Chapter 1

"I think you look just perfect!" Sil tugged Jim's plain suit for the very last time, with an awkward smile, greasing his face.

"You don't have to lie to me in the face!" Jim snapped back in a low tune.

He lets out a nervous exhale, he wishes he could believe those words... However... He peaked at the clothes and sighed again.

He had spent all his savings from his numerous jobs on this, even borrowing money from his closest friends, Sil and Dale.

Yet, it could never match up to those that were worn but those rich suitors.

"Karen is going to accept you. We all know that she ain't a materialistic person. Or she wouldn't be with you in the first instance."

Dale shoved Sil aside and tugged his shoulders presenting the ring.

"Here you go. Make us proud."

Jim was about to let out another nervous nod when the sound of his rumbling stomach echoing in their ears suddenly interrupted him.

He had not eaten for three days, saving up for this moment when he was going to propose to the love of his life Katherine.

"Just make sure to eat when you get there! But at least leave some for the lady!" Sil yelled after Jim as he walked away, to finally get this done. He was pretty nervous.

In the cab, Jim could not let out the thoughts of his beautiful Karen from his head. A sheepish smile greased his lips.

Back then, when Karen still played in dust, his grandfather before his death would always call her in and feed her.

They had fallen deeply in love with each other and this love had kept them going. Even at the advent of his grandfather's death, she finds her real middle-class parents and his scholarship into the same school as hers.

The hate that he got from the rich and privileged of Raver's varsity was enough to pull him down but he never gave up, I mean, Karen was there and that was all that mattered

Soon he would be a graduate, offered a standard, high-paying job by the school's stakeholders after successful completion of his scholarship program, get to settle down with Karen, and build that perfect family that he had always dreamt of.

So lost Jim was in his thoughts that he didn't even realize that they were already there.

"We are here already!" The driver scowled angrily, hissing like a deadly snake at Jim.

"If you can't offer a tip as small as a dollar! Then you shouldn't be using my cab as an excuse to seek a roof over your head!" He scowled.

"I was just coming down!" Replied Jim with a trace of disgust on his face.

Drivers like that never liked poor-looking people like Jim who could not offer them a good tip.

Jim soon forgot all about him as he stared at the magnificent building of the two-star restaurant that he was able to afford.

But the high structure and perfectly glazed building still laughed at his ordinary-looking self. However, the seaside reservation that he had made was going to make up for the second-class hotel that he had gotten.

The students that stormed by, mostly members of the high-class community shot mocking gazes at Jim.

"What's Jim the trash can collector doing in a badly tailored wedding suit!"

"Just maybe he is going to propose to a lady!"

"Propose?" Another lady scoffed with spite at such words like she was going to punk. "Even a dog isn't going to accept his hand in marriage!"

Being one of the places where Jim worked part-time, he was able to take a path to avoid the scrutinizing glares and reducing remarks that he was getting from the crowd of students, finally having his seat at the beautiful, crowd-free, and peaceful seaside reservation that he had made.

Jim's heart raced in his ears, and so did the loud beep of the clock that seemed to grow louder. Sweat trickled down his face like a body of water.

'After almost seven years together, there should be no reason for her to say no right?' Jim thought.

One minute, thirty minutes, two hours. Jim waited patiently for Katherine but she didn't seem to be forthcoming.

His heart raced and ripples formed all over his skin as possibilities raced in his head.

"Maybe she's just caught up with something!" Jim thought with his breath coming heavy bricks as he filed excuses for her, two hours after the time that had been agreed.

The beeping of Jim's phone forced his pulse into a sudden jolt, his heart dropping to the bottom of his feet as he quickly reached out to it, with the thought that it was Karen.

His eyes however fell with disappointment when it turned out to be Miss. Red, his boss, and in the wake of this disappointment, Jim snoozed his cell phone, falling asleep on his seat after another hour of waiting.

Until. "Bang!" A sudden bang on the table snapped him back into the reality before him and Jim's heart froze, one thought clouding his mind that he could not even see the person before him.

"Did Karen come already and meet me sleeping? Forgiving myself would be a word that would be scratched off from my dictionary forever." Jim's heartbeat raced after at the moment.

Until his eyes interlocked with the blazing glare of his boss, Miss Red. Her lips tightened into a hateful glare.

"So you have been wasting away here while I took out my time to call you. And without my tracker, I would never have found out that you were.

Where did you brew such audacity?" Her face was as red as a tomato, filled with fury and disgust.

While Jim tried to stay calm, his words broke into a sudden stammer.

"I'm off work, Miss Red. And I have dinner with someone very important!" Jim tried explaining, but her face only maddened more with rage.

"Someone?" Her eyes glazed around.

"If it's you and your stink you are referring to, I couldn't help but agree more with you!" Her nose twisted, trying hard to control the hot angry air that hused out of her lungs.

"And what do you think that I even care about a piece of garbage! We have an emergency and you are needed at work right this instant!

Don't make me repeat my words! You shouldn't need someone to remind you of the consequences!" Miss Red hissed, stomping off from the place in an instant.

She expected Jim to be crawling right behind her as always. But when she didn't hear any footsteps, she paused, turned, and froze, seeing Jim still sitting.

He hesitated a little, his body quivering over with fright. This was the first time that he was disobeying his boss, no matter how badly she had treated him, he always obeyed her without a second thought.

In the city, it wasn't so easy to get a job, especially a lot of students from other poor universities looking for part-time jobs.

And throwing the one that he used to keep his body and soul together wasn't going to be such a wise decision.

Jim and Miss Red's eyes interlocked. Her eyes widened with shock as the rage boiled through her skin.

Jim on the other hand shivered even more. Torn between his job and his girlfriend. He couldn't leave, not when Karen was yet to arrive.

"Tell me that you have gone deaf!" Her brows arched in disgust.

Jim's heart ached.

It was like someone was squeezing into it with a metallic hand.

"I very much registered everything that you said, Miss Red. But unfortunately, I can't leave here!" Replied Jim.