Probably

Chapter 11

Nightmare And Fairy-tale

Antoine

I flew to Paris taking the first flight. I stopped at my parent's house to keep Mia with them because I honestly didn't know what I was about to face when it came to fighting for my love. I didn't know whether she was single, dating, or worse married. I didn't know whether she would say yes or she would hand me down another brutal and painful rejection that I would not be able to recover from. But what I did know was that no matter what, I had to try.

I went to Veronica's house. I was scared to go up and ring the door bell, fearing that a strange man might open the door which would break my heart. The need to win her back, gave me the strength to go up and at least stand in front of her door. I raised my hand to ring the bell but it immediately went down because deep within I knew I couldn't face the rejection that she would offer, yet again.

I knew if things didn't go right, I wouldn't be able to resume back to my regular life. I knew nothing would be the same if things went the other way. I hadn't spoken to her in over a year and now all of a sudden, I dared to stand in front of her door, asking her to spend the rest of her life with me. I could literally feel the my heart screaming out and my brain and body shutting down slowly out of fear. I realised, that probably it was better if I forgot about this plan and went back to Spain and slowly and steadily forgot about her too. It would be the harder way out but it would surely be the safer way.

I started walking away from the door when I heard it open. I turned behind to see a small girl walking out of it. She seemed to be older than Mia by a few months. Seeing her made me think of the worse- Veronica was probably married and this was her child. I didn't know what to do. I froze in my place with tears filling my eyes. I wanted to leave before my thoughts were proved right, before Veronica came out of the house but I couldn't. I didn't want to disrupt her stable life again by waltzing my way in her life. I didn't want to hurt her anymore because I knew she still loved me and seeing me now would probably break her completely. I had to escape but I didn't know how.

The little girl came up to me and flashed an innocent smile. I returned her a smile which was honest and innocent just like her. She caught hold of my hand and dragged me towards the house. I didn't know why she was doing that because I had definitely never met her before. She took me inside her house and showed me a picture. It was the one from the wedding, where Veronica and I were looking into each other's eyes while standing in the crowd with the others.

That day was still fresh in my head because both Veronica and my life had changed its track and had now taken us far away from each other. It was a day filled with mistakes that couldn't be repaired ever. It was the worst day of my life.

The little girl pointed out to me another picture of Justin and me in school camp. She was showing me other pictures of me with Mary, Justin, and veronica when a deep masculine voice spoke- "Antoine?!?!"

I turned around to see Justin standing there wearing a black Armani suit. I wanted to ask him a lot of questions like where was Veronica, what was he doing in her house, where was Mary, whose kid was this, was Veronica married etc, etc. but before that was possible, Justin spoke very sharply and rudely- "You're alive!! I thought you were dead or at least I was hoping you were. You have obviously come for Veronica so that you can break her heart again. So, I'll save you the pain and the effort by informing you that Veronica no longer lives in Paris. She is engaged to Alex, who happens to be a better man for her and a better best friend than you ever were. She may not be as happy as she might be with you but Alex, undoubtedly, is the safer and wiser option for her. She is getting married in a month."

I felt like I couldn't breathe listening to his words. I realised that not only had I ruined my chance of ever being with Veronica but I had also spoilt my brotherhood with Justin. Probably, Veronica was right about staying away from me. Probably, I did bring nasty drama in her life or anyone's life for that matter. Probably, I wasn't the one for her and probably, she was better off without me. I needed to control my emotions but I couldn't. I was too weak to stop my tears from flowing down my face hysterically. I couldn't understand how I had managed to let things get this far such that I ended up hurting myself. I needed her now, more than ever, but I would never be able to be with her and the thought of a life without the possibility of her being with me was definitely painful.

Justin sympathised with me a bit and gave me a glass of water. He was about to say something when Mary came out and stopped him. She, instead, opened the door and said harshly with a great deal of anger- "Please, I beg of you, do one thing right in your life, for once, and don't try to find her or show your face to her. Don't try to meet her ever again if you genuinely love her. And one last thing... leave and don't show your face in my house again." Saying just so much she slammed the door on my face.

I left from there not knowing what to do now or where to go. I felt lonely and lost all of a sudden. I remember Veronica telling me that the kiss she had shared with Alex meant nothing to her. Then how is it that she was getting married to him? I so lost that I really was blanking out. My world was breaking down and I didn't want to feel this destruction in me.

I needed to calm myself hence I went into a coffee shop. I sat there crying hysterically with everyone looking at me. I hated being famous now because there was absolutely no privacy in my life anymore. Everyone kept observing me as if they had never seen anyone cry before in their life. I put my hoody on and continued racking with sobs and tears.

A few hours had passed and it was getting late. I had still not left the coffee shop and I had still not stopped crying. I kept looking at Veronica and my pictures together over and over again. Nothing seemed to be adding up. It seemed as if someone had pushed me from the Burj Khalifa and there was no one to save me from crashing to the ground and dying. I had received a message from Justin which had 'emergency' written as the subject. I opened it immediately to see an invitation to the Forbes award ceremony. I had forgotten that Justin was the VP of Forbes.

I read the message further and it revealed that they wanted me to present the award of the youngest and most influential person. It struck me that Veronica would be there. I wished obviously to go and meet her and present this award to her, in case she won, but Mary's word resounded in my mind and I stopped before agreeing to the invitation. Just then I heard a familiar voice. I snapped out of my thoughts to see who it was. At the counter, giving her order, was my ex-girlfriend Crimsyn who was buying brownies. I hid my face immediately making sure she absolutely couldn't see me. I seemed to be good at hiding my face for she left without seeing me.

I saw her standing outside the shop, waiting for her uber probably. As she stood there waiting, I wondered if she ever thought of her own daughter. I couldn't understand how was it that she didn't even care to see her once. Crimsyn seemed to even more cruel than me because she was responsible for Mia to not get that motherly love that every girl wishes for. All these thoughts suddenly made me extremely angry. It helped me to stop crying but it made me terribly angry. I was about to go out and confront her but I saw her kiss a man outside. It was probably the man she left her own daughter for.

They seemed happy and in love. I didn't go out because I didn't want to spoil another happy relation because of my selfish reasons. I sat back once again thinking about my misdeeds, when the man kissing Crimsyn walked in the store. He ordered a coffee to take away. I continued hiding my face from him even though he probably didn't know me. As he waited for the order, he turned around to see the café.

I saw the man's face clearly and I was shocked to see his face. I couldn't believe what my eyes were seeing. I felt bad for the girls linked to him because I couldn't understand which one of them he was playing.

It was the same green eyes that had stolen my girl from me at the wedding and it was the same eyes that had stolen a mother from my daughter. I wanted to beat the shit out of him because to be honest, if I was responsible for the sorrow in both Veronica and Crimsyn's life, then he was responsible for the pain and agony in mine. I had made a lot of mistakes in my life but this time, I was going to do the right thing and make sure to win this dirty battle that Alex was playing.

I sent the mail to Justin, accepting his invitation. I walked out of the coffee shop taking an oath- I would be Alex Greenhall's worst nightmare and Veronica's fairy-tale.