Because of You (Now Published and available on Amazon, Kindle, and Flipkart)

Prologue

Video: The Chainsmokers & Selena Gomez, Because of You

This is like an anthem for my story....😍

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My mundane life changed the summer I was 10, because She came into my life then.

She was my friend Rhea's cousin. My mom and Rhea's mom were best friends since their college days.

Her father had been estranged from the family until recently. Being a daughter of a celebrated director and a famous actress, She had grown up being the centre of unwanted attention.

This was the reason that She talked less and smiled even less than that. I can count on the fingers of my one hand, the number of times I had seen her smile genuinely.

Unsurprisingly, her parentage was soon discovered by the other kids and She became the centre of all the whispered gossip, crude jokes, and cruelly intrusive kids.

But She held her own among the sea of piranhas. Never stopping nor stooping to their level even once. Her stoic and calm demeanor added fuel to their barbs, but She never broke, not even once.

Nor did She ask for our help, ever! She was fiercely independent.

Besides Rhea and me, and now her, our little group had Ali and my best friend DD.

While Ali became a dear friend of hers, it was DD who somehow became her closest ally, the willing partner in all her crimes. Considering how quiet she usually was, it was amazing how many capers they got into together.

Rhea was her only girl friend, while me....Well....me & her didn't really interact much until maths came into our lives.

She was a top notch student till Maths decided to play a spoilsport with her grades. That's when I was brought into the picture. 

I was involuntarily volunteered for the job of tutoring her and She reluctantly took up the offer. We made do of the situation...akhir grades ka sawal tha! (For the sake of the grades!)

My dad & Bebe (grandmother) had taken her into their hearts from the moment they were introduced, while my mom, I think, felt intimidated by her silent unsmiling stare.

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The summer of my 12th year brought another huge development in my life and She again was a huge reason behind it.

My best friend Dhruv Dayal or DD; as we all lovingly called him, lost his family in a freak accident. It was a bad situation all round. An unwilling DD was soon to be shipped off to a distant relative of his in Hyderabad.

We were all a mess with no solution in sight, when an off-hand remark of hers brought in an unexpected reversal in situations.