Blood Ties

1 - Hello Amrutha

Author's PoV

Just another day, the clock strikes 6:30 and an alarm blares in the room waking up our star, Miss Amrutha Sagar. She groans, tosses around for a bit, and then wakes up stretching and yawning. She does her morning yoga stretches on her bed, just her excuse to stay in bed for longer. After 15 odd minutes, she gets herself off the bed, folds up the comforter, and heads to do her morning chores.

Come let's dive into her life, the main plot of this story...

Here comes another morning, the same old alarm, halting my splendid dream of the UK. I got out of bed and headed to the bathroom for my morning chores. Once done, I changed to my workout wear. The only time I feel peace is while I'm at the gym working out, lifting, and pushing my limits with the weights. It feels exhilarating.

I'd taken a break from working out and in that time gorged on unhealthy stuff. That coupled with minimum to zero exercise had me gaining a lot and I had to reduce and get back in form. Slowly and steadily but for sure.

I'm not too fond of crowds. It makes me anxious. That's why I hit the gym late, around 8 am. An hour flies by when I'm at the gym.

Interesting isn't it, how time changes your point of view? I was this overweight girl who hated gyms, felt like everyone would judge me, and they would all be fit and I would be the only overweight person. I had forgotten the fact that they too were beginners at some point. But when realisation hit me, I hit the gym and the rest is history.

I might have gone overboard in the gym because my legs hurt like hell. Once the adrenaline drains out the reality hits and it isn't nice.

I came home, took a shower and got ready to face the day. These days there wasn't anything special happening, apart from functions here and there. Other than that, just the routine clock - wake up, work out, sit and search for jobs, eat, sleep and repeat. Oh! Not to forget the taunts my father finds pleasure in giving me.

"Why God? Why does my life have to be so boring? I want something shocking, exciting and amazing. Something new and unexpected." I cribbed to myself.

*Be careful! You know what elders say, think before you speak, because you never know when Saraswathi is on your tongue and says 'thathasthu'.* I laughed at my subconscious thoughts and sat on the resume refining program I'd registered into.

At this point, I'd do anything and everything to get a job. Being a Postgraduate from the UK, with no field experience, no job, stuck in India sucked. Especially when people your age got jobs like it was a piece of nothing.

I'd be lying if I said, it didn't hurt looking at them. I was happy for them, I was! But, it hurt thinking I was probably lagging.

Pushing the negative thoughts away, I concentrated on the online program. By the time it ended, it was time for lunch and my parents had arrived. They always came home for lunch. Perks of owning your own business, I guess.

People told me to join my parents' business but I didn't want to. It's not like they were in a field I didn't like. They owned second-hand car showrooms and I was a sucker for all things cars. But I wanted to start from the bottom, entry-level and work my way up. Something people failed to understand.

We were eating in silence for a change but the silence was broken by the ringing of my mom's phone. Once she was done talking, she kept her phone aside.

"Jaya had called, she wanted us to join for dinner this weekend. Bhoomika got a raise and she wanted to give a small party." She informed.

"Oh, that's great!" I said.

"Yes, it is! When will you give such parties?" My father asked. "What do you do all day? Just sitting at home, in front of your laptop." He added.

I hated this topic the most. He made it feel like I wasn't trying at all.

"It's not like that, she is applying." My mom chimed in to defend me.

"Yeah, yeah I've been hearing this for so long. She's just used to things being so easily available. Doesn't even know the value of money." He went on...

I'd zoned out in the middle.

"What do you want to do in life? Or should we get you married off somewhere?" He asked.

I came back to reality. I didn't speak a word. Just nodded and ate in silence. I knew if I opened my mouth it would create more havoc and I currently had no energy for such a thing.

After lunch, my parents left to work and I went to the kitchen to wash the dishes. 

I sat back on my desk and this time I opened Netflix and started watching Friends. I just had to take my mind off of the lunch conversation.

The clock struck 4:45, time to take my dog out for a walk. Diego, my 5-year-old German Shepard. A gentle beast - the best way to describe him. The walk usually took anywhere between 30-50 mins.

Coming back, I give Diego some water, shut the curtains and put on some music. Just a few songs in and my parents came back. The showroom stayed open till 8 pm but my parents would be back by 6:30 pm. And today was no different.

After freshening up, my father sat on the couch with his phone and volume on the highest setting. Mom got into doing household chores and I retired back to my room.

The next I stepped out of my room for dinner. I randomly took a topic to make conversation but we all know how it ended, me being taunted for not having a job. Every single f*cking conversation at home, within ourselves had to end with it. It was like there wasn't anything else in the world.

After dinner, I sat on the beanbag with my current read. I'm hooked on the Twisted Series by Ana Huang. I'm on the third instalment now - Twisted Hate (Josh and Jules's story). 

After reading to my heart's content, I shut the book and lay on my bed, snuggling into my comforter, listening to retro music, and letting sleep engulf me and take me to my dreamland.

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