Faded

Chapter 1

Maybe all this time, they were the ones meant for each other? Maybe his happiness was meant to be with Cassie and not me?

Reality hits hard. Brandon, the man I love, my fiance, got another woman pregnant. Not just any other woman but his ex, someone he loved for years.

My gaze drifted off until it fell on the framed photograph of us. My sobs stop but the shattering of my heart persiste realizing the life we've built together, the future we always wanted together. It's all slipping from my hands like sand.

What happens now?

I have to be strong, that's what I'm telling myself for him, I have to.

"Are you fucking crazy Cassie? You told Skyler!" Brandon's face turned red, he had just arrived and now he's already scrambling to get up from his seat most likely to find me. Cassie grabbed his arm but he swiftly shook off her hold.

"I haven't even had the fucking balls to tell her what I did! What happened to us! Jesus-" his hands rush harshly through his hair.

"I'm sorry! I didn't know she worked at that hospital!" Cassie cried, covering her face.

"When she heard I was there for a check up, she personally saw that I was taken care of. Afterwards she insisted we got coffee. And we ended up talking." her voice faltering. Brandon's eyes stung. Typical of her to go out of her way to make sure Cassie got taken care of. God, he doesn't deserve her and she sure as hell didn't deserve all this hell he was giving her.

"She is so nice, and caring. I see why you love her so much." Cassie's gaze fell onto the carpeted floor of her apartment. Brandon's glare softens, tears glistening on them as he takes a shaky breath.

"The guilt was eating me alive. I couldn't keep it together. I ended up bursting into tears and begged for her forgiveness." She whimpers, burying her face in her hands, falling on her knees.

"I'm so sorry, Brandon."

Brandon closed his eyes, brows knitting together with a sigh, he walked over to her helping her up, taking her to the near by couch.

"Me too." his voice was low, head hanging.

"I have to go. I'll call Nick to stay with you." Cassie simply nods watching Brandon leave her apartment tears still streaming down her face, hands protectively cradling the small bump on her belly.

When Brandon arrives home, relief floods him when he sees her car still parked out front. The alarm chimes as he let himself in but the house was eerily quiet. He found her in bed, lying on her side, facing away from him.

He walked warily to the bed and sat at her feet. He doesn't know how to start. Shame and guilt making him choke on words that were unspoken. Brandon wanted to touch her but right now, he knows he doesn't have the right to.

Then he hears it, her soft sniffling timed with the shaking of her shoulders. Someone might as well punch him in the chest because that would feel so much better than seeing her now and how badly he's hurt her.

"Skyler? Can we talk?" Brandon doesn't recognize his own voice but continues.

"Please, bubbles." He watches her struggling to hold in her sobs, his brows furrowed deeper.

"Sky?" he tries again this time she nods, wiping her face refusing to meet his gaze. She got up from the bed, Brandon reached for her but she walked right past him. Confused, he followed her out of the room and into the kitchen.

She got herself a glass of water, downing it in one go filling it up again before sitting by the dining table. Her fingers traced around the film of moisture that formed around the glass, her eyes falling on the engagement ring on her hand.

I stalked towards her, standing there, frozen behind the kitchen island for a while, not really knowing what to do with myself.

I can see her clearly now. Her face held a blank expression but the sorrow was screaming behind her hazel eyes. He wanted nothing more than to take it away even if it killed him.

She trained her gaze on the glass in her hands knowing her heart wouldn't take seeing his face without being reminded of the betrayal.