Shattered Love

Chapter 2: When Past Is Never Past

Alexandra could not stop crying and weeping after what Nikolei had said to her. She quickly walked out of the house with Nikolei's maid saying sorry repeatedly towards her. She felt downhearted after the incident. She felt small, how her world had completely turned upside down when the love of her life detested her so much that her presence made him disgusted.

Where should she stay for now?

She sighed and slowly approach a building with a 'rent' sign hanging on the sign board. Despite the sadness that overwhelmed her, she was glad that she could find a place for her to crash for a while.

She was an orphan from the start and had no one to be called a family. Independent is what she was as she had to grow and faced the world on her own without anyone to support her other than the family she has at the orphanage. Despite the harsh world treating her badly, she was met with a handsome young man who had her hooked the first time they met.

She met Nikolei when she was in freshman year at college. Nikolei had bumped into her sending them off to the ground, laughing and feeling sorry at each other. From there, they started to hang out more often and and fell in love with each other. He was her light in her dark life. He was her strength. Everything was perfect from then.

She knew the Machiavelli family was very well-known in the outside world. Everyone respected the family as they held the business world in the palm of their hands. Despite all the wealth, his family never critique her background but instead accepted her openly and treated her just like their own family.

She admitted, it was her who had invited the dark clouds in his family. Her choices had everyone in jeopardy, but what she did was to safe his family from poverty because she knew how outside world was very judgemental and harsh. That time before the wedding, Nikolei was under stress as the company's life was in jeopardy when a few clients decided to pull out.

However, he had assured her everything was fine and reminded her how he was so ecstatic for their wedding to arrive. Just two days before the wedding, she had received a phone call and a letter stating that she has to leave and will not attend the wedding or else Nikolei and his family will face the consequences ─ bankruptcy.

Like anyone else, she was not to think about herself and be selfish but to think about Nikolei. She was not to become the only reason for his family to face the cruelty of the world. As an orphan, she had faced and seen many cruelty growing up and she would not let the downfall of the great Machiavelli clan to occur just because of her pathetic self. So, she decided to take her best friend's advice that is not to anger the man who had threatened her.

She ran away.

She wiped her tears and decided to pack her belongings in the closet. Thankfully, the apartment she had rented was fully furnished and the price was very reasonable although it was a bit small, but hey, who is she to complain? She was glad that she had save some money from her job at the bakery outside the state when she was a runaway.

For now, she will have to find another job to keep her life upright.

*****

Nikolei was fuming after meeting Alexandra. After all this years, she has the audacity to show her face in his house. He was glad that he had said those harsh words to her and seeing the tears had brought him pleasure and satisfication. Nothing could beat the hurt that his family had to endure. Especially the hurt that he felt when she left him. He was not himself when she had left, wondering what was wrong with him that could possibly made the love of his life pulled out from the wedding last minute.

"Nikolei, you are too harsh to that poor girl." His maid, Maria, said.

He grunted, "There's no such thing as harsh for her, Maria."