Chapter 1 Drunk

Emily's POV

"I'm breaking up with you," My boyfriend of three years, Joe Hutton, uttered, as I sipped my lemonade, and I nearly spat it out in shock as I stared at him.

"W-What are you talking about?" I asked, placing my glass of lemonade on the table. "Did I do something wrong? Why are you doing this all of a sudden?"

I couldn't possibly fathom why Joe would want a breakup on the third anniversary of our relationship, without us having any fights prior.

We were currently at Cafe de Oriental, his favourite cafe, to celebrate our anniversary.

"How do I put this?" Joe muttered, his countenance plain. "I am no longer in love with you, Emily."

"Okay, I will forgive you if this is an elaborate prank preceding a surprise," I said, willing myself to giggle but Joe remained unsmiling as he stared at me.

"I have tried my best to fall in love with you again, but I just can't seem to do it, Emily," He continued. "I can't keep pretending to myself that our relationship is heading somewhere when it clearly isn't. I don't want you anymore."

My eyes turned glassy with tears as I looked at him, desperately willing he'd admit it was a prank, and he was really playing with me because there was no way he was telling the truth.

"Is it because I didn't get you a gift?" I asked. "You know I only just got a job last week, so I haven't received my salary yet. But as soon as I do, I will get you something really nice."

Joe had also gotten me nothing to celebrate our anniversary, but that didn't matter to me because all I cared about was his presence.

"No, it's not, Emily," He said. "I don't want you anymore and am sorry I waited this long to tell you the truth. I wanted to be sure of my feelings and didn't want to rush out of our relationship. Again, I'm sorry."

Unlike me, Joe came from a much higher social class, with a surgeon dad and a mum who owned several businesses.

So he was most definitely set for life.

Meanwhile, I had no one other than my best friendsâ€"Janine and Abigailâ€"both of whom I met in middle school.

As for my parents, they died in a fire accident at home five years ago, when I was in my last year of highschool.

From that moment onward, I had to work odd jobs to put myself through highschool and subsequently college, as none of my aunties and uncles were willing to foot the bill after making empty promises to me at my parents' funeral.

Squeezing my eyes shut, I inhaled sharply, tears streaming down my face as I thought about how miserable my life truly was.

Joe was the first and only man who'd shown any interest in me all my life.

He was my own gentleman, who I had naively thought would be in my happily ever after romance.

And now, he was leaving me.

Standing up, Joe said, "I wish you well, Emily and I hope you have a great and happy life without me."

Without waiting for a response, he exited the restaurant while I bawled my eyes out, ignoring the stares around me.

To think Janine had been skeptical about our relationship from the start, especially after finding out that he was a wealthy heir.

She has warned me against dating him if I didn't want to get my heart broken, but I'd been too in love to think straight.

Especially after Joe told me that he wanted us to wait till our wedding night to have sex.

That resolve of his had further melted my naive heart, because I'd never even thought I could be worthy of being loved by a man as perfect as him.

Now that I thought of it, Joe had probably felt sympathy for me and not love.

And so to get out of having to sleep with me, he had come up with that waiting till marriage nonsense.

Heaving a huge sigh, I wiped off my tears and stood up.

"Excuse me, ma'am. You haven't paid for your order," A waiter spoke as I reached the door, and I was instantly overwhelmed with embarrassment.

"Okay," I said, before walking over to the cashier.

So Joe didn't even have the decency to pay for my lemonade after breaking up with me on our anniversary.

He really was a jerk.

"Thank you," I said, as the cashier handed me my credit card.

Afterward, I made my way out of the restaurant, with a heavy heart and a gloomy countenance.

The universe could never let me be happy.

First, my parents had died when I was a teenager who could barely fend for herself, and now that I finally had my life in order with a decent job as an accountant, I got broken up with.

Walking to the bus stop, I took a cab home.

On getting to my apartment, I grabbed the half opened bottle of dry gin from my refrigerator alongside a glass before heading upstairs to my bedroom.

Janine and Abigail were the ones who usually took the dry gin because I couldn't hold my liquor well.

Thereafter, I got under the sheets, poured myself a glass of dry gin and sent a message to mine and my best friends' group chat.

"Joe broke up with me."

Presently, both Janine and Abigail were out of town for different reasons, or I would have gone to either of their places to mope over my relationship ending.

Janine was a pediatric nurse while Abigail was an accountant just like me, in her father's accounting firm.

Almost instantly, Abigail placed a call to the group which Janine joined immediately.

Blinking away the tears welling up in my eyes, I joined the call as well.

Taking a sip of my dry gin, I winced as the alcohol burnt my throat in that ever so pleasant manner.

"Oh my goodness, babes," Abigail shrieked. "Are you okay? I can't believe that bastard did something so gruesome to you."

"I'm not," I replied truthfully. "But what can I do? I mean, Janine warned me from the start but I was too delusional to see the truth."

"Come on, girl," Janine sighed. "We all know it's not and will never be your fault. Those wealthy heirs are mostly always douchebags, so he knew what he was doing from the start. He couldn't pick any other day apart from your third anniversary. What an asshole!"

"Joe is really a huge prick. How I wish we were in town right now," Abigail said. "I can't imagine you handling this all alone. And I can't leave this project for now. But I promise you that the moment I'm able to, I will be by your side immediately."

"It's just heartbreak, babes," I said, trying to sound nonchalant. "I'm not sick plus I have alcohol."

"Well, it's your first heartbreak, Ems," Abigail sighed. "And I know how horrible that feeling is. You need a shoulder to cry on, and not just alcohol."

"Abigail is right, Emily. Take it easy with the alcohol," Janine uttered. "You know how bad your hangovers get. Should I just order ice cream for you? That should be a better option than liquor."

"Don't worry about it, Janine. I need something strong to help me forget about Joe for tonight," I said. "Then tomorrow, I will start picking the pieces of my heart gradually. Take care, you both. I'm hanging up now."

"Alright, bye, Ems. We love you and please stay safe, hm?" Janine replied.

"Love you too. I will try. Bye, Abigail." I said.

"Bye, babes. Take care of yourself." Abigail replied, to which I hummed before ending the call.

Thereafter, I downed the remaining alcohol in my glass cup before staggering out of bed.

I was now officially drunk.

Walking to my wardrobe, I grabbed the bag of lingerie that I'd been saving to wear on my wedding night.

"Guess I'm wearing you tonight," I slurred, nearly falling over nothing as I placed the bag on my dresser.

Then, I peeled off my clothes, leaving me to stare at my naked reflection in the mirror.

Giggling drunkenly, I took out the lingerieâ€"a black sheer one piece, which left little to the imaginationâ€"out of the bag and donned it.

My lips curved upward in an intoxicated smile, as I ran my hands down my body, impressed by how perky my breasts seemed, how small my waist looked, and how round my ass was, in the lingerie.

"Y-Your loss, Joe," I drawled, gazing at my reflection in the mirror. "You will never get to see me in this."

Thereafter, I grabbed my phone and took many pictures of myself in front of the mirror, before staggering to my bed and collapsing on the mattress.

It was then I remembered that I had to send a work file to the CEO of my workplaceâ€"Donovan Coleman.

With a blurry vision and a fuzzy mind, I sent the file to his email before giving in to the overpowering pressure of an alcohol-induced sleep.