Chapter 001 - A Shocking Betrayal

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Have you ever been in a situation where everything just seemed out of place?

That was what Ares was feeling at this moment, standing bewildered near his girlfriend’s bustling apartment and observing it.

He was puzzled and couldn’t understand how the place would be crowded and noisy after Sarah had just informed him that she wasn’t at home.

“Could it be that I’m at the wrong apartment?” Ares contemplated, but then he soon shook his head.

"I'm sure this is her apartment. Although it's been a while since I last visited, how could I not recognize the flat whose rent I've been paying?"

He couldn’t help but furrow his brows tightly while pondering the situation.

Ares, utterly drained and exhausted from days of relentless work, gathering the remaining balance for his girlfriend's birthday gift had rushed here immediately after securing the present, hoping to surprise her. Yet, as he was nearing her floor, he received a message from her, informing him that she was heading out with friends to celebrate her birthday.

At first, Ares planned to postpone giving her the gift until the next day, but then he opted to wait outside her flat until she returned, as he did not have the keys despite renting it to her and paying the rent every month.

He had never anticipated encountering a scene like this.

After a moment of confusion, a thought suddenly occurred to Ares. “Could it be that burglars had broken into her apartment?”

As soon as this notion entered his mind, Ares was frightened.

Without hesitation, he rushed toward the apartment, but the following moment, his soul trembled greatly and he became frozen in his tracks.

Ares couldn’t believe what his eyes met.

……

“Say yes!”

“Say yes!!”

“Say yes!!!”

Unaware of Ares' arrival, everyone in the flat was currently chanting loudly with genuine enthusiasm and joy.

This was the sight that greeted Ares. Yet, he stood transfixed in the apartment, looking as though he had seen a ghost, devoid of the joy evident in the others.

He felt his entire world spin around the following moment and then his face paled significantly. He felt a heavy sense of suffocation as well and he was unable to breathe again.

Amid the bustling crowd, within a lavishly decorated apartment adorned with an extravagant money bouquet, oversized chocolate cakes, and an array of flashy items, a dashing man, dressed in a stylish and expensive Givenchy suit, knelt before a charming, though not remarkably stunning woman, offering her a diamond-engraved ring.

Watching the woman, her face was adorned with makeup that accentuated her beauty and she presently appeared stunned by the ring being offered to her, as if the surprise had caught her completely off guard.

“Surely, she wouldn't accept it, would she? This must be the doing of her worthless friend.”

“She has no clue in all this.”

“She did not deceive me!”

“She must have genuinely intended to go out!”

Ares began muttering to himself, drawing assurance from the expression he witnessed on Sarah's face. With each utterance, his hope surged, gradually diminishing his fear, shock, and disbelief.

Very soon, Ares managed to calm down greatly, but then he soon became apprehensive, seeing that everybody was still screaming at the top of their lungs for his woman to accept another man’s ring.

Ares became confident that the crowd was intentionally putting Sarah in an awkward situation where she would have no choice but to accept the ring.

He decided to go help her out of the embarrassing situation.

Just as Ares took a single step forward, however, he witnessed the scariest scene of his life.

His dearest, the only woman he had ever loved in his life, and the reason behind his tireless efforts day in and day out suddenly nodded her head and then offered a wide smile that couldn't be feigned to the man who was kneeling before her.

Ares was directly dazed on the spot and he couldn’t move again.

‘I must have seen wrong,’ he thought in his heart with his throat becoming dr, but he couldn't handle the agitation that held him.

While he was still trying to convince himself, unfortunately, he saw his treasure happily offering the man her finger for the engagement ring to be put.

Ares’s entire body went cold at that instant, and he felt as though his spirit was departing from his body.

He couldn't think, move, or do anything.

He just stood there, watching blankly.

Eventually, Ares, having no idea about how long it took, found himself walking toward the front of the hall, looking like a zombie.

Very soon, he was noticed, and then the wild noise of joy within the room began to dwindle.

“What’s this sore loser doing here?”

“I thought sister Sarah had already phoned him not to come so that he wouldn’t spoil her greatest day of joy for her?”

“What is this poverty-stricken church mouse doing here?”

Everybody began to murmur, gazing at Ares with nothing but pure condensation, but Ares failed to notice; his entire attention was solely on a coldly grinning Sarah, who had already spotted him.

“Failure, what are you doing here?” Without feeling the slightest trace of remorse, instead, even several times excited, as her dream of getting herself tied to a second-generation wealthy man was finally going to be fulfilled, Sarah confronted Ares.

“You…” Ares, failing to notice her behavior, pointed at her. “You... Did you not inform me that you were going out with your friends, that I shouldn’t come?”

“Duh…” Sarah rolled her eyes disdainfully at him. “Of course, I did, and that was because I did not want you bastard pauper to ruin my great day for me, but since you’ve already witnessed everything yourself and the day was already successful, well, it saves me unnecessary explanations, then.”

Ares was dumbstruck and taken aback.

He couldn’t believe his woman.

He stood blankly for a while before he finally saw the undisguised scorn and revulsion on her face. Instantly, he felt as though this woman he was seeing wasn’t the lovely Sarah he once knew again.

She appeared entirely different, looking as though she was a completely foreign and unknown person to him.

Ares breathed deeply. “This was a prank, right? Well, as you can see, you’ve already fooled me. Let’s end this already.”

He said with a cracked voice that was filled with plea, but then everybody in the room erupted into another loud laughter, finding him funny.

“Look at this fool!”

“Does this resemble a prank to him? As expected of a loser and fool. Looks like his lack of wealth has also affected his brain!”

Everybody mocked him while Sarah and her new fiancé smirked coldly at him before the guy abruptly gestured for Sarag to step back, and then he stepped forward.

“You must be that low-life Ares who shares the same name as the ancient god of war, no?” He inquired with sarcasm, giving Ares a full disdainful gaze.

“I already instructed my girl to cease communication with you, but since you are here, anyway, and had already witnessed her accepting my proposal, I might as well inform you myself, then…” The guy suddenly stepped closer to Ares, his condescending gaze on him intensifying.

“See, you don’t deserve a beauty such as that, who could send me to paradise every time we are in bed since the day I deflowered her.” He whispered in Ares’s ear, with a voice that only he and Ares could hear.

Ares once again went blank again, but this time, with his spirit and soul included.

A second later, his blood turned completely cold, and his pallor intensified. He had never gone beyond kissing and embracing Rebecca before.

Before Ares could return to his senses, however, the guy had continued. “Just get the hell as far away from her as possible for the time being. You can return when I’m finished satisfying my urge with her.”

“This…” Ares’s eyes narrowed greatly before they ended up gleaming with a fierce glare. “You despicable scoundrel!” He lunged at the man, but as if the guy had already anticipated his attack, the other party only sidestepped him while everybody else gasped with shock, wondering what Ares was doing, attacking the incredibly wealthy Michael.

“You bastard and son of a bitchl!!!” Sarah roared at the top of her lungs, appearing completely enraged.

“Snap out of it!!!” Ares yelled at her in return. “this scum is only trying to bed you to his heart’s content before discarding you.”

“This…” Everybody’s mouths widened, and they were astonished. They hastily looked at Sarah, but she only smirked coldly at Ares. “I know you are only trying to sow discord between myself and my fiancé, but you are just so unlucky.”

She clicked her tongue and rolled her eyes again at Ares in a condescending manner.

“This…” Ares did not know how to react. But then suddenly; “Hey scoundrel, weren’t you trying to attack me?”

“Huh?” Ares subconsciously turned his head backward, but then what greeted him was a fist to his face, directly sending him flying back.

Everybody was silent after, witnessing this scene, but then they burst into laughter again, mocking Ares.

“Look at the fool! Hahaha! He couldn't even able to withstand a single punch from young master Michael!”

“Not only was he a penniless pauper, he is even incredibly weak!! Hahaha”

“What a joke! And he wants to marry sister Sarah!”

Ares, whose mouth was now bleeding profusely, watched as he was greatly ridiculed by everybody, while Sarah’s cold smirk on himself only became colder.

Everything felt like a nightmare for him.

After a while, Ares forced himself back to his feet, and then he gazed solemnly at Sarah, seeming not to feel the excruciating pain coursing from his face to all the other parts of his body.

“So, you would rather have him, a wealthy bastard, who is only after your body than me, who is striving hard to be rich so that I can marry you?” He questioned with pure incredulity, then not waiting for a response, Ares turned toward the exit and walked away, his back appearing desolate.

He had no idea that some people had already recorded everything that had occurred since he entered the room with their cell phones and had secretly uploaded them to their school’s platform.

After Ares was gone, the room fell silent for a while, but then suddenly, a low growl resounded.

“Did that stupid loser just call my man a bastard?”

Sarah’s eyes turned cruel, she then hastily glanced at Michael, who didn’t seem offended, instead, appearing to be relishing everything.

“didn’t you say that your bodyguards are downstairs? Let them teach that son of a bitch a lesson he will never forget for the rest of his life!”