Fateful Contract

Tejasswi's Pain

'What a cousin, sister? How could that be?' Karan was shocked.

For the first time, Vicky failed to dig up important information for him.

"Rashmi is your sister."

"No, no, no....." Tejasswi swayed her hand in the air. "She is not my sister; can't you get it? We have different titles. She is my cousin, my aunt's daughter, but doted on by everybody in the family."

Tejasswi got sad while saying this; tears formed in her eyes. She sniffed and gulped the last sip of her glass.

Karan could see her pain through her words but didn't know the reason. He wanted to know the hidden truth, which Vicky failed to find.

"Are you jealous?"

"Hmmm, no....." Tejasswi shook her heads vigorously.

"It's actually contrary. She has been jealous of me all her life. She wants everything I have." Tejasswi rubbed her cheeks to wipe the tears.

Karan felt bad for her. She must be miserable to have been bullied by Rashmi for so many years.

"Oh, I see. She is not good to you."

"Good?" Tejasswi said this and laughed loudly. "Rashmi doesn't even know the meaning of good." She burped twice in a row and covered her mouth to keep up with her manners.

"Why so?" Karan asked.

"Even I have been looking for the answer for ages." Tejasswi said with a gloomy face and painful eyes, gazing in a direction.

"Ages?"

"Hmm, since the day she came to live with my family."

"What? Why? What's wrong with her family?"

"They all passed away."

"All died together?"

Karan was surprised with every revelation and got relentless as Tejasswi was moving very slowly with her backstory.

"Yes, they committed family suicide after being bankrupt and chased by loan sharks. Rashmi was the lone survivor." 

Tejasswi's eyes softened for a brief moment and got fierce again. She gulped another shot.

Karan sighed, observing her deeply. Now he understood why Rashmi was doted on by Tejasswi's family.

"Then?"

"Then a poor little girl was brought to my parents by my grandparents. Everybody, including me, pitted a 7-year-old child who lost her entire family."

"Dad didn't want to let her late sister down, so he raised Rashmi as her own daughter, and mom helped him. To be truthful, she wasn't a pitiful child."

"Why?"

"She was a terrible case of bad upbringing—an extremely stubborn, mannerless, and demanding girl."

"For real?"

Tejasswi bobbled her head vigorously, looking cute to Karan.

"Yes, I am not lying. She wants everything I have, follows me and my habits, and gradually takes after me. She used to dress up, eat, or do everything I like to do. She picked up my every habit."

"She started calling my parents, mom and dad, and always wants their and my brother's attention more on her than me. This caused them to grow apart from me."

Karan was shocked to know Rashmi was so jealous of Tejasswi that she lost her personality to be like Tejasswi.

"Why was she so envious of you?" Karan asked again to know the story's details, but Tejasswi got furious.