Cassie’s past
Cassie did not say anything to Jennifer that she was also kidnapped. She just walked along with her towards the entrance and waved her hands with a smile, watching Jennifer leaving with her dad. She came back to her room and did not utter a single word, that Jennifer left with her father earlier.
She kept noticing Elina's eyes moving towards the door and even though she knew whom her eyes were searching for, Cassie did not say anything. She just watched Elina's reaction and felt good. Yes! You must feel helpless and utterly useless, didn't your father make me go through all this when I was just three years old.
How much would I have suffered? If only your father was not drunk that night and hit our car, then even I would have family who protected me. Because he was rich, they made sure to hide everything and even put the blame on her dad.
Her mom, dad, and her twin elder brothers, everyone was killed. Elina's father thought if he took care of her by providing money and even sponsored education for her, all his sin would be washed out.
She did not remember much of her past when she woke up at a hospital. All she could remember was her mother's laugh and her brother's smiling face. She used to recall her dad and one of her twin brothers were the silent ones in their family.
But later when a few years passed after being placed in foster care, she completely forgot about her family, until she met her old matron. When she wanted to know about the sponsor who was supporting her, she came across the matron, Rose.
At first, no one wanted to disclose who her sponsor was as it was supposed to be confidential. Even though she explained several times that all she wanted to do was thank him, they did not let her know.
Seeing that there was no other option left, she just thought to leave it as it is and carry on with her life. Until she met her old school mate, Lily when she went to buy a few daily necessities from a nearby shop. Lily brought her to her house, where she met her old matron, Rose. They both were surprised and talked for a long time.
While they are talking about their past, Cassie mentioned how she tried to find out about her sponsor as she wanted to thank him for helping her all these years. Just by hearing about her sponsor Rose went silent and looked at her with pain in her eyes.
Cassie, who was smart, caught on to her facial change and asked her. At first, Rose was not willing to say anything and tried to change the topic several times. But Cassie was slightly born adamant, so she insisted on knowing about her sponsor.
"It was a long time ago, aren't you happy now?" Rose asked.
"Matron, it was not about whether I am happy or not now! All I wanted to know was who was my sponsor. I know it is against rules if the sponsor wants to keep it a secret but there must be some leeway to know about him" Cassie said with a persistent voice.
"Sigh! Look, girl, it is better if you do not know about that evil man. If only he did…", Rose stopped in between and looked away.
Cassie could not understand why Rose would call him an evil man when he did so much help for her. Not only did he sponsor her education, he even helped her in many other ways. She was made sure to even live a luxury life. She knows people like her suffer a lot wherever they are! Being an orphan with no relatives to rely on, and that too being a girl, everyone knows how hard life would be.
To be frank, she even had a bodyguard to protect her all the time. As she had the bodyguard from when she was a child, she did not feel anything odd. Until one day when her desk mate, Fiona pointed out how different their lives are, even though they both are almost the same.
Fiona was also an orphan and even though she had food, shelter, and clothing, she lived a completely different life. So once she said, she was jealous of her and wanted to know who her sponsor is?
Cassie replied she herself did not know! At that time it struck her that she had to meet this sponsor and thank him for all he had done to an unknown person. He must be a very good person with a kind heart. But looking at how her matron was speaking, did she get everything wrong?
Even after waiting for a long time, Rose did not say anything. Cassie wanted to know it all right now! She did not know if she would ever get such an opportunity later in the future. Suddenly she remembered, there was a person who was first willing to get her the details but just a day later he disappeared without any trace.
Once a doubt was placed into a human mind, they would go to any extreme to prove it wrong or right. Being smart from a young age, Cassie understood what she is seeing right now or what was shown before might not be the truth.
"Please let me know! I am a grown-up now. I can handle anything, I won't break off and cry. Please matron, Rose! I beg you… Tell me what happened? Will you?" Cassie looked at Rose with determined eyes.
"I don't know why or how, but I heard a rumor saying that your sponsor was the one who was responsible for your parents and brother's death! I would have not told you this if it's just a rumor alone. I saw your sponsor talking to the head of administration at that time. They were friends and the head helped you into the best foster care home." Rose said and stopped for a while looking at Cassie's face.
She was worried, all these details could greatly affect Cassie. Even though she was all grown up now and displayed maturity, she is still a sixteen-year-old girl. And she did not want to make Cassie's life any more difficult than it already is!
"What is my sponsor's name?" Cassie asked after sitting with her closed eyes for ten minutes.
Lily went to the kitchen to grab, few of Cassie's favorite snacks, after she introduced her to Rose. When she came back and saw the silence and tension around the air, she opened her mouth to ask what's wrong but before she could even voice it out, Rose said,
"Lily darling, can you please get me a cup of coffee? My migraine is acting up and I forgot to bring my medicines. "
Looking at the hesitant Lily, Rose tried to push her away so that she could talk freely to Cassie.
"Hurry up dear, I feel like my head would burst anytime soon"
Left with no other option, Lily left while turning and looking behind her once more. Lily knows Rose is a good person but when she looked at Cassie's pale face, all she could do was worry a little. But since Rose is an adult and she has nothing to worry about her harming Cassie, she went to the Kitchen.
Rose took a paper from her bag and wrote a name. She pushed the paper towards her and said, "Do not be rash! He is not an easy person, who you could go head-on with! Be careful and never tell anyone you know who your sponsor is. I wrote the name and gave you because I wanted you to be careful around him in the future and nothing else."
Cassie without saying anything left Lily's place and wandered around. She knows her bodyguard was following her from quite a distance away. But now when she looked at the situation, she felt like he was not here to protect her but to make sure that she would never find out who her sponsor is!
When Lily came back from the kitchen, she saw Cassie left without even saying goodbye to her. Even the snacks which she got for her were left unattended. She looked at her aunt Rose and asked, "Aunt Rose, did you say something hurtful to Cassie? I know you are not a bad person but still, we cannot hurt people who have no one else"
Rose got up from her seat and hit her niece's head and said, "Who hurt whom? I just informed her to be careful and take care of herself when she said she was not feeling well. Anyways do you think I can even say anything when that huge bodyguard was always protecting her so well? And even follows her everywhere."
"It is for her own safety. I really like that sponsor of hers. He must be a good person" Lily said innocently.
"Not everything you look at is real. Hmph…" Rose said and turned to leave.
But while she was near the door, she turned around and said, "Tell your mom, I might be out of station for a few months and not to search for me as I do not know if there will be a signal at the place I am going. Oh! By the way, your friend left after she saw the snacks which you placed at that table. She felt sick once she looked at it and then ran away"
What?? What did her aunt say? This was all Cassie's favorite!! She used to buy and eat those during her lunch break. How could she not like them now?
What Lily did not know was that Cassie ate those things because they were cheaper. Even though Cassie got a four-figure amount every month in her bank account, still she felt that she should not be a burden to anyone. So she hardly used that money and just let it be in that account.