XSTORIES4U: Tales of Love, Lies, and Betrayal - Book 2

Part 50 Proposal Gone Wrong: A Shocking Love Triangle Unveiled!

Walking into the dimly lit restaurant, I was ready for what i thought would be intimate dinner, but instead, I found my boyfriend on one knee proposing to me and the woman sitting across from him. my heart stopped, my mind racing, unable to process the surreal scene. She looked just a shocked, and in that moment, I realized we both had been living in a carefully constructed lie. my boyfriend's eyes darted between us, panic plastered on his face, as if hoping for some miraculous resolution, but the truth was out, raw and unforgiving. Heated argument interrupted. voices raising above the clinking cutlery and hushed conversations around us.As secrets spilled, it turned out she knew about me, but I had been blissfully unaware, blinded by love. The betrayal cut deep, but deeper still was the realization that I was afraid of being alone, clinging to a broken promise that never truly existed. The shock of the moment made it clear that neither of us deserved this man who had woven us into his web of deceit. I looked at her—the woman who had also been lied to—and saw my own pain reflected in her eyes. The restaurant's once-romantic atmosphere was now a stage for heartbreak, with every whisper and every sideways glance from other diners adding to the humiliation.

"What the hell were you thinking?" she demanded, her voice trembling with a mix of anger and heartbreak. "You thought you could just... propose to both of us? Like some sick game?"

He stammered, the confident facade he always wore crumbling. "I was going to explain. I didn't mean for it to happen this way."

"Oh, so when was the right time?" I spat, my voice dripping with sarcasm. "Was this some sort of twisted test to see which one of us would say yes first?"

His face paled, and he started to speak, but I cut him off. "You lied to both of us. Played with our lives, our hearts. Do you even know what love is?"

The other woman stood, her chair screeching against the tiled floor. "You're disgusting," she said, her voice sharp and resolute. "And for the record, I knew you were seeing someone else, but I didn't know it was this serious. I thought... I thought I was the one you truly cared about."

I froze, her confession sinking in. She knew about me? My anger turned toward her. "You knew?" I said, incredulously. "And you stayed? Why would you let this go on?"

She hesitated, her eyes welling with tears. "Because I loved him," she admitted, her voice cracking. "Because I thought he'd choose me in the end. But now I see he wasn't worth any of it."

Her words struck a chord. I, too, had clung to the hope that I was his "one," ignoring red flags, excusing his absences, brushing aside the gut feelings that something was off. The truth was, we had both been fighting for a man who didn't deserve either of us.

The restaurant manager approached, his face lined with awkward concern. "Excuse me, but I'm going to have to ask you to leave," he said, his voice low and firm.

Without another word, I grabbed my coat and bag. The other woman followed suit, and together we walked out into the crisp night air, leaving him behind to deal with the mess he had created.

As we stood on the sidewalk, an odd silence settled between us. Finally, she spoke. "For what it's worth, I'm sorry. I didn't know it would end up like this."

I nodded, the anger in me softening into a bittersweet understanding. "Me too," I said. "For what it's worth, I don't blame you. He was the one lying to both of us."

She nodded, and for a brief moment, we shared a quiet solidarity—a strange, unexpected bond formed out of mutual betrayal.

"Can I give you some advice?" she asked hesitantly.

I raised an eyebrow. "Sure."

"Don't let him make you feel like you're not enough. This wasn't about you. It was about his selfishness."

Her words hit me hard, but they also gave me a sense of closure. I extended my hand. "Thank you," I said. "For that, and... for walking away."

She shook my hand, and with a faint smile, we parted ways, each heading toward a different future.

Months later, I was sipping coffee at a café when I saw a familiar face on the news. My ex-boyfriend had been arrested for fraud—embezzling funds from his company and using the money to finance his double life. The woman he had proposed to that night wasn't his only secret; there were others. Women, schemes, and lies, all unraveling in a spectacular fall from grace.

As I watched his smug face flash across the screen, I felt a strange sense of vindication. He had tried to control and manipulate everything, but in the end, the truth had destroyed him.

And me? I was free. Free from his lies, free to find someone who would value me—not as part of a game, but as their everything.

The twist of fate? The other woman and I kept in touch. What started as a connection born out of heartbreak had turned into an unexpected friendship. Together, we had moved on—not just from him, but from the version of ourselves who thought we needed him.

Sometimes, life has a way of giving you the closure you didn't know you needed. And in the end, I wasn't alone—I was stronger.