10 Years Ago

The next few days came and went in a breeze. Belle was constantly in a daze. She kept remising back to the time spent with Jay. She constantly was thinking about Jay. Belle didn't know if it was a rebound love or what she was truly feeling for Jay. Little did she know that what she felt was going to last forever.

Jay was in a world of his own. Humming to himself happily, he was glad he found Belle, he was glad he had another chance at love. For 10 years he was single, devastated and had given up on love.

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Flashback to 10 years ago.

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Noelle, the first and last girl Jay called girlfriend. They met when they were in the last year of their university. It was in a library. They both were reaching for the same book when their hands met. Since then, they were always together.

It was a joyous and great time for both of them. They spent every moment they had together. Jay really thought Noelle was the love of his life and was ready to make her his wife. They even opened a shared bank account and Jay bought them a house to live in. Although Jay contributed 100% to the account, he never minded as she was the love of his life.

After graduation, Noelle found a job as a marketing executive in a local firm and Jay went on to help his parents. As both were busy with their new jobs, they spent lesser time with each other. But whenever Jay met up with Noelle, his heart grew founder of her.

Jay understood as a new employee, they would have to strive and put in a lot of efforts. As usual, Jay gave Noelle a call and hand delivered her favourite Lobster Roll with Truffles for dinner as she was working late. After delivering dinner to Noelle, he decided to hang out with Shiela as she just got back from her Around-The-World Holiday.

They both met up at Ice Bar and sat in their favourite booth. As they were catching up with each other, they could hear a group of girls giggling in another booth behind them. As the seats were high, the neighbours were not visible to each other.

There were 4 voices but one was particularly familiar. It was Noelle's. Jay was stunned and decided to double check if she was still at work. So he sent her a message, "Babe, are you still at work? It's getting late. Do you need me to pick you up?"

Noelle replied, "Hey darling, I'm still at work and I have a conference call in 10 minutes. No, you don't have to pick me. I drove to work today. Ttyl, gtg. Meeting starting soon".

A crease drew across Jay's forehead. Shiela could tell what was going on and immediately took out a pen and wrote on the napkin and signalled Jay not to say anything. They were going to listen to the girls conversation.

First Girl, Jane: Noelle, your boyfriend is so caring. It's so late and he is checking up on you. (Giggling sarcastically)

Second Girl, Iva: Yeah, he's like a puppy dog following you everywhere. You got him tied up within your hands.

Third Girl, Janice: Have you fallen in love with him?

Noelle: Girls, girls girls. The only thing that I have fallen in love is his money. Oh well, you know I also had to put in a lot of efforts getting him to notice me. Else how would I easily get my student loan paid up, a house and even USD 3 million in my bank account. Now all I need is to get him to marry me. Oh did you know his mother has this ring, which is a 5 carat pink diamond. I have my eyes set on that. Once I have us legally bonded together, I can divorce him and officially have half of his family wealth. I'll be set for life. Me and Scott then can spend the rest of our lives together.

Jay had a shock and couldn't say anything. Scott was his assistant. His family paid for his education and offered Scott a job. He realised that Noelle and Scott had made a fool out of him. Shiela was so angry that she wanted to whack the life out of Noelle but Jay stopped her. Instead, he planned to take everything back from her.

He returned to his parents house and informed them of what happened. His parents and sister had a shock as they thought she was a nice girl. His father was so angry that he wanted to fire Scott and Noelle on the spot.

Noelle didn't know that the company she was working in was one of the subsidiaries of the Pierre group.

The next day, Noelle went to work not knowing a storm was coming.

First thing Jay did was to transfer back the house to his name and close down the bank account. Although the sum wasn't large to him but he did not want the gold digger to have a single cent of his.

Then he called the cleaning crew to pack up Noelle's stuff and placed it at the condo's reception area. Later in the evening, Scott was fired under the pretence of selling company information (which was true).

Meanwhile, Noelle, was out for tea with some colleagues. As they frequent this bakery near their office, Noelle was trying to swipe her card but it kept getting declined. So she kept calling Jay but he didn't pick up. She sent him a text message and the reply she got was "When you get back later, pass it back to me and I'll look into it". She shrugged it off and paid in cash.

But when she got to the office, she was called in by the HR and told to pack up her stuff and leave. Apparently, she claimed salary for working overtime but she was never physically there. She abused the system and was fired for it.

Feeling devastated, she headed back to their place but at the entrance, she was not allowed to head up to the condo. Angrily, she said to the guard and receptionist, "Do you know who I am? I can end your life with just a snap of my fingers! I am the daughter in law to the Pierre family!"

As she was kicking up a scene downstairs, the receptionist called for Jay.

Shiela was with Jay as she knew how he was feeling. Jay headed down with Shiela and they heard Noelle proclaiming herself to be the future daughter in law of the Pierre Group.

"Ms. Noelle Schumers, since when did you become my fiancée or even the future daughter in law of the Pierre group?"

Noelle was stunned at what Jay said. "Darling, what's going on? Why won't they let me up. I am tired. I just lost my job. It was unfair dismissal. You need to seek revenge for me. And now I can't enter our home?"

"Ms. Schumers, first and foremost, it was not unfair dismissal. You cheated the company of working over time but in actual fact, you were out partying or spending time with Scott. Secondly, you no longer live here. Your stuff has been cleared out and packed here. Only the stuff you came here with is returned to you. The rest of the stuff, I purchased with my money so it will be donated and auctioned away. Thirdly, you are no longer affiliated with me. I'm not an ATM machine that allows you to load money off me. "

"Mr. Guard and Miss Receptionist, if Ms. Schumers doesn't leave this place in 10 minutes, please feel free to call the police."

Jay never looked back and walked away. Not only was his love life a mess but he also took away a life he once provided for. He never looked at relationships the same way again. He could never fall in love again.