Chapter 02

Without waiting for an answer, Sindhu continued "Arrogant, rude and heartless jerks.. just LIKE YOU"

Only after a second of uttering those harsh words did she finally realise what came out of her mouth and covered her mouth.

It wasn't due to the shock that she badmouthed him but because of the realisation that she ultimately expressed her feelings, even if it ended up with her being rude. It was truly worth a huge celebration.

She never bothered explaining her views or retorting to anyone's accusations, not even her parents and would always let it pass. She simply kept everything to herself and put up with every finger pointed at her and endured every person finding fault with her.

All she ever did was cry silently and never dared expressing herself because she know it would only bring her more heartache. But this time it was different.

This guy before her was the first person ever whom she criticised without holding back since the day she entered this open hell named society to face it's nightmarish scrutiny.

Her actions made her feel extremely shocked but also worried. She thought he would get angry and have a huge fight with her parents for her rude behaviour but what he did was completely unexpected and it left her utterly speechless.

As if she wasn't scolding about him but complimenting his good looks, he chuckled showing his pearly whites. He simply stared at her with his bright captivating eyes, causing her heart to skip a beat.

'What's wrong with this guy?' She gazed at him confused. There was no annoyance or anger on his face. All she noticed was just a smile hanging on his lips with his black orbs gazing at her. She was dumbfounded and simply stared back in daze.

He spoke again but this time in a calm, gentle and polite manner unlike his previous voice full of arrogance and ridicule.

"I guess you have your own reasons for not putting any efforts when you can qualify in the examination with the least of your efforts. But whether you like it or not, at some point of time someone will question you like I did just now. And I don't like someone else judging you. It's your future and I hope you'll take it a little serious"

Gazing at his serious face, she listened to his voice in a daze. She barely registered what he's talking about but she guessed it's something boring as he kept blabbing on and on like a chatterbox. If only she heard him, her thoughts would've been different.

Noticing no reaction in her, he snapped his fingers instantly bringing her to her senses.

"Ohh..." She could only mumble in embarrassment as she didn't know what he even said in the first place.

"This is my number. Call me when you come to a decision" He took a paper napkin and casually scribbled a train of numbers before passing it to her.

She stared at the string of numbers on the paper and then at him with a frown.

She really didn't understand why he's suddenly giving her his number and in such a manner that she was not so liking.

'Wait! He wants me to call him? For what reason?! What decision?! To marry him?' Several questions popped in her head as she gave it some thought.

"Why..Why me? Look at me carefully" She leaned a little closer to him to show him her face clearly. "From which angle did you find me pleasing? I'm not a slim and hot beauty. But you look handsome and charming. Honestly, there's no scarcity of women in the country. You can get any woman you want. You don't have to sacrifice yourself for someone like me" She spoke out trying to ease the situation. She hates him more than anyone now with how he spoke about her and even with a mere thought of marrying him, she felt like she'll die from extreme anger.

She knew her capabilities and knew there's no way any normal man would choose her as his wife after seeing her temper.

She wished he would spill the real reasons for choosing her. She hoped it wasn't the heavy dowry he would receive from her family.

It would just make her look like some goat that was put on sale in the market. She hates to become a product that could get sold off.

The guy chuckled "Because you're smart. You are so smart... you know that you don't deserve me" He said, giving her a sweet smile but in her eyes he only looked like a cold devil chasing her.

'Is he praising me or humiliating me? What a jerk!' She frowned, glaring at him but soon moved her eyes to his movement and on seeing him stand, her jaw dropped almost hitting the ground.

"Okay. I had to accept, I'm defeated" She muttered to herself while he silently walked away. Given her height of 5 feet 4 inches, she's not considered short but the man was ridiculously tall, almost measuring 6 feet 3 inches.

He left her with a load of messy thoughts and giving her a splitting headache. However, she had no other choice and left the cafe even before the waiter could come again to take an order.

Once she reached her home, Sindhu thought she would forget about him with a good rest but that didn't go well as his words haunted her even at night, stealing away her sleep.

The next morning, Sindhu got off the bed picking her mobile phone to see the time. She didn't get a single wink of sleep as she was restlessly tossing and turning on her bed the whole night.

She walked into the bathroom while guessing how her mother would start scolding her again for being a useless child and wasting their hard earned money and her precious time.

It's a special day but not so special to the other people of her family. She walked out thinking how hard the day would get for her and finally reached the dining room to catch up on some breakfast.

When she was serving herself with some good food, her younger sister, Veda spoke from the side "Mom, did you forget? Today is sister's birthday. Why didn't you prepare anything special?"

Sindhu frowned staring at her sister, to which she was responded with an evil grin.

"Birthday?! Special? She should feel grateful that I'm giving her food early in the morning. Tell her to either eat the food I prepared or starve herself if she doesn't want to eat. But I'm not making anything else" Sindhu heard her mother, Latha speak with her usual but now intensified derisive voice that instantly made her to drop the spoon that's right before her mouth. She could only glare at her sister.

Watching her sister's glare, Veda poked her tongue out to tease while Latha snarled at "Why are you glaring at her? Am I not right? What are you doing to give you special treatment? Utter waste of money and time"

Trying her best to sound strong, Sindhu shouted in anger and disappointment. "Then why did you people even give birth to me?"

"We would have never given birth to you if we had known that you'll end up this hopless" This time it was her father, Raj who spoke.

Moreover, he snatched her mobile that was placed on the table and smashed it to the ground, breaking it into chunks of plastic, metal and glass. "We didn't give you birth so that you can keep playing with that mobile, Shameless girl" he continued.

Sindhu didn't say anything else and silently ate the food in her plate. She didn't dare to retort. She knew her parents were being harsh because they were worried about her career and hope to see her get a job but that wasn't something she wanted to do which her parents never understand even when she say it out loud.

Finishing her breakfast and collecting her broken mobile phone, Sindhu walked back to her room and locked the door behind her.

Every time she had this thought of killing herself, she kept convincing herself that one day everything would get better if she endured the pain but it only became worse.

She was useless in the eyes of her parents no matter what she does. Like all others, she simply wanted to live happily making her little dreams come true. Sadly, her dreams were never welcome and she had to follow everything according to what her parents arranged.

She had to fulfill others' wishes but what about hers? Should she force her children like how her parents did to her?

If that's what it takes for her to fulfill her dreams, she'd rather never get married and have kids.