Losing

Samira's ears rang loudly and her head and cheeks throbbed from her father's slap. She stood in front of her parents, brother, Nathan, and his parents, holding her red painful cheek. She stared at her father, mother, and brother with the last bit of hope she could master but her gaze was met with her father's as usual angry appearance, her mother's disappointed eyes, and her older brother looked somewhere between angry and annoyed. On the other hand, Nathan was enjoying the show with a look that said, "You should have known better, Samira."

How could have she known better? How could have she known that the man she loved for five years would turn out to be this horrible human being, who not only cheated on her with her best friend but also framed her to be the cheater in front of their family? And how would have she known that her family would believe him and not their own daughter?

It was four hours after Samira caught Nathan and Chloe and she locked herself in her store office when her phone flooded with her mother's messages and calls. Samira knew her parents were not going to be happy about their broken engagement, especially this close to the wedding but she thought once they knew Nathan's infidelity, they would understand. So when her mother asked her to meet them at Nathan's parents' house, she did. However, when she arrived she quickly realized they weren't there for Nathan's cheating but for Samira's affair.

"How dare you hurt my son like that?" yelled Nathan's mother looking down at Samira with complete disgust. She never liked Samira that much, so Samira knew that she wouldn't believe Samira but still she tried.

"I didn't hurt your son, he was the one cheating –"

"Enough!" Samira's father shouted. "Haven't you disrespected our families enough?"

"But Dad, I wasn't cheating on him! You all got it wrong! He was the one! Nathan cheated on me!" Samira was half-yelling half-crying, desperately trying to tell them that she was innocent but all she got was a hard slap from her father.

"You have the audacity to lie after doing such a disgusting thing?" thundered her father as Samira stood there shell-shocked holding her burning face. "Henry told us everything, you ungrateful shameless brat! He told Nathan and us everything!"

Henry. That was when Samira finally understood what had happened. Henry Jones was Samira's business partner and one of Nathan's close friends. In fact, it was Nathan, who convinced Samira to do business with Henry as Nathan thought handling a new business alone would be difficult for Samira. She didn't want to add Henry as she never really liked him that much but she could never say no to Nathan, so after stalling for a while, she finally involved him in her business.

And now this Henry was telling everyone that Samira was cheating on Nathan with him? Why? But looking at Nathan's smug expression, it was clear why.

Nathan had Henry lie to everybody so they didn't know about him and Chloe.

The realization shattered Samira's heart into a million more pieces. How could have she loved someone so cruel and manipulative? How could have he done something like this to her? And why was everyone believing him and not her?

"I didn't lie . . ." Samira tried again but this time her voice was a lot quieter. "I am not lying . . . he –"

"You –" Shaking with anger, Samira's father tried to slap her again. Samira flinched away but her mother caught his father.

"Calm down, Nil. You will get sick with your high blood pressure if you do not calm down. There is no point wasting our energy on a daughter like her," Samira's mother spoke to Samira's father without even looking at Samira.

"Mom, I swear –" Samira tried to talk to her mother but she held up her hand stopping her.

"Aren't you ashamed of yourself yet, Samira?" Her mother spat with venom in her eyes. "On top of all things, you are still lying? I cannot believe I gave birth to you. You are a disgrace to our name and family. It's my fault that I gave birth to you, I shouldn't have."

Samira stumbled back from her parents, somehow her mother's words hit her harder than her father's slap did. She knew their name and reputation were the most important thing for her father but she never expected her mother to turn her back as well.

"Wasn't I saying this from the very first day that she isn't good for my son?" Nathan's mother piped up taking advantage of the silence. "But nobody liked to listen to me. No, she is a safe girl. She is a quiet and obedient girl, she would be the perfect wife. She wouldn't cause us any problems. Isn't that what you said, Andrew?"

Nathan's mother turned to her husband Andrew Davenport, Nathan's father with an annoyed expression and Nathan's father glared at Samira.

"I thought she was," Nathan's father's voice started to rise as he continued to speak, "But you created such a big problem for us. You made us a joke in front of the whole world. How dare you tarnish our name like that in the society? This is why Nathan shouldn't have let you work on your own. He gave you too much freedom. I should have put a stop to it when you got engaged."

"Father, how would I know that she will use her freedom like this?" Nathan spoke with a hurt expression on his face, which made Samira's blood boil. "I thought she loved me as much as I loved her, I thought she was the one for me. So when she wanted to run her own business, how could I have said no? I even asked Henry to work with her, so that she could be successful. How would I know that she convinced me to let Henry work with her because she wanted to . . . be with him behind my ba –"

"Shut up!" Samira said gritting her teeth. "Nathan, you can't –"

Another slap. And this time Samira's father hit her so hard that she fell down.

"Not another word out of you! You would not keep insulting Nathan like that," Samira's father shouted at her before turning to Nathan's father. "Andrew, I cannot explain how terribly ashamed I am of this ungrateful useless brat. I know there is no excuse but –"

"I hope you are not hoping to still benefit from our name and business, Nil. As after this, we are no more than just mere acquaintances," Andrew Davenport rudely cut Samira's father off and Samira's father went red with rage. 

"You are no longer any daughter of mine! You are a stain on our name," Samira's father yelled at Samira. "From now on you are no longer related to the Sahani family. You are dead to us. We will have nothing to do with you . . . So vacant your store as fast as possible and get out of our lives."

"My store?" Samira was silently shaking on the floor until she heard her father mention her store. She looked up in shock. "That's my store. My business. My only gift from grandma."

"You brat!" Her father raised his hand again to hit her. "Lower your eyes! That store is in my name. That property is our family's and you are no longer our family."

Samira trembled and dug her fingers into her palm. After everything they had taken from her today, that store was the last thing she had. It wasn't just a store, it was a dream.

A small jewelry brand called TARA, named after Samira's grandmother. It was her grandmother's dream to run a shop and since Samira always wanted to work with fashionable jewelry and create her own original jewelry pieces, after graduating, she opened this brand on the small property her grandmother owned. 

And now they were trying to take that away from her as well. 

No. They couldn't take that away from her too. It was the last thing she had of her grandmother. It was her grandmother and her dream, her family would never take care of the store as she have.

As a last resort, Samira turned to her older brother.

"Varun, you know how much that store means to me. You know grandma left that for me. Please tell them. . . please."

"Don't try to influence your brother," warned Samira's mother but as Varun, Samira's brother stood up and walked to Samira, she turned to him, "You don't have to listen to her, Varun. Don't –" 

Ignoring their mother, Varun pulled her up from the ground and even though he still looked somewhat annoyed, Samira looked at him with hope. But the hope shattered again as soon as her brother spoke.

"Go, and do as Dad says. Don't make this more difficult than it has to be," Varun whispered so that only Samira could hear him. "You know how much I worked for my business? Andrew Davenport and Nathan were going to be the first investors in my business but now you have ruined everything."

"Varun, please listen, I didn't –" Samira mumbled.

"You are the cause of all my problems right now, you know that right?" Her brother glared at her. "What do want me to do for you? Throw away my life? Cutting you off is the right decision right now. So get out and stop ruining people's lives."

"But . . . I didn't . . . please listen . . . anyone just . . . listen . . ."

"Miss Samira? Are you in there?" 

Einar Huang's voice floated inside the washroom snapping Samira out of her thoughts. She had completely lost track of time under the shower. She quickly shut off the shower and answered composing herself, 

"Yes, Mr. Huang. I will be out in a moment. Sorry, I lost track of time."

"It's alright," Einar said, and after a moment of pause he added, "I will be waiting outside."

"Ok, I will be there in a moment," Samira said already reaching for a towel. 

[To be continued]