They Ruined Me

The grand ballroom hummed with the superficial chatter of the elite, a symphony of polite lies and calculated smiles. Isabella, a young woman adrift in a sea of strangers, stood beside her 'parents', forced into yet another social charade. Her eyes, weary from countless forced encounters, scanned the faces, each a variation of the last, until one broke the monotony. A woman with a mole, her cheerfulness jarring against Isabella's muted existence.

“Your daughter is so beautiful! I have a son around the same age, here he is!” The words sliced through the din, pulling Isabella back to the present. She looked up, her gaze meeting a predatory smirk. A man, a few years her senior, observing her with an unsettling intensity. Isabella recoiled internally. I’ll have to pass.