A STEP HUSBAND

CHAPTER -1: YOU AND ME

"Good morning Jessica. Today also you are on time. Isn't it?" said the lady at the counter with a long broad smile. Jessica smiled in return and said "morning Sheena aunty".

The lady said "I always get a positive vibe from you. Last from one and a half year you have never missed a single day. I've seen in my 30 years career, people come and keep their family members or friends or whoever and never look back again. They never want to know they are dead or alive." Jessica was listening with a smiling face. The lady continued "I hope he gets well soon and you can take him home again."

Jessica signed on the register and went inside the rehabilitation center. There he was, sitting on the soft green lawn. Jessica knows, he is waiting for her.

Jessica was 19 when her mother and father died in a fire accident. Jessica and her brother Ron, who was 15, then, were in school. Her father lay asleep. Her mother was a huge fan of vodka. She was working in the kitchen, the gas was turned on, and she was drunk so awfully that she forgot to turn off the gas and passed out on the floor. The vicious fire ruined everything. Nothing was left. No parents, no house, no money, no clothes and no food. They were helpless. The neighbors weren't of much help too. A relative, an uncle, came forward. He kept the siblings for few months in his house. But he had his own self-seeking requirements. He tried to abuse both of them sexually. Jessica and Ron fled from his clutches somehow. They understood they can't go to school anymore. Jessica rented a small house and started working in a club as a singer. Ron was left out whole day alone at home. He befriended some local drug addicts. Ron thought he will earn a lot of money by selling drugs. Rather he got addicted shoddily himself. One night he was found half naked and unconscious in a dark alley by the cops. They took him to a rehab center. Since that day Jessica has never left her brother alone to rot and hence she comes everyday to see him.

"Hey!! Ron, how are you today? You look fresh as a flower" said Jessica with a mystic smile. Ron got up and hugged his sister tight and said "I am doing great. They look after me like a baby. But I am sick of all these now Jess. Please take me home."

Jessica's eyes go far away beyond eternity and she thinks "how can I take him home? After this drug case the landlord threw her out. She shares a small room with a friend. Where will she keep her brother?"

But Jessica has vivid dreams. She wanted to become a pop singer, become famous and just like any other girl she too dreamt that one day a prince charming will come in a Rolls Royce and take him to a world where she won't have to worry for food and money. She will live in a palatial house with an enormous garden.

"Jess..... Jess where are you?" Ron poked his sister. And Jessica's trail of thoughts vanished in the eternity.

Ron repeated again "when are you taking me home?"

Jessica had no answer but she knew she have to say something otherwise Ron would keep on asking again and again.

"Very soon I will take you my little brother. I've already saved some money to rent a house. As soon as I finalize I'll take you there. Then there will be only you and me, brother" Jessica lower her eyes. She hates lying to Ron. But she knows this fake assurance will keep her brother expectant.