The deeper the love, the deeper the hatred

Chapter 1Eight years together, and then Mom got sick. That's when I begged Jake for a wedding.He acted all in.But on the wedding day, he projected a video of himself in bed with another woman on the big screen.The guests’ laughter and jeers… Mom couldn't take it. She just… died right there.Everyone treated me like I was Jake’s free entertainment for eight years.The wedding imploded, and Jake dragged me to the roof. We jumped.Before we hit the ground, he looked at me with these crazy, red eyes, blaming me for ruining his chance to be with Ashley.That's when it hit me: today was also the day Ashley was leaving the country.Then, I woke up, back to the day he first asked me out.This time, I said no.Eight years later, Jake's living the dream with Ashley, a big-shot CEO.At their engagement party, he saw me with another guy.Suddenly, he's all over me, grabbing my arm, demanding:"Lily, why did you change your mind?"1.After making dinner for my daughter, I threw on some sweats and headed to the hotel lobby.My face was pale without makeup.Before I even walked in, I saw the screen with their engagement photos, blown up huge.Jake was standing near the entrance, lighting a cigarette, surrounded by a bunch of our old classmates, all gossiping."Dude, Jake, or should I say Mr. Thompson? How did we miss you and Ashley hooking up back in college? You kept that quiet! You were totally carrying a torch for her, weren’t you? Mr. CEO is such a romantic!""Totally! I remember back in the day, Jake never did his homework, he was always knitting something in his dorm room! His backpack was stuffed with love letters, probably all for Ashley!""What are you talking about? Ashley wasn't even around then, that was all for Lily..."Jake's face darkened when he heard my name.The mood turned awkward.One of the guys quickly patted the talkative dude."Dude, bad timing! Shut up! We’re here to celebrate Jake and Ashley getting engaged.""Lily's been MIA for years now, probably didn’t amount to much. She must be regretting her choices, though. She had the nerve to turn down Jake back then. Now she’s probably kicking herself, right?"Jake forced a smile."That's all in the past. No big deal. Lily wasn't really into socializing anyway. It’s fine that she wasn't in the group chat. I'm actually grateful she turned me down. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have found Ashley.""I'm really happy now."Ashley linked her arm with his, flashing the Cartier bracelet on her wrist like she was showing off."Yeah, actually, Lily did us a favor! I’ll have to buy her a drink.""Without her planting the seed, Jake might not have known how to love someone, which is why I'm so lucky."Yeah, right.Jake spent a lot of time learning about romance when he was trying to get with me.The 99 love letters, the knitted scarves and bracelets.He even declared his love for me during a school assembly.It was all over the school’s social media for a month.Young love is always so loud and dramatic.Too bad it didn’t last.Eight years have g...