A Promise, Broken

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No one had an easy life.

Atleast, that's what her mother had told her.

Krithika Shah had been a fighter. She had fought against her parents, who didn't believe in her dreams of traveling the world. She had fought against her husband, whose words were like a knife dipped in sickly sweet honey. And years ago, when Aru was just a child, she had laid on her deathbed, fighting death itself.

But it was a fight she couldn't win.

And so Aru had become an orphan. She lived by stealing food from the market, begging for mere pennies, until she was soon old enough to work.

Getting a job hadn't been that hard. The merchants never cared about who was getting their work done, as long as it was completed properly. She'd only been ten when she got her first one, and her jobs never paid a lot, especially since she was a girl.

No one saw the burden she carried on her shoulders.

No one cares, she would think to herself.

And for a long time, that was true.

No one looked at her. No one understood her. No one spoke to her.

No one except him.