Chapter 1: He cheated on me with my sister

As the sun sank below the horizon, painting the city in a gentle orange hue, twenty-four-year-old Elena Dawnfire hurried to her boyfriend's, Alexander Cross's, fancy apartment, clutching a bunch of roses and a box of chocolates. She bought those gifts to give to Alex to celebrate that today is their 8th anniversary since they started dating.

She originally couldn't make it in time to celebrate with him because of work given to her by her father.

"Thank God my co-workers helped me finish it in time, so I could leave earlier than I thought," she said in her thoughts as she was in the elevator. "Since I already told Alex that I would be late, I am going to surprise him by buying these gifts and going to his apartment."

As she reached the door, she stopped in front of it and took a deep breath, "Calm down, Elena, you can do this. Oh!! I can't wait to see the look on his face when he sees this surprise."

With a firm knock, the door swung open, revealing a sight that shattered her world. There stood her boyfriend, Alex, with his arms around her sister, Sophia, in a very deep and passionate kiss. The sight left her breathless, frozen in shock. The door swinging open shocked them both, but after seeing that it was Elena standing at the doorway, their looks shifted to annoyance.

"Elena," Alex said flatly. "What brings you here?"

His words pierced her heart, causing her to drop the roses, and their thorns cut her right leg as they fell.

"I... I came here to surprise you," she whispered, barely able to speak aloud.

But Alex's cold gaze met hers with indifference. "Well, consider me surprised," he smirked cruelly. "Sophia and I were just discussing... family matters."

Elena quivered when she heard those words coming out of Alex's mouth. "Family matters. Is this some kind of joke to him?" Elena said this in her thoughts.

Elena could feel all the emotions, especially rage, welling up inside her as she started a Alex's face, wishing to give him a good slap on it.

"You... you dare stand there, and act like this isn't a big deal!?" Her voice shook with rage. "I supported you when you had nothing, when you needed help with your mother's medical bills, and when you couldn't afford tuition. I bought you this apartment, gave you everything, and this is how you repay me? By cheating on me with my sister!?"

Alex's smirk fell as he scoffed at what she just said. "Oh, please, Elena. Don't pretend you're a saint. You did those things because you wanted to. And if you want repayment, fine. I'll pay you back for everything. Then we'll be even."

Elena choked on her words as the pain in her chest slowly grew. "You... you think money can erase what you've done? Erase the years we spent together, the love I gave you?!"

Before Alex could reply, Elena turned to her sister, and as she spoke, her voice trembled. "Sophia... how could you do this? We're sisters, for god's sake. How could you do this to me?"

Sophia looked at her with indifference. "Stop being so dramatic, Elena. You should be happy for me. Alex and I have something real, something you could never understand. He's my happiness now."

Elena's heart hurt even more after her sister said those words. "He's... He was my boyfriend, Sophia. How can you be so heartless?"

But Sophia only smirked. "Jealousy doesn't suit you. Maybe if you focused less on resenting me, you'd find your own happiness."

Elena clenched her jaws to fight back tears and looked at Alex and Sophia. "Fine. You two morons are perfect for each other," she spat, then looked at Alex. "You have two weeks to move out. This apartment's in my name."

With that, Elena stormed away from the door while the tears slowly fell from her face.

After walking out of the apartment complex, still holding onto the box of chocolate in her hands, she slowly walks along the sidewalk in a daze.

She began to have flashbacks of when she was in high school and had a huge crush on Alex.

**Flashback begins**

Sixteen-year-old Elena was walking down the school corridor when she spotted Alex and his buddies talking while standing close to her classroom door.

"Oh my Gosh, it's Alex." She hid behind a wall at the foot of a staircase to take a look at him. "Look at him, he is so handsome and dreamy."

Just as she was thinking this, someone appeared behind her and said, "Spying on Alex again?" Spooked, Elena spun around and saw her cousin Amber Nightshade behind her, grinning.

Annoyed Elena whispered, "Shhh... I don't want him to notice that I am watching him." She turned back to look at him after saying this.

Amber sighed and then said, "Why don't you go over there and talk to him?"

Elena turns to look at her, "And say what, Amber? I have a huge crush on him and ask him to go out with me. I would be turned down hard if I did. His girlfriend is Monica Monroe, the school's number one beauty, and captain of the drama club, and her father is the CFO of ElectroNova Tech Company. There is no way I can beat her. All I can do is stand at a distance and watch."

She turned her head to look back at Alex, but he was gone. "When did he go?"

"Probably to his next class, the bell just rang. Come on, let's enter class before the teacher sees that we are not in it." Amber muttered as she dragged Elena into the classroom.

Flash forward 7 months later in the Flashback

It has been 3 months since Alex broke up with Monica and no one in the school knows why.

Under the hot sun, Elena and Amber are sitting on the bleachers with their umbrellas eating french fries and watching Alex and his team do soccer practice. While still watching, Elena asked Amber, "Did you find out why Alex broke up with Monica yet?"

"Nope. All I heard was that the break-up was neutral and hush-hush," Amber remarked before putting some fries in her mouth. " Well, whatever happened must have humbled Miss Spoil Princess."

A bit shocked Elena stopped eating, "Hey, you right. She and her cronies haven't bothered us in the past 3 months now."

"Yeah, and I hope it stays that way. I am very much persuaded to punch that girl in the face." Amber said this before looking at Alex and then at Elena. With a playful nudge, Amber continued, "Graduation is just around the corner. This might be your last chance to ask Alex out before he leaves for university and you might not see him again."

"I know, but I'm too scared. What if he rejects me? My heart won't be able to take it," Elena clutched her chest as she said that last bit.

"How about this, If he rejects you, I will buy you your favorite tub of ice cream and we will watch some anime to cheer you up," remarked Amber as she held out her hand.

Elena slapped her hand and then said, "OK, I will think about it."

The day Elena didn't get her tub of ice cream after she went and asked Alex out, he said yes. After that day, they continued to date until now.

**End Flashback**

While Elena walks along the sidewalk and reminisces about her past, she begins to laugh manically as she comes to realize that she wasted most of her youth crushing and dating a heartless scumbag who toyed with her heart and played her like a fool.

Just as she enters a nearby park, her phone goes off in her bag. After a while of sharing her messy bag, she found her phone, but it was her father calling. She sighed, rolled her eyes, then sat on a nearby bench and waited until the ringing stopped.

After a few minutes of silence, Elena listens to the ambient noise around her until her phone goes off again, but this time it is a message from her father that reads, "How dare you call your sister a moron. Come home right this instant."

She rolled her eyes once more when she read the message, then went into her contacts to call Amber. After two rings, Amber picks up, "Elena, how are you? Is everything okay?"

"Am (sniffle) No, I'm not OK. Are you busy right now? If not, can you please pick me up at Central Park? Please." Elena spoke as tears fell from her face.

"Hey, what's wrong? What happened?" Amber worriedly asked while grabbing her car keys.

"I will tell you when we reach your place. I'm at central park." Elena said, wiping away her tears.

Grabbing her coat and storming out of her apartment, she said, "OK, I will be right there."

Two hours later, Elena is in Amber's apartment dressed in a bear onesie, eating from a tub of ice cream while crying, "How could he do this to me and, with my sister of all people."

"it's ok, Elena; it's ok." Amber reassured her, "Well, at least you found out now so you wouldn't waste any more of your life with him."

"Seven years," Elena said, holding up seven fingers. "Seven years of my precious life wasted on him. I supported him for so long that I even gave up on going to the university of my dreams. I helped save his mother's life and this is what he does to me. He cheated with my sister and played with my heart."

She proceeds to shed tears and snot from her face before continuing, "I should have just chickened out instead of going to him and asking him out. If he was the one who got away, then I wouldn't feel so much pain right now."

"Elena, you're 24 years old now. You're still young and have a whole life ahead of you. Don't let this break-up with Alex ruin you," Amber said while holding Elena in her arms, then she froze, remembering something, "Now that you mention about back then, I found the reason why Alex broke up with Monica."

This statement from Amber caught Elena's attention, which caused her to stop crying. "Really. What happened?" Elena asked.

"Well, it turned out that Monica's dad was embezzling money from his company. He was arrested and ordered to pay back every cent to the company or face jail time. He paid it back, and everything was swept under the rug, but he was fired and no longer rich. I guess when Alex found out, he broke up with her," Amber said while sipping a glass of wine she poured for herself.

Before Elena could say anything, her phone went off with a message notification from her father, "Where the hell are you? Don't you think you can escape punishment after calling your sister names? Come home right now."

After reading the message, Amber angrily placed her wine glass on the table and then remarked, "I think it's about time you cut those people out of your life. You and I know very well that despite Sophia being the one in the wrong, you will be the one to get screamed at."

"I know," Elena said, "It's about time... Tomorrow, I'm going there to pack my things. Could you please come with me? I'll definitely need some support while there."

"Of course. anything for my little cousin." Amber said this while brushing Elena's hair aside.

They two talked some more later in the night before Elena fell asleep on Amber's sofa. She waited for a while before going to her room and calling someone on her phone.

After a few rings, the call connected, and then she said, "Hello, Miss Evergreen. The time has finally come. The hatchling will leave the nest."