Radha is eighteen years old...

"Now where is that good for nothing girl? Radha!" Mrs. Malhotra yelled, her harsh cold voice, cutting through the calm peaceful stillness of the morning.

"Ma?" Radha responded as she came running into the kitchen.

Kavya, the older woman, glared hard at her daughter.

"Where were you? I've been calling for about an hour, now, useless girl." Mrs. Malhotra barked.

"S-sorry, ma, I was... you asked me to... I was preparing the backyard for our guests-" Radha tried to explain only to be interrupted by her mother.

"Shut up! Sorry for your miserable and useless life. Now make yourself useful by taking over lunch preparation." Mrs. Malhotra growled and stormed out of the kitchen.

Radha sighed then bent over to continue pounding the dry pepper.

She was tired of begging for their love. She was also a part of the family, it wasn't even supposed to be that she would beg for her parents' love.

For so long a time, she had wondered if she was even a daughter of the family.

Her family was made up of five, including her. Her father, Raj Malhotra, her mother, Kavya Malhotra, her elder brother, Krishna Malhotra, her elder sister, Nandini Malhotra then herself.

Together, they formed a simple middle class family, residing in Kolkata.

As a simple middle class family living in a simple five bedroom family house, one would expected a happy simple family. However, that wasn't the case.

Every single morning started with Radha's tears and her parents' insults and ended with Radha's tears and her sister's comforting arms.

"I envy you, Radha, you know? In you being maltreated and all that, mom has taught you how to make a home." Nandini would say to cheer her sister up.

"But you get to make yourself beautiful and even go to school to make friends. You can wear western clothes while I have to stick to traditional dresses. I wish I could dress like you." Radha would argue while sobbing.

"You will understand everything, one day, little sis, mom has done you more good as much as harm." Nandini would gently say while stroking her sister's hair. Radha would simply sigh and quietly fall asleep in her sister's arms.

Overtime, Radha had learnt to accept the possibility that her parents would never like her.

Her parents took her siblings to school and refused to give her education.

It took just one simple decision, "I would like to be a lawyer of the supreme court of London." Then Krishna was out of the country in two years. Their parents worked fast on Krishna mainly because he was strong enough to protect Radha. With Krishna gone, there would be nobody to protect her.

Then there was Nandini. When Nandini asked their parents to support her in her modeling career, they pulled all strings and now, in four months, she would be moving to South Korea then to China because big cosmetic companies want her to be the face of their brand products.

And when finally, Radha had expressed her love for cooking so she wanted to have her own five star restaurant, her parents had looked at each other, then burst into fits of laughter.

"Try comedy instead because this is the best joke I have ever heard." Mr. Malhotra, her father had mocked.

"Seriously, Raj, everything about her is a joke, even her entire life is a joke, from her birth to this point. While your mates are out there saving lives and winning awards, you, who has not even stepped foot in a school building before, are here, cleaning the house and making family food, living without a single debt, how can you, a simple illiterate maid, think of building a five star restaurant? Do you even know anything about business? Forget a restaurant, you will not own even a single street stall. Nonsense. Get out of our sight!"

Her mother had yelled at her.

Flinching, she had ran into her room, crying herself to sleep that night.

That hadn't stopped her from dreaming but still, it had somehow made her loose a bit of hope. From that moment, she prayed for a husband who would help her build her dream because as long as her parents were alive, it clearly made it impossible for her siblings to help her without having a fight with their parents. The last thing she wanted was for her family to drift apart because of her.

"Radha!" Her father's loud voice startled her, causing her to mistakenly cut her finger.

Hissing, she quickly put her injured finger in her mouth, sucking to stop the blood from oozing out.

When it didn't stop, she prepared brine and placed her finger inside.

"Where is that nonsense excuse of a daughter? Radha! Bring me my tea this very minute before I come into that kitchen. Stupid girl." He insulted while making himself comfortable in the seat behind the dining table.

"Coming, papa!" Radha replied, already brewing the tea.

Once it was ready, she served the tea and took it to her father.

The slap came too fast, expected but too fast. She gasped when her forehead came into contact with the edge of the glass table.

"Are you mad or stupid? Where were you when I was yelling your name?!" He screamed at her, smacking her back in the process.

"Papa!" Radha cried, moving away and trying to rub her back in attempt to soothe the burning and tingling pain.

"Get the hell out of my sight, stupid girl." He shouted at her.

As she walked away, Raj glared at her, while thinking, "no wonder you were sold to Mr. Patel, an old dying man. You're so worthless, I have regretted keeping you when I could have just sold you to a brothel. When your own father doesn't want you, who would even want you? I'm even surprised Mr. Patel wants to marry you. Thankfully,a after tomorrow, you will start preparing to leave my house."

Rajasthan...

Rathore Mansion.

Ruhaan is eighteen years old.

Sunlight finds it's way into the dark room as it's past morning, almost noon but one teenager is still sleeping,  having his beauty sleep.

His room has no other colors but black, grey and brown. Brown being the color of his marble tiled floor, grey being the color of the walls of the room and black being the color of every single fabric that covered the room, from the curtains to the bed dressings to the floor mats to the cushions and to the couch.

The only white thing there is the A.C.

Beneath his room, downstairs, the hall is busy. Everyone has something to do. The two Rathore sisters, Anika and Jivika, are late for their weekend dance class. Mrs. Ruhanika Singh Rathore, their mother is supervising the maids to clean the kitchen before she takes her mother in law and father in law to the hospital.

Finally, the man of the house, Mr. Dev Singh Rathore, he is getting ready to take his son to the airport. The same teenager sleeping in the room is the one who has a flight to catch in an hour.

He has obtained a scholarship to Harvard University to major in Business Management.

"It's ten o'clock in the morning, where is that boy?" Dev growls as he tucks in his shirt. Finally done, he comes out, descending the stairs while shouting, "Ruhaan! Ruhaan!"

Upstairs, Ruhaan stares awake, his chestnut brown hair, messy, his hazel eyes still hazy with a bit of sleep.

The last call of his name, gets him fully awake.

"Ruhaan! Get out your room, we are leaving in an hour!"

Ruhaan has not even packed his stuff yet. He is not in a rush to get to Massachusetts. He doesn't want to leave India but since education calls, he has to go.

Panicking, Ruhaan manages to get ready while packing in forty minutes.

He descends the stairs while dragging his luggage and putting on his shoe at the same time.

"Look at him. So unserious. I wonder how he even got good grades enough to get him into such a prestigious school. Is this what you're going to there? When you have lectures at eleven in the morning, you will wake up half past the time?" Dev scolds his son while glaring at him.

Ruhaan ignores his father's insult as he remembers he has left his passport behind. Kissing his mother's cheek in a greeting, he rushes back upstairs, almost tripping over his foot in the process.

His grandparents laugh at his clumsiness.

Five minutes later...

"I'm going to miss you, mom." Ruhaan says while hugging his mother after she has performed the 'aarti'.

"Can you two hurry up, we're running late already!" Dev exclaims from behind his son. Ruhaan pulls away and glares at his father.

"Any outsider will think you're the student and not me, just relax, old man." He groans while walking past him.

Dev is stunned for a minute. "What did he just say to me?" He asks while looking at his wife. Ruhanika bites the inside of her cheek to stop herself from laughing. She shrugs then waves at him.

"Take care. Safe journey."

Dev clenches his jaw as he walks to the car. The driver takes them to the airport.

Well, well, our first chapter ends right here?

First of all, I thank you for staying to read the first chapter.

How did it go? How did you like the first chapter?

Let's take a quick look at our hero first. How did it go?

Man, this is just the beginning and he and his father are already not friendly towards each other 🤧😂

Now to our female protagonist...

Looks like our Radha is going to have a tough life 😭

Like who would want to sell their own daughter?

That too, to an old dying man?

And what in the world did Mr. Malhotra mean by her own father not wanting her? The way he spoke it makes it sound as if he, Raj, is not the biological father of Radha 😧

If it's true, that's going to be quite a sad yet relieving news for me because man! The abuse is too much 🤧

Anybody who calls his brother a 'fool' is a murderer of the heart. Verbal abuse can kill, people.

I cannot wait for what he has planned tomorrow for Radha. *Nervous* *Drum beats*

Anticipation....

Follow me for more amazing Asian stories 😁, journey with me, let's learn the beautiful varieties of Asian culture together 💫🔥

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See you in the next chapter,

Bye bye 👋

Your favorite author,

Julie Cooper.