"That girl will be meeting Mr. Patel tomorrow in the afternoon. Make sure that she accepts him."

Raj's voice echoed in the quiet, tension-filled room.

"And how am I supposed to do that? After all we've put her through. The only way we will be able to do that is by forcing her." Kavya spoke.

Raj chuckled.

"No, my wife. The girl has always wanted us to love her, if she is going to accept, we will have to make her feel loved. At this point, all we need is just an hour display of  fake affection and just like that, you will have her accepting to marry that old man without a second thought."

Raj spoke.

"Mmm, that's actually a very good idea, my husband. Selling her right after having her and finally getting our five hundred thousand US dollars was worth it."

Kavya laughed.

"Yes-"

Radha paused the recording, her chest, tight from heart break.

Her vision blurred with fat tears. Finally, she looked up at her sister.

"Didi, are they my parents?"

She asked softly.

Nandini replied, "at this point, Radha, I highly doubt it but I don't know and no matter what happens, you will always be my sister, my family, okay?"

That wasn't enough to stop Radha's tears. Nandini sat helplessly for a minute then got an idea.

"Listen to me, Radha. This is what we are going to do. Stop crying and look at me."

Radha wiped her tears and looked at her.

"Listen. As it stands now, one wrong turn and you will be getting married tomorrow. I know how people like them do this. So, you are going to corporate with them. You will agree to everything they say and trust me, they might suspect a bit but they will let their guard down and relax. Finally , when they least expect it, on your wedding day, you will run away.

Trust me, Radha. There's no backup plan. This is the only plan so when I give you the chance on your wedding day, don't look back. Don't think about me, just run away, do you get me? If we are destined to meet again, we will but if we don't get the chance to meet again, always remember that I love you as my sister no matter what."

Radha cried harder then hugged her sister.

When Nandini saw that their mother was coming, she pushed her sister away, stood up and started shouting at her like she always did in her mother's presence.

"Do you think you will get a good husband? Look at yourself, you're not even worth it." Nandini hissed.

"Hey, don't talk to your sister like that from now onwards. She is getting married. She has a husband waiting for her. What about you? You don't even have a boyfriend at your age." Kavya scolded Nandini for the first time.

Nandini ignored the painful truth, rolled her eyes and stormed out of the room.

Radha stared at her mother with teary eyes, still wondering if the woman before her was her mother.

"Why are you crying, my dear?"

Kavya asked.

Radha shook her head.

"Nothing, just feeling strong because upon all that I have gone through, I have not thought of killing myself."

"What? No, no, Radha dear. Don't even think about suicide. Even if your father and I disregarded you in the beginning, your siblings love you, your husband will love you, your in laws will love you and your children, your children will love you the most.

There is so much ahead of us, we don't know but because of some suffering that feels permanent, people want to kill themselves. No, even if you die, the world will continue to be cruel and a dark place for other innocent people.

So never think that killing yourself will make things better. No, it won't even make any difference."

At that moment, a sick feeling enveloped her and all she wanted to do was to slap her mother.

"Is my groom here?" Radha asked, the words, feeling like puke.

"Oh yes, yes, let's not keep Mr. Patel waiting." Kavya grinned, pulling her daughter outside the room.

It was already bad enough that Radha had just found out that she was sold and now, while staring at the old man who was seated beside her father, she thought to herself, could this get anymore worse?

A man who looked like he could have a cardiac arrest in about five minutes was her would be husband? This was the height of every disrespect she had endured. Sold to an old man? Was she that worthless? That much unwanted? Why would her parents do that to her?

"So, here is your groom, Mr. Patel. He has decided not to take a single thing from you as your dowry yet has still availed himself for him to be used to bless us with five hundred thousand US dollars. That money can help us get a new house or to make something useful."

Radha felt all the more disgusted when the old man grinned at her, displaying yellowish brown teeth.

She blinked back tears while bitting her lips.

Forcing a smile, she stayed quiet until her father suggested, "so when can the wedding take place?"

Mr. Patel chuckled, "let's see, next two weeks. Next two weeks would be perfect."

Radha almost scoffed. Where was he rushing to?

"Right, my dear?" Mr. Patel asked with a chuckle.

Radha forced a smile and nodded with a fake display of shyness.

The elders laughed, "Hey Bhagwaan, a wedding has been fixed in our home." Kavya joined her palms together while looking upward while smiling. Mr. Malhotra and Mr. Patel shook hands.

Her parents didn't let her work that day. According to them, until she was married, she was only going to eat and sleep.

Once Radha was alone, she burst into bitter tears.

"Bhagwaan ji, is this going to be my life? I was sold to a man old enough to be my grandfather. I want to leave right now but I have to trust didi because she knows our parents very well. What do you have for me when I successfully escape? I'm so tired."

Slowly, she fell asleep while sitting by her bed.

Another chapter down🎉 thank you so much for reading up to this chapter.

How did this one go?

Do you know, at a point, I wanted Radha to become the villain of this story? but for this story, I have arranged that she would be soft, the good quiet person with so much pain to bear.

I wonder if the escape will go as planned because our Radha looks like she is loosing her patience now. Any minute from now, she might snap.

Anyway, as usual, you know how

this goes. Please remember to vote, comment and share 💞

Your favorite author,

Julie Cooper.