It was sharp eight in the morning when my phone rang with Xavier’s friend group calling me strangely. As soon as I picked up, a strange mocking laughter filled the background.

“Shut up! She has picked up already!” I ignored the words as a hush fell in the background.

“Aria, well we called to apologise for that day, we realised that our joke went too far, you will not hold it against us will you?

Now that the misunderstandings have been cleared up, how about you hurry up to Hotel Marionette on the beachside, where we are hosting Xavier’s bachelorette party.”

They did not let me speak at all and just like that the phone was hung up.

An hour passed and here I was, standing in front of the Marionette Hotel’s room to end it all for good.

The waitress working at the front looked at me with a fake smile and. I instantly felt something was off.

“Miss Aria Valarie right? Ah, your friends said that they have planned a great surprise that you will never forget in your life, please go on the second floor..”

“Okay.” Walking upstairs as soon as I pushed the giant door a little, my heart completely froze in horror as I watched the scene through the small crack.

The entire hall was decorated with framed photos of babies with thousands of small toys and balloons of pink and blue colour.

It was a gender reveal party with Julia and Alexander standing in the middle surrounded by Xavier’s friends and as they were in the middle of cutting an exquisitely dressed cake.

I almost lost my balance as I heard the next words leaving Julia’s mouth.

“Thankyou so much for coming to my baby’s gender reveal party! Xavier and I are going to be parents soon.

But! Is it a baby girl or a boy?! Everyone take a guess.”

“Boy!”

“No, a baby girl would be good! I will absolutely adore my daughter.”

At that moment my fists clenched hard as I simply stared at my boyfriend of ten years celebrating the beginning of a new life as he left me behind giving me untreatable scars.

Once he had said the same words of wanting a daughter that would look like me and now her was ready to not only throw me away but also forget me like I was a nonexistent pest.

The cake was soon cut and a blueberry chocolate filling came out making the hooting louder yet I could see a small disappointment flash across Xavier’s face for a moment before it was gone.

“Xavier! You are going to be the father of a son! Congratulations man!” James congratulated the two before his eyes darted around looking at the guests to find me absent.

“Aria did not came. What would that witch take to leave Xavier.” He gritted his teeth to which another female interjected.

“She is like a fucking vampire trying to extract the last drop of value from Xavier. He got lucky to have Julia or she would have bled him dry. After Xavier is married tomorrow we will show that woman her proper place.”

So this was what it was all about.

With that in my mind I turned around with a small smile on my face.

Just like they have given me a great gift, how could I not want to repay them.

I called Xavier’s group chat with a false happy tone.

“Aria we organised a party for you but where are you-”

“You did? What a coincidence, I organised a party too.

I am on the first floor with Xavier’s top investors as my guests, they are almost here so hurry up with Xavier. You don’t want to make them unhappy do you?”

A deafening silence engulfed the group of friends as they looked at one another in horror as they realised the meaning of my words.

“Aria…you, we cannot, Xavier is so busy-” James who was a part of the call had a scared look on her face as I laughed heartily.

“Then do you want me to tell the investors the same thing? Bring him here. NOW.”

Xavier who was at the background heard the commotion and realised his friend’s had planned to bring me here to break it off to me that I and Xavier were done and his eyes glared daggers at them as if he could not wait to skin them alive.

“Tell Aria we are coming.” Xavier said his eyes glaring at all the people present while Julia clenched her fists hard.

Not only the gender reveal party was completely stopped for now but it would be almost deemed as spoiled.

And just like that, at the end she was still the hidden mistress.

Just as I had guessed it took Xavier twenty minutes to wrap up the party completely and come to the first floor as directed.

With Julia holding onto his arm he was followed by the entire group of friends with traces of anger on their faces.

Entering inside the lights were dimmed, casting a golden tint on the walls. And there was a display of our entire life on the walls.

Our photographs.

Dozens of them, framed and pinned and strung across the room. Candid shots I had taken of mine and Xavier over the years.

Photos of us. At the park, in winter snow, under fireworks. And amidst everything in the center stood something that Xavier once considered his most prized possession.

A small teddy bear with one crooked eye.

A small, almost unintended laugh left his mouth.

“Carnival” he whispered. “To think I once won this for her. Aria has kept it preserved for so many years.”

He barely touched it when more than fifty guests entered, many of them were close investors while others were shareholders and managers at Avalon Enterprises.

Xavier saw me standing right across from him and the atmosphere froze as he realized that I had publicly announced our relationship.

smile as the investors sat

Yet the next words made me stumble back in horror as I clutched my mouth hard.

“What the actual hell is this?” Xavier’s voice sliced through the atmosphere as he whisper yelled at me.

“Why are you here at all and to think you decorated my party with these stupid photos!”

‘Stupid’

“Why? You don't like it?” I said with a serene smile.

Xavier’s words stung me hard yet I maintained a composed face.

“Aria! You broke into a hotel room to throw a creepy nostalgia fest and you dare ask if I like it?”

“Xavier please” Julia stepped in, her voice trembling. “I…I was actually the one who invited Aria. Y-Yesterday it was because of me that there were so many misunderstandings between you two…”Julia came infront of me with a smile yet the deep chilling smile in her eyes could not be mistaken at all.

“I think Aria had set up the photos to surprise you.” Xavier’s anger spiked instantly as he glared at me pulling Julia to his side as if afraid that I would harm his innocent woman.

The gesture alone was enough to devastate me once yet now I only felt numb.

“Julia, have you forgotten that you were almost harmed yesterday?! Aria has been bullying you and you still try to make peace with her?” Xavier asked as his cold glare fell upon me.

“You are taking Julia’s side as if she is your girlfriend not me.”

I spoke with a volume which made the people pause and look at Xavier and me all of a sudden making Julia suppress her anger.

“No..how can you misunderstand everything Aria. Xavier please,the thing about Aria pouring coffee all over my head was an accident. Please? This party is important for us-”

Before Julia could complete her dramatic speech she was blocked by Alan Sanders, the young billionaire who invested heavily in top market companies.

“Mr. Stone, is it true that Miss Aria is your girlfriend? I had long thought to invest a billion dollars into your jewelry enterprise after seeing the previous masterpieces created by Miss Aria.

What stopped me previously was the fear that she would resign anytime and my funds would go to waste. If both of you are a couple then when Miss Aria marries you my investments can remain in safe hands, so is it true?”

Xavier couldn’t answer.

This moment felt bizarre, he was surely going to marry Julia tomorrow so why was he not able to tell proudly that his wife to be was Julia Lest and not me?

He felt strange when was he not able to tell me on my face that he wanted to break it off.

“We have the same question Mr.Stone.”

A glimmer of guilt of not marrying me even after a long relationship of ten years stomped on his heart as Xavier’s eyes locked with mine for a moment as they softened making Julia who was looking at everything watch our interaction with bloodshot eyes.

“Aria is a very important person-”

“My involvement with your investment with be difficult Mr. Sanders. Only a few people know that those jewelry worth millions of dollars were explicitly designed by me. I have no patent rights on those pieces and in future if I take their references or launch new pieces in their collection anyone can blame me for stealing from others.”

“I will give you the rights of the jewelry that you designed.” Xavier said suddenly feeling like he should at least compensate me this much, afterall I will be his employee even if he marries Julia.

With a call to the office he asked the manager to immediately transfer the patents to my name.

While he was in the middle of talking about the deal with Mr.Sanders, a sudden boom resonated throughout the atmosphere and the power supply was suddenly cut off completely with an electric spark.

“Xavier! The smoke..I-I cannot breathe.!” It was at that moment Xavier rushed to the side of a crying Julia who was standing next to my burning photos with Xavier.

“The photos-” I whispered only for Xavier to snap at me.

“Some weird old photographs and a torn teddy bear are not worth risking Julia’s health! Stop this party at this moment!”

My heart went numb as I watched the things I decorated go up in flames.

Within the chaos I saw Xavier embracing Julia in his arms tightly as he rushed out of the hall with her while leaving me behind with our memories burning to ashes.

“I won at last.” Those were the words Julia mouthed with a small smile as I was left alone behind like a joke.

“Ugh! Aria, since the party has ended so poorly, what to do? We will leave you to clean this all up okay?” Xavier’s friend said, pretending to be sorry.

“Aria, we actually wanted to apologize for anything rude that you witnessed today. You know how Xavier chrishes Julia right?

You can almost mistake them to be a loving couple with you as third wheel coming in between them.But don’t worry, today is your day and we all want to congratulate you!”

The investors heard in silence with hesitation as these close ‘friends’ offered their ‘encouragement’.

“Finally after ten years of relentlessly pursuing him, Xavier has announced he will marry tomorrow at the Grand Phoenix Chain of Islands which are absolutely the best wedding destination in the country.”

I listened without a trace of emotion when a female voice chimed in.

“Aria, tomorrow is such an important day so we booked a limo to bring you to the wedding at the right time okay, now even if Xavier hasn’t explicitly mentioned in the announcement that you are the bride, how can he not recognize your worth after ten years and marry another?...It is definitely you.

That dress that you ordered those stylists to prepare, wear it tomorrow and I will even lend you my makeup artist if you need.”

A small snicker resonated in the background as I could imagine how fun it must be for them to make a fool of me.

“Alright.” I said with a disinterested smile.

They soon left and everyone soon followed outside while looking at me, who was standing in the middle of the ruined party with sympathetic eyes as the firefighters put out the fire.

I was going to turn away when Alan Sanders approached me with a smile.

“Miss Aria, I am ready to invest two billion dollars in your business.”

“Mr.Sanders, I am really thankful for your offer but as you can see how our relationship has unfolded, I am neither going to marry Xavier Stone nor I am a part of Avalon enterprises anymore so it will not give you any benefits. If I take your money like this, I am afraid you will despise me.”

“How dare I, a mere investor, despise Aria Valarie.

That ‘man’ who has promised to marry you tomorrow, your suitor will skin me alive.” My eyes widened when Alan mentioned the bigshot who promised to marry me tomorrow

“Sister-in-law these two billion dollars are not my investment but his. Unlike Xavier Stone that man has faith in your talent and buisness skills.

I just asked you if you will marry Xavier Stone earlier just to test you. Afterall ‘that person’ will go to any lengths for you. He wanted you to regain all your patent rights on the jewellry that you gave to Avalon Enterprises for free. He will never let you be wronged.”

A small chuckle left my mouth as I laughed with a tear trailing down the corner of my eyes. I loved Xavier for so many years yet he always took advantage of my innocence and naivity yet the bigshot I was so afraid of was always supporting me no matter what.

“Sister-in-law this is a ‘small’ gift for your birthday.”

With a flick of Alan Sander’s fingers a servant came forward to present a velvet blue box containing a blue sapphire crown worth tens of millions.

“This…no..not possible…this is the crown of an Empress from previous dynasty! How can I take this national treaure so casually?!”

It was at that moment a message beeped on my phone.

[I am looking foward to our wedding little bird. I hope you have accepted the crown for it was brought out of the national treasury for you, if you dislike it I will have it immideately thrown into the sea.]

A small smile covered my lips.

Overbearing but so cute.

[I will wear it well- Aria]

Goodbye Xavier Stone.

I and you are done from this moment onwards. All the memories are gone just like our relationship.

That night before the wedding when Xavier returned to our shared apartment to take his things he was shocked to find that all of my belongings were gone.

Soon, a deep sense of frustration engulfed him thus he could not help but call to ask what kind of tantrum was this and to warn me to not make things difficult for Julia or he will not forgive me.

It was only when no matter how many times he called, his number was always disconnected did he looked at the phone in a sense of rage.

“Aria blocked me? Isn’t she afraid that I will not like her anymore?!”

But before he could think me anymore, Xavier received an urgent call from his assistant.

“Mr.Stone there is terrible news! The Grand Phoenix Group of Islands have rejected our request to hold your wedding there. They are saying that it is already booked by another person!”

Xavier’s eyes narrowed as a dangerously cold laugh left his lips, never in his ten years of rise has his request been rejected once.

“Tell them it is Xavier Stone who wants their islands.” He spat through gritted teeth.

“But sir then your identity will be revealed and all of the media and paparazzi will rush there! Earlier I-I did just as you asked and booked your wedding under an anonymous name but-”

“I don’t fucking care, just, tell me it is Xavier Stone and they will come wagging their tails like a dog. I don’t have a habit of hearing ‘No’.”