Chapter Dedicated to @scarlet_sugar for showing so much enthusiasm with this book ♡

"Do not fuck this up or I will not allow you to leave the house for a month unless there is a gala event or some photo shoot"

The woman who gave birth to me gave me a stern look, her scowl was instantly replaced by a sugary sweet smile when Mr. Longwood approached us.

"Ah, I thought I heard a lovely woman's voice so I came here. Kria Darling, how have you been?" Long wood blew an air kiss and my mother laughed while air kissing him back.

"I am doing mighty well. Look at you! Growing younger day by day. What's the secret to your aging?"

I snorted upon hearing her stewing lie after lie. Her head snapped towards my direction and her eyes sent me daggers that instantly made me shut up.

I tuned out of their pathetic conversation and observed the people around me. There were people dressed up in fancy clothes that looked super uncomfortable to wear and it didn't even seem to fit them properly. I swear I saw a coconut shell inside the almost see through dress of the woman next to me.

"Hey, I am Amelia. It's nice to meet you"

A girl who looked like she was in her early twenties had her arm raised up for a handshake and I gave her a blank look because no one ever exchanged a handshake here.

It was mostly air kisses or a weird kind of hug where you hug a person but not the normal hug kind of hug. I call it the poshness hug because you hug people without actually touching their bodies much.

I should probably rename it to Air hug instead of calling it as poshness hug.

"Oh no! I told you that you are not supposed to shake hands. You are supposed to give them a kiss on the cheek" A stout lady screamed in Amelia's ears and then Amelia bent down and I felt some liquid on my cheeks.

When Amelia wasn't looking in my direction I quickly pulled out a tissue and wiped my cheeks.

"Ladies! The show is about to begin so gear up"

I hopped down from the stool and walked up to the podium and took my position.

"Oh my god, this is my first time doing a ramp walk and I can't wait to become famous. I am so excited" A few teenagers behind me were squealing in excitement and I rolled my eyes at them. Most of the people who joined this industry would feel very happy in the beginning but this happiness would not remain long for many people.

Everything that glitters is not gold. Everything looked so good to touch and see but it was mostly dirt on the inside. There were less pure people who were genuinely nice.

Every person around me started to walk on the stage and when the music changed into an upbeat song that was my cue to enter and I changed my facial expression while I walked in and the flashes of lights made me blind for a moment.

No matter how many times I had walked onstage I always had a jittery feeling when I thought about the people who would be watching me like fucking hawks, waiting to pounce on their prey. When I reached at the end of the podium I stuck my leg out of the slit and placed my hands on the hips and gave the people my signature look which Zara liked to call as the 'Face of ultimate seduction.'

My eyes found my mother who was sitting right in the front row and her knuckles were white. She was tensed and butterflies erupted in my stomach. I didn't like this feeling; Heck I didn't even like anything that I was doing but my mother forced me to be a model so that I can follow her footsteps so that together we could create an unbreakable brand image.

I walked to the back of the stage and my manager Zara stood with a sullen expression on her face.

"Hey! What's wrong? Did I do something wrong during my ramp walk?"

Zara shook her head and bit her lip.

"Your mother spoke to the director of the channel Divalicious and you have an interview with Kayla in 40 minutes."

All the color drained from my face when I heard the news from Zara. My mother promised me that after I was done with this ramp walk I could go home and I didn't have to work for at-least two more weeks and here she had planned to make me sit in an interview with a plastic doll called Kayla in 40 minutes.

"You know I don't want to do that Zara. Please help me" I pleaded her and her eyes went soft.

"Don't waste time Nathalia, I gave Mr. Longwood my word and you cannot step back from it now or there will be consequences."

My mother would fire Zara and I would be made to stay at home and she would confiscate my gadgets and would disallow my one and only friend Tahilia from visiting me and I didn't want that to happen.

I followed my mom in silence to her Silver BMW car that I had earned. My mother basically lived off from me working like a mad dog but I had no choice because she was all that I had after my dad left me and I still don't know why.
There were so many 'What and Ifs' swimming through my mind.

The entire car ride was silent and I quietly observed the surroundings. We reached the main building of the channels studio and I hopped down from my seat eagerly because I could never bear being in the same space as my mother for more than 10 minutes straight.

"This will be just a basic interview about your life and things in general. You rarely do interviews so this is going to be beneficial for you and the channel to gain more TRP's for their show plus they offered me a great work package which only a fool would have most probably rejected."

My mother smile and I turned my head in the other direction not liking her idea even one bit. Was she even my mother? Granted I was always surrounded by people but that was just it. I was only surrounded by people who were very selfish and I don't think I have anyone other than Zara who would be my well wisher. Everyone had some motive behind whatever they did and I felt really lonely in this so called big bright world.

I was about to walk into the room that was labeled 'Live studio' but my mother pulled me back and there was a scowl on her face.

"Where did you think you were going looking like that? You are going to be featured live and you think that your clothes are appropriate?" My mother scowled.

"There is nothing wrong with wearing a plain white T-shirt and denim washed jeans mother" I spoke in defense and her eyes darkened with anger.

"Just don't argue with her ok?" Zara pulled me along with her into the dressing room and I felt very nauseous.

"Why do you work for me Zara?" I wanted to know her honest opinion about working with me. I felt really bad that she had to listen to my mother's nagging for the past 7 years.

"Your father was a really good friend of mine. I know your mother didn't hurt you physically but her sharp words could pierce anyone's feelings and I want to be there for you in every step of your life till you want me to be and another reason is because well I'm single and I'm 40 and you are like the only family that I ever had."

Zara shrugged and a small smile played on my lips. Zara was more motherly towards me than my real mother and I didn't know what or where I would have been today if not for her.

A stylist came into the dressing room and she snorted while looking at me and I wanted to slap her for judging my appearance.

"Wear this dress and come out quickly. We don't have much time before the show starts" the stylist spoke and I made my way to the dressing area.

"Why the hell do they even make such dresses when every inch of your skin can be displayed anyway? It's better to go nude than to wear such an obsolete piece of clothing" I muttered to myself and threw the skimpy piece of outfit away from my sight, disgusted by the thought of just wearing it.

I randomly took a piece of clothing from the rack and opened my hair that was tied in a bun and ruffled it for effect. Pulling the straps of the jump suit over my arms I walked out of the dressing area and I didn't stop when I heard the angry scream of that stylist.

I marched to the studio and walked without any care in the world. For the first time in my life I face the camera without any make up and my feet were probably rejoicing in the fact that I didn't wear any killer heels and kill them.

Kyla's eyes widened when she saw me and she quickly changed her composure when I sat on the couch across her.

I didn't even look at the crowds to face my mother because her face would have gone even riper than a tomato.

"Nathalia Beckham Kaur Khan. We are happy to have you on our live show this evening and might I say, you umm look different." Kayla spoke and I gave her a sugary smile of my own.

"Wish I could tell you the same but I'm not happy to be here" I replied honestly and Kayla's expression dropped into a scowl.

"So can you tell us more about yourself? The public doesn't know that much about you and I'm sure they would all love to hear you talk about yourself."

I admired my nails and without a glance at anyone spoke to the microphone attached to my neck "You all know my name, my age and my profession. What else do you want to know? Whatever I tell you now wouldn't matter because if the media makes up a story you all would believe the gossip anyway so I am not going to tell anything for it to be twisted and be used against me."

Kayla squeezed her eyes shut and she took a deep breath to calm herself down then very slowly she opened her eyes with some kind of determination to get through this show and be done with me. "Tell me the basics about yourself like where are you from and other trivial thing's." She asked me with a smile but her eyes betrayed her and the look she gave me was anything but friendly.

"I came from the same place that we all have come from; my mother's Vagina of course." I laughed and I heard the audience laughing along with me.

Kayla muttered something that sounded like break and I was quick to move from the couch but my mother beat me to it.

"I don't know what's wrong with you and how dare you to go out of context? You had the audacity to not obey me."

I pulled my arm out of my mother's grasp and looked at her right in the eye. "You don't just get respect; you have to earn it" saying that I walked away to Zara who had a horrified expression on her face.

"WHAT WERE YOU DOING NATHALIA?!" Zara practically yelled at me and I gave her a tired look.

"Can you please take me home?" I asked her with a hope to get away from all this showbiz soon.

Zara spoke to my mother and we drove away from the studio. I knew she was going to break the ice by telling me something that would not turn up in my favor.

"You do know what's going to happen when your mother comes home tonight right?" Zara placed her hand on my arm while I shut my eyes.

"I saw those pictures, Zara," I muttered under my breath and the car swirled a bit and it roughly halted at the side of the road.

"What do you mean? What pictures?" Zara had a quizzical expression and I fished my phone out and showed her pictures of my mother who was with a boy about 20 years her junior.

"This morning my mother allowed me to use her laptop and guess what I found in the gallery? It was pictures of her and this guy together. They were not just close but they looked almost intimate. I was not judging them but then I saw a photo where they both were looking at the camera with a big smile on their face and they both had the same pair of gold band on their fingers. MY MOHTER FUCKIGN REMARRIED TO A GUY CLOSE TO MY AGE AND SHE DIDN'T EVEN TELL ME!"

I screamed in frustration and Zara let me hug her.

"What was the date of these pictures?" Zara asked me and I told her that it was taken 5 days ago when she came back from her so called business trip.

"What are you going to do now?" Zara questioned me again and silence lingered around us.

"I am going away. I am going back to my motherland. I am going to India to meet my dad. I cannot stay with this woman any longer."

Zara had a look of disbelief and I chucked at her before showing her my phone.

"Sorry for not telling you this but a few days ago a guy had found me on a social networking site and he kept pinging me to talk to him. I thought that he was creepy stalker or a crazy fan and I blocked him off. Today morning I received a mail from him and it was a picture of me and my dad! My old pictures were never found in the house if you remember?"

Zara nodded her head in response so I continued my talk.

"I always thought that maybe my dad took the pictures of us because he didn't want to forget me or my face and my mother claimed otherwise. I don't know why but all these years I had a feeling that my dad was never the bad guy here and I want a closure Zara. I wanted to meet him so badly and the guy who mailed me those discreet photos claims that he is my half brother."

My snort was running down my nose and Zara quickly wiped it with the sleeves of her dress. I tried to make her stop ruining her dress but she swatted my hands away and motioned me to carry on.

"He says that he is my adopted brother and that he had been trying to get in touch with me since ages. He said that my dad wanted to meet me and his attempts failed every time he tried to get in touch with me so he lost hope that he would ever get to meet me again. My adopted brother Ankit thought of discreetly helping my dad out by searching for me himself and he found me! He mailed me a current picture of dad and IT WAS HIM! MY DADDY! HE IS STILL THERE ZARA! I WANT TO GO BACK TO HIS ARMS! I want to be back to the King of my world."

My words were muffled when Zara shoved my face on her chest and I bawled my eyes out like a baby.

"What's your plan now? What can I do for you?" Zara asked excitedly and I sank back in my seat.

"I am going to India. I am going to run away from this place, from the woman who popped a crying flesh out of her womb and makes her flesh feel that she should be grateful for everything she got. I am going to run away from all of my problems and it's not because I'm a coward but because I have become sick of everything. I know it sounds dumb that I just want to wrap everything and go away and who knows what kind of things will happen when I go to India but life is all about risks and I want to take this risk. I don't want to have any more regrets in life. Am I being stupid?" I asked Zara and she shook her head and kissed my forehead.

"You are the bravest soul I have ever met. I wish I could come with you to India but you know I can't go anywhere as of now"

Our mini moment was broken when Zara's phone blasted and 'GODZILLA CALLING' appeared on the screen.

"Hello? Yes, she is here with me. She was umm not feeling well so I decided to take her to the doctor. We will be back in some time."

Zara snapped the phone and with a very serious expression on her face turned to me and said: "Grow a vagina because your mom sounded pissed and I think you are going to get an earful from her."

"Yeah yeah I will handle her just one more time"

Zara didn't find my amusement funny and her knuckles had turned white.

"Just be careful ok? Today you mother got royally pissed and I'm scared for you" Zara spoke to me while I hopped out of the car. I waved my hands and entered the house; for the first time in my life my mother opened the door and not some maid. There was a man more like a dude behind her whom I had spotted in the pictures in the gallery of my mom's laptop.

"Who is he?" I asked her thinking that she would feel a bit remorseful about her actions or about the secret of hiding her marriage from me but she pulled the guy closer to her and kissed him square on the lips.

I got disgusted by watching them making out in front of me then she asked me to face her.

"He is your new father and you got to accept this fact ok?Oh, I forgot to tell you this but the day after tomorrow we are going to go to the Khannas house to talk about your marriage so don't have any plans that day and be properly dressed ok?"
I think you are getting too much out of control plus you are of age now so it's best to get you married to Liam Yadav. He must be just around 25 year's older to you but age is just a number. You will learn to love him and his teenage kids.

Not that I have something against people who have a big age gap but I wasn't in love and my mom was planning to tie me down to a man who is a father to teenage kids. Surely I should have a right to have a say in this matter because this is my life and not a game.

"But mother! I..."
My mother raised her palm at me, indicating me to shut up.

"Liam Yadav is the owner of sapphire labels. You know the market price of the shares? Plus you don't have to make any kids with him so your figure will remain intact! I think this is a good opportunity. You will learn to be happy with him. See how much I care for you."

With one last look in my direction my mother sauntered of in her room with my so called new father and loud moans were heard. My tear ducts broke into a waterfall spree and I wished that there was someone with me who I could talk to or share me feelings with; Someone who wouldn't judge me but just hug me and console me.

A/N

Should I continue with this book? It may look a bit boring now but please do give it a chance <3 Please support and share the book if you liked even a small percent of it.

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