Vows and Vengeance

The Script

There I stood, facing the love of my life and his future wife.

How the hell did my life end up like this?

I don’t believe in fairy tales, but the way Darren and I met was the closest thing to a fairytale I had ever witnessed.

It was love at first sight.

Eight years ago, I was a barista at the small hole-in-the-wall coffee kiosk that my friend Lisa owned. Lisa and I were the only people working there. I was just trying to be a good friend, but the job was fun, aside from the terrible pay. But at the time, I was down on my luck and in between jobs.

Summer Sips. The coffee kiosk that introduced me to the perfect man.

Darren walked up to the order window and said the order that somehow became synonymous with his identity to me.

“One iced black coffee with a pump of vanilla, please.” His deep voice sounded like a bass guitar.

I was obviously flustered by this extremely handsome man standing in front of me and ended up spilling his coffee while handing it to him.

Luckily for me, he was a good sport about it. He told me he loved my smile and he got a cookie on the house, as well as my number.

The memory tasted like a sour espresso in my mouth.

Back then, he was the customer who made me weak in the knees, the man that made me feel invincible, showered me with all the love and care I could have asked for.

Now? He is standing in the White Lily lobby, with his stunning and powerful fiancée, wearing the crispest black suit I’ve seen in my entire life.

I stood there, staring at the groom-to-be, speechless.

I looked into the dark eyes that made my heart skip a million beats; he didn’t look guilty. He didn’t even look remorseful. He looked…calm.

His smooth, calm, possessive gaze showed me a man who had simply stepped out for a moment and returned to a home he knows he owns.

“Darren?” I let out, after what felt like hours of silence.

Susan stood there, looking at her husband-to-be, and their supposed wedding planner looking at each other like star-struck lovers.

“You both know each other? Oh honey, is that why you asked—“

“It’s so good to see you again, Lindsay.” Darren cut off Susan, rather abruptly, I might add.

I decided to feign ignorance of our past, for the sake of my business.

“It’s great to see you too, Mr. White.” I responded coldly.

Darren decided to finally address his fiancée.

“I helped Lindsay negotiate the lease on this building years ago before I moved out of state for business.”

He spoke so smoothly and confidently.

“Small world, isn’t it?” He added, while grabbing Susan by the waist and chuckling lightly.

That bastard.

He lied with the terrifying grace of a performer. No mention of the love we once shared. No mention of his abrupt disappearance. No mention of how he left me to fend for myself with the building he gave me and the piles of unpaid bills he left in my name.

Susan seemed indifferent.

“Oh, what a coincidence! That makes working together even easier.” She added.

Coincidence, my ass.

“Honey, I think we should hurry this up a bit. You know Julian’s in the car; we have an appointment to get to after this.” Susan chimed in, sounding rather bored.

Julian. Julian Davies? The Davies Corporation actually had two children—twins. Susan was the smart, approachable, polished one, perfect for the family’s public image. Julian, on the other hand, was more aloof. He didn’t care about his family’s power and wanted to make a name for himself. It seemed rather noble, but that’s not what matters right now. Julian Davies is in the luxurious BMW waiting outside my raggedy shop. Wow.

This definitely was not how I expected my day to go.

“Yes, sure, let’s proceed.” Darren stretched out his hand to me, expecting me to give him a hearty handshake.

I wish I could punch this asshole in the face.

I pretended not to see his outstretched hand and turned around.

“Alright, right this way.” As I led them to my office.

My office isn’t something I’m the most proud of.

When Darren bought me this office, he gave me full creative liberty to design it however I liked. Back then, I went all out. Plush velvet seating, gold chair accents, the works. But seven years of wear and tear and an increasingly more restrictive budget made me unable to renovate the office. So now it remained a physical reminder of my inability to move on or crawl up.

The couple took their seats on my creaky velvet couch opposite my oak work desk.

“So, when are you looking to tie the knot? What’s the timeline looking like?” I asked, keeping my tone crisp and professional.

“October 27th,” Susan said, without missing a beat.

“It’s the day we first met.”

I glanced towards my coffee-stained paper calendar on my desk; it was February 17th.

“Okay, eight months is a wonderful time frame.” I said, jotting in my planner.

“Do you have any venues in mind or a general theme you’re envisioning?”

Susan looked over at Darren with a soft smile tugging at her lips.

“Darren actually picked the date.” Susan murmured, her voice laced with a familiar affection that I knew all too well. “He always says he knew I was the one. He told me he fell in love with me at first sight, right then and there after he saw me smile.”

My pen froze.

He used that exact line with me.

A month after Darren and I had our meet-cute, Darren had told me the exact same thing.

“Lindsay, I know you’re the one. I fell in love with you when you spilled my coffee and I saw your stunning smile.”

“Lindsay, I love you so much. Your smile is so beautiful.”

“Lindsay, I want to spend the rest of my life with you and make you smile every day.”

Bullshit.

Is this the man I fell in love with? After disappearing for seven years, it was a script. He was reciting the same manufactured fairy tale to a multi-billion-dollar heiress that he had sold to a twenty-year-old barista eight years ago.

Pathetic.

“That’s very…sweet” I managed to say, my voice remained very professional.

“We have roughly eight months to finalise everything. What kind of aesthetic or theme do you—“

Before I could finish my sentence, Susan’s phone rang loudly.

“Sorry, it’s Julian. We are going to be late for our appointment.” She said curtly.

“Honey, will you join us outside?” She followed up.

“Yes, I will, dear. Give me a moment to finalise things with the planner.” Darren replied with a voice oozing with affection.

Susan got up and walked down and out of my office building.

I was left in my office with the man who gave it to me.

The devoted fiancé act dropped like a mask