brianna had good financial support, her foster parents were rich. They had a car, a mansion and old money.

I had a crush on a guy at college, and at first, we didn't talk much. Later, we had the same classes, he helped me with stuff and we started seeing each other. But Bri didn't like him; she was pestering me, saying he was a Playboy and how he was going behind my back with other girls. But Liam was not like that, he was caring and loving. We fought many times over him. He even visited our house and got well acquainted with Grandma. She liked him too. I never understood why Brianna was alone in being against our friendship. On his birthday, he proposed to me, and I gave myself to him. I lost my V-card. I was very happy that day and shared the news with Brianna. She was very angry and avoided me for many days. She didn't come home or pick up my calls. At this point, I was far too gone. I would never give up Liam for Brianna. I thought she was jealous and didn't think about her anymore. We had our graduation ceremony and I was happy with Liam. A few days later I heard that Brianna had accepted a job offer and had moved out of the city. I was sad that she didn't even say goodbye to me.

A few days later, I found a job and started working. Grandma fell ill and I couldn't spend much time with Liam. My health was upset, too; I checked with the doctor to find that I was pregnant. I was ecstatic about the news. I always wanted to have a baby. I wanted to share the news with Liam. I wanted to see his reaction. But, what I found out next was heartbreaking. He was cheating on me with one of our classmates from college, and I recognised her. In the rage, I acted stupidly. I confronted him then and there and got shoved harshly into a table. I was bleeding when I was rushed to the hospital by my neighbour. He didn't accompany me. I lost the baby. I was sobbing uncontrollably.

I realised that I needed to check on Grandma. I also didn't want to stress her more with my news. I was wallowing in grief alone. Two days later, my grandma also left me and I was completely devastated. I didn't know what to do. I stopped going for the job. I was at home and in bed all day. I just couldn't get up and move. I had lost everything: my baby, my grandma, and my friend. I hated myself for trusting Liam. My mind was completely occupied with thoughts of him; I couldn't understand where I had gone wrong. What made him cheat on me?

The next couple of years were hard for me. I was struggling to stay alive. I used to think, there was no sense in living my life. Then one day, I heard a knock on my door. I opened it to see Brianna.

I was angry at her so much that I didn't allow her to come in or talk to her properly. I knew she was here to mock me, to say that 'I told you so'about Liam. She said she had come immediately after hearing about my grandma's demise. But, she was late..too late. She started coming to my house daily, trying to persuade me to talk to her and come with her. She was persistent. After months of annoying me, she finally convinced me to come with her and stay. She said she owes me that much for taking care of her, all those years. I couldn't be angry with her anymore when the fault was mine. When she spoke about all the things we did together, I wanted to relive those moments. And also she never said 'I had told you so'. That was a relief for me. I couldn't tell her about the baby yet. It was too much for me. We sold the house that Grandma had left for me and packed all the stuff. On the last day at home, I was too emotional and had a few drinks and told her about the baby. She was silent for a long time, and later, she consoled me. She gave me the shock of my life, saying, "Liam is dead."