Falling for Sparkles
“Sparkles?” Mat’s voice is sharp, not guilty, not soft.
His dark eyes narrow, and Joana steps back, smirking, wiping her glossy lips with the back of her hand like she’s savoring the moment. She doesn’t even have the decency to look embarrassed.
“What… what the hell is this?” My voice cracks, barely above a whisper, but it’s all I can manage.
My legs tremble, and I grip the strap of my bag to keep from collapsing. The pain is a living thing, clawing up from my chest to my throat, hot and suffocating.
Mat scoffs, crossing his arms, his jaw tight.
“What’s it look like? Jesus, Sparkles, don’t make a scene.” Joana lingers behind him, adjusting her purse, her eyes flicking over me like I’m a stray dog who wandered too close.
“A scene?” I choke out, stepping forward, my hands shaking. “You’re kissing her in our house, and I’m making a scene? Mat, how could you…”
In her final year at university, Sparkles, a vibrant redhead, returns from a grueling bar shift to find her toxic boyfriend, Mat, kissing campus socialite Joana. Instead of apologizing, he brands her "miserable" and "clingy," breaking up with her and evicting her from their shared home. Devastated, Sparkles seeks refuge with her best friend, Michelle, collapsing into grief but rallying with her encouragement to ace her exams.
On graduation night, Michelle drags Sparkles to a pulsing club to celebrate. There, she meets Lee Knox, a billionaire playboy visiting for his friend Bryson’s graduation. Fueled by drinks and raw chemistry, they share a passionate one-night stand in his hotel suite, a fleeting escape from her pain.
Weeks later, visiting her mom, Diana, and sister, Star, Sparkles discovers she’s pregnant. Torn but supported by Diana’s unwavering love, she keeps the baby, naming him Dair after his birth. Financial strain forces her to place him for adoption in New Jersey. To start anew, she hides her red hair under a black wig, lets her eyebrows grow wild, and wears baggy clothes, becoming a shadow of herself in Manhattan, working as a barista.
Three years later, at 24, Sparkles lives quietly, unaware that Lee, now a billionaire running his tech empire, enters her café with Bryson. Neither recognizes the other her disguised, him hardened by ambition. When she spills coffee on his suit, her flustered apologies meet his irritation. Yet this clumsy moment is fate’s nudge, a spark hinting at hidden truths a son in New Jersey, a night forgotten waiting to unravel their pasts into a chance for redemption and forever.