Vanessa Thompson
"What?" Did she hear him correctly or did those words played out in her mind's ear? She stared at him in utter shock, mouth agap. Nah, he must be joking, he probably said that to see my reaction, she thought to herself.
"I love you vee and i'm willing to do whatever to prove it to you"
Her phone pinged, she picked it up and on the screen was the headline for the day 'famous billionaire Gregory Thompson calls off wedding a day before' 'most anticipated wedding of the century is put on hold without stated reasons' 'what happened to gregcinth 2026?' 'Soon to be couples cut ties before the d day'
And a lot more like that, she covered her mouth in shock as tears gathered in her eyes.
"It's true?" She managed to say despite the shock.
"I told you"
"Why? Why would you do such a thing to your fiancee? Why greg why?" She yelled.
"BECAUSE I LOVE YOU VEE!" He yelled back.
She sank to the ground.
"I love you. And nothing else matters" he leaned on her from behind and held her close "i don't want to miss the opportunity to be with the person that makes my heart beat, i can't lose you"
"This is wrong greg" tears rolled down her eyes as she leaned back on him "so wrong"
"Stop saying that vee, i don't know how else to go about it, i won't let go, ever"
Vanessa cried in anger and guilt, she's the reason hyacinth's dream got crushed, how would she face society, what would become of her? She honestly thought her plan of having sex with greg would wake him up from his fantasies unknown to her that it would cause further damage. She hated herself now. She stood up without saying a word, picked her bag and left.
Few weeks passed and no one has seen or heard from vanessa. Greg was restless, he searched for her everywhere he could think of, he flew to the caribbean and combed the place in search of her but couldn't find her, her family were oblivious of her whereabouts too. She didn't have a best friend or close tight buddy that would've been a-briefed of her situation. Greg was frustrated, he had to deal with the media and his former fiancee and vanessa's absence. He wished he hadn't let her walked out of the suite, memories of that day taunts him every now and then. He hired special agents around the globe to find her but even the best of them came back with negative results.
Months passed and there was still no sign of vanessa. Everyone was forced to assume her dead or gone forever. A year went by and it was concluded she would never come back ever, a funeral was conducted for her and a grave stone carved in her memory.
Greg visited his favourite pub after dropping a bouquet of roses on vanessa's grave, he'd succumbed to excessive drinking lately, that's the only soothing his heart could take after undergoing a terrible loss. It was three weeks after the new year and it still snowed, everywhere was busy and lively, the holidays were over but decorations still hung here and there in offices and public places. Greg ordered shots till he became tipsy, he didn't care cause he had his driver and guards with him. He wasn't worried about the media anymore cause he came clean about the reason behind him calling off the wedding, he told the media that for the first time in his life he felt love, he told them why he had decided to marry hyacinth and the truth that she supported the wedding being called off, cause weeks earlier she made it clear to him that she was fully aware that he was in love with Vanessa and wouldn't mind stepping out of the picture for him to be with who he is happy and really in love with, he was happy when she told him and that made him respect her the more. They even appeared on live interviews together, this made the media not scrutinize the whole issue and make a lasting deal out of it, when vanessa was no where to be found, they sympathized with greg....