Chapter 1
[Author's note- hello everyone!! Trying to tinker with this story. Let's see how it goes.
Disclaimer: the contents of this book are strictly fictional and doesn't portray anyone in any kind or form
**No plagiarising my book**
This book belongs to Caia clearwood]
*Sam pov*
The blaring of my alarm made me groan into the blanket I wrapped myself into. Surely, it's not time to wake up.
My body protested to sleep some more. My brain sends the same weird signals to my body to lull me into sleep. But the only conviction that I couldn't afford to lose a day of work stopped me from closing my eyes and sleeping the day away.
I wouldn't have been so tired if not for my roommate's "extracurricular" activities. All that groaning and moaning, not to forget the thump, thump, thump of the headboard driving to the wall with a healthy dose of 'fuck babe' or 'Yesss!!!' or my favorite 'I'm coming...I'm coming' (not because I like to hear someone coming all over each other. Gag. Gross. It's because it means the show is ending. And trust me, none of the boys she drags to her bedroom has the stamina to continue after that) kept me awake many nights.
I wish I could change my place if I can. Unfortunately, like everything else as of late this too is out of my hands. Life sucks.
It started approximately a month ago.
The drive to travel America and find HIM, at last, got to me so much that I applied for a visa immediately after my graduation.
You should have seen the red color creeping up on my aunt's neck when I imparted her with the news of my voyage.
It's not like she is of the bad sort but my aunt took the responsibility for me and my sister when my mom couldn't.
It was my aunt's family who took us in when we had no parents to speak of. Perhaps, that's the reason why we never wanted to disappoint our aunt and tried our best with everything. The fear of getting kicked out from the only home we know about lurked back in our minds. Not that our aunt blatantly hates us. No. It's just things have to go according to her plan.
I'm getting ahead of myself.
My name is Sameera Krishnamurthy aka Sam for my friends. I'm from India. To be specific- I'm South Indian. What's the difference if it's south or just Indian you may ask?
Well, it's as different as a pizza from pasta. South Indians especially traditional South Indians like my family believe in culture and family roots. We are more social conscience than I want to be.
'We' as in- my aunt. Except for her, no one gives a eff about it. Perhaps, that's the reason why my grandma (Nani) decided to shove a big fu*k you to the society.
My Nani is different than those other grandmas who like to cook homemade recipes. Nah. Not my Nani. She is cool. She is charming. And more importantly, she is a big flirt. No matter the age. If the boy or man is legal, she will pounce on him.
Forget that she has lesser teeth or her skin is not as smooth as it was in her youth. No one can steer her clear from the path she set upon. It's as simple as waving a red flag before a stomping bull. She was not always like this. It was only after the death of my grandfather that she decided it was time to play. Maybe, she saw her life slipping through her hands with nothing marvelous to show about. Who knows?
And from those genes came my aunt and my mom. My mom is as wild as my grandma only she took it to the next level by having an affair before marriage. That too an affair with a foreigner. It was a whirlwind romance or so she portrayed.
But when it came to paying the piper, the foreigner vanished into thin air as if lit by an invisible fire. That left her devastated.
My grandfather tried to salvage the respectability of the family by making her marriage to Mr. Krishnamurthy. But the damage is done. Her spirit is broken. And it didn't help that she doesn't love him. For a while, he tried to make it work. As a result, my sister was born.
But then, it soon became apparent that nothing he does will make him shine in her eyes. I really don't know when he realized it but one fine day when we are kids of 8 and 10 years respectively, he left us.
You can guess what number it did on mom. Anyways, mom couldn't cope with two kids demanding her attention. She was a delicate flower, her mind always in clouds. The thought of taking care of two kids finally snapped her.
On the other hand, my Nani was busy with my grandfather as his health deteriorated. It may be the reason for no one seeing the signs but mom left us soon after.
And that's when my aunt stepped in. My aunt- Mrs. Malini Sachdev. Unlike my mom and Nani, who is nothing if not eccentric, my aunt is a stickler for rules. After watching my mom spiral down into one disaster after another, maybe she thought a little normalcy is what the doctor prescribed. In her books, everything has to be organized and executed according to a plan.
And it doesn't help that my uncle Mr. Aravind Sachdev is a 'yes mam' or 'as you wish' kinda man. My sister and I think he is scared of her. Why else would he agree to everything she says?
Anyways, next is my cousin- Abhi. The son of my aunt and sole heir of our empire aka three hotels my grandfather established. They are not luxurious five-star ones but they are not cheap either.
Sometimes, Keethu thinks that might be the reason why our aunt took us in so that the property is not divided. You see, my grandfather is of old sort and he wrote the Will in such a way that all the properties will go to only male heir of his daughters. And the daughters get a fixed amount (dowry) at the time of our marriage.
Still, as per law, we can contest the Will if we want to. My aunt might have thought so too. Hence, she took us in when we are still kids so that she could mold us into her image.
And she failed spectacularly.
My sister and I are far from the machine (aunt Malini). But she never gives it up. While she dollops all the rules over our heads, her son gets scot-free. Sometimes, I envy my cousin. Only sometimes. Heck, all the times when he gets two ice creams while my sister and I have to share one. Or the time when we have to adjust with his old bag instead of buying a new school bag because we need to learn the importance of 'budget'.
It's strange all her preaching go up in the air when it comes to Abhi. But I couldn't fault Abhi also. He is just ignorant or to be specific, not observant of his surroundings. In his life, only the planet called Abhi revolves around the sun. So, he doesn't see much of how his mother treats us.
The best time is when we skip to our Nani's house during holidays. That is when we flourished. If it's possible, we would have stayed there forever but aunt always collects us after holidays. She thinks Nani couldn't cope with taking care of us. That's the reason she gives anyways.
And lastly, my sister, Keerthi aka Keethu. I at least try to show some semblance of compliance while Keethu keeps the motto- "let's drive our aunt crazy."
She has to say 'no' to everything aunt says. Sometimes, it gets difficult and I really pity our aunt. But then she does something irritating like changing Keethu's college group from Bi.p.c to M.P.C because we don't have that much money to support her M.B.B.S dream (snort, right!!!) while her son is doing exactly that course.
It's a good thing I did my engineering on my scholarship. But even with a scholarship, M.B.B.S takes a lot of money. And my aunt used it to ruin my sister's dream.
If only we had someone who takes our side. Nani doesn't count as she is nearing her expired date and busy stripping any male in her vicinity with her eyes.
So, here I'm at 20 years old, freshly graduated and with an itch to do something with my life. It started when I was in my first year of college. The need to know about the man who left my mom.
Call it my fixation but that niggling voice in my head soon became permanent in the back of my mind. It says- finds him. What would he be like? Will he recognize me? Everyone says I look like my mom.
When I look into the mirror all I see is dark almost raven waist-length hair, brown eyes. At 5.8" I'm taller than average. And my fair skin is more hustle than you think. It's a misconception that all Indians are brown. Spoiler- we aren't. We are white, yellow, black, brown and all the colors in between. And my skin is that of pale cream which unfortunately doesn't tan.
Once I tried and even with SPF, it turned red. Like lobster red. It's not a good sight. So, I have to double up the SPF just to walk under that orange blob called the sun. And with my C cups and curvy hips, I don't lack in the department of attracting men. Alas, I'm not interested in any till now. Not that I could date with my aunt breathing down my neck. A girl can dream.
However, as each year passed in my college, finding HIM became my obsession. I pestered my Nani so much that she finally cracked and gave me his name.
Joseph Milazzo.
For an Indian who never crossed a state border, the foreign name on my tongue tasted different. The urge to know everything about him rooted even deeper.
Will he accept me if I approach him?
Keethu's subdued defeat after my aunt snatched her dream only made me find him faster. If I can find him then perhaps, I can take Keethu with me and live with him. I don't know how I settled on this strange fixation but I did. In my society, a girl doesn't live alone. She either lives with her family or with her husband and his family after marriage. By some miracle, if someone rebelled and tried to live alone then she is stamping herself as a pariah. She won't get invited to anything nor any mother will agree to accept her as a daughter-in-law. In short, she is ruining her future. That might also be the reason for me to get away from my aunt's tyranny and society's oppressive expectations.
At last, when I graduated, I applied for the Visa, my first step towards my freedom. With the pocket money, my Nani gave me and the money I saved by working part-time at the front desk at one of the hotels in the city (yes, it sticks like a sore thumb in my aunt's throat when I worked for a competitor's hotel) I decided it's time to write my destiny with my hands.
Unfortunately, fate has another plan for me. Told ya, life sucks.