I Was Abandoned by My Fiancé and Betrayed by My Best Friend—A Story from Rock Bottom - Chapter 2

How much time had passed, I wonder…?

My consciousness returned.

I thought for sure I had died.

Before my eyes stretched a cloudless blue sky.

Rows of white stone pillars stood around me, as if I’d wandered into the Parthenon I’d seen during my trip to Greece.

“Huh…? Where is this?”

The light reflecting off the stone pavement was dazzling.

The sound that reached my ears was the whoosh of wings cutting through the wind.

“Th-that’s huge!!”

Looking up—she must have been at least five meters tall.

A young woman with enormous wings growing from her back sat with her back to me on a cushion of clouds.

This must be heaven. I really did die after all.

Thinking that, I felt a little relieved.

—If I’m dead, then I don’t have to worry about past heartbreaks anymore.

The one that got away was a big one, but…

I pushed myself up and tried standing.

Then, as if noticing me, the winged woman turned around and slowly rose to her feet.

“Ah, you are…”

“Welcome, Miharu. I am Aphrodite, the goddess of love and beauty.”

Her clear voice echoed.

“A-a goddess!?”

“You were supposed to be killed by a car. But just as a dimensional rift opened and you were about to fall through a tear in the world, I caught you.”

“…Huh? I’m not dead?”

Lady Aphrodite smiled faintly.

“That’s right. You are not dead. However, your fate has been slightly rewritten.”

“‘Fate’… you say?”

—My “fate.”

Did I do something that bad?

Is this what was meant to happen?

“Indeed. Because you didn’t abandon yourself to despair and run mad, fate has begun moving in a favorable direction.”

Lady Aphrodite smiled warmly.

“Huh?”

—Favorable direction?

Even after all that happened, because I didn’t die and came here instead?

But my heart still had a gaping hole.

“Lady Aphrodite, I was abandoned by the man I loved most and lost everything. It’s over for me.”

I collapsed on the spot, all the unbearably painful reality I’d experienced just moments ago flooding back to me at once.

Tears overflowed without end.

“Over? No, Miharu.

Your tears are so beautiful.

Tears shed after losing love, being hurt, nearly breaking.

Yet shedding them without hating anyone.

That is human weakness, and at the same time, strength.

That very sight is beauty itself.”

“Beautiful…?”

Even though I was betrayed by the fiancé I loved and my most trusted friend, and feel this despair?

“I was betrayed by people I believed in. Beautiful is out of the question. I’m worthless now!”

“Worthless? No, that’s not true.”

Lady Aphrodite’s voice was quiet, yet carried weight.

“If you had given in to your anger at that moment—you surely would have lashed out, hurt the people who were once precious to you, hurt yourself, and been unable to save a life that could be saved. But you didn’t do that.”

Her words struck me.

—It was true, I felt anger at their actions.

But I didn’t act on it.

“It’s true, I felt anger at being betrayed but they were ‘precious people’ with whom I’d shared many happy times over a long period.”

At my honest words, Lady Aphrodite radiated a loving light.

“That feeling is very beautiful. Treasure that heart, and do not forget it.”

I wiped my tears and nodded.

“So then, how is it not over for me?”

“From now on, you can live anew.”

“…Starting over from rock bottom, you mean?”

As I murmured this, my tear-dampened cheeks felt slightly cold.

Putting it into words made my heart feel just a tiny bit lighter.

Lady Aphrodite nodded quietly.

“Well, you could think of it that way. You can choose a new way of living, unbound by the past.”

“I still haven’t sorted out my feelings but I think I understand a little.”

“That’s enough for now. Then, for the beautiful choice and action you took, I, as a goddess, shall grant you one gift.”

As Lady Aphrodite raised one hand, a pale light gathered in her palm.

The light soon formed into three particles that began floating in the air.

Red, yellow, blue—each capsule-shaped, pulsing faintly with light.

“Choose by image and intuition which one you want.”

Inside the transparent shells, something liquid-like swayed.

They looked like ordinary medicine capsules.

But if the scene before me wasn’t a dream, then this was the “goddess’s gift.”

“I’m sorry… I can’t choose. If I choose wrong again, I feel like everything will break.”

I lacked the confidence to accept Lady Aphrodite’s gift and lowered my outstretched hand.

To me, Lady Aphrodite smiled warmly and replied.

“So, you won’t choose. But that too is one kind of choice. Then, I shall grant you all of them.”

The capsules trailed ribbons of light and stopped before me.

“Red is power. Yellow is fortune. Blue is wisdom. Whether you take them or not is up to you.”

“Is it really alright?”

“Yes, take them. Love cannot be monopolized, and beauty is meant to be shared.”

The three lights fell into my hands, filling my trembling palms.

“Whether you take them or not, I leave to you. I look forward to seeing where your path of not choosing leads.”

Her voice was warm, yet somehow playful.

And then, my vision began to turn white.

(…I still don’t know.)

Still carrying my uncertainty, I was swallowed by the light.