01
Kate Evans’ POV:
I am an 18-year-old, who has faced a lot of hardships over the past few years, from losing my parents in an accident, to managing my parents’ business, to dealing with my uncle who is also my guardian, who wants to seize my parents’ business, to going to college, to complete my basic education.
I have faced all of my hardships with a strong front only to seek comfort from Freya Bailey, when things go overboard or too much pressure to handle. I have known Freya ever since middle school, and she has always been my best friend and a good companion.
In the next few days, it will be my convocation. After the graduation ceremony, I am supposed to attend the celebration banquet before leaving for Edinburgh, where the headquarters of ‘Evans Holdings’ is situated.
I looked at Freya, “I love him, Freya, but I don’t have the confidence to confess my love to him.”
Freya looks at me, “You have to, dear. This is gonna be your chance and if you miss this chance, who knows if you will ever have another chance. What if some other girl gets ahead of you? You are not the only one who loves him, dear. There are too many girls who are making eyes at him.”
When she says that I’m not the only one, I feel bad, “I’m not like the other girls and you know it. I love him not because of his looks or his background, I love him for the person he is. How can you compare me to those girls?”
Freya accepts, “You’re right. You are nothing like them. They are all making eyes at him, either for his looks or for his background. After all, he looks hot, and he is a millionaire. Almost all girls who are making eyes at him want to live a comfortable and carefree life by depending on a man’s wealth. But you, on the other hand, are an independent girl who owns a business, matured and talented at such a young age.”
“Thanks to my parents for being overprotective of me and keeping me within their sight, that I learnt how to manage and run the business,” I scoffed.
Due to their ‘not letting out of my sight’ attitude, I was brought to various official meetings. My curiosity has always been bad that I heard every single conversation in the meetings and asked about it to dad and mom, at home, when I didn’t understand anything.
“Good for you,” said Freya. After thinking for a few moments, “What is wrong with you? You are always so confident and straightforward, why are you not feeling confident this time?”
“I am always confident when I know what the other party’s next move will be. Here, I am not confident because I don’t know what his next move will be,” I answer honestly.
“Obviously, his next move will be to bang you,” Freya was flippant.
“Shut up!” I snapped.
“Oh, come on, dear, you are such a beauty and you don’t even want to accept it. Look at you, 5.8 feet tall, brown-eyed brunette, sexy body. How would any guy control himself from the urge to bang you?” Freya was as shameless as ever.
“You are too lustful,” I remarked.
“And you are too pure. How come you don’t lust?” Freya commented rhetorically.
“That’s because you have taken over my share of lust too,” I mocked and she nodded thoughtlessly. But when it did sink in her, she threw the pillow at me.
xxxxx
Today is my convocation. Freya begs to dress me up, and I let her do whatever she wants to, as long as it’s appropriate.
We then head to the hall to attend the ceremony. Once the ceremony is done, it was the celebration banquet. I was surrounded by people as soon as I entered the banquet hall. While some congratulated me, some others proposed to me one after another. I smiled wryly at Freya, and she helped me escape from the crowd and led me to a table.
Freya was encouraging me to confess, and I decided that I would confess right after I finish with my lunch. I took my time finishing the plate in front of me.
With as little confidence I mustered, I walked halfway only to stop when I heard a girl’s voice from aside. I turned to find an unfamiliar face. She wasn’t from the same college.
The boys who were surrounding Jacob had excused themselves and scattered in every direction when she called out his name. The girl had walked up to Jacob and hugged him, and they both kissed.
Freya who had been at the table had also seen this and asked one of the guys, who had been surrounding him moments ago, about the girl. The guy revealed her to be Amelia Jones, Jacob’s childhood sweetheart and fiancee. He also mentioned that they are gonna get married in 3 months.
I was stunned for a while until Freya reached out to me. My mind was blank, and I slowly walked backwards in disbelief. When I turned around to walk out of the banquet hall, the waiter holding the champagne glasses on a plate, bumped into me.
The champagne was all over my dress and the waiter was continuously apologising, I shook my head, “It’s fine, it’s not your mistake,” and left the hall. Freya walked with me in silence. We came in my car, but I was neither in the right mood nor in my full conscience to drive home, so I decided to leave by taxi.
When we reached my home, I slouched on my sofa. “Are you okay, Kate?” she sounded nervous. I was not okay. I was sniffing and taking deep breaths to calm down. When she wrapped her arms around me, I lost control and ended up crying.
“Jacob, he was never available. He has been engaged all this time and I,” I said and sobbed before continuing, “I am a fool to have fallen in love with someone who is already engaged. This wasn’t supposed to happen. This is not how it should be. Why?”
Freya kept giving me tissues and said, “It’s not your fault, Kate.”
“Why did he keep his engagement a secret? Why did the guys keep it a secret when they knew? If they hadn’t kept it a secret, I would have never fallen in love with him. It was never my place and I would never think of coveting other’s place. It was that girl, Amelia Jones’ place. It has always been hers, and here I was trying to confess to him to get her place. This has all been a mistake. A mistake from the very beginning,” I hugged Freya.
