Contract Marriage; Fated Love

“Me? What are you talking about? How can you say something absurd?”

“You might not accept it readily but it’s true. I have spent so many years looking for you.”

“How did you know that I am your sister? Is it because I treat you differently? Is it because I don’t fear you like every other person?”

“No. That day at the hospital, you leaned on me and wept. Your hair wasn’t plaited and you left a few strands on my cloth. I carried out a DNA test and you are my sister. We can still go for another test together.”

Gu Yanxi starred at him and tears rolled down her beautiful face.

“I grew up as a very happy child until my mother got pregnant when I was seven years old. Immediately she put to bed, everything changed. She treated me differently. She made me do everything in the house and even stopped me from calling her mum.”

****************************************************

Gu Yanxi rinsed the plates her mother gave her and returned them to her.

“It’s here mummy.”

“Who’s your mummy?”

“Huh?”

The woman slapped her.

“Disrespectful child. Why will you say ‘huh’ to your elders?”

She handed the baby to the nanny and faced Gu Yanxi. She yelled at her and warned her never to call her mother.

“I am not your mother. Go and find her wherever she is!”

She didn’t beat her because her father was at home.”

She was puzzled. Her own mother was asking her never to call her mum?

That was when her nightmares began. The little girl grew up and learnt discrimination from her mother. She stopped at nothing to get Gu Yanxi punished. She committed crimes at home and heaped the blame on Gu Yanxi. Of course, her doting mother believed her and Gu Yanxi paid for crimes she knew nothing about. The only person who saved her was her father but he was seldom at home.

She bore her grief with a strong heart until she turned fourteen and could bear it no more. Hope of any positive change was very thin. Her father had tried to talk her mother out of maltreating her but it only earned Gu Yanxi more punishment.

“Ohh! Silly child. You have gone to report me to my own husband. There will be no dinner for you. Join the servants to finish up the chores and go to bed,” was a very regular comment in her life.

Her father fell ill and fearing he wouldn’t get out of that condition, he told her the true story. They weren’t her biological parents! They had adopted her when they had no child.

As soon as she entered the family, good things began to happen. He got the job he had been applying for and they travelled to China. Everything moved on well for them and his wife, who had no child for many years got pregnant!

Gu Yanxi stayed by her father’s bed side, taking care of him and praying everyday thatbhe survive. But heavens had other plans for her.

She just entered his room that morning and he gestured her to come close. He held her hands in reassurance and they stayed like that for a minute.

“You will be fine, dad. You will be alright.”

Then he asked her to go and get the nurse. She hurried out like a rushing wind and came back with the nurse in no time. The nurse checked the man and asked her to leave. She was told to go to the reception so that her father would rest.Property belongs to Nôvel(D)r/ama.Org.

She waited for some time in the reception and got uncomfortable. She wanted to stay by her father even while he rested. She started off and when she got there, the door of the room was closed. She knocked but there was no response. She assumed the nurses had left and her father was sleeping. She opened the door and alas! He wasn’t there. She ran out like a lunatic and met a sight that traumatised her for years. Her father was lying on the stretcher, stone cold. He was dead. Her life too had crumbled and ended! She wept and refused to be consoled.

Her mother blamed her for the death of her husband. His death gave her enough freedom to maltreat her as she liked. Often, she sent the poor child outside without food in the winter! She wore a thin dress and the cold was terrific. She was thin and hungry. When she couldn’t bear it anymore, she packed her bags and left the house.

It was good riddance! Her mother never cared to look for her. Gu Yanxi met a good woman who needed a house servant and a nanny. She spent the next few years with that woman until her services were no longer needed. Then she saved up and got an apartment of her own. She went job hunting and did a lot of jobs to fend for herself. It was on one of her job interviews that Emily met her.

Since the day her father told her she was adopted from an orphanage, she always hoped to see at least one of her biological parents but she knew it wasn’t possible. She grew in the orphanage which possibly meant she was an orphan.

She lived other years of her life staying strong and grooming herself to become the woman she wanted to be proud of.

***************************************************

She wiped the tears she didn’t know was flowing and sniffed.

“I am only grateful that I didn’t drown myself in self pity. I am happy for where I am now.”

Noah offered her his handkerchief and helped her wipe her tears.

“It’s okay. I promise to make it up to you. You will never be unhappy from this day, I owe it to you.”

Gu Yanxi stared at him again. Was this really true? She needed to be very sure. Noah guessed her thoughts and said,

“Let’s go for another test together.”

She readily accepted. She kept her fingers crossed and told no one, not even Emily about it until the results were out. Noah wasn’t mistaken. She, Gu Yanxi, was the long lost daughter of the Harper family!