EVERAFTER CHRONICLES I: Stuck in the Middle.

ARIA'S POV "Your signature, your employee ID, and full name was found on the transfer file. I give you three weeks, Aria Wynters! Three damn weeks to produce my money or you can start imagining yourself behind bars. You are fired!" Loosing my job and getting framed for the loss of twelve thousand dollars was my breaking point. And just when I thought it couldn't get any worse, I walked in on my fiancé, hip deep in the thighs of my sister, three days to our wedding. My fingers loosened around the doorknob. For a few seconds, I stared at the two people I trusted most in the world, while something inside my chest slowly, and painfully collapsed. Wow. It hit harder than what happened at work. Clothes littered the floor, and the smell of alcohol and s*x permeated the air. I stood frozen, wishing this was just a nightmare, and the resounding moans and grunts weren't coming from the love of my life making love to my own blood sister. My sister's gaze met me, but she rolled her eyes, her nails digging into the back of my fiancé. Jake increased his rhythm, oblivious to the fact that the person he claimed to love was behind him. Two years. Nausea built up in my stomach as my intestines twisted. My hands were shaking and an awful pressure was building behind my ears. I had spent two years in this relationship. I had worked my back off to pay for Jake's master's degree, so he could find a better job. "But why?" I muttered, while the floor blurred, causing me to stumble, shifting the table beside me. God. What did I do wrong? "Damnit Aria." Jake said in a rush, his voice irritated me even further. I turned my eyes away, as my head pounded, trying to come up with reasons he would do this to me. My sister's groans reached my ears. "Jake, you shouldn't have stopped. I was about to…." “Cassia.” Jake whispered harshly, shutting her up. Utter disbelief. I turned to her, “Cassia, why do you keep doing this?” Memories flooded my head. This wasn't the first time she was taking something that belonged to me. Ace, Daniel, Simon, Luke. Every single one of them cheated on me with her. Jake had lasted longer and for once, I thought we had something. “You know what?” I changed my sentence, letting out a laugh. It was unbelievable. A part of me still believed my alarm would ring, and I would rise up from this horrible nightmare. “You can go to hell, Jake.” I pulled off my ring, smashing it on the floor. “You are such a mistake.” The words left my lips, leaving behind the hot burn of anger. Cassia stepped forward, her face decorated with a frown. “I won’t let you insult him, Aria. It’s not his fault that you choose to be boring.” She said, her words hitting me like an arrow. How effortlessly disgraceful. I wanted to say. There was no iota of shame on her face, and it sincerely made me want to throw up. “I don’t know why you are even so dramatic. You should commend Jake for wanting to marry an insecure woman like you.” Cassia said, putting on her robe, “And now, you ruined a perfectly good time because you couldn’t keep your jealousy in check.” “Holy gaslighting.” I let out a sardonic laugh. “Cassia, please.” Jake decided to speak, holding my sister’s arm. Tears burned my eyes. Even now, he was still paying attention to her, comforting her over me. “No Jake. She needs to hear this,” Cassia snapped, turning to me, “You have always been jealous of me, Aria. Maybe now, you’d stop trying to compete with me and realize that you are just not good enough. I have been with Jake for six months, and we are in love.” I was dumbstruck, my mind connecting the dots. Six months? Six months before now, was when Jake had proposed to me. But why? In fact, I didn't care. This was wrong, and I wasn't going to be caught in the middle of it. “Go to hell Jake, and don't even try to contact me. I want your belongings out of my house or I'd be calling the police.” I said, and turned around, blocking my ears to his calls. Minutes later, I collapsed on my bed, my eyes red from crying, and a half empty bottle of vodka beside me. “I should stop crying for that fool.” I tell myself, even though the tears didn't stop. There was no one I could talk to. My parents would support Cassia even if she put a bullet in my heart. To hell with all of them. A glass shattering sound echoed in the room, and I realised I had smashed the bottle of wine. “I just need to read. Maybe a romance book, right now.” I brought on my laptop and clicked on the reading site. These were my comfort spaces. Books about Werewolves, Dragons, Vampires, I loved them. I even spent a good chunk of my salaries on paying these authors. I mean they deserved it with their ability to create such wonderful story. “What's this?” My eyes fell on a link in front of me. “Do you have what it takes to find love?” I read it out, before I chuckled. “I don't, because why does every one of my boyfriends keep going for my sister?” I said out loud, reaching for the alcohol bottle. Oh, I smashed it already. Heartbroken with anger issues as well. My eyes went to the next line on the advert. 'Tired of being the second choice? Maybe you are looking for love in the wrong places—' I frowned, that was too personal, then I looked at the title of the advertisement. No way! My eyes widened. It belonged to EverAfter?? This show was practically everywhere in the world It was currently the biggest dating reality shows on television, and winners would stand a chance of winning ten million dollars. 'EverAfter is calling for singles who are ready to leave their old love stories behind and step into a Summer Island where anything can happen. Your perfect match is waiting. BECOME A CONTESTANT.' I bit my lips. There was a lot I could do with that money, and right now there was nothing to lose. Clicking the link, I already knew what I was going for. Maybe it was the alcohol, or the effect of my heartbreak, but I wanted an escape from my reality. So I lied, or maybe I saw it as a chance to imagine the life I had always wanted. To be rich, never reliant on a man, and even more to love myself. I leaned closer to the screen and started typing, borrowing ideas from the fantasy romance novels I had read. I would be a wealthy heiress with a secret, living in a run-down apartment just to find true love, hiding her wealth so only a genuine man could love me for who I am. “You are crazy, Aria.” I laughed out, and still kept on typing, adding more fake plots to my fantasy identity. In a real sense, maybe I'd call it my dream life, the life I truly wanted for myself, one I had countlessly fantasized about. I clicked on submit, feeling a heavy wave of silliness and sleepiness. “There's no way they'd pick someone like me out of a million applicants.”