Chapter 1 - Met Stranger After She Abandoned

"You're better than her," Troy said.

Those hurtful words pierced Gracie's heart. She froze in front of him, more precisely in front of Troy's apartment room, where she could see a girl behind her boyfriend's back, hugging him.

"I mean, no offense, Gracie–she's hotter than you," Troy added.

Gracie was still silent, not dismissing Troy's words. The tears didn't come out, but the words Troy said hurt her enough. In fact, his actions hurt her deeply.

The girl behind Troy was even smiling. Her hands were slender and her nails were polished with red nail polish, making Gracie keep that memory. She then swallowed her saliva. "So, do you want us to break up?" Her voice was shaking, even the two plastic bags she had brought from the supermarket for Troy had fallen by her side.

Troy nodded. "Of course, from this moment on, we broke up. Sorry."

The door to Troy's apartment was shut tight. Then Gracie heard happy laughter in there and heard a sigh that made her sick, she then kicked the apartment door violently because she was annoyed. Gracie then left that cursed apartment.

She started crying when she left the apartment building of the man who was now her ex-boyfriend. No matter if the rain had fallen, she kept walking wet and her body started shivering from the cold.

Her tears were no longer visible because the rain had washed them away. But she hugged herself. A feeling of emptiness engulfed her, making her realize that she had been alone all this time, considering that lately, Troy had rarely spent time with her.

"You're an asshole!" she cursed at him.

Troy, the man she has loved since college, who even chased her first until they have been together for the past three years–betrayed her by having an affair with another girl.

Gracie thought that Troy was the last. She thought that because when Troy went to work and started talking about a future with her, Gracie thought they would be together forever. But the fact that she saw just now proved that Troy was not the man for her future.

"Fuck!" Gracie kicked a small rock in front of her, not caring about hitting anyone or anything.

Her steps quickened because she really wanted to get to her own apartment. But suddenly she bumped into someone, and she did not see who he was.

"Oh, no. Not now!" she said, eager to get away. She hated pounding at that moment. Her body was tired, and so was her heart. Even when she tried to dodge, not wanting to see who she hit, she suddenly realized that someone she accidentally hit had an umbrella over her.

Gracie slowly took a step back, then her head shot up, looking up at him.

A man with a sharp-looking jaw, slightly bearded, curly eyelashes, and neatly styled hair, stared at her without expression–well, that man was the man she accidentally bumped into.

"A girl alone in the rain like this, without an umbrella … hmm, looks like you've just been in trouble," guessed the man.

"I'm not in the mood to talk at length. Are you holding me responsible for bumping into you?"

The man shook his head. "You and I both walk. I don't think I felt a loss or even hurt."

"Then excuse me."

Gracie was about to leave him, feeling that she really had nothing to do with the stranger. But her wrist was touched by the man, making Gracie stop. "Don't touch me!" hissed Gracie. She really came to think that all men are the same. They're easy to hurt girls.

"Oops. Sorry. I just want to be kind to you." Even though his way of speaking and even his expression seemed flat, Gracie didn't care. "There is my car, it will be better if I drive you."

"Why are you driving me? I can still walk, I'm not paralyzed, and I have money to take public transportation!"

The man chuckled and shook his head. "If you–well, you could, you wouldn't let yourself get wet in the rain and look miserable."

Gracie's eyes widened in shock because a strange man she had just met by chance, was brave enough to say that he looked so miserable to her.

Suddenly the man withdrew his hand before Gracie really answered whether she wanted to or not. But Gracie rebelled, wanting to escape. Unfortunately, the man's grip was quite strong on her. "Hey, let me go!" said Gracie.

The man didn't say anything, instead, he opened the front passenger seat door and pushed Gracie inside. He then entered the driver's seat. He closed his umbrella and put it in the back seat.

"Don't refuse. I can't bear to see a girl alone on a deserted street like this and it's raining," he said. The car started and then started running.

"I don't need pity from anyone!" Gracie was still rebelling. "You know, this is just like kidnapping!"

The man then sighed. "Not. This isn't kidnapping, but coercion of a miserable girl."

Gracie was silent then. Tears began to fall down her face because the man by her side had said that word several times. That she was indeed sad because she had just been abandoned.

"My name is Justin Blade. You can call me Justin," he introduced himself. "Well, cry if you need it," he continued.

Justin wasn't even surprised when Gracie was crying, and wailing. Because from the first time he saw her, he knew that Gracie had just been in trouble, but he didn't know what the problem was.

"Why? Why did he dump me? No–I mean, why is he having an affair?!" asked Gracie with a sob.

Occasionally Justin glanced to his side. He began to understand the problems of the girl he had just met. Even Gracie still covered her face with her hands. Loud crying sounds so painful. Her body even shook, between feeling cold and the heartache that she just felt.

Justin shrugged his shoulders. "Because he really doesn't deserve you, that's why the universe should have told you that he's a bastard,"

Gracie then looked at him with her wet eyes. "Are you the same as him? A bastard like my ex-boyfriend?"