Chapter 8: Story

                                    

                                          
" Start with your birth," 
" Hmm," there was smoke in the air. A strong smell of cigarettes was going around the entire room while one of her feet remained over his feet and his concentration remained over her face. There was a notebook in his hands, that he was going to use to jot down all the main events in her life and he just looked so serious in that position. It made her smile softly because his eyes no longer wandered at the scene happening right under her face. His eyes were only pointed at her face 
" I was born late," 
" Late?" The word choices that she made... 
" The first child of two rich doctors. I was born at least 2 days after my due date," 
" Your mother was in labor for 2 days?" 
" No. She wasn't in labor for 2 days even after the due date. It's like even when I was in her womb, I knew that I didn't want to come out. They had to induce labor... To get me out. And I was so mad that I kicked the doctor who induced my mother," 
" As a newborn?" He raised his eyebrows calling it all a bluff but she only kept smiling at him 
" My mother has grilled me for years saying I was a difficult birth. Thats what I believe," her nose softly scrunched a little, " I don't have proof to prove the fact. But it's the truth," this time, she kept both her hands over the bed as she threw the smoke back on the floor and breathed out smoke as she raised her head and looked right at the ceiling. 
" It was almost as if I knew that I wasn't supposed to be born... Like. This world wasn't ready for me even before I was born," her words were confusing and the position she chose to sit in was distracting. But something told him to not interrupt and just listen. She was talking nonsense right now but eventually, he knew that she would be able to explain better. 
" My childhood? It wasn't flowers or honey or anything sweet. My parents were rich, but also certified health freaks. So, no sweets, no milk for me, and no dinners in hotels. Rather, for proteins, I received a green drink... Made of Spinach and fruits. Sometimes, I feel like my height issue is because they kept me hungry for the normal foods in the world... But that isn't even where it ends," she chuckled in sarcasm for a moment and then, brought her gaze back to stare into that man's eyes, " You ever heard about snake's skin disease?" A head shook in front of her which only made her smile wider. But then again, when she felt the hot tears rolling down, immediately she turned her head around and pursed her lips for a while just to hide her wails from leaving her mind. 
" It's an incurable disease. Happens to people with sensitive skin... Every once in an year, one part of these people's skins starts peeling off... Can cause boils. Irritation... Itching. It happened to me when I was 4 on my hands... And my parents just diagnosed it as an allergy to lactose. Can you tell me which parent doesn't get scared when their small child's hand is filled with boils and green pus?" Her eyes blinked off the tears but he could feel the hurt in her tone. She really was hurt. 
" Well. Mine never cared. Probably because they didn't have the time to or probably because they had three other things that they'd rather do than console a small girl when she is going through dengue... And with that, we come to another reason of why my childhood wasn't roses... I wasn't a single child. Had two younger sisters," 
" Sisters?" His fingers began moving over the writing pad as words began getting written 
" Yes. 2. My parents wanted a son. So, they kept trying till they were done," a soft smile came over both of their faces 
" Isn't that what everyone does?" He asked her 
" Well. More or less. But it would be so refreshing to finally find a couple who is trying more only because they want more daughters... I mean, the thought in itself never does cross anyone's mind, does it? Because you hope for a boy and then you get girl. Sure, people have stopped judging and differentiating between girls and boys. But it would so much better to think that my parents tried more because they wanted more girls and not because they hoped for at least one boy," this time, he saw how dreamily she laid back over the bed and how comfortably she kept staring at the ceiling, as if she was reliving all those moments 
" But I suppose it's a long way for my traditional yet modern, health freaks of parents to ever have that thought. Sure, we were never discriminated against. But the sheer fact that I had two others to compete with the limited amount of time and love that my parents had, was discriminating enough for me. You do understand when I say that younger kids get much more than you ever do. Right?" 
" Yeah," he had younger siblings too. A younger sister who was a pain in the ass and a brother who was a bigger pain in his life. Sure he knew that he was much more loved than she would ever be but the constant fights and trying to prove each other wrong was something he had really gotten tired of. 
" But my sisters weren't bad. It wasn't their fault. They were just, angels. I was the bad one. The one who suppressed and abused them. I was the one who removed all my anger over them. Because I never saw them being hit or scolded by my mother no matter what the reason was," 
" Wait. Are you saying?" 
" Yes. Let's come on to the 3rd reason... My mother's in-laws. Or my paternal side of the family...
" What did they do to you?"
" Nothing. It's what they did to my mother that affected me and molded me into the way I now am. An idiot. That's my last reason,"
" That you were an idiot?"
" Yeah. But this time, let's get deeper into it..."