...
❝He was the poison I was dying to taste on my lips.❞
...
I was a coward.
The coward who wanted to leave behind the wreckage of her life for the man who had tormented her for as long as she could remember. The boy who had spit venom at me gro...
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july 2012 — age seventeen
"NO."
I wasn't going back to that town. The bomb he'd dropped seemed so measly compared to the news that he wanted us to return to Glésford. Going back there would be the equivalent of selling my soul. I couldn't dare to show my face again after everything that had happened.
"Ishwarya—"
"No, Mr Gulzar. I'm not going back there. I'm not going back to the town that ruined everything. They accused us of theft, Mr Gulzar. Only a shameless moron would return after the way we were kicked out."
It suddenly clicked that he was the one who had opposed my parents being together and had my father blacklisted from every single company so he wouldn't find work. It was because of him that we had lived an impoverished life before and during our time in Glésford.
When he'd done that, he didn't deserve my respect. Yes, he'd helped me when I was in trouble at LeSaux and yes, I'd sort of considered him a guardian angel when I was younger and immature, but I couldn't afford to think like that anymore.
I walked away, stepping out onto our small balcony which gave a view of the bustling city. Heavy footsteps followed me, making my ears ring.
"You can't be selfish, Ishwarya."
"Selfish?" I scoffed. "That town ruined both my and my parents' life. It's hardly being selfish if I'm trying to preserve our dignity and safety."
He paid no heed to my words. "Have you ever realised that your father is lonely, Ishwarya? He's lost your mother, he spends all of his time at work and all he has is you. If you go off to university in a year, who is your father going to have?"
All my arguments went void.
"In all honesty, I miss my son, Ishwarya. I never wanted him to leave; he left on his own and didn't give me the chance to talk to him."
"You mean the chance to right your wrongs when it was too late? I doubt you even miss your son; isn't money all you cared about? Isn't that why you forbade my parents from being together?"
"I never forbade your parents from being together."
I blinked. "Sorry?"
"Jalal came up to me one day, Ishwarya. He told me that he loved a girl and wanted to marry her. The only reason I was sceptical was because I wasn't sure if he truly did love her after everything that had happened. But he assured me that he did and wanted my blessing to marry her. I tried talking to Meera's parents and they were the ones who opposed it; maybe because of our different religions or maybe it was a caste issue. We'll never know, but it was because of her parents' refusal that I told Jalal to let Meera go. I didn't want to disrespect her parents' wishes when they only wanted the best for their daughter, but he took my words with vengeance and eloped. I tried blacklisting him in hopes that he would return, but he never did and I withdrew the black mark on his name."
