6-A ring with diamond.

POV - Eleonora Vitale.

HOURS LATER...

I'm just finishing putting on my rings when I hear someone knocking on the door and I sigh because I already know who it is.

"Come in," I say without much enthusiasm.

Viktor enters my room dressed in an exceptionally handsome suit. But one detail catches my eye. His tie. My eyes scan the red piece that didn't fit with the rest of his outfit.

As I watched him, I didn't notice that he was doing the same to me.

"Perfect, just as I imagined..." He says and bites his lips, making me feel something I've never felt before, I just didn't know what.

"Thank you, but..." I say in a string of voices.

"But what?" he asks and arches his eyebrow.

"Your tie isn't accentuating your outfit, come on!" Taken by a sudden burst of courage, I approach him and entwine my hand in his, pulling him towards his bedroom and into his closet.

When I reached the tie compartment, I carefully analyzed each piece, looking for the one that would go perfectly with his suit.

The color simply caught my eye, so I took it in my hand, unrolled it, and placed it in front of Viktor to see if it matched. And it did!

"Put that on." I hold it out to him, who without complaining removes the red tie and puts the blue one in its place. "Now, yes, you look very handsome." As I finish saying these words, I feel my cheeks burning.

He, in turn, walks over to the nearest mirror and examines his outfit.

"It suits you, I don't know why I didn't put it on before." He says and looks at me again. "Shall we?" I agreed begrudgingly, annoyed that he hadn't even thanked me for the suggestion.

What did you expect, Eleonora? Honestly! I snort.

We finally arrived at the venue for the celebration and I was praying that it would all be over so that I could soon be free of this prison Viktor had put me in.

I tried to keep as quiet as possible so that my presence at his side wouldn't be noticed. But to no avail! Every guest came to greet us.

Then someone didn't go unnoticed.

A woman kept staring at me amid the others. She was accompanied by a man, who I assumed was her father. They were the only people who hadn't yet come to greet us. I confess I'm curious!

"Smile Eleonora, you look like an expressionless doll," Viktor whispers in my ear, sending shivers down my spine, and I try my best to keep a smile on my face. But the amount of stares directed at us makes this almost impossible.

"Well, I'm going to get myself a sweet. Do you want some?" He says no and lets go of my arm. Instantly I walk over to the buffet and look at the types of sweets on offer. I decide to get a brownie and a waiter passes by and offers me champagne. "Thank you." I thank him and he nods and leaves to serve another guest.

"Don't drink too much, darling, I don't want to embarrass you." I'm slightly startled, but I recover quickly. I stare at Viktor as if I could kill him with my gaze.

"Don't worry, darling. Getting drunk isn't my goal." I say wryly and smile.

"And what would your goal be?" He asks subtly.

"Maybe I can tell you at the end of tonight." I raise the glass in my hand as if to toast.

Jokes aside, I have to be very careful with alcohol!

I take a sip of the drink.

"I'll have to leave you alone for a moment because I'm going to make a speech." Strangely, he leaves a kiss on my forehead and leaves.

As much as I knew that this gesture was not at all affectionate or sincere, I felt a tightness in my heart.

Everyone looked at me, some surprised and dumbfounded, while others whispered among themselves. And the self-interested women looked at me with disgust.

Viktor began his speech by thanking everyone who works for his company and talking about his financial backers, highlighting a man called Alfred Steven. I watched him sipping my drink until I felt someone standing next to me.

"Viktor brought someone..." I look at the figure and realize it's the same woman who was staring at me a few minutes ago.

"And who are you?" I ask and she smiles emotionlessly.

"Vittoria Castelli. I suppose you must know about me, Viktor must have told you something." Her words make me understand the situation a little.

This could probably be an ex-girlfriend of my boss, judging by the way she imposes her words.

"No, I don't know anything about you. Viktor hasn't told me anything, because surely it's something unimportant." She arches an eyebrow.

Maybe it looks like I'm jealous or something, but I'm just trying to make it look like I'm not someone she should mess with! She purses her lips in response. But my attention is drawn to Viktor.

"Well, taking advantage of this moment when we're all together. I want to tell you about my wedding, and I'm going to propose to my wife right now."

I observe the crowd looking for his supposed "wife" and myself too.

"Eleonora, come here, my love." I open my eyes wide, feeling like I'm going to have a heart attack.

He continues to stare at me with his bossy gaze. My feet move on their own and without realizing it I'm already climbing onto the makeshift stage.

Viktor walks over to me and takes me by the hand, kneeling in front of me.

"Eleonora Vitale, will you marry me?"

God! What does this man think he's doing? I'll kill him, this is way out of line.

"Yes..." My voice breaks and then I hold out my hand and on my left ring finger he puts a ring with a solitaire diamond.

Then he kisses my hand and whispers in my ear:

"Don't worry, in less than a month this engagement will be off." He walks away and smiles falsely. I just nod, without an answer to give him.

We walk away from the stage with our hands intertwined. Then Vittoria comes towards us and I feel Viktor tense up.

He still loves her. That's a fact!

"Congratulations to the couple." She says.

"Thank you," Viktor replies. "I've finally found the perfect woman for me." He looks at me and gives me a forced smile.

"You know it didn't have to be like this." She says and looks in my direction.

"And how does it have to be?" Viktor asks with irony in his voice.

"We can still be together, you just have to want to." I'm stunned by the audacity of the woman in front of me, speaking as if she wasn't here.

"It's Vittoria, isn't it?" I feign oblivion. "Don't talk to my fiancé as if I weren't here. I believe that if you've asked for my hand today, it's because you don't want his." I say and she swallows dryly, smiling falsely.

"Well, my love, how about we pour ourselves some champagne to celebrate our happiness?" Viktor pulls me along without saying another word to Vittoria. Until we stop near a pillar and he takes me by the arm. "What do you think you're doing?" He asks me and looks at me coldly.

"That woman was talking as if she wasn't there and I was annoyed by it. Is there a problem?" I arch my eyebrow.

"Don't you dare do anything to her? That's my business and you have nothing to do with it."

"Oh really? If it's none of my business, why did you get me involved in all this trouble over that woman?" He approaches slowly with anger in his expression.

"Watch what you say and do, Ms. Vitale." Having said that, he walks off towards the elevator, leaving me perplexed by his reaction.

Idiot!