A warm tear slipped past her waterline falling unnoticed onto the armrest below as she glanced at the city lights getting smaller. The city where she grew up, where her parents shielded her from the reality of this cruel world for as long as they could. The city where her whole life revolved around, where her friends were and the same city that took her parents away.
One drunk driver, that's all it took.
Her jaw tightened and fists clenched when the need to turn back around thumped in her chest. Was this a good idea to leave it all behind?
The blend of white and yellow swayed into the night further and further as the plane descended towards an unchartered territory. The night felt quiet, the terrain under the wings shallow and deep. She closed her eyes and leaned back into her seat.
Taking a trembling breath she exhaled slowly through her lips but the images were still fresh, the reality still cruel and new. You know when they say, you'll know when it happens to you, that was certainly how it felt when she had gotten that godforsaken call.
“They won't make it through the night, come quickly,” the nurse on the phone was kind enough to inform her. Because her so called tight knit family definitely didn't think on that tangent. All their focus was on the damn estate or who would be incharge now.
The minute their hearts stopped, all the chaos unleashed. Unashamed and unabashed. Her uncle, Mahesh Mittal, whom she once considered her like a second father, turned cold within weeks. It was like he was waiting for a chance to pounce and didn't miss when it arrived on her parents' pyres.
“You know I loved your father,” Mahesh murmured quietly before adjusting his glasses, one evening at the dinner table. For a second, grief flickered across his face and she almost believed him.
Then he leaned back in his chair and added, “Which is why you need to cooperate with us now. Things cannot continue the way they used to.”
“How do you mean?” she asked, confusion written across her face.
“There are going to be new rules if you want to continue living in this house, Anu,” he had declared. She had looked at him with shock because her mind was still reeling from the loss of something that could never be recovered.
She bit her lip to stop from wobbling. Her aunt Mira had nodded with a smile that could only be described as frustration glazed with fake sympathy.
“In my opinion, you have been coddled a lot by bhaiya and bhabhi and someone has to show you how the world works, sweetheart,” Mira added with a shake of her head and took another sip of her red wine.
Her cousins, Ronnie and Lavanya simply gave her a pitiful look, too young to say anything back to their parents or call out their behavior.
She wondered, where did the happy family go, who merely two weeks ago were singing about a family that stays together, gets stronger together. Where were those people who never wanted to go on vacations as a separate family?
Always joint, always shared spaces. Were they real? Or was this the new version they adapted because they had to appear tough for the world now?
Her father was a known name in the advertising industry and left a fortune behind for his family. But with this fortune comes a burden of handling it as well.
Maybe the stress of running everything smoothly was getting to them, she thought, staring at her ceiling that night. She didn't want to believe this cold and calculated version of them. Why were they so adamant on making her disciplined in the first place?
Then came the fights, the betrayal, and barrage of marriage proposals out of nowhere. “It's only been a month since they were taken away from us, Chachu!” she shouted, angry tears blurring her eyes as she wiped them with her sleeve.
“A month,” a quiet whisper escaped her as realization of them gone once again hit her hard. But the irritation on their faces only polished and her aunt rolled her eyes as though the topic itself was obsolete.
“They'd want this too,” Mira said, "no one has the time to pamper their precious princess now."
Mahesh nodded solemnly, “we have to be strategic about this, beta. Please try to understand, I have to handle a lot after your dad is gone and an extra person only increases the burden you know.”
The soft words laced with harshness hit her like a slap. Confusion surfaced and her brows furrowed. What were they even talking about? As far as she knew, this house was under her father's name, most of the business, shares, and assets belonged to him. And she herself had a sustainable job and an established career.
Even Geeta bua, her dad's elder sister agreed with the aunt and uncle. Distant relatives, business associates starting bringing her proposals everyday. Eventually it felt like they all were pushing her to an extent where she barely left her room. Like a group of zombies closing in on you and there was nothing you could do to escape.
What surprised her most was that they declared her as the burden or the extra person; however, their lifestyle renewed like a seasonal change. Each month was some kind of lavish party or get together. But for her every day became a struggle to survive. She was still grieving and nothing made sense in the haze that was left behind after her parents.
She avoided everything, paid no heed to them. She had gone to the kitchen to get something to eat one night when both her aunts cornered her again. Loud laughter and soft music coming from the backyard where people were gathered to celebrate the new launch of some ad.
A celebration that felt wrong, too soon. “You should watch your calories, beta. It's not doing you any favours on that extra weight,” Mira's clip voice cut through the noise, her lips stretched into a thin smile.
Her hands froze on her ladle but she quietly ignored them and continued with her task of getting out there quickly.
Geeta sighed and sat by the nearest bench, “Khurana's have kindly accepted the proposal, you should too, Anu. You're not exactly going to get some royal prince looking like that.”
“Didi is right, Rahul is a decent guy working as a manager in some high end company,” Mira added, sitting on the opposite bench. “He might not be able to afford your princess lifestyle but at least he's ready to put up with someone like you.”
She gritted her teeth and glared at both her aunts, “Rahul is also a drunk and a divorcee whose wife left him a few months after marriage due to domestic violence.”
“Oh you girls today are so sensitive and have no patience to sustain a marriage,” Geeta waved her hands dismissively.
Mira nodded in agreement, “this new generation doesn't know what it takes to make a marriage life successful.”
She looked at them closely. Really looked. Their sharp eyes, calm postures and posh facades. There was nothing but hollowness in their souls. They were nothing like her parents, vibrant, kind and warm. It made her wonder, how were they so untouched by all this. Or maybe they had shielded her so well, she didn't know the extent or true colors of her so-called family until it was too late.
Sighing, she took her plate and moved towards the kitchen door and paused to look at them, “I might not know what it takes but I do know it shouldn't take violence, cruelty and patriarchy disguised as tradition to be in a marriage.”
“I feel sorry for you both,” she murmured coldly and left the kitchen, leaving both her aunts gawking at her back.
After that day, she started planning her escape route because if she had stayed in that house any longer it would have taken more than what she had already lost. Her parents didn't raise a daughter who depends on anyone.
Grief slowed her but it was their values and love that pushed her forward to seek a life where she could breathe and actually mourn the loss and try to move forward. That's what her parents would have wanted. Not the standard of procedures set by the society and her relatives.
“Passport and documents please,” the lady at the immigration counter asked in a thick Italian accent.
“Anaya Mittal?” the woman looked at the passport and then at her, maybe to double check whatever it was they were trained on.
She nodded softly, “yes, that's me.”
After a great deal of scans and immigration shabangs, the lady finally returned her documents and smiled kindly, maybe the first kind smile after a long time.
“Welcome to Italy.”
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