chapter 1

She had been stood up by her boyfriend. Again. Standing outside the hotel, unwilling to go in without 'plus one' in her arms, she rubbed her shoulders to get some warmth. It was cold even though winter had not started officially and her jacket was also sleeveless, not to mention her dress which costed a mint was meant for spring outings and was thin. Niathy tried calling again, but Benji was not answering. She tried Suzy. Wonder of wonders, she picked it up after first ring.

" Nia! Where are you? We are having so much fun. Come fast." Always focused on self, Suzy did not even wait for Niathy to talk first. Nia apparently did not mind this. " Please let them know I'm sorry that I could not join all. I got struck at work."

If it was any other day, Nia would have cut the call at this point, but today she was feeling low and wanted her friends to coax her, or atleast say sympathy words. And Suzy in her daze of mingling with friends, put the call on speaker unknowingly instead of ending it and put it inside her purse and continued partying.

" That was Nia. She said she can't come." Suzy was explaining. Looking at sad faces made by boys, the girls in group got angry and jealous. This was supposed to be a reunion party, a fun way to show off. Looking at the boys who were still pining for Nia, one of the girls could not hold her tongue and started bitching. And somehow everyone vented their jealousy and envy by badmouthing her.

To Niathy, who was just outside the hotel and waiting for some sympathy words, these felt like needles, pricking her again and again, till she was bleeding. She had no idea how she reached home but inside the confines of safe place, her heart broke and she started crying. She could still hear those hateful words. They judged her by what they saw, never seeing what she had gone through.

"As expected of the Princess! How can she mingle with peasants like us?"

" Is it such a great thing to be team lead? Especially when it is her father's company?"

" Busy! Who is she kidding? She is always attending parties. I'm sure today too she would be attending such thing. That's why she can't come. After all, there are not many people here who can 'help' her."

" No need to make sad faces boys. You never had a chance. She is always hooked up with a Mr Lee. Unlike you, he is old money and handsome too. You never had a chance."

.

.

.

What had hurt her even more was Suzy did not stop them at all. It felt like she agreed with those words. Years of friendship! What a waste! Niathy was still wallowing in self pity when life kicked her hard again. Her boyfriend broke up with her. By message. Apparently, this break up would not be ' having some space for self' anymore but a permanent one. His little girlfriend was pregnant. His family was so happy with upcoming kid that they didn't care about passerby Niathy anymore.

Sitting on the bed, with the same thin dress she had worn for the outing, she started surfing the net, to stabilize her mood. Tomorrow would come, bringing heaps of work. She had to be in condition to work properly. The project was entering end stage, the clients would turn rampant and subordinates sneaky. Best way to pull herself would be surfing the net searching for sad or absurd things.

She felt so betrayed after watching happy moments shared by her ex and her so-called friends in social network that she started surfing outside her interests. A gorgeous video pulled her in. The scenes there! It made her yearn to live in such place and enjoy it. She checked the video details. It was not completely real place, that was a scene from a game.