Ellen Grater walked with bold steps into the Haven Hotel. She was dressed in a navy blue dress that stopped at her knees, and her brunette hair cascaded down her back in lovely curls. Despite the casual wear, her height and elegant V-shaped face added to her appeal, as many heads turned in her direction.
With a confident gait, she moved through the lobby of the hotel in silver heels, hoping the horrible information she had received was not true.
“Luke just proposed to Emily,” read the text sent to her phone an hour ago.
Ellen had learned that her ex-boyfriend of two years, who had broken up with her two weeks ago, had just proposed to another lady! Emily!
She walked into the elevator and pressed the button to the fourth floor. The surprise proposal was said to be taking place at the private restaurant at the hotel.
Stepping out of the elevator, she moved down the hall towards the private restaurant. On her way, she came across an elderly woman struggling to open her door and looking almost frustrated. Having had a soft spot for elderly women because of her neighbor, Mama Anderson, she couldn’t leave the woman helpless.
“Hello ma’am, Is something wrong?” She asked, seeing the woman leaning against the wall.
“Oh dear, I can’t seem to open my door, and I’m so tired of standing,” the woman replied.
“Okay, let me try it again for you,” Ellen said, taking the keys from the elderly woman. She noticed the woman was holding the key to room 122, and she was standing at the door to room 115.
“Oh, I think your room is still a few doors away,” she said to the elderly woman, smiling at her. The elderly woman was suddenly frantic. Noticing this, Ellen reached out to take her hand and assured her “Not to worry, I’ll escort you there; it should be just around the corner”.
She helped the woman to her door, assisted her in opening the door, and ensured she got into the room.
“Oh dear, thank you,” the elderly woman said, grabbing Ellen’s face.
“You’re welcome, ma'am,” she replied.
As she turned to leave, a middle-aged lady rushed into the room and said, "Mrs. Warner, I’ve been looking for you.”
“Oh, Mary, this young lady here helped me,” the elderly woman said.
Turning to Ellen, the lady said, “Oh, thank you so much”.
“You’re welcome” Ellen replied, and she added more quietly “you need to be more vigilant so she doesn’t go off on her own”.
Smiling one last time at the two, she left the room and headed to the private restaurant on the same floor. Upon entering, she noticed a section of the restaurant was decorated with flowers, and there were petals on the floor around the center table, which was the focal point of the decoration.
The couple were none other than Luke Willer and Emily, her ex-boyfriend and his new fiancée. Summoning all the courage she had left, she walked up to their table.
“Look who’s here,” she said, smiling at them. “Hello Luke and Emily, how are you?”
“I heard Luke proposed to you tonight; congratulations,” she said to them.
“Ellen, what are you doing here?” Luke asked as he looked around, hoping no one was paying them any attention.
“So this was why you broke up with me, and to think it was for Emily,” Ellen said as she glared at the two in front of her.
“We can explain, Ellen; we never meant for any of this to happen,” Emily told her.
Oh, really, is that why you were ashamed to tell me you were dating my boyfriend behind me?” Ellen glared at her.
The attention of those around them was beginning to be drawn to them, and Luke was becoming uncomfortable. He had a few of his colleagues in attendance, and he didn’t want anything to taint his reputation.
He moved closer to Ellen and whispered, “You’re causing a scene, Ellen; let's take this outside.”
She laughed hysterically, turning to look at the faces of those who had gathered around them. A few faces she recognized had a shocked expression on their faces. A few of them were her colleagues; she pretty much worked with a lot of them across various departments.
“What do you think is going on?” Ellen heard someone say in the crowd.
“I have no idea, but it looks like Luke’s mad at Ellen right now,” another person replied.
Ellen, let’s talk outside,” Emily said, grabbing her hand.
“You all enjoy the rest of the party,” Ellen said as she was pulled away by Emily.
“Ellen, I know you’re hurt, but there’s hardly anything you can do about this,” Emily told her as soon as they were outside.
“Ha ha...” feigning a half laugh, Ellen fired back at her, “You’ve got some nerve, you know.”
“You had the audacity to cheat with my boyfriend, and you’re not ashamed of it”.
“These things happen okay, so don’t come and spoil this for me; after all, we’re like sisters.” Emily smiled wickedly as she turned and headed back to the restaurant.
Appalled at what Emily had said to her, Ellen stood there, shocked. She was hurt that Emily had felt no regret for what she had done.
Emily met Luke at the door and said to him, “Go pacify her, Luke; whatever you need to say to her, say it.”
“I don’t want her spoiling this for us; it was your idea to keep dating her all this time, so go fix it,” she added as she returned to the party.
Seeing her standing at the end of the hall, Luke ran to her.
“Ellen, let me explain,” he told her, touching her shoulders.
“I do not need your explanation; I just need you to answer one question: how long has this been going on?” she asked him.
Flipping a hand through his hair, his frustration was evident as he replied, "Ellen, please, let's not do this.”
“Drop the act, goddammit, and answer the fucking question!” Ellen yelled.
Resigned to his fate, he yelled back at her, “A year, okay!"
"There you have it. Are you satisfied now?"
Ellen staggered at his answer: How has she been that gullible and blind? They had deceived her for this long, and she had not noticed.
“One year! A whole fucking year!” she shouted. “You betrayed me with my best friend”.
“She is my friend, my best friend, Luke,” Ellen shouted at him.“I love her, Ellen; I know it’s hard to accept that right now,” Luke told her.“Accept that you betrayed me and kept stringing me along like a fool for the past one year?” She asked him as tears pooled in her eyes.“You were dating my best friend for a year, and then you broke up with me two weeks ago,” she shouted at him.“What were you expecting that I wouldn’t know?” Ellen said, pointing at his chest.“We were going to tell you; I knew you’d react this way, and that's why I didn’t tell you,” Luke said in his defense.“I’ll do whatever you want, okay, anything to help you adjust to this,” he told her.“Could this night get any funny?” Ellen said, tears rolling down her face as she laughed at his statement.“All you care about is your reputation and what people think about you. I should have realized what a bloody liar you were all this time,” she said as she pressed the elevator button.Ellen, don’t go doing anything fu
He advanced towards her and touched her face as he bent his head and whispered, “Quite the audacious move; never let me see you anywhere around me ever, or you won't like what I'll do to you,” the handsome stranger said to her. Ellen watched him walk away, wishing the ground would open and swallow her.*******“Have you seen her?” Alex Gilbert asked Mary, the caretaker of Mrs. Warner, wife of the late Paul Warner, founder of Warner Haven Corporation.Yes, I have; she is in her room now; a young lady assisted her,” Mary informed Alex.“Come with me; Mr. Warner is at the club; he’d like to hear it from you himself,” Alex said to her as they walked towards the club.*******Leo Warner is the CEO of Warner Haven Corporation, the fastest-growing hotel chain in the country.He was the only grandchild of the Warner family, and at thirty years old, he was in charge of the company.Today was a memorable day for him as he was finally made CEO and was now in total charge of the company. He has f
The next morning, Ellen had a hangover as she rolled out of bed. “Oh my god! Fuck,” she cursed under her breath.Ellen could hear the hustle and bustle of the city below; her apartment was situated on the third floor of the building. The sound of cars from the street below flowed in easily with the wind through her open window. She held her head with both hands as she stood to go use the restroom.Her phone vibrated on the bedside table, and without looking at the screen, she picked it up.Ellen, what was that about last night?” Luke said as soon as she picked up the call.“Why in hell are you calling me?” Ellen groaned, holding her head as she made her way to the bathroom.“You barged into a party you were not invited to and embarrassed me,” Luke said almost in anger.“You should have thought of that in the first place; you’re the one who broke up with me and proposed to my best friend,” Ellen told him.“This is probably why you have always wanted to keep our relationship secret,” El
Looking through her email for the hundredth time, Ellen sighed and flung herself onto the bed.“One, two, three,” Ellen murmured as she mentally counted the number of applications she had submitted. Staring at the ceiling of her apartment, she screamed, raising both hands and legs in the air to let out her frustration.“I need a job, anything,” she screamed into her pillow.Most of the applications she’d submitted were long overdue and had received no response. Her rent was almost due, and to top it off, her mom had another therapy session coming up.Ellen had worked at the Titan Consult in Manhattan for three years; that was where she had met Luke.“The one you had least expected had resulted in an interview,” her mom told her at dinner later that day. The last application she had made was for the position of secretary; at least she’d had a virtual interview for that already.“I know, mom, I just wish others would move as fast as that was,” Ellen said to her mom, frustration etched o
Oh my God! Ellen hissed under her breath, bowing her head and trying to shield her face."My new secretary?" Leo asked Alex to be sure he had heard him right. His voice resonated with anger mixed with amazement."Yes, Mr. Warner," Alex stuttered as he answered. He wondered what was going on.Ellen stared at her feet. She had no idea what she was supposed to do or say."You mean her?" Leo asked, pointing at her, "You’re joking, right?" Leo said he was facing Alex."There seems to be a little confusion, sir. If you could tell me what's wrong..." Alex trailed off, not sure how he was supposed to phrase his confusion about what was going on.Ellen raised her head to look at him. He stared straight at her, and his deep blue eyes had her transfixed. He looked really pissed.Leo stood up from his desk and walked to stand right in front of it, his hands in his pockets. Turning deep blue, angry eyes at her, he silently, under his breath, said, "Get out!"Ellen panicked. Glancing between Alex a
The universe was at a standstill as Ellen watched Leo, holding her breath as she listened. The table had turned in a way she had not expected. How was he even the CEO of the only company that had called her back and offered her employment? "Very well then, the first would be..." Leo said, trailing off at the last word. He smiled and stopped mid sentence, making her nervous as to what exactly he had in mind. "I can’t really read them off to you now; you are going to wait outside while I have it drawn up." Leo said, taunting her. He knew she would never agree to sign what he had in mind, and he was ready to watch her give up. "Okay sir." Ellen agreed; her earlier confidence not so evident now. "Yes, and be ready to sign whatever it is; as you said, you’ll do anything," Leo reminded her. She looked determined to see this through. She must really need the job; we’ll see about that, Leo thought. "If you’ll excuse me," Leo said, pointing towards the door. "Yes, of course, thank you, M
Her hands clenched in fists, her brow raised, and her voice seethed with anger as she said "Get out!". Too angry to move from the door of the bathroom, water dripped from her skin and pooled on the floor. Standing at her door was Emily, the betrayer and backstabbing friend. "I won’t repeat myself," Ellen said again, struggling to calm herself. "I would gladly do that, Ellen, except your mom asked me to drop by," Emily said, not the least bothered. Taking a deep breath, Ellen moved towards her wardrobe, not facing Emily. She said "Then you should have told her we weren't friends anymore". Emily turned towards the door and placed a hand on the handle as she said, "I guess you haven’t told her." "Leave Emily and never come back here, ever," Ellen replied with a hard voice, her shoulders rigid as she tried to control herself. The silent click of her bedroom door closing was the response she got. Later that night, Ellen barely ate her food; she had lost her appetite. The visit from E
"Ellen, come to my office now!" came Leo’s voice from the other end. His hard tone didn’t help. She could feel her heart about to burst out of her chest. On trembling legs, Ellen walked into Leo’s office. Alex was seated with Leo at the lounge on the left side of the office. "Ms. Grater, come sit here," came Alex’s voice, shaking Ellen out of her frozen state. Oh no, what am I going to say? I totally forgot to go through the document yesterday, Ellen thought to herself as she sat beside Alex. Leo turned to her, his face rigid and void of emotion as he said, "Ellen, we will be making some important changes to the plan for the forth coming meeting with the board." With a trembling voice, Ellen managed to answer, Okay, sir." Glancing in Alex's direction, she saw he was not paying them any attention but was instead engrossed with something on his laptop. "The meeting has been moved; it would be taking place here on Monday, so I need you to make arrangements with other departments,"