𝐇𝐈𝐆𝐇 𝐇𝐎𝐏𝐄𝐒 ━━ klaus mikaelson

𝗉𝗋𝗈𝗅𝗈𝗀𝗎𝖾

PROLOGUE : THE BEGINNING

"what is love?"

Love, what is love? If you asked Heather Cartier about her thoughts on love, she would smile that sweet smile of hers, one that always won the attention of everyone in the room and say that it was the best feeling in the world. I doubt you would know she was lying to your face, Heather wasn't even sure she knew what being in-love felt like.

Of course there was the love she had for her parents and the one she used to bear for her brother and the adoration she had for her closest friend. But Heather had never been in love, or felt the most overwhelming of affections for people she wasn't obliged to adore. Yes, Heather had broken a number of hearts, they now adorned her sleeves like ornaments.

Surely, she should know how love was supposed to feel, considering she was already engaged to a man that adored her as much as the sun adored the moon. Tragically though, Heather never loved him, she believed that she did love him once but perhaps she only loved the way he loved her.

It was peculiar how she could wear a smile and angle her pretty eyes in such a way that anyone who saw her believed that she was hopelessly and utterly in-love ━ she wasn't. Heather thought there was something terribly wrong with her, for how could she love so fiercely but not be able to feel that love at all?

The thought wracked the young woman's brain as they drove through the French Quarter's vibrant streets to their house in uptown New Orleans. Callum sat in-front of the wheel, his eyes keenly observing the road, his hand on hers. She glanced at him,  trying to find something that she liked about him, then maybe she could start from there. He had a pretty face, with messy black hair and warm brown eyes, the color of the earth, they complemented her forest green eyes quite nicely. 

Still, Heather couldn't find one thing she could learn to love about him, there were quite a number of things but none stood out to her. She felt as if she had failed him, in some way or another, for not being able to love him as he loved her.

"What are you thinking about?" Callum asked, glancing at her for a moment and setting his gaze back at the road.

"The wedding." Heather lied, passing her thumb over his knuckles lightly "I don't want my dress to be white, I'm trying to decide if the dress should be beige or champagne gold."

They pulled into their drive-way, the car stopping at a certain point. Callum turned from the wheel and focused all his attention on her, taking her hand in his "You'd look great in anything, Heather."

He placed a light kiss on her knuckles, sending sharp sparks through her hand that made her want to pull her hand back. It was at that moment that Heather realized that she could love him if she wanted to but she didn't, she wasn't sure she ever could.

Heather struggled to reply to his flattering words but luckily for her she didn't have to. Her gaze had caught the familiar figure of a woman raising her hand to ring the bell at their gate. Heather smiled at Callum and opened the car door without warning, holding her hand up when he started to get out of the car as well, stopping him in his tracks.

Heather stepped towards the gate, approaching the gate in small steps. She opened the gate, revealing the woman's full face, Heather had a grim look on her face before it turned into a charming grin.

"Hayley!" Heather exclaimed bringing the other brunette into a hug, to which she reciprocated. "Oh my God, you're here!"

"Here I am." Hayley grinned, as they pulled away from the hug "What kind of best friend would I be if I didn't come to see you get married off?"

To that, Heather just smiled, of course, she wasn't sure if she was getting married or sentencing herself to further misery. One thing was clear enough, she had one last heart to break ━ and it wasn't going to be hers.