April smiled as her thumb pad caressed the silver engagement ring that hugged her finger. The cold metal brought a strange warmth to her heart and a smile to her face.

After three months of filming abroad for her new movie, she was finally back home to reunite with her fiancé of one year.

Happily, she strode down the hallway to her apartment, humming the tune to her unreleased music single. Her luggage trailed not far behind her, squealing and whining at the speed April walked at.

Giddiness overflowed in her heart, and she could hardly stop her hand from quivering as she slipped the key into the keyhole.

April pushed the door open, slipped off her heels, and called out to her fiancé, “Martin?”

Sience.

“Martin?” April tried once more. Yet, there was still no response. The eery silence was enough to damper April’s mood, however. Her excitement couldn’t be quelled by such a meager setback.

Desperate to see the love of her life, April abandoned her luggage by the door, and traversed further into her apartment.

She warily peeked around corners, expecting to see Martin’s gentle smile awaiting her. But he was nowhere to be found.

Finally, April’s hand hovered above the handle of the bedroom door, the only room she hadn’t checked.

A feminine moan originating from inside sent shivers down her spine. Her heart sank to her feet, and a cold sweat formed on her palms. Was Martin…? No. He couldn’t be.

Another high-pitched moan echoed through the door.

Fearfully, April pushed the door open. The hinges squeaked, and April placed her trembling hand over her mouth at what she saw inside. Tears brimmed her lower lashes, desperately clinging on for dear life. Her entire body trembled like a leaf about to lose its grip on its branch.

Upon hearing the squeak of the door hinges, Martin snapped his head to the bedroom door. His eyes widened as he made eye contact with April.

Hurriedly, he pulled the white covers over his body and the body of the woman beneath him.

“B-Babe,” Martin stuttered. “I thought you were coming home next week.”

Was that all he had to say to her?

April’s heart pounded, and each pump of her heart sent a shockwave of pain throughout her body. Was she dreaming?

She pinched her arm, and much to her distress, a stinging pain stabbed at her arm.

A single tear overflowed from April’s eye and fell down her cheek.

“Why? What?” April was at a loss for words. The vile curses she wanted to poison Martin with stayed lodged in her throat, unable to take form.

In tears, April spun on her heels, desperate to run away from her reality.

She sprinted out the apartment door and down the hallway barefoot, ignoring Martin’s desperate calls for her to wait.

“April!” he screamed. “Wait!”

April ignored his desperate calls as she leaped down three flights of stairs and through the parking lot.

Martin’s nearing footsteps drove her to run faster and ignore the flame searing through her thighs.

She sprinted through the parking lot, her bare feet burning against the searing pavement. The pain made tears prick at the edge of her eyes.

A fire blazed through April’s lungs and spread throughout her body. Laboriously panting, she robotically moved her legs one after the other, desperately trying to escape from reality.

Suddenly, a firm grip on April’s wrist pulled her back.

She turned to look at Martin’s frazzled appearance.

“Babe, it’s not what it looked like.”

But as he talked, his hand went to rub the back of his neck. April’s eyes hardened when she saw his subtle movement―the movement he always did when he felt guilty.

April laughed through her throbbing headache. “You can’t say that when you’re looking like that.” April eyed him up and down.

He was shirtless, and his pants hung loosely on his waist without a belt. His hair was tousled from another pair of hands in his hair, and his lips swollen from another pair of lips pressed against them. Light pink lipstick prints trailed from his neck down to his chest down to… April couldn’t bear to look any further.

Not what it looks like? What a joke.

“Babe―“

“Don’t babe me,” April spat as she wrenched her wrist from Martin’s grip.

She clutched her purse to her chest and took off running again.

She slipped into her car, ignoring Martin’s frantic pounding on her window.

“Babe, roll down the window. We need to talk.”

April huffed as she rolled down the window. “Talk about what? How good the sex was? Tell me. Was the sex worth it? We’re over, Martin. Don’t talk to me.”

April furiously jammed her car keys into the keyhole. But with her trembling hands, it took a few tries to set the keys into place.

“Stop, Babe. I can explain.”

“Sure, sure you can.”

April slammed the gas pedal, backed out, and sped out of the parking lot.

When Martin disappeared from her rearview window, she finally let the tears cascade down her cheeks. Sobs wracked her body.

Using her left hand, she covered her mouth to stifle her mouth.

She’d given the man six years of her life and two million dollars only for her to be mercilessly tossed aside.

Her foot lowered on the gas pedal as she merged onto the highway with speeds reaching 85 miles per hour―15 over the speed limit.

April’s sobs left her breathless, and her lungs began to desperately gasp for air.

She had no idea where to go. She’d left her luggage, shoes, and belongings at Martin and her’s shared apartment. April had nothing left and nowhere to go.

Since childhood, April imagined a celebrity’s life as luxurious and relaxing, but being cheated on was not her definition of luxurious or relaxing.

In her hysteria, April didn’t notice the black, swerving car rapidly approaching in her rearview mirror, nor did she notice the angry honks of cars dodging the black car―not until the car swerved in front of her.

April audibly gasped in horror. For a brief second, her hands froze on the wheel. And in that brief second, her Mercedes collided into the side of the black car.

April shrieked as her world spun, and her body shook violently as her car flipped.

Black spots danced in her eyes, distorting her vision.  She squinted, trying to shake the dizziness from her head, but the pounding pain refused to cease.

Suddenly, flames erupted and swallowed April, feeding off her skin and singing her hair.

April, devoid of energy, could no longer scream for help.

The wail of sirens accompanied her as she slipped into an oblivion.

***

“Bye, Percy,” Andromeda giggled as she pecked Percy’s cheek. “See you tomorrow.” She flashed her million dollar grin, ignoring Percy’s distorted expression and uncomfortable grunt.

With one final wave, she stepped into the backseat of her car and grinned one last time at Percy, who stood at the curb, impatiently waiting for Andromeda to leave him alone.

As Andromeda’s chauffeur pressed the pedal and sped into the distance, her bright smile faded from her face. Her expression turned ugly and twisted as the corner of her lips curled and her brows furrowed.

“Ugh, why can’t he be appreciative? I’ve liked him for so long, and not once has he ever looked at me. Does he know who I am? I could leave him in an instant.” Andromeda snapped her fingers in emphasis. “Maybe then he’ll regret not showing any affection.”

Her inebriated chauffeur nodded at her words. He stared at the road with a frown, trying to decipher which way the lines on the road were drawn. His world spun wildly, and his wheel spun in order to keep up with his blurred vision.

Andromeda pulled her phone from her purse, oblivious to the drunken state of her driver.

“I even dressed up nicely for him,” Andromeda rambled. “And he didn’t say anything to me. Can you believe it? I mean, look at me!” She ran her hand down her exposed thighs that protruded from her mini-skirt. “I’m fucking hot!”

“Yeah,” her chauffer groaned.

And as the car wildly swerved into different lanes, Andromeda sensed something was wrong. She looked up from her phone and at her driver.

His glazed eyes and disheveled appearance combined with his horrendous driving horrified her.

“Mr. John?” Andromeda asked. “Are you alright?”

She fearfully clung onto the ceiling grab.

Mr. John grunted at her question. “Just peachy.”

“Mr. John!” Andromeda screamed as he swerved left—then right—then left again. “What are you doing?”

Her heart pounded wildly in her chest. Andromeda feared that it may crawl up her esophagus and leap from her mouth.

Angry drivers honked at their car, and Andromeda’s screams along with the incessant honking made Mr. John’s brows furrow.

He growled and screamed, “Just shut up!”

Chills froze Andromeda’s body as she gripped the car’s ceiling handle for dear life.

Suddenly, their car jerked right. And as Andromeda looked right and out of the window, her eyes widened.

A white car hurdled toward them at full speed. Andromeda opened her mouth to scream, but before she could, the white Mercedes slammed into her.

It stopped her scream before it escaped―as well as her heart.