Intertwined - Tangled series (Overprotective famous brothers)

Un-baeing-bae

Alisha

Arbaaz had always taught me to deal with the facts and move on. And accepting I was. We were finally getting somewhere with the lawsuit. Social service was working now, thanks to the pressure from the public. They had established some truths that worked in our favour, and it looked like it was just formalities now. We had made way to Atlantic city, verified some details and were just back from the long flight. Instead of going home, I had to go straight to the gym for training.

I met some of my mother's family. Her parents, and technically my grandparents. Her brother and his wife. Their son, who was just a year younger to me. An entire family I never knew existed, but they knew too well. All of those scumbags knew, and they never bothered to contact me.

"You are a disgrace to the purity of our family. Your are a bastard child." my mother's father spat in my face when I asked him why. Why he didn't raise me. Why he left me for the dead. Why did his granddaughter not mean shit to him. Because apparently, religion and caste and societal approval were bigger criteria than humanity.

It was all about the religion to them. My mother married a Christian, and they hated her for it. They disowned her. I was born a Christian, and that meant I couldn't be family. I was later raised by Salman, a Muslim. Made it worse. It was all about the religion, and nothing about family or love.

That was the moment I decided to never bother talking to them.

My cousin, however, did smile at me. Earned glares, but he smiled at me. I smiled back. I didn't quite catch his name, but I didn't want to go beyond the smile. It would complicate things for the both of us. He would get into trouble and so would I. It was better to leave the ghosts of my past to where they belonged - in the past.

Maybe someday, I thought, someday we would reconnect. When he was independent and could afford to do so. When I wasn't dealing with lawsuits and losing my entire family. Maybe one day we could catch up over coffee and laugh about what life was and how we never knew each other. Maybe someday, far from today.

And so I made my way to my mother's grave later that day. I was followed by paparazzi, who were courteous enough to pay their respects to her and stand a few feet away as I sat down. They stayed silent but continued to record, and I didn't want them mending in business that was strictly private. The good thing about talking to people who are dead is that one can transcend the human barriers and talk in their minds to them. I spoke to her, telling her about our recent win and about Salman's new movie. I told her about how I was heart broken but I wouldn't let her down. I would fight. I hoped she heard me.

And now, here I was. The Sky.

"Good work today." Dimitri smiled at me. It was a little after 7 pm, and I had stayed back with him to catch up on some long due training sessions. Lauren and I did some one-on-one training with Dimitri from time to time so we could focus more and get the attention needed to perfect our skills in time for the Olympics.

"You know, my mother was a ballerina. Not professional, but her clips look amazing." I told him as I packed my bag.

One thing that had happened of this entire thing was that there was so much information about my biological family on the internet, it over whelmed me. But I conveniently ignored the others, and looked at the photos and videos uploaded of and about my mother. I had found a lot of things. She was beautiful, and had gone through a goth stage. She wasn't the brightest person in school, but she was most definitely loved. She was a ballerina, as I told Dimitri. Her parents later found out about her secret classes and grounded her, it seems. But she did continue to hold a soft spot for ballet. My mother loved jewellery and antiques. Some of her was just the opposite of how I was, and it made me wonder whether or not my mother would like this me.