Chapter 2 Proposal

ANNA'S POV

I stood there frozen, my mouth open, tears sliding down my face before I could stop them. My chest felt like it had been ripped apart. My fingers went numb, my bag slipping from my hand to the floor.

For a moment, I could not breathe. My heart pounded painfully in my ears.

My boyfriend was kneeling, proposing to another woman, not just any woman, my best friend once upon a time.

The same person who held me when James and I fought, who came to my apartment at midnight with ice cream and encouraged me not to give up on James.

The same woman who laughed with me, shared secrets with me and I even took as my own sister..

Melissa.

I wanted to scream James' name, to ask him why, to remind him of the nights we stayed awake working, of the promises he whispered to me in the dark, of the dreams we built together.

But my voice was gone.

The crowd erupted in cheers. His mother clapped, smiling proudly. Cameras flashed. People screamed in excitement.

And me?

No! I couldn't take it.

"James, how could you do this to me?"

The words tore out of me before I could stop them. My voice cracked, raw, loud enough that a few people in the crowd turned their heads. I staggered forward, like I was drunk.

There he was, standing tall in the suit I had bought with the last of my savings. The same suit I had ironed carefully just two nights ago, imagining how handsome he'd look when he proposed to me. I hadn't even bought myself a decent dress in years, but I had spent everything on him because I believed in us. Because I was in love.

Now my chest burned with regret.

"James!" I cried again, my vision blurred with tears. "After everything I've done for you? After five years?"

He turned his face slightly, but it wasn't toward me. His jaw tightened, his eyes shifting quickly toward the executives seated in the front row. And then, like I was a stranger, he looked past me, smiling at the cameras.

"Melissa!! How could you?!" my voice shot out again, this time at Melissa.

She didn't even spare me a glance.

"Who is she?" someone whispered behind me.

"I thought she was his girlfriend," another voice said, hushed but sharp enough to pierce my ears.

My colleagues. My coworkers from the lab. I could feel their stares on me. I could almost hear their thoughts.

"Wasn't it supposed to be Anna?"

"Didn't she and James live like a couple?"

"How could he do this to her?"

The whispers spread like wildfire. My face burned hotter.

I stepped forward again, my legs shaking. "James, tell them the truth. Tell them you promised me..."

Before I could finish, a sharp sting exploded across my cheek.

I stumbled, gasping, as the crowd erupted in murmurs. My hand flew to my face, heat rushing to the spot where the slap landed.

It was his mother.

She stood tall in her glittering dress and pearls, her chin raised high, her eyes burning with disgust. "Shameless girl," she spat. "How dare you embarrass my son in front of his colleagues? Don't you have any dignity?"

"Ma..." My voice broke as I looked at her. "You know I love your son. I've given him everything. Even my..."

Her hand rose again, her words slicing sharper than her slap. "My son could never be with someone like you. A lowlife who sells cakes on the roadside! Do you think that because you work with my son in the same company that makes you equal to us? You're nothing but a gold digger!"

The crowd gasped, people pulling out their phones, some whispering louder now.

Gold digger.

The word hit me like a blade.

I shook my head violently, tears streaming. "No! That's not true. I gave him my life savings... twenty-five thousand dollars! Every single thing I had, I gave it to him because he said it was for our wedding!" My voice cracked, but I shouted louder, desperate. "I was the one who made the drug. It was my research! My sleepless nights! He told me to put it in his name because the company wouldn't take me seriously. He promised... he swore he would marry me after he got promoted!"

All eyes turned to James. This was his chance. His chance to stand up for me, to confirm my words. To prove that I hadn't wasted five years of my life loving him.

To prove that he and Melissa were playing a bad prank on the person they both cared for the most.

But James didn't flinch, neither of them did.

"James, is what this young lady is saying the truth?" someone from the crowd asked.

All eyes left me and landed on him. His eyes, cold and detached... met mine for the briefest second before he spoke.

"No, I have no idea what she's talking about. Everything she's saying is false. I have nothing to do with her."

And then he gave the smallest nod to the guards standing by the side of the stage.

"No... no, James, don't do this to me." My knees went weak as two men in black suits approached me. "Please. You know I'm telling the truth!"

He turned his back on me.

The guards' hands clamped down on my arms. I thrashed, kicking, screaming, as they dragged me toward the exit. My voice echoed across the courtyard.

"James! Tell them! Tell them it was me! You loved me, you said you loved me!" My cries cracked, ugly, desperate.

"Get her out of here!" his mother barked.

The crowd parted like I was filth, no one daring to step forward, no one daring to speak up for me. People I had worked with, laughed with, shared meals with... they just watched as I was pulled away like trash.

But worse than all of them... was Melissa.

She stood beside James, her hand tucked possessively around his arm. And when our eyes met, just for a heartbeat and she didn't look away.

There was no guilt or shame in her eyes. Instead, a cold and detached smirk curled up on her lips.

That smile broke me.

They tossed my bag at me, sending the little money I had left flying across the floor. I reached out, clawing at the ground, but the guards only held me tighter.

"Please!" I begged, my voice breaking. "James, don't let them do this! Don't you remember everything we've been through? Don't you remember our plans? You said once you got promoted..."

He never turned around.

And in the corner of my eye, I saw James... my James... slip the ring on her finger, his lips curved in a smile that had once been mine. The crowd clapped again as Melissa flashed her ring, her radiant smile brighter than the diamonds on her hand.

My body went limp. The guards dragged me like a ragdoll, my cries fading into sobs.

At the entrance, one of them yanked the door open and shoved me outside. I stumbled and fell to the ground, the rough pavement scraping my knees. The door slammed shut behind me with a finality that echoed in my chest.

I sat there for a moment, gasping, broken. My dress was dusty, my face swollen from tears, my cheek still stinging from his mother's slap. People walked past the building, throwing me curious glances, but I couldn't move.

It was like my soul had been ripped out.

How could he? After five years. After every sacrifice. After I had trusted him with my whole heart, my whole future. After I had given him not just my love or my body but my life savings... everything I had.

And he chose her.

Nothing just anyone... Melissa.

Melissa who knew more than anyone how hard and how much I gave myself to James. She knew. And she still did this.

I bent forward, clutching my stomach as a wave of nausea hit me. The image of them together wouldn't leave my head. His voice, tender, full of love he had never shown me in public, replayed over and over.

A sob ripped out of me.

The world around me blurred. My heart pounded in my ears. My fingers dug into the concrete.

I wanted to believe this was a nightmare, that any second I would wake up in James' home, with James lying beside me, smiling at me the way he used to. I wanted to believe it wasn't real.

But the sting on my cheek told me it was real. The empty ache in my chest told me it was real. The twenty-five thousand dollars gone from my account told me it was real.

By the time I got home, I had no more tears left to cry. My body felt heavy, like I had left my soul somewhere on the pavement outside Greenleaf Pharmaceutical. My eyes burned, my cheeks were stiff from dried tears, and my head throbbed with the weight of everything I had lost.

I wanted nothing more than to crawl into bed and disappear, but instead, I found my mother waiting for me in the living room. The sound of her voice was sharp, slicing through the silence the moment I walked in.

"You shameless girl!"

Before I could even set my bag down, her hand flew across my face. The slap landed hard, sending a hot sting through my cheek. I staggered back, shocked, my eyes widening as I clutched my face.

This was the third slap I had received. Just today.

"Mom... what did I do?" My voice was weak, trembling.

She shoved a sheet of paper at me, her hand shaking with rage. For a moment my eyes couldn't focus, then it hit me. My chest tightened. I knew that paper. I recognized the hospital logo, the bold black letters.

My pregnancy test results.

Oh no!

I am dead.