Risen To The Top

CHAPTER ONE

Alex tapped on the screen of his phone, as he gently massaged his temples with the tip of his fingers,he could feel the stress weighing down on him heavily, he and his team had been working non-stop all week trying to finish off their project for the company.

The screen of the phone came to life at his touch,he heaved a sigh of relief, even though his team was short of a member they had managed to come this far in such quick notice,it was already late at night but he didn't care, he would have to take the long late night walk back home, even though he lived only a few blocks from the company, he had a lot to do, he hadn't heard from sarah for a week now,he barely saw her at work,he wondered if it was all because he was always busy and he never had time for the relationship.

The office door flew open, startling him as Jim ,his co-worker, ran inside excitedly.

"It's happening!" Jim screamed excitedly,he held his phone to his face as he screamed at the screen excitedly.

"What's happening?" Alex asked sullenly. Jim was always excited about any new entertainment update, he knew all the music stars, movie stars and always knew about any new buzz in their lives.

"Are you that off, Alex? How don't you know about Bruce's proposal?" Jim asked as he stared at Alex with a queer look on his face.

Bruce was the Ceo's son, and Alex had never liked him from the start, he was always a pompous asshole who was protected by his father's wealth and could get away with anything.

"I didn't know about Bruce's planned proposal…" Alex trailed off, he was already losing interest in knowing about the proposal, especially since it involved Bruce.

"Damn. He's so lucky, he and Sarah would make a beautiful couple." Jim continued as he did a little dance to his chair.

Alex felt a sinking feeling in his heart as he heard the name, his heart beat got louder and faster. Maybe he heard wrong, maybe it was someone else.

"S-Sarah?" He stuttered as he looked at Jim, hoping it would be another Sarah he was talking about.

"Yeah. Sarah… the one that joined our company a while ago," Jim continued, giving him the queer look again as he dusted his pants.

Alex sank back into his chair, his face was getting hot, cold sweat broke all over his body, his head was pounding, he could feel his heart slowing down. He was suffocating, what he just heard was suffocating him.

Their company was a large company. There must be at least two or more Sarahs, maybe Jim was mixing them up.

He gathered strength into his trembling legs as he slowly walked over to where Jim stood, watching the Live video excitedly.

Alex caught a glimpse of the screen and his heart stopped beating, his legs failed him and he saw himself falling to the ground, a million things running through his mind.

It was Sarah—And he had caught a glimpse of her kissing Bruce.

He hit the ground hard.

Sarah was his girlfriend, she was his first girlfriend! They had been dating since college, they had been in the same department and after graduation when he got a job with the company, she had complained about not liking the separation and about wanting them to be together again so she had asked him to help her work her way into the company too.

They had agreed to keep their relationship a secret and to take things slow so as to focus and work well in the company and be open to bigger job opportunities.

Sarah had taken the 'keeping the relationship a secret' serious so he had to follow suit. But none of these had stopped Alex from loving her, he had loved her from day one and he knew he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her.

He had been saving and preparing to propose to her at the end of the year.

"It cost sixty thousand bucks to stay there for a night!" Jim exclaimed, he had been so absorbed in his phone that he hadn't noticed what happened to Alex behind him.

"And an additional twenty thousand bucks for a nice meal..." Jim trailed off as he typed excitedly.

Alex mind raced back and forth, he felt cold sweat break out in his forehead and trickle down his neck.

How long has it been going on? How could Sarah do this to him? Why didn't he notice anything? Why didn't she tell him anything?

Maybe she was being forced! She was definitely being forced! Sarah would never do this to him.

Alex slowly propped himself back up, using the chair beside him as leverage, he had hit his head hard and now his vision was a little blurred, his head hurt from when he had hit the floor hard.

Sarah would never do this to him.

He had to go and meet her. He had to see her.

A new wave of strength flowed through his body, as he staggered to the door.

"I knew they would end up together! I mean… who dates for two months and breaks off everything?" Jim commented.

Alex had not noticed anything going on around him and was rather focused on the live streamed video he was watching. He tried to push everything he had heard out of his head as he stumbled out of the building, he could feel a range of emotions and he was beginning to lose control of each of them.

The air was chilly, it was already quite late and the cars on the streets had reduced, it was like any other night, only that this time he was not himself.

Alex flagged down a taxi and called out the hotel's name to the driver, saying the name almost choked him. He quickly touched his pocket in a mad frenzy, he had left his phone on his office desk. Luckily, his second phone was always in his pocket, he searched out the live stream on dukduk, it popped up immediately,the number of current views made his chest tighten, thousands of people knew about the proposal except him, if Jim hadn't come to the office,he wouldn't have known about it.

The hotel's restaurant was flashy, it screamed luxury, everything was out of his class but none of that could rip his attention as he stared straight into the screen, staring hard at Sarah, she didn't look like someone who was forced, she looked like she was enjoying herself well,

He hated to say it but she looked happy, she looked happy breaking his heart into a million pieces, she looked happy throwing everything they had! everything they built! into the trash.

His grip around the phone tightened,he couldn't bear to look away, no matter how much he tried to deny it, he knew deep in him that this was Sarah.

She was holding him romantically, he held her tight as he placed a kiss on her forehead and she returned it to his lip with the people present there cheering them on.

Alex could feel his stomach churning, his face was hot, tears rolled down his cheeks as he looked on, he wanted to see Sarah, he wanted to talk to her,even if it was for a minute, he wanted to just ask her why. Why was she doing this to him, why was she betraying him! why she was betraying everything they had.

None of this had to be true! he was probably dreaming! he had probably fallen asleep at work and was now dreaming!

This couldn't be real.

Alex looked at the screen and saw Bruce kneel down and bring out the ring. He stared hard at Sarah, hot tears streaming down his face.

He couldn't believe his beloved girl would cheat on him..