Chapter 1: The Betrayed Protector
The wind howled through the barren streets, carrying a sense of impending darkness. Chio Seongchol stood alone, his heart heavy with the weight of betrayal. For years he had dedicated his life to love, family and friends and where has that left him? He felt since he was blessed with so much it was only right he gave out so much but at what cost? All that is left is him questioning everything he had believed in.
As memories of happier times flooded his mind, Seongchol couldn't help but feel the sting of deceit. The faces of those he had trusted, the voices he had held dear, now seemed tainted. He had been the shield that guarded them, the one they turned to in times of need but now he was left to bear the burden of their betrayal.
In his mind's eye, Seongchol replayed the moments that had shattered his world. The friend who had conspired behind his back, the lover who had traded their bond for personal gain and the mentor who had used his influence for nefarious purposes. Each betrayal had struck a blow to his soul leaving him with scars that went deeper than any physical wound.
As he walked through the deserted city streets on that cold rainy night , the weight of his disillusionment seemed unbearable, the signs were there but he was too blind to see them. The once vibrant and lively world around him now felt cold and desolate, mirroring the emptiness within his heart. The darkness crept closer, threatening to overwhelm and consume him whole.
He sat down at the bus-stop drenched by the rain, his body unable to feel the cold on his skin as his heart was a lot colder than anything his body was experiencing, he looked up to see the last bus for the night coming. He remembered going to the office with his car but right now his mind could not seem to figure out where he had left it so he hoped on the bus and struggled to pay as his wallet was soaked in the rain but he finally paid and got in. The bus was rather empty save for two high school students at the back probably returning from a night academy and a young lady who looked like she finished late from working overtime. He took a sit in a corner and laid his head back the weight of everything he had heard today replaying in his head.
His secretary had brought the wedding invitation to him and the moment he saw the look of shock and horror on her face he had known instantly something was wrong. He did not want anything else adding to his worry as he was already worried enough not hearing from his fiancée who was supposedly on a trip to the US and his best friend and confidant who was also going on a business trip to the US. He had called his best friend's father and mentor when a week past without hearing from him and he had refused to answer the call.
He took the wedding invitation and a sense of dread filled him, he opened it and saw that it was a wedding invitation of his fiancée and best friend and instantly his world had collapsed. He had looked up at his secretary and asked her what kind of pranked it was and she had assured him it wasn't a prank and it was all over the news.
As if their getting married was not enough the business deal that his best friend was supposed to help he close abroad he had gotten a call almost immediately from his foreign friend abroad and they told him his friend had gone behind his back and stolen his clients.
He closed his eyes and folded himself to a corner as tears poured down his eyes matching the rain falling outside and for the first time since the incident he just let the tears pour unable to stop them anymore, his heart just could not bear the sense of betrayal and he cried so hard but no one in the bus heard him as they were on their earphones.
He almost missed his stop but got himself as the young students pressed the button to stop bringing him back to his senses. He quietly alighted the bus right after them and walked in silence to his house. with each step he took, Seongchol vowed to tread cautiously, to be vigilant in discerning friend from foe but is it really that easy, if it were that easy he would not be in the mess that he is right now.
On getting to his gate he saw his car parked outside and then he remembered what had happened to his car. His driver was driving him home that evening when suddenly it started to rain and he could no longer control the pain in his heart and he had ran outside and taken the subway to his fiancée's house to confirm from her and his best friend had opened the door thinking he was the delivery guy and immediately shutting it on the realization that he was the one at the door and he had stood there banging the door like a mad man until someone had called the police and the police had escorted him out.
Never in his life could he have imagined something like this happening to him, he opened his car and took his phone then went inside his house and into his bedroom undressing himself and leaving the clothes on the floor as he walked into the bathtub and sat down inside the hot tub hoping the hot water would somehow warm up his cold heart. He opened his phone to see so many missed calls from his mother especially and his elder sister, the two people who never approved of his fiancée after she had ignored his father's burial to attend a friends wedding in Singapore. He knew what they were going to say and he was not ready to hear anyone scolding him tonight. Thing more about his father's burial he realized his best friend had also gone on a business trip to Singapore and he was also not around for his father's burial, now the pieces of the puzzle was beginning to fall in place.
He scrolled down his phone and saw a message from his fiancée telling him how sorry she was and how she fell out of love with him a long time ago but never had the courage to tell him how she found love again in the arms of his best friend. 'That lying bitch he shouted throwing his phone away, the emotions he sought hard to forget building up inside of him again.
Seongchol got out of the tub tying his bath robe and heading to the fridge where he got a wine band picked up a glass walking bare footed to his room and bundled himself into a corner on the floor. He found himself retreating into the solitude, seeking solace in the shadows. He was going to build a wall around his heart determined to shield himself from further pain. Love, trust and vulnerability became foreign concepts to him , distant memories he could no longer afford to indulge in. The once vibrant protector has become a hollow shell, his spirit dampened by the bitter taste of betrayal.
Despite the darkness that sought to engulf him, happy memories he had shared with both his friend and fiancée enveloped him and he found himself unconsciously smiling as he slowly sipped his wine. As he found himself between despair and resilience, Seongchol knew that the path ahead would be treacherous. The scars of his past would not be easily forgotten, but he can refuse to be defined by it.
Seongchol sat down there sipping his wine his sadness turning into anger, he would rise again determined to reclaim his purpose and find solace in the truth. If he let what is happening to him define him, the only person that would lose would be him and he was done losing, he was going to take back all they've stolen from him and everything they hold dear. He would make sure they experience double the pain he had to go through in just one day and triple the lose he had to sustain.
He went into the bathroom and picked up the phone he threw away in anger, luckily it fell on the soft rug and it was not broken and he walked back into his bedroom dropping the wine glass on the bed table and sitting down on his bed he turned on his phone and realized his lock screen was a pictured of his fiancée and he went ahead to change it first then he proceeded to call his secretary noticing she had also left him a tone of miss calls and she picked almost immediately.
'Please sorry to disturb you this late at night' he said after she picked up, 'but I want you to set up a board meeting at the earliest time possible tomorrow'. 'Okay sir' his secretary replied 'that won't be a problem' and he hung up, flinging the phone on the other side of the bed and lying down letting go of all that was weighing him down and allowing the tiredness and sleep to take their place.
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His fiancée and best friend seems to be having the time of their lives not aware of how they have caused someone so much pain, or they were aware but chose not to be bothered by it, as long as they were happy nothing else seem to matter, but they have no idea what's coming to them.
Karma is a bitch and this bitch was wearing silhouette and had a pitchfork.
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