The Rise Of Jonathan Hazel

CH. 1 (Betrayal)

A young man arrived at a restaurant with so much excitement, pushing through the double doors that led into the restaurant as he looked forward to an evening of pure bliss, a reminder of a journey that started on that same day two years ago with his beloved wife.

It was the evening of his second wedding anniversary with Elina, and despite his humble means, Jonathan had made an attempt to make the evening memorable, reminding Elina that he valued her as his wife and was ready to do anything to make sure that the marriage stayed the way it was no matter the opposition that were thrown at him from Elina’s parents who never supported the marriage from the very beginning.

But as he stepped through the door, his breath caught up in his throat, the bouquet of flowers he was holding, dropping from his hands at the sight before him.

This was supposed to be a special evening for him and Elina, but to his surprise, every member of the Jackson’s family was present, a crowd he had never expected to meet at the restaurant.

His eyes fell upon a table which was adorned with candles and flowers, a perfect setting for a romantic evening, but it was obvious it had nothing to do with the evening he and Elina had planned to have together.

From where he stood watching in surprise, still trying to understand what exactly was going on, he saw Nicholas Ray, the son of billionaire Ray, and one of the most eligible bachelors in Venice City get down on one knee, a dazzling diamond ring in his hand, a heart-warming smile tugged at the corners of his lips.

"Will you marry me?" He heard Nicholas say, the crowd around them cheering and Elina's eyes sparkling with excitement, looking ready to say yes.

Jonathan blinked, rubbing his hands over his eyes just to be sure he wasn’t imagining things. This was supposed to be the evening when he and Elina would reaffirm their love for each other, reflecting on their shared struggles, their little wins and promising each other never to give up on what they already have.

“Say yes,” he could hear from the crowd as they continued to clap, waiting for Elina to give her reply.

At that point, all Jonathan could feel was the pain of being betrayed as he watched Elina smiling like there was no marriage anniversary to celebrate with him that evening.

Unable to stand the sight any longer, just before Elina could accept Nicholas's proposal, Jonathan burst in, his voice cutting through the cheers.

"What do you think you're doing?" Jonathan shouted, his anger palpable.

The room fell silent, all eyes turning towards him. Elina looked up at him, her expression shifting from surprise to disdain. "What does it look like I'm doing?" She sneered. "Of course, I'm moving on from you. I'm tired of your endless poverty.

Nicholas, still on one knee stood up slowly, his own irritation evident in his facial expression. "The nerve of you to interrupt such an important gathering." He snarled.

"You'd better stay out of this," Jonathan warned.

“What are you doing here?” Jacob Jackson, Elina’s father asked, irritated by Jonathan’s presence whom he believed had come to ruin a perfect evening.

If there was one thing he didn’t want to happen, it was for Jonathan to ruin his chance of being a beneficiary of the Hazel Forbes Initiative.

The Hazels were the most powerful family in the whole of Venice City, and to mark the death and burial of the grand patriarch of the Hazel Empire, some of the members of the Hazel family had decided to throw open an initiative that could afford few families within Venice City to become beneficiaries of the initiative, and since Nicholas was also from the top families in Venice City, he had promised to have the Jacksons family included in the list of the beneficiaries on the condition that Elina would become his wife.

And since Jonathan wasn’t meeting up as the son in-law which they wanted him to be, they had given their approval to Nichols’ proposal, and since Elina was also tired of the difficult life that being married to Jonathan had plunged her into, she too, had agreed to the proposal, and hence, the meeting that evening where Nicholas would propose to her in the presence of friends and families.

“E…Elina, please don’t do this?” Jonathan’s voice crackled with emotions. “Remember everything we’ve been through,”

“Oh shut up!” Elina snapped, “Will you fucking shut up!” She screamed, irritated by Jonathan’s presence. “What have you been to me since we got married? Every day wherever I go I'm taunted and sneered at because I have a delivery boy for a husband! You unashamedly parade yourself around, living off my family like a leech! I can never present anything worthwhile to my friends and say my husband got me this! I can't proudly introduce you to anyone as my husband and you're so comfortable in your situation, it makes my skin crawl!”

Jonathan blinked, moisture filling up his eyes.

This is what Elina thought of him?

“I've… I've been trying Elina. You don't know how hard… I've really tried.

“Tried? How?” Elina barked at him.

“I had really made plans for the two of us tonight, to celebrate our marriage anniversary. I made arrangement for a cruise in a yacht. Look, here are the tickets for the two of us,” Jonathan dipped his hands into his pocket and pulled out two tickets.

Everyone present burst into laughter, especially Nicholas who found Jonathan really funny.

“What exactly is there to celebrate you fool?” Elina snatched the two tickets from him and tore them to pieces right in front of him.

“Two years of humiliation?” She spat, “And what is one measly yacht cruise going to do? Is it going to make you worthy of me overnight? So because of one stupid cruise, I should suddenly be okay with the fact that my husband is a penniless idiot?”

Jonathan blinked, dumbfounded.

“This is… what you think of me?” He felt as though he'd just been doused with a bucket of dirty water. He felt so humiliated. 

Elina’s mother, Patricia snorted and snickered. The few other guests present cleared their throats subtly.

“Urgh!” Elina shot him a very angry look.

“What do you have to say for yourself now?” Patricia sneered in Jonathan’s face, her breath coming directly on his face.

Jonathan’s eyes widened and he moved back, coughing.

Patricia gasped, “Oh my God! What a petty pauper! Are you trying to insinuate that my breath stinks?”

She landed a hot slap on his face. The slap landed on Jonathan’s eye causing him to stagger and wince in pain. 

Patricia gestured for the guards to beat him up and throw him out of the restaurant, and they complied, raining blows on his entire body. Jonathan groaned and grunted in agony as Nicholas barked at him angrily, kicking him brutally as the guards dragged him out of the restaurant.

All Jonathan could hear as he was being dragged out of the restaurant were the laughter of every other person. He couldn’t hold back the tears that trickled down his face as it eventually dawned on him that the two years he had been married to Elina didn’t mean anything to her.

While he was still at the mercy of the guards who were deriving pleasure in raining blows all over his body, Elina appeared and dumped a big brown envelope on his chest, and gestured angrily for him to open it.

Jonathan coughed and struggled to sit up. He opened the envelope and pulled out the contents and it was a divorce document.

“This marriage is over!”