Chapter 13 - The Numbness of Defeat

Deva, a beautiful city popularly known for Citadel Hill, was Danielle's hometown, where she grew up with greenery all around her. Danielle, Daisy, and Marcus arrived at the station, and then - a cab came to pick them up at Danielle's home. Once the cab had parked right in front of the door. Daisy immediately went inside and greeted her grandfather, her grandmother, her uncle, and her aunt. Danielle came along, and grandmother served water to all of them, as it had been a long journey. All came together, especially grandfather and grandmother started worrying about their daughter's condition, seeing to whom they had given their daughter for marriage. None of this would have happened if grandfather, would have listened to grandmother, during the final agreement before their marriage. There was nothing, that could be done, all they could do was support her until Danielle was better on her way. How could she possibly do that, because of marriage she never got a chance to study further or do something of her own, even if she did – all had ended because of George's behaviour. George treated her like she was meant for maintaining the house only.

Danielle explained before her parents, how people came to their home, right when they were about to leave; and how they took away their hard-earned money and possessions. They had no way to help themselves but leave the home in Pitești. Everyone's hearts were filled with deep sorrow, they helped to give their daughter the comfort she needed. Danielle was exhausted from everything that had happened, and she was still going through the trauma. Later they had lunch, which Aunt Bettina had made for them. Daisy was amazed by what she had cooked, the local home food made that was made from fresh vegetables straight from the farm - purely organic, and felt like Daisy could eat it all day. Danielle's family was very much orthodox and believed that a girl must work at home, to gain respect once she gets married. Unfortunately, Daisy had to work, and help Aunt Bettina with cooking, moping, doing the dishes, or anything that was asked for. Luckily, Daisy had bought her friends along with her – AKA – the books that made her feel comfortable, as Daisy was never interested in the household chores.

Marcus had set up his laptop and got himself busy occupied with his online friends for gaming. Apart from this, he would attend lectures only when they were scheduled through video chat. Daisy had a lot of pressure now, as she could not see herself or Danielle, not being liked by Aunt Bettina – as she had to keep up the hard work going, even if everyone helped her. Later, Aunt Bettina's son and daughter came home, as their summer vacations had started. Now the kid's gang consisted of 4 people - 2 girls and 2 boys, apart from grandparents and Uncle and aunt. It was a big family. Daisy was relieved to live in nature for a while, she also visited Citadel hill with her cousins to rejuvenate her inspiration. Daisy had to get a job as early as possible, otherwise, Aunt Bettina wouldn't let them live for a long time. Suddenly a phone call was received on Daisy's phone. She picked it up, knowing it might have been an important call she shouldn't miss, then the bank asked, "would you like to confirm the cheque for 300,000 RON given by you to one of your clients yesterday?" Daisy did not want Danielle to get into trouble and she said yes confirming the cheque. Daisy after hanging up the phone realized she should have denied, it and would not have to give the money to the client. But Daisy wanted to protect Danielle and she could not let anything happen to her; she did not deserve any of it. She deserved a better life than she had suffered. Danielle was still not in her state of mind, as the cycle of trauma continued for a few days until the change in scenery did wonders for her. Again, a call was received from an unknown phone number, this time Daisy decided not to pick it up.

However, the person kept calling through different phone numbers, but Daisy decided not to receive any of them either. Danielle had already put her phone on silent and switched it off so that none of the office contacts who knew her could contact her in any way. Suddenly the phone was directed to Marcus's cell phone – he received it unknowingly – it was George who was trying to reach them through Police's cell phone. From the call, they came to know that George had surrendered before the Police, when, one of the clients had made a complaint at the local Police branch against George for deceiving their invested money. The Police were trying to find the keys to the house in Pitești for further investigation. Danielle informed George that she had given the keys to her friend's home Reka. More than this, George's fraudulent act was also being showcased on the local TV news, featuring the house, the equipment and George under Police Custody.

This was a huge shame to the family, that the news had spread faster than it was imagined. Daisy never in her life, had imagined she would be seeing such days. This was taking a toll on both Marcus and Daisy's mindset, however, Danielle had to keep her strong. George was kept on trial, for a few days. When presented in court, he did not have a lawyer, he kept asking Danielle to arrange a lawyer for him, who could advocate on his behalf. Danielle and Daisy kept denying it and said, "how can we even afford to have a lawyer out of nowhere, we don't even have the money – we are barely surviving on food that is coming from my brother's farming wages. There's not much that we can do." Like this, George kept calling and insisted on finding a lawyer to bail him, as he promised Daisy and Danielle, that if they were able to manage a lawyer, then he will manage to get back the money from Mr Zephyr. A month went by and George still kept calling for one thing only - to get a lawyer ASAP, he was desperate to get out of the jail he was living in. George's freedom was now in the hands of the jailer, who operated them according to their whims and fancy.

Daisy was still applying for jobs and trying her luck to find out a well-paying job, that could get Danielle, and Marcus out of her Grandparent's home, which could help them a breath little. Meanwhile, Daisy was reading the book named, The long walk to Freedom by Nelson Mandela, a true story of a legend who spend 27 years of his life in prison to see South Africa as the free nation that it is today. Nothing could be more perfect than the surroundings that were occurring in Daisy's life. She was still struggling to get a job. Initially, she started with International cold-sales calling to generate leads for funds required for NGOs like UNESCO, BIK etc. Daisy worked on it for a week and left it because the salary was not like she expected it to be – it was more incentive-based than a fixed salaried job which made her feel insecure about her financial stability.

Danielle was worried, and told Daisy, "I had already informed you that you should not have left the company in the first place, otherwise we would not be seeing such days." Daisy was pissed after hearing such a statement, "are you blaming me for what happened to us, this is none of my fault mom, everything was done by George, I barely even knew what was happening around in there. Look, mom, if there is anything I can do, I am leaving my dream of studying further and instead I am finding a job, so that you guys can survive. If this does not suit you, I cannot help you any further. How can I be paying for things that I haven't done." Danielle felt, Daisy was giving her a hard time and she burst into tears and started telling her mother, "Mother, What have I done in the previous birth that I deserve to see such days, I am begging you God, please stop it, I cannot take it any further, my soul has worn out and broken into several hundred pieces. Grandmother consolidated her until she fell asleep in peace.

Soon, Danielle's birthday was coming nearby, and that was a time for celebration rather than making it a sea full of sorrows. Everyone decided to cheer her up through good food and loads of laughter – until, on the day of her birthday, she was shocked to see the people waiting for her, at the doorsteps – The Police!