The girl with a broken heart

Chapter 1

The Girl with a Broken heart!

NYC

Present Day

“Mom!!, Mom I am leaving, it’s my first day today and I don’t want to be late”, I screamed while I rushed down the stairs passing the living room and kitchen where my mother was preparing breakfast for all of us.

“Emma! Wait! Just eat a little, your food is served on the table”, Mom responded.

“Later Mom! I will call you once I reach”, I said slamming the front door and running into the cab that has been waiting for me since past 8 minutes to be precise.

“I am sorry I am late, can you please take me to this address here”, I passed on a visiting card with my office address to the cab driver while adjusting my blue pencil skirt and settling back looking at my final reflection in my phone’s front camera. I looked pretty nice for my first day as the pink blouse I was wearing complimented my fair complexion giving my cheeks a rosy flush. I had just put a gloss on my lips highlighting its natural pink color and had my chocolate brown light curls put in a low bun completing my overall look.

When I looked up I saw the driver who was a black man in his middle thirties, he was looking at me with a raised eyebrow through the rear view mirror, probably miffed with the waiting time.

I broke the silence and stated in a humble voice “ Sorry to make you wait, I totally am in a rush as it’s my first day at work, so please avoid traffic routes and tolls, we need to be there before 9 am”. He gave a quiet nod and started off the engine and hit the road without uttering a word.

While on way, I recalled how this is like a dream come true for me.

My name is Emma Carter. I belong to a middle-class family. I live with my parents Taylor and Samantha Carter and my little brother Evan Carter in a small neighborhood outside Manhattan. My father works as the Head Accountant in a bank while my mother runs a small day-care facility for toddlers and kids under the age of 6.

My brother is 15 and is in the freshmen year of high school. Being the elder sibling, I am always the responsible one taking care of him and also running general house errands with my parents. On my free days, I work at my mother’s day care. I am fond of kids myself and by assisting my mother I help her save the money that she would otherwise pay as salary to a helper or assistant.

I have always been an excellent student and very focused and hardworking, as a result I ended up getting a scholarship to study Corporate Law in one of the most elite institutes in New York. My parents were extremely proud of my achievements and always felt that I do more than my share in supporting them.

During my last semester in college, all I wanted was to land a decent job within NYC that could help me support all my finances without moving too far from my city where my parents live. I no longer wanted to depend on my parents for money as I was almost 22 with a creditable degree and grown up enough to take care of myself, but at the same time I did not want to relocate to a different city all together. I got hired as a Junior Associate Attorney at S&M Enterprise, one of the fore-running law firms in United States headquartered in the heart of downtown Manhattan; and even though I might have to look for an apartment or hostel within the city as commuting everyday would not be ideal, but I can still be available for my family during weekends and off days.

Unlike friends of my age, I would rather be near home surrounded by my loved ones than at a far off place outside my comfort zone. I prefer stability and am usually very awkward in crowd. I am not very social and have a very small circle, in fact I really do not have a circle.

I only have had one close friend, my best friend Niki Dunlap and my boyfriend or rather ex-boyfriend Nate Dunlap who also is Niki’s twin brother and was my first relationship, my first love.

Niki and Nate are sort of my childhood friends. Well Niki is my first and only best friend and we use to be always together in everything, from classroom to cafeteria to high school parties to sleep overs, we did everything together. On the other hand, Nate was always around, mainly during social events, celebrations and family get-togethers. Being neighbors, our families were close too and we use to hang out a lot at each other’s place.

I had a crush on Nate from as long as I can remember, he made my heart flutter and he was my only definition of love. I could never muster the courage to acknowledge my feelings for him, until Niki started noticing how I would get extremely nervous around him and would randomly zone out looking in his beautiful grey eyes whenever he tried to make a conversation. I always made a fool of myself around him as I felt butterflies in my stomach even by his slightest glance in my direction.

Nate was quite handsome with brown hair, grey eyes and one of the most beautiful smile in the world. More than his good looks, it was his charm and ease around people that swept me away. He was a charmer, always knew how to conduct himself and said the right things at the right time. He was popular in school and everyone’s favorite in my family too.

He was also very warm towards me until he started noticing my awkward behavior around him. I am sure that made him extremely uncomfortable too as he started avoiding being alone with me. This went on for almost a year and we sort of played hide and seek looking for opportunities to interact and dodge, that was when Niki decided to play cupid. I was very sure that Nate never looked at me in a romantic way. I always thought how for him I was just his sister’s best friend, until Niki intervened and made us realize how we feel for each other and how we should stop avoiding our feelings.

It was my 19th birthday and my parents decided to celebrate it at a diner close to our residence by inviting my close friends, Niki’s family being one of them. After dinner, our parents left, and I decided to sleepover at Niki’s place for the night. It was then right before midnight, when Nate proposed, and I said yes. We had been together for three years after that, until at the beginning of my last year at college, Niki’s father’s business took over a giant leap by winning a prestigious tender - a million-dollar construction project. There was no looking back after that, as slowly and steadily Niki’s life changed and in span of months, she along with her family moved to upstate New York in one of the most elite neighborhoods.

Fast forward to today, my heart aches to think of the past events that changed my life upside down. I was downright heartbroken and torn apart after my recent breakup with Nate. It left me miserable for months and I was an emotional wreck. I lost appetite for food, for people, for love, in fact for life. I had locked myself in my room and hardly stepped out for anything, all I did was sobbed and blamed destiny for ever making me fall in love.

Never could I have imagined, that while travelling to one of the most beautiful destinations in the world where millions of couples may have professed their love for each other, I will return back home with a broken heart.