West side town

"Maa, I really think you shouldn't go to work today", a girl in her mid-twenties announced. She looked at her mother with worry filled eyes.

"But I have to. You know how it works. If I don't work, I won't be able to pay the rent tomorrow", her mother replied softly.

"I'll go? It's just basic house chores and I know how to do them all", she ejaculated quickly.

"Ani, my princess, they're rich people. If anything happened...", her mother looked at her tensed.

"Trust me, please?", Anika smiled weakly at her mother, who gave her a nod, allowing Anika to replace her today at work.

✻ ✻ ✻

Oberoi Mansion

"Where is Bua today?", a boy asked while he took a seat at the dining table for breakfast.

"What can I know, Rudy?", the boy replied, rolling his eyes. Picking up an apple, he walked towards the sofa and sat down.

"I thought Mr. Omkara knows everything", Rudy teased his brother. Who just glared at him, while taking a bite from his apple.

"Good morning, guys", a guy in a two piece suit entered the lounge. He looked like he was in his late 20's.

"Morning, bro", Rudy replied and continued drinking his protein shake. Omkara just smiled at him.

"Why isn't breakfast ready yet?", the guy asked with annoyance in his voice. Omkara turned around to look at him.

"Bua hasn't arrived yet, Shivaay", he shrugged his shoulders in confusion.

"That's the thing about middle class people. They just don't have any manners", he growled, pouring some water into his glass.

"Hello?", they heard an unfamiliar, yet soft voice coming from the entrance of the mansion.

"What the hell?", Shivaay yelled. He didn't seem to be the nicest of all. Omkara and Rudra just looked at him, like they were expecting this to happen.

"Who are you and who let you in?", Shivaay walked towards her. She looked at him intimidated.

"Speak up", he snapped at her. She looked at him nervously.

"Aren't you Bua's daughter?" Rudy asked her softly. Anika looked at him with a weak smile and nodded.

"She's ill, that's why I come", she replied and looked down. Shivaay rolled his eyes at her grammar mistake. Omkara ignored them.

"Is Atika here?", a woman asked while walking down the stairs.

"Anika, Mom", Omkara corrected her. The mother ignored his correction and walked towards her.

"Now that you're finally here. Why don't you make us some breakfast, it's already very late. Shivaay has to leave for office", the woman looked at Anika obnoxiously.

"Okay", Anika whispered and walked by Shivaay and his mother. Who seemed to take a step back as if she was some contagious disease.

"You should've asked her to change her clothes. Who knows what germs they hold?", Shivaay makes a remark.

"For God's sake, stop it, Shivaay", Omkara howled at Shivaay. He stood up and left the place.

Shivaay and his mother walked into the dining room and sat down on their place. Half of the family had already taken their seats. Apart from Omkara.

"What's happening? Who was yelling so loudly", a woman sitting on the opposite side of Shivaay's mom asked.

"Your son, Jhanvi", Shivaays mom replied. Jhanvi looked at her speechless. She was aware of her son's bad temper, sometimes.

After a minute, Anika entered the room with different kinds of dishes for everyone. When she came with the coffee, her feet stumbled and the coffee fell onto Shivaays pants.

He immediately stood up. Anika looked at him with fear in her eyes. When Shivaays finally looked up, his eyes were filled with rage.

"Can't you do one thing right? Hasn't your mom taught you anything? You useless piece of trash" he yelled at her.

Anika didn't dare to look up. One, because she was being insulated. Two, she didn't want him to see her tears and think that she's vulnerable.

Shivaay grabbed her wrist and dragged her with him to his room. He hadn't even noticed, his nails piercing into her skin. Anika winced in pain. Did her mother have to go through this everyday just to feed her?

"Make up for it", he growled at her. Anika was now shivering in fear.

"Huh?", she replied in a low voice. Her confusion was going to make matters worse for her.

Shivaay looked at her with a smirk. Grabbing the port of coffee from the morning, which was still hot. He slowly poured it down on her hand.

Anika shot up her head. She started wiggling with her arm, in hope, he'd let go of her. Once he was done, he put down the pot.

She couldn't stop her tears and those whimpers, who she was trying to control. She looked at Shivaay with hate in her eyes.

His eyes changed color for a moment. As if he just realized what he had done to the poor soul. But that didn't last long and his eyes turned hostile again.

Anika ran out of his room. While she was running down the stairs, she bumped into Omkara. Who looked at her shocked.
Goosebumps took over her, in terror and she walked away. Omkara looked up with bitterness and started walking towards his dear cousin's room.

"What the hell is wrong with you?", he gritted his teeth in anger.

"What?", Shivaay asked him clueless. Omkara clenched his fist.

"You know what I'm talking about? You fucking burnt her hand and humiliated her", he snapped at him.

"She deserved it", Shivaay could seem to care less. As if his torture was a normal thing to do.

"Stop acting like your messed up ways to cope with your traumatic past are okay! She didn't do anything to you", he tried to knock some sense into Shivaay.

He chuckled coldly.
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I hope you liked the first episode. I'm currently editing the story, so the episode might seem a bit changed but the plot overall is the same. Thanks for reading!

Amna xx