"You... you." Hazel felt short of words, clenching her fists as she felt her vision darkening. She nearly passed out from his shameless words. He sounded so righteous, as if she was the one who had done something wrong and not him.
"Hazel, why are you doing this to me? Do you know how many days and nights I spent trying to get him to look at my company? Do you know how many sleepless nights I endured? This was the last step, and you just ruined it for me. How can you be like this? How can you do this to me? To us? How can you be so cruel!" His eyes held traces of anger and frustration, as if Hazel had destroyed his world.
Hazel's heart clenched with tears and anger, and she gripped her chest from the heartache. The words he was uttering were like sharp blades, piercing her heart and mangling it into pieces. Never in her life did she ever expect him to be like this. No, all those sweet words, sweet vows were nothing but pure lies. His gentlemanly appearance turns out to be nothing but a façade.
She inhaled deeply, trying to keep her tears at bay. She raised her head; her face was as pale as a sheet of paper, but her hazel eyes shone golden from the morning sun spilling through the window, giving them a somewhat holy hue as she declared, "We are breaking up."
Saying that, she walked out of the kitchen, her back straight, while in reality, she was fighting the urge to collapse.
"Wait!" Gavin hurriedly ran after her, pulling her arm.
"Leave me alone," Hazel snapped at him, flinging her sleeve so that he nearly fell. She felt a surge of strength she didn't know she had, fueled by the indignation of his betrayal.
Truly, she had been blind. She remembered how her best friend always said he looked like a piece of trash, but she had ranted about how sexy and gentlemanly he was. It turned out he was indeed a piece of trash, but she had been the blind one to believe his sweet words.
"Why are we breaking up?" he demanded, blocking her way. "Is it because I asked you to sleep with Sir Riley? Think about it—am I the only one who would benefit from his cooperation? No! The wealth wouldn't belong to me alone; it would belong to both of us."
Hazel's eyes darkened as she laughed in anger. Watching him act righteous made her extremely disgusted. Did he really believe he was justified?
Had she really been with this kind of man?
"Then tell me, what's your excuse for sleeping with my cousin?"
"I..." The question made him lower his eyes, a bit of guilt flashing through them, especially when he met her clear ones.
"Cousin, it was just sex. Do you have to be overly dramatic about it?" At some point, Jasmine, who had been watching the show from the side, had already put on her dress, her face adorned with her usual perfect smile.
Indeed, looks could be misleading, a lot of times.
With her lovely appearance, who would associate Jasmine with a woman who sleeps around with her cousin's boyfriend without any shame?
Suddenly, Hazel chuckled, sweeping her gaze over the adulterous couple. "Yeah, I don't have to be dramatic, so continue fucking each other. Karma is a bitch, and it will fuck you both thoroughly when it catches up with you. It won't even use any protection."
Saying that, she turned around and walked away, feeling that standing before them a second longer would suffocate her.
When Hazel left the house, she felt like a stray dog with nowhere to go. The early morning streets seemed indifferent to her pain, cars passing by, people going about their day, completely unaware of the storm inside her.
All the money she had earned while working as a reporter at a media company had gone to Gavin's hands. She had poured it all into his start-up, leaving herself with just a few dimes to get through the month.
Basically, her life had revolved around him, thinking they were going to marry anyway, so she didn't bother keeping money for herself. But his shameless betrayal was the last thing she expected. It hurt more than she ever imagined. She had been feeling nervous about telling him about her one-night stand when he had actually been the one who had set her up.
"How... how could he?" she whispered in disbelief, her voice trembling. "Why couldn't I see clearly?" She blinked and her cheeks stung as hot tears spilled from her eyes. Without her knowing, she had already become a crying mess.
But why would he do that to her? Why? Had she not been good enough to him? She had treated him as her everything, given him all she had and all she could, but in the end, betrayal was all he could repay her with?
At some point, she had already squatted on the road side, her face buried in her knees as she cried her heart out, her shoulders trembling hard. The pavement was hard and uncomfortable, but she didn't care.
She heard a passing child curiously asking his mother, "Mom, what's wrong with that sister? Why is she crying?"
The mother's voice was warm and clear. "No, sister is probably too happy and is crying."
"Really?" Came the boy's curious voice, and the mother gently affirmed. "Yes, it's call tears of joy."