Chapter 1: The man in the rain

It was a rainy weekend. Ariel had just finished reading the last page of her textbook when she heard her mom's voice.

"Ariel!", the shrill voice of Mrs. Lorenzo rang out. This caused a shudder in the heart of the young maiden. She hurriedly closed the book and ran outside. Her mother or you could say, the person she considered her mom stood at the entrance dusting off the rain droplets that had fallen on her. Ariel grabbed a dried towel and rushed out. She handed the towel to her with trembling hands. The woman eyed her and took the towel from her.

"Why did it take you so long to come out?", she scolded.

"I'm sorry mom", Ariel apologized. The woman hmphed and pushed her out of the way.

"You dared to keep me outside, you would have to stay outside for 30 minutes".

Ariel raised up her head with a start. She couldn't believe her mom. She had actually come over as fast as she could but now...

"Mom, please. I would be faster".

Mrs. Lorenzo didn't want to care about her and walked in.

" Kiera", she called as she walked in.

Kiera was the second daughter of the Lorenzo family. The Lorenzo family wasn't a high-class family neither were they middle class. They belonged to the third circle of social status. However, Mrs. Lorenzo was too smart and cunning. She knew how to wind her way up the social ladder. But, all these were the effort she made for Kiera. Ariel wasn't in her dictionary. For her, bshe had only one child and that was Kiera.

Ariel looked at the door that was locked up in front of her. Tears burned her eyes but she wiped them off hurriedly. She couldn't allow her mom to see her cry. She didn't want to make her mom angry. She turned around, her back facing the door. She stared into the distance before her and her thoughts wandered.

While in her thoughts, she noticed a figure at that distance. The figure looked powerful. Ariel could feel the power from where she stood. She noticed that it was a man. He stood there for sometime before another man joined him. The second man held an umbrella over his head.

She looked down. She didn't think of anything. She was waiting for the 30 minutes to exhaust so that she could go in and try to make her mom happy. She always wished that her mom would like her. She always envied her sister. Her sister had always told her to be obedient so that she could earn her mother's love. Ariel had been trying her best to be obedient in all sort of ways but, mom didn't acknowledge her but, she wouldn't give up. She won't.

Just then, she noticed a black umbrella beside her. She looked up, but there was no one there. She knew that the umbrella belonged to that man. The man in the rain.