Applying for 2017 Watty Awards

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Promises

I wasn't pessimistic nor did I believe in worldly gestures,

I was just inquisitive to learn these humanly gestures,

I will, I do and I definitely will.

Promises that they made in their own satirical way,

Which left me bounded to the fetters of their lies,

Defined frame, confident stance, looking straight into your eyes they promised you the very lies.

But we live in the 21st century,

It is okay to break a promise; it is okay to say the lies,

it is okay to break someone's heart by not following the promises you crossed upon your heart,

How many times have you heard this quote that 'don't make a promise that you don't intend to keep'

That's why olden people gave more importance to promises because they know how intoxicated it gets when it's broken.

I believe in keeping your own words to yourself,

Don't open your mouth if you can't follow,

Don't try to create bond for your selfishness,

Don't do the compulsive gesture, which leaves the other person for craving more,

Don't get attached so much that you're bound to make a promise which you can't follow till your last breath,

It is okay, it is alright you don't need to get acquainted with me to only leave me one day,

As I see you walk by,

Let me tell you how hard it hurts when a promise is broken,

A humanly soul, with 24/7 pain in your heart, just like bullets piercing apart,

Don't laugh scan the people around you,

Or better look at yourself tell me honestly have you not felt this guilt apart,

I have a very simple rule in my life,

Which I follow with my heart,

Never trust a person twice, who broke your promise thrice,

Cause if they can't do what they said they'll,

They are not good enough to have your worthy promise,

So you silently back away from their futile lies,

Once betrayed shame on them,

Twice betrayed shame on you.

-Trishala. A . (Don't break a Promise)

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***

Jovie Ottonoha was polite enough to open the door for me, as he closed the door once I was settled in his fancy sports car, as I mentioned earlier I never thought Jovie to be such a kind of fancy person to own an expensive looking car.

The interior of the car was lavish in itself, the seats were comfortable enough and the inbuilt system that was enabled on the car was modern and up to date in itself. I always knew Jovie was into technology and today by sitting in his car I was sure, he fancies it as much as I do.

We got a call from Sid, apparently there was a call receiving system installed in the car, which can help in easily contacting nearby car's and vehicles. Sid's sedan also has this system installed in it, as Jovie instructed him to follow his sports car and set the GPS to the address given by Jovie.

It is always an awkward ride with Jovie, he never talks much. Always being the silent one, yet I knew exactly the reason of his silence, the pain that he holds of his parents is really all connected to his cold demeanour.

Finally after a long moment of silence I decided to finally start a conversation with him.

"How's the east, I have heard it's all about scenery with lots of beaches and coconut trees around." I tried talking to him about his hometown which was located to the east of the city, the place where Jovie spent his childhood.

"Yea the east is quite warm you can say, it has this clear and fresh air around it. I'm sure you'll like it there" said Jovie smiling at me and for the first time his smile took me of guard, though it wasn't so vivid but it was almost close to be a genuine smile.

"Well than I'm really excited to reach there as soon as possible, you mentioned about discussing some important matters with me" I finally asked the question for which I was sitting here.

For a second Jovie didn't replied to my question, but he eventually decided to tell me.

"You know very well Kiara the reason why I didn't wanted to help you was not that I was scared of the Trystine's, the main reason behind it is my parents. If you know my parents than I must say they aren't the best couple, they don't really get along well and trust me I'm trying my best to improve their relationship but I guess I'm failing in it. My dad Jin, he is always busy composing his music and making some good investments by starting new business avenues, my mom Lara Williamson as you very well know she is a famous vocalist, her voice is one of the most beautiful in this world and I love her dearly, but you must know that she isn't that sweet talker, she can be harsh with her words and I'm sure when you meet her I just want you to be prepared for the worst, unless and until she doesn't make sure that you're genuine enough, she won't help you at any cost" explained Jovie, as I wondered what kind of woman Lara Williamson Ottonoha is, from the way Jovie described her she seems to be a woman of power and brains. It won't be easy to talk to her.

"It's alright Jovie, I understand that I need to be careful around her. Trust me I'll be honest with my approach, let's just hope that your mother will be willing to help us to find the secret behind my parents" I said to Jovie giving him a small smile to which he nodded at me.

We came to an halt for snacks in the middle of an highway, there was this small departmental store made from which we can grab some snacks, currently Jovie, Aditi and Sid were out to grab some snacks leaving me alone with the lone wolf Zenith, he was just like being Jovie. Awfully cold and silent, yet he was staring at me intensely. I caught him two or three times looking at me wearing a thoughtful look, I even stared back at him but he doesn't have any shame, he was still looking at me.

"Tell me Zenith do I look so marvellous today that you can't take your eyes off me" I finally said that to him irritated. To which he gave me his cheeky grin.

"No, you look the same enough, not many changes if I look carefully. In fact I was thinking about today's early morning incident when you flashed me your not so decent body parts-" I immediately cut him of "Give me a break, you're acting as if you haven't seen any women in her under garments, I wasn't even naked" by the time I said that I already turned up red by my neck.

"You're right, such a bad luck that you weren't naked" mumbled Zenith sadly to which I looked at him wide eye "Jeez! You're such a pervert, just forget that thing and can you tell me anything important other than that. Have you thought anything about my situation" I asked.

"Yea about that, I got an important news for you, by the time you were in Jovie's car, I have managed to get an access in your said father James Trystine's data, I'm currently trying to trace his authentic files which includes his medical history and DNA, once I get hold of it we can easily match yours with his to confirm whether you both are related or not" said Zenith, as he explained me through his laptop which he was currently holding on, I was really surprised with the fact that Zenith was good in hacking too.

"I never really knew you're into breaking other people's personal information so easily and that to retrieve back such a confidential data of someone as big as Mr James Trystine that's quite astonishing" I was really impressed by Zenith's skills, no wonder he is so well prepared in every situation and never panics.

"Well thanks, I guess I need to grab some stuff from the store, do you need anything" asked Zenith as he got up from the hood of Sid's car where he was sitting.

"No, I guess I got everything I want, though please check if there are any ice-creams left I want-" before I can continue Zenith cut me off- "Roasted Almond Ice-cream I know" said Zenith as he completed my sentence to my amusement.

"How do you know?" I asked to which he replied "It isn't me Kiara who forget about you, it's you who forget about me" wearing a sad smile Zenith headed towards the store.

We drove through the eastern coast of the small town named Lin, it was apparently the home-town of our beloved friend Jovie Ottonoha, one can feel the sea breeze and certain tinge of freshness in the air, it was a small town with hardly a population as large as thousand, it seems everyone in the town knew everyone. It was a beautiful place to live in as it has many small beaches around and the old vintage houses, which were standing all tall high besides the shore, gave a splendid feel to live near the ocean. I can literally imagine young Jovie in these beaches playing around with a smile on his face. But currently looking at him I doubt whether he was happier back in childhood or not, after all it is the place where he grew up.

We drive through a small beach, apparently there are many that we passed by, and it is really difficult to keep count of them, so I assumed this would be nearer to Jovie's place cause it seems that we were driving closer to it.

We stopped in front of a huge house, which was styled quite elegantly with intricate patterns on it, the window frames and the gates had this small little fish and oyster design which were rusted indicating the age of the house, it was a huge beach house which was seafront to the ocean, I scanned at the fence which was surrounding around the particular area of the beach indicating that the area was apparently a private property of the Ottonoha's. I was really impressed by Jovie's family house, they not only own a huge beach house, but also have a private beach for themselves, all the information have been kind of overwhelming for me.

"You got a whole beach house for yourself, it is really beautiful. I can totally be envious of you; your childhood would be freaking amazing!" I exclaimed, as Jovie looked at me wearing a gentle smile, the breeze that passed by and the sun which was all shimmering high up in the sky cascaded a shine towards Jovie's face as his eyes lit with excitement. He surely looks happy being back, but somewhere in those pointed eye's there was a tinge of sadness longing around.

"I guess we should probably get moving mother is waiting" said Jovie as he got out of the car, so do I as I followed him. We were parked in front of a huge palm tree, looking behind I saw Sid arriving in his car along with Zenith and Aditi.

"How your mom knows that we arrived, did you already mention her that we're coming to visit her" I was really curious to know how Lara Williamson Ottonoha knew about our arrival.

"Well she is my mother, and you know very well from my grandma that Ottonoha's has their own ways of doing everything" said Jovie, as he looked up towards one of the biggest balcony of his house, there I saw a lady with fierce pointed eye's wearing an elegant red dress which is cascading down her figure, as she looked at us intently.

She had worn a tilted smile on her face, as she studied us walking inside the house; she turned back in as the wind blow her dress giving her a goddess kind of aura. She looked splendid and holds a charm of dominance in her stance. Just by looking at her, it was sure that talking to Lara Williamson Ottonoha won't be simpler.

We got into the huge beach house; I was really impressed by the garden kitchen that was built in the backyard of the house. Surely the family has a splendid barbeque out there during their holidays and weekends. It was well maintained and kept house.

Inside of the house was even more marvellous, nothing fancy or articulate looking expensive furniture was found. In fact it was well designed, keeping in mind the flavour of vacation, as the house was right next to the beach. The furniture was more kind of simple, yet I was damn sure that nothing was simpler in those simple looking stuffs.

The furniture sitting was made up of straws of hay, meticulously woven straw. There were fancy looking Japanese pots similar to the ones that I saw in Mrs Cordelia Chan's house, but they looked more ancient than the one back there. There was this touch of Japanese tradition in the house, as after all the place was the ancestral house of the Ottonoha's. Currently we were seated in one of that furniture's of hay. We were waiting for Mrs Ottonoha to come downstairs.

"Well this taste like a fancy looking green tea!" exclaimed Aditi as one of the helpers who helps Mr's Ottonoha to keep the house clean and neat served us the traditional Japanese welcome drink 'Aojiru'.

"It's not actually a green tea Aditi. It is named as 'Aojiru' a traditional Japanese welcome drink made up of barley grass and green tea leaves." explained Jovie, as he himself took one of the glasses.

"Yikes! Why the hell it is so bitter" blended Sid with a irritating look, as a matter of a fact Aojiru is indeed a pleasant drink but more kind of bitter and sour.

"It is rich in Vitamins and it keeps you young and sweet. Definitely I'm going to take one more" said Zenith as he grabbed one of my drink which was in my hand. With one quick gulp he finished my drink, at his gesture I can't even complain because honestly I wasn't planning to complete my drink eventually.

"I guess you kids are having fun out there with Aojiru drinks and all" suddenly we heard a womanly voice, as our attention is now diverted to the woman who was walking down the stairs.

Indeed it was Mrs Lara Williamson Ottonoha, her voice was just like the way I imagined it to be, sweet and melodic, yet it held some kind of elegance and confidence in the way she articulated her every words precisely. For the world she was a renowned award winning vocalist, she wooed everyone with her talent of music.

Even Jovie has some part of her in him, though one can say Jovie is more like his father, but one can't deny those high cheekbones and pointed nose that he inherited from his mother.

Just like a caring mother her eye's first searched for her only son, she looked at Jovie expectedly as her eye's searched for something in him. Jovie wore the same stoic expression he always wears yet one look in his eyes and I can tell he is crying from the inside.

Lara Williamson Ottonoha was nowhere near to be a Japanese, she was born American and I guess will die an American. After living so many year's with her Japanese husband and strict as slay mother in law, I marvelled the woman standing in front of us, she is truly the example of not changing yourself just for the sake of the world. She maintained to be herself and I guess she was happy being so. Her red dress which was cascading down the floor and her freshly done elegant make up tells us only one thing; she is planning to go out somewhere.

It was Jovie who spoke first; it was like the arrival of his mother gave an unnerving silence around the room.

"Mother I see you all dressed up and ready. Are you going to visit somewhere" straight to the question, Jovie was quiet blunt. He didn't kick around the bush and asked away the simple question. I honestly got hurt by his cold demeanour after all he is seeing his mother after so many years. Yet he is being so cold hearted.

"Yes indeed, but I guess my plans can be cancelled for I got some unexpected visitors" said Mrs Ottonoha as she scanned her son.

"You're still upset of me I see Jovie-Chan" said his mother as she walked in front of him, looking him straight in the eye.

"I was expecting some pleasantries by your side, but I guess you haven't forgiven your father and mine little crusade" said Mrs Ottonoha sharply.

"Little Crusade!" exclaimed Jovie angrily "Are you trying to convince me that those fights you guys had every day was your little crusade! You're being totally oblivious of the matters mother! You and father are on the verge of filling a divorce and you expect me to greet you guys normally as if nothing has changed and you both have no share in making my life already hell!" by the time Jovie was finished there was a silence in the room, no one even dared to breath.

Everyone was shocked with Jovie's little outbreak except Mrs Lara Williamson Ottonoha. In fact she gave him a wide smile as she walked up to him and kissed his cheeks tenderly.

"I miss you too little Jovie-chan and I wish I could give you the happiness of being a totally normal family, but I'm afraid that I won't be able to, you see your father and I have stopped looking in one direction, we don't go hand in hand. So it would be better for your sake, to pretend as if everything is alright or else you don't want to displease your mother do you" said Mrs Ottonoha, as she threateningly yet carefully brushed Jovie's shoulder.

"My- my Jovie-chan I wasn't expecting so many visitors and here you're with your friend's. May I get introduced to them" said Mrs Ottonoha giving us her warm smile, but trust me there wasn't anything warm about it.

"The introductions won't be necessary because we aren't planning to stay here any longer; the only person you need to know about is Kiara Millenrai, I hope her last name rings some bells in your head" said Jovie, as I couldn't help but see sadness in her eyes as he mentioned about leaving early. She honestly didn't want him to leave but she had no choice as she very well knows that keeping Jovie here will hurt him more eventually.

"Kiara Millenrai, of course how can I miss that last name, which holds so much passion, confidence and an aura of power. Surely Kiara has the same fire burning in her veins as her mother had once, Matheli Millenrai was indeed the most favourite woman in my life" said Mrs Ottonoha as I was shocked with the whole affair, she really knew my mother and that too well.

As if on cue, Jovie, Sid, Aditi and Zenith left us alone in the room indicating that from here on I'm on my own.

"Yes indeed, my mom was Matheli Millenrai. It is really good to hear that people still remembers her" I said as I gave her my gentle smile.

"Are you kidding me child, of course I remember her. How can one forget that feisty little woman. She was walking talking Helen of troy, yet she was an evil Satan herself" she gave me a shivering grin.

"Yes I have heard quite a lot about mom having a kind of character. But I'm indeed here for more than that, I have learned that mom and you had gone to same high school together in Revelia Academy I guess. I just wanted to ask whether you know about my father" as soon as I said that, Lara Williamson Ottonoha finally freeze. Her eye's totally bulged out as she was in the state of complete bewilderment.

"What are you saying Kiara! You don't know who your father is" she literally screamed at me to which I was totally flabbergasted with her whole behaviour.

"Yes I don't" I replied back sheepishly, to which she shake her head in dismay. "You're such a naive girl; I don't blame Matheli for never telling you. But if you think that I am going to tell you the truth, then I'm sorry you came to the wrong person. Matheli and I never really had any contact after leaving High school, last I heard that she dated anyone was James." said Mrs Ottonoha as she said that by looking at her nails ignorantly.

"You mean to say James Trystine right" I asked her as I dreaded where the things were going on.

"So he can be my father" I finally said those words that I was so desperately ignoring.

"Father! Oh please, James wasn't your father for sure, I mean yes they dated but things weren't so serious. In fact linking Matheli with James is total bizarre they were as close as siblings." after hearing Mrs Ottonoha there was a sigh of relief going through my head. Finally I can say I'm not related to Trystine's but I wonder who I'm related to.

"Let me tell you what actually happened back then. James and Matheli were best of friends back in High school, they were always like together. I and your mother were best of friends too, but James and Matheli had their own bond of friendship in a complete new level. Eventually everyone thought that they would make up a cute couple, you know very well how high school kids are, sometimes they act as total imbeciles" said Mrs Ottonohas sarcastically as she continued.

"So due to people's pressure they eventually started dating one another, because at that time they weren't seeing anybody else, so they thought why not give this relationship a short. Both of them were equally enthusiastic to move their relationship further, but I guess from the inside they knew that there wasn't much to do in it. In fact I knew that from the day one only when they started seeing each other that this relationship has no future, Matheli and James were total besties and nothing more, there relation was total pure. Finally it was time of the senior dance prom night. Matheli and James announced their break up quite enthusiastically I still remembered how hard they partied that night, both of them were totally happy for being back to be good friends and nothing more" explained Mrs Ottonoha.

After hearing that I was really confused, they weren't dating then why Mr James Trystine said that I'm his daughter.

"What they broke up I don't really understand"

"There is nothing much to understand dear, they were best friends, they dated once and they broke up so that's it." Said Mrs Ottonoha.

I was really contemplating; whether I need to tell her about Mr James Trystine claiming to be my father or not, till now one thing was clear James and Matheli's case was closed back in high school.

"I see, how my mother's relation with others back in high school was, you know maybe she liked someone else"

"Well Matheli had a sharp tongue, she knew when to speak and how well to speak, she eventually had many friends and many enemies. It was such a sheer irony that one of her best friends married her enemy. You see Kiara, my husband Jin Ottonoha really never get well with your mother, he always acknowledged her to be a girl without mannerism and for her he was a spineless douche. We had many people with whom we studied, quite a lot of them are now well to do personalities, after leaving high school your mother got into fashion designing college, she had also opened a fancy boutique down here, but I guess before being Matheli she was a Millenrai first. She had to eventually quit her career to go back in Millensh to get crowned to her family tradition; she was destined to work in her family business that is Millenrai Shipping's. So she left for Millensh and we never heard of her." said Mrs Ottonoha, as I listened to her intently.

"Can you tell me Mrs Ottonoha the names of the people who attended school with you guys." I asked her the most logical question I came across, though there was some risk, somewhere my intuition told me that whatever I'm going to learn next wasn't going to be pleasant.

"Yeah there were quite a handful of names I can tell, Jin was the one, and then there was Timathy Mondez she was good friends with James and Matheli too."

"You mean to say Lucifer's and Shirley's mother Timathy Mondez right"

"Yes unfortunately Timathy died long time back ago; someone who was close to them was her. She married Landon Mondez straight out of high school, Landon was Italian and Timathy was half Spanish, together they both loved each other to the bits, their story was just like a nice love tale only with a sad ending. Landon was really devastated with Timathy's dismiss, but that lad surely took good care of their two little children alone and I'm proud of him"

"I have heard Shirley mentioning about her father being very protective" I mentally thought about Jovie and Shirley's future together, if Lucifer is all set to make Jovie's life hell for liking his sister, then I must say Mr Landon Mondez will be dead set to kill him.

"Uh ha, Landon protects his children just like a wolf protects their pups. Then there was Vridhaan Aham, we at first thought him being cousin's with Matheli but he wasn't that. We were really amused of him being promised to Matheli, eventually we teased them both. Nobody knew it was serious between them. I mean Vridhaan never really got forward and had a move on her, he eventually watched her from the sidelines, but we knew well that whenever she needed him he was always there. Next was Mya Berialla, she was really sweet and came from a well to do family, good mannerism and everything. She was a bit naive maybe thats why she chose a nutcracker like James"

At her words I couldn't help but smile.

"And finally the most popular boy of 'Revelia Academy' James little brother Adam Trystine. But that little boy was anything but little, he had a brain of a scientist and genes straight from the heavens, he was one damn looker. You see back then brainy's were the new hot, it won't be wrong if I say that I too had a crush on him. I mean Adam Trystine was just charming with his polite gentlemen nature, though he can easily be a player if he wanted. But he never actually dated anyone, your mother was really fond of him, he was in the good books of her. That's the reason why your mother was the favourite girl of the Trystine's, they literally adorned each other. But sadly Adam died of Cancer five years ago at that time he ran his multibillion company Motive Next, I'm sure you heard the name. It was really famous company which works in developing various softwares. After his demise James took over the company as there weren't any legal heir's of Adam. He never actually married. So Adam and Timathy already left us, so the only surviving people to whom you can talk to is Jin, Landon, Vridhaan and Mya."

As soon as Mrs Ottonoha said that she walked towards one of the shelves placed in the living hall, she opened it, as she removed quite a handful of copies of some kind of books, I followed her as I helped her to keep that on desk. I wondered why she was removing these books all of a sudden, my attention went towards the heading of the book, and it was Revelia Academy's year books. It wasn't just one they were many right from the freshman year, all of the books were there.

"I guess you should check out these yearbooks, maybe you can find some clue in it" said Mrs Ottonoha, as I opened one of the books.

But only if I knew that one glance in those books can totally change my whole perspective towards my parent's.

***

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Okay Guys I have some good news for you, one is that 'A Maverick Girl's Tale' has reached to it's final chapters, we're nearing to the end and soon the big secret will be out.

I have made a special poster of my Publishing dates so that you won't miss another update, everything is set.

And I hope you'll are as excited as me.

Here's the publishing dates of coming chapters checkout ;)

So are you guys ready for the count down XD

Also I'm applying for 2017 Watty Awards! So please support my story.

Stay tuned with my updates.

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Till then Toodles;)