CHAPTER 1

   His grip on the rose flower he held was shaky, tears gathered in his eyes and he blinked them back and bit his lower lip. 

 He had been staring at his mother’s grave for the past hour or so, he hadn’t been present at the hospital when she kicked the bucket because he had been at a job interview. He didn’t end up getting the job anyway.

    His phone vibrated in his pocket and he sniffled, before shoving his hand in his trousers. He brought out his phone and a glimmer of hope shone in his eyes when he saw that it was an email from a company he had recently applied to.

   “Oh, finally,” He mumbled and turned away from his mother’s grave.

As he opened the email, the smile that was slowly spreading across his face dropped instantly. His eyes bulged out of their sockets as he stared at his phone screen in abject shock.

  He saw the first words; Dear Keith Miller…

Then his eyes skipped to the last sentence; …we are deeply sorry, but…

    “How?!” He heard himself scream and his voice reverberated through the silent cemetery. 

He managed to regain his composure and looked at the message more closely. How did he get rejected again? He was sure his application was by far one of the bests, how couldn’t his first-class degree from Harvard get him a job? It’s been almost two years now and his promising future seemed to be going down the drain.

   “What the hell is going on?” He wondered bitterly as he dropped the rose flower dejectedly on his mother’s grave.

His father had died on the day of his first job interview about two years ago, and his only brother passed away a few months after that. His mother’s death meant he hadn’t been there to see any of his family member’s last seconds and he felt horrible. He allowed the tears roll down his cheeks when he couldn’t contain it anymore. Why was this happening to him?

    “I’m so sorry…mother…” He sniffled and turned away from the grave.

An alarm suddenly rung, making his phone buzz crazily. He frowned as he left the cemetery and then his eyes widened when he remembered what the alarm was for. He knew it! He had been forgetting something! 

   He checked his watch, it was almost eight PM. Today was his three year anniversary with his girlfriend, Annie. She was the only person he cared about in the entire world now. Everyone else was dead, he loved her whole heartedly and there was nothing he wouldn’t do for her…if he could.

   His heart suddenly raced with excitement…and panic. Panic, because he hoped dearly that as he was going to visit her, her mother wouldn’t be present. Annie’s mom developed a fierce hatred for Keith a few months after he graduated.

    She had always been nice to him until his struggles for a job started and his value before her eyes started to depreciate until absolutely nothing was left. Keith knew this and a few times, she had publicly embarrassed him for not being able to carter for Annie’s needs and wants, but Keith believed that Annie believed in him and would always stay with him. That’s why his love for her had grown without boundaries.

   He rushed into a mall and headed to the counter with a small cake and a bouquet of flowers. His heart sank as a feeling of self-loathing washed over him, he hadn’t been able to get a complete bouquet of flowers to pay his last respects to his mother but he was literally spending his last penny on anniversary gifts.

  Keith frowned at his thoughts, why use more money to mourn his dead mother than to celebrate his girlfriend? He wasn’t doing the wrong thing. He struggled to convince himself that as he got to the cashier.

     “That would be…” The cashier said.

Keith pressed his lips together, “That would be all I have, you mean,” He mumbled to himself and passed his credit card across the counter.

   He walked out of the mall with a sad look on his face, what was he going to eat the next day? He had no idea. At least he had saved up some change for a cab, which he boarded to Annie’s apartment block. 

   He plastered a smile on his face after he emptied his pockets to the cab man and began his walk into the building. Annie’s apartment was on the last floor, he took the stairs so he could have more time to prepare what he would say to her.

   He kept reciting it in his head, “I know I do not have much, Annie, but I will give everything for you…I will work hard and…” He sighed and shook his head, “No, not good enough.”

   As he got to the last floor, Keith was more confident. All he had to do was convince her to stick with him for just a few months and things will surely get better for them.

  He was walking into the hallway when he suddenly heard loud, feminine moans coming from one of the apartment. He listened for a few seconds, the lady was literally screaming,

    “Oh God! Fuck! Yes…right there…don’t stop!”

Keith shook his head, Annie would definitely need to move out of here when he got a job, he thought. Her apartment was at the end of the hallway and as he kept walking, the moans only grew louder and louder and his heart began to thump madly as a realization slowly set into his head.

  As he arrived at her door, the moans continued and he knew that those sounds were coming from her apartment, but he didn’t want to accept it.

  “Oh yes! Fuck me harder, Greg!” Her uncontrollable moans made his bones shake as a chill ran through his body. 

    There was no mistaking her voice anymore. That name, Greg, he remembered her getting on a phone call two days ago and mentioning his name…His girlfriend, the only person left in the entire world who he could turn to, was cheating on him?

   “Annie?” He called shakily.

The bouquet fell out of his hands.