1 CHAPTER 0

Lily was an orphan. She lives on the mountain with an old man who adopted her. The old man taught Lily to read and write. He taught Lily how to defend herself as well. When Lily reached the age of fifteen, the old man died because of old age. Lily went down from the mountain to find an opportunity for herself. She dreams of entering a proper school and learning more about how to read and write. She's trying to find a job, but it's difficult for her because she doesn't have any educational background. Cataleya wandered and looked around. The buildings of different sizes and shapes amazed her. She remembered what her grandpa had told her. The city is not a safe place, and there are many temptations. But Lily still came because she was eager to learn in school.

"Take a risk for your dreams!" She exclaimed.

One moment, when she was on the street, she saw an old lady's bag being snatched by the snatcher. Lily chased the snatcher. And she returned the bag to the old lady.

"Thank you young lady. What is your name?"

"You're welcome, grandma. My name is Lily. Please be careful next time and don't walk alone on the street."

"Oh yes, because my grandchild was at work, I forgot to ask him to buy my medicine."

"OK, grandma I will go with you and guard you! Which way are we going to head?"

"You are such a kind child. Where do you live?"

"I'm from the mountains. I do not live here. I just arrived here today and I will find a job and learn in an actual school."

"Is there no school where you came from, child?"

"No grandma, only my grandpa taught me how to write and read."

"Where is your grandfather now?"

"He died last month. And I am venturing here if I have luck. But I couldn't find a job."

"I see. Would you like to stay at my place temporarily if you have no place to stay?"

"Thank you, grandma. I'm afraid that your grandson will not accept me."

"Don't worry, my grandson has a beautiful heart."

Grandma brought me to her house after purchasing her medicine. Luckily, grandma was an amiable person. She accepted me without hesitation. She offered me to go to school.

One entire day passed. Her grandson got home. And she introduced us.

"Lily, he is Rainford. You can call him Rain. Rainford, she's Lily and she will stay here from now on."

"That's great! You will have a companion, Grandma. It will relieve me when I am working. Welcome Lily. And thank you for rescuing Grandma earlier."

"No problem, Rain. I am happy I can be of help."

I stayed with them and studied hard. And I graduated from high school. When I reached the age of eighteen, I started working. And help grandma and Rain for a living. I work any available work as long as there is a salary. Because grandma's health is weakened every day and we need to send her to the hospital for treatment. That's why Rain and I worked every day without resting. But our problems came one after another. Unfortunately, the land where we stayed was bought by a wealthy man who planned to build a factory. They want us to be removed from the area. But we didn't want to relocate. We were not sure if they would provide us with a new place to live, so we always fought with them. The people said they would fight till death for the land where they grew up. I was happy when I was able to protect our house with my ability to fight. Grandma and Rain discovered my fighting skills, and asked me where I learnt to fight. I told them when grandpa adopted me, he taught me how to fight to defend myself when one day he would leave this world.

Lily wished she had been born into a wealthy family. Because she wants to help poor people, especially her grandmother and Rain, from suffering.

Cataleya was an introverted, modest, unsociable, clever girl from a wealthy family. When she was in college, her parents planned for her to have a political marriage to Cole, the son of a wealthy family and a playboy on the campus where she studied. Her fiancee ignored her for another girl. They barely talked to each other. They only met when both of their families were having dinner. He didn't care for her and didn't pay attention to Cataleya when they were at the table.

Three years later, at the age of twenty-two, she got married to Cole. She lived a miserable life with Cole, who always brought girls to their house. One time, when Cataleya went down to go into the kitchen to get some milk, she saw Cole and his girlfriend on the sofa doing something. The girls were shocked and asked who Cataleya was. Cole told her girlfriend, Cataleya, that she was just a mere maid and just ignored her.

It hurt Cataleya when she heard the sentence from Cole. She was his wife, but he never treated her like one.

Cataleya remembered that on their wedding day, Cole didn't sleep with her. Instead, Cole brought his girlfriend to the other room, and he left her alone in the wedding chamber.

One day, the wives invited Cataleya from an influential society to have tea. All the wives share their experiences of being married to their husbands. But Cataleya couldn't share anything since her husband ignored her and never loved her. She felt envious of them because they lived happily with their husbands.

Cataleya ran away to the restroom because she couldn't bear to hear more from the wives about their marriages. She was crying silently because she had not even one friend to comfort her and to lean on. How she wished she had a friend who she could talk to about her difficulties. But her family never allowed her ever since she was born to have friends, because her family was afraid that her friends would influence her to become imperfect, because they always wanted her to be perfect in the eyes of others.

Cataleya's family never knew that her life was horrible because she never spoke a word to them. She doesn't want to disappoint her family.

She was too tired. Because she had no freedom in life. She can't do anything she wants. She wished she had been born into a simple life. To have freedom and to choose what she wants in her life.