Book 4 in the Proposal Series.
YUGANTIKA IYENGAR
"You cannot fight your doom. It will fucking destroy you, Pookie."
She laughed, wrecking it deep within her guts. A voice that could slice through all the weak hearts. "No one can bring doom on me."...
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The first rays of the sun peeked through the soft pale curtains in her living room, causing irritation to her sleepy eyes. Reaching the place where she had often spent unwanted moments of her life, she stepped into the lonely den she had created for herself, seeking some peace before another day of work started.
Stepping inside, she was greeted by the familiar scent of home. It was a small comfort, but a comfort nonetheless. She closed the door quietly, hoping to slip into her room and catch a few hours of sleep before facing the day. Only if the day was a good one. She had hoped—well, she shouldn't have.
Her hopes were dashed when her grandmother's voice sliced through the silence like a knife.
"You are finally home." The elderly woman stormed inside her space, her eyes blazing with anger. "You were out all night?"
Yugantika sighed, knowing that any explanation would be futile. "I had a business trip. Didn't know I owed you an explanation."
"You snake," her grandmother, a stern woman with sharp features softened by age, snarled. "Business trip, my foot. You've been gallivanting around, bringing shame to this family."
"I told you. I was working," Yugantika tried to explain, her voice firm yet tired. "Believe if you want. If not, you are free to leave me alone."
Turning, she presented her back to the enemy. Her first mistake of the day.
She was pulled back, and a harsh slap landed on her left cheek, her teeth bruising her gums and the metallic taste ringing her taste buds with emergency sirens.
"Have you forgotten the lessons I tried so hard to put in this thick skull of yours?" Her grandmother's voice was laced with disdain, not that it hurt any less than the hold on her chin. "You were and still are nothing but a burden to this family. Always running around with your ridiculous business ideas, dragging our name through the mud."
All she could taste was blood. No matter how hard she tried, this woman always had ways to kick her back into the hole she climbed out of. "I'm trying to make something of myself," she said quietly, her voice trembling with suppressed emotion—disgust and rage.
Her grandmother's eyes narrowed. "Make something of yourself? Look at you. What have you achieved? Nothing. All you do is bring trouble and disgrace. Your own parents didn't want you. Who else would?"
Yugantika's heart twisted painfully at her grandmother's cruel words. The taste of blood in her mouth mingled with the bitterness of long-held resentment. She straightened up, pulling herself from her grandmother's grasp with all the dignity she could muster.
"Didn't ask you to keep me around or leech me off?"
That earned her a jerk away.
Wiping her face of any remnants of vulnerability that this woman could feed off, she hissed a breath out.
