Yours To Keep [Completed]

Chapter 3: A New Beginning

Running on the treadmill for the last hour and a half, River had his earpods plugged in to block the outside world. He did not once slow down his speed as he kept racing on the machine. Sweat dripped down his face like a broken faucet, soaking his t-shirt that stuck on his defined body like a second skin. His heartbeats were sprinting away like the speed of light.

It had been two months since the break up and now summer was officially over. Another school year commenced, and now River was in his final year to complete his MBA degree. He never imagined that his life would have been uprooted because of the girl who stole his heart and left it in shambles. Even now, the aching in his chest was constantly stabbing at his heart, reminding him of the horrid sight he might never forget. The couple of weeks after the heart break, River couldn't sleep at all because the moment he closed his eyes, all he could see dancing behind his eyelids were Lynn's euphoric face as she was wrapped around another man. The images disrupted his sleep and flooded his waking thoughts that at one point, River decided to focus all his attention in football.

River was always known to be a strategic player, but since the break-up, he withdrew himself and instead transformed into a ruthless player on the field. His teammates were stricken by the change and all of the opposing team now trembled in fear. His play tactics were impulsive and with every game, his attacks became more abrupt and violent. During his most recent game which was about three weeks ago, he pulled an offensive move that was fuelled in anger but this time it resulted in him losing the ball which caused the team to be set back. Scolded by the coach, River was called off the team for a while and was asked to "get his sh*t together" as the coach so eloquently framed it. Until then, he was not allowed to participate in the sport. His teammates all tried to cheer him up by calling it a 'mini vacation' but little did they know that football was the only thing that was keeping him together.

And now that, that was taken away, he knew of no other way to release his frustrations other than to lean towards hitting the gym. His work out regime increased significantly for the past three weeks, doing more cardio than usual.

As he kept running, the music dimmed and his ring tone replaced the beats from the incoming call. Glancing at his phone, he saw that Jacob, his childhood best friend was calling him.

"Hey man, are you still working out?" Jacob voice followed through as soon as River accepted the call.

Grunting out his response, River declined the speed on the treadmill so that he can catch his breath. "Yeah, I should be done soon."

"I still can't believe that you actually travel for 40 minutes just to work out when you could easily do so at school or even at home." River could easily imagine Jacob shaking his head.

Yes, he could have worked out at Haldenbridge University especially when it had one of the best gym following closely behind his own built-in gym at home. In fact, for the first week after being rendered incapable of playing football, he was hitting the gym at the university. But when words about his break-up spread like wild fire and with his temporary leave from football which only caused to add fuel to that fire, people started looking at him differently. As though he was the crazy one. The girls crowded him like vultures circling their prey and the guys either called it his lost for letting go of Lynn or welcomed him back to the single life, shoving girls in his face.

It was those moments that utterly pissed him off. Though more pissed at himself than everybody else. How could he not have seen Lynn's true colors? How could he have fallen for someone he thought he knew but in reality was all a facade? And with all the sympathy Lynn received since no one knew of their reason to break-up, he began to loath his double-faced ex.

The video was unknown to the rest of the world with the exceptions of Jacob and Mackenzie, his childhood friends, and his parents. River was close with his parents despite running an Empire. True, his parents were busy as the business did take up their time but he had never felt casted aside. His parents had always ensured that they spent quality time together. And being the only child to his parents also ensured that he was spoiled by his parents. He was, after all their love child.