Extrapolation
of Fate
Chapter
1
By: Neo-Queen Serenity
E-mail: serenausako@hotmail.com
Webpage: http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Shrine/6436
A slim feminine
figure stepped into the cool interior of an elegant penthouse apartment in
Chicago. Outside, the sun dripped
fire. The silverykeys jingled
between her finger joints, and she smiled fondly into the deadly silent living
room.
The elegant satin
curtains were set loose, concealing the reddish rays of sun, only the brass
railings at the bar glittered.
Serena walked over to the living room, setting her purse down, and turned
around the tall Grecian columns that join the black marble floor to the
chandelier ceiling.
"Darien?"
An empty echo
answered her back.
He was not back
yet.
Serena smiled
again. She would wait for
him.
A
sigh.
She looked around
for the earthy noise, wondering who might be present in her fiancé's apartment
right now.
The noise came
from the balcony. Serena followed
it carefully.
Her flat-heeled
shoe stepped into the patio adjoining Darien Fielding's top-floor balcony. She stopped, and her body
froze.
Through the large
glass doors, she had a clear view of the balcony. The city was red, the heavy setting sun
dipped into the distant horizon, all seemed close, and yet far away.
In the golden
glories of the sun light, portrayed by heavy light rays and stretched shadows, a
pair of masculine arms encircled the body of a slender woman. His dark head was lowered to hers,
softly kissing her gorgeous lips.
Her auburn hair raced down the graceful contours of her back, streaked
with the sun.
A faint chill
started down at the base of her spine, and Serena shivered. At the same time,
her heart shattered to pieces.
They held each
other so delicately, so loving and so affectionate. They didn't care about anything.
Nothing. Serena bit her own lips,
watching the engrossed couple.
The world would
have crashed, fell apart, and burned.
But they wouldn't have cared.
Serena lifted her
eyes to the sun, quickly drawing them back because her tears had magnified the
red sun so much more that her eyes hurt.
Beryl
Merlin.
The beautiful
woman who was wrapped in Darien's arms, the owner of the smiling face that had
shone across front pages and magazine covers, whose graceful, slender form were
constantly draped in elegant gowns and beautiful cocktail dresses. She was America's sweetheart, every
man's dreams, and the ruling princess in the world of fashion. Famous, beautiful, sensual, and
laughingly witty, Beryl Merlin was the subject of men's conquest and women's
envious jealousy.
But now, that
beautiful model wasn't on one of her trip to France, or on her way to Caribbean
in order to acquire a superb tan.
Instead, she was wrapped in Darien's arms, his mouth against
hers.
She thought he
loved her; she thought he would be hers.
Serena stared
down weakly at the solitaire cut diamond band on her left hand. The glittering diamond burned her heart.
He was her fiancé!
Serena put her
weight back on her back foot, her body moving back. She quietly lowered her eyes and slowly
stepped back into the apartment.
Happiness, excitement, and everything she had faithfully carried here to
greet her fiancé were extinguished to be suddenly replaced by an empty
void.
Her foot carried
her mindlessly to the door. With
much pride and courage, Serena opened it, stepped out, and shut it gently.
It was until she
was completely alone in the lonely bedroom of her own apartment, did Serena
allow tears to fall down her cheeks.
Serena slid the
engagement ring down her fourth finger, gazed at it for a long moment, and set
it into the velvet box Darien had given to her. She looked up at the old man
sitting in front of herself, smiling weakly.
"What happened?"
Mr. Fielding, her father's best friend since boyhood asked with worry. "Did Darien-"
She shook her
head. Remembering her overjoyed
smiles when Darien proposed to her in the same room, she also remembered every
single detail they shared togeether.
But this time, Serena Lamperd saw things with
clarity.
She had been
totally in love with him since sixteen.
Their families were friends forever, and during the tucking-along times
they spent fighting, teasing, and killing each other, she had fallen in love
with him. And now, Serena realized
with shame, her affection was completely single-sided.
Darien Fielding
was three years her senior and regarded her as a child who never grew up. When
he was surrounded by worldly college friends and clad in a tuxedo, she was
blushing with secret dreams and giggling with high school friends.
She had been too
willing, too starry eyed, too caught up in her admiration of his handsome face
and numerous male charms. And she
had overestimated herself. Serena
Lamperd thought she would grow up and win her prince charming, including
Darien's breathless admiration. And now, she was twenty-six, an accomplished
lawyer, youthful and quite beautiful.
The old Lamperd
and Fielding generation harbored the secret hope that a wedding would eventually
take place between their children.
Serena knew that, and she was encouraged to capture the heart of her
childhood love. Charles Fielding
had even hinted during numerous occasions that Serena would be a perfect wife
for Darien.
He proposed a
year and a day from yesterday. It
was like a dream coming true for her.
Serena Lamperd felt beautiful and loved. She was the ugly duckling transformed
into the elegant swan.
But now she saw
everything. She remembered his
carefully concealed impatience, his absent-minded remarks, his disinterest in
her career affairs, and his obviously displayed annoyance. He had played along, engaged himself to
her in order to satisfy his family.
But she had naively thought he loved her.
Darien Fielding,
the billionaire tycoon needed someone like Beryl Merlin on his arms. He needed that beautiful, sensual woman,
to love her and to be loved by her.
He wished to show her to the world, adorned in cocktail gowns and set her
up as the mistress of his grand estate by the coast of Pacific in
California.
Darien didn't
need Serena; she was too naive, too gauche, and
unsophisticated.
Serena lifted her
eyes; her gaze met those similar blue eyes from Mr.
Fielding.
"Darien didn't do
anything." Serena promised. "I just
don't feel-feel that we are suitable for each other. You see, Darien and I...we are too
different. Perhaps it's best that
things end this way."
Charles Fielding
watched as Serena got up and left.
He had always regarded her as a daughter. He had seen the hurt in her eyes, and
her unwillingness to confront Darien with her wish to cancel their
engagement. And he knew that there
was more to what Serena was willing to let him know.
"Rena?" Ami Grant
stared at her law firm partner with disbelief. "Why in the world did you do
that? You loved
him!"
Serena looked
harder at the document in front of her. But simply mentioning Darien Fielding
made her heart crack again.
"I do love
him. But I want the same love to be
returned to me, too." She paused for a second, "It's all over,
finished."
"If he didn't
love you, why in the name of Christ would he propose?"
"Ames, please."
Serena looked up with helpless appeal. "I don't think I can handle any more of
this right now. And I am not Darien
Fielding's fiancee anymore."
Ami nodded her
understanding and sighed.
She removed the
silver-framed reading glasses from her face and winked. The red rose petals in the crystal vase
on her desk looked both romantic and comforting. Driven by an impulse to cry, Serena
reached out to touch one of the red petals.
Soft, delicate,
and fragile.
She then glanced
at her leather-band watch, and saw it indicated 7:45. Standing up, Serena tidied
her desk and scattered documents.
Just as she reached for her coat, the door slid
open.
"Cherie!" A handsome man in his early thirties
exclaimed.
Serena smiled,
launched herself into his outstretched arms and laughed. "Why, Greg, you are
always so punctual."
Greg smiled down
at the woman whom he had taken care of as a little sister during their long
years in college. She was also the
woman he loved, but dared not confront.
He lifted his
chin toward the roses on her desk, a dark brow raised
questioningly.
"They are
lovely!" Serena relaxed inwardly.
Greg has always been a big brother to her, a man who will always offer
her a shoulder to lean on. The
moment he entered, she had dreaded to offer him an explanation regarding her
broken engagement with Darien Fielding.
But now she knew he had understood her worries and wisely skipped the
questions.
"I see that you
approved my gifts, now will you please give me the pleasure of dining with you,
young lady?"
She placed her
hands in his warms ones when Greg had helped her into her coat. In her mind, Serena convinced herself
that she should love someone like Greg, who had always shielded her from the
world's harms.
She promised
herself that she would try that.
Neo-Queen Serenity's Crystal Tokyo was originally established on August 18th, 1998.
It is owned and operated by Neo-Queen Serenity
