The Prince from the Hills

The commoner in the hills...

At the tender age of six, Thomas lost his mother and father in a car accident, followed shortly by his grandfather. Thereafter, Harry Haden, his maternal uncle became his guardian. He was a warm and loving man. After the death of his father, Harry had no one to call his immediate family except Thomas. He showered excessive love on his nephew but having shouldered the unexpected responsibility of his father's business empire when he was only 21, he did not get enough time to spend with him. Hence, a year later Thomas was sent away to Le Brun College, which was also his Uncle's alma mater, with the hopes that he might be well attended . His uncle still came to meet him whenever he was free from his business engagement. Whenever he met Thomas, his face glowed like a sun has risen from the sky, such was his adoration for his nephew.

Thomas, in moment of anger would say, " I know you have my parent's property in your care, now don't be so happy, I would know if you have a smitch of it."

Harry would laugh and tell him, " It's all yours, Tom. When you'll be of age, I'll give it all to you."

Of course, Thomas in his heart always knew his uncle loved him selflessly but sometimes in moments of suspicion, as is natural to a man born in the world of business, he had put some thought in this theory of his. Harry, however, had a character white as milk. Presently he was 31 and yet not married because of the fear that his future wife might have a step-motherly nature towards Thomas. Yet, Thomas was to a certain degree blind to his Uncle's goodness because his nature was that of a darker shade of Grey, the unkindly shadow of Death at such a fragile stage definitely left its impact for life.

 Hence we see that Thomas Haden was in fact an interesting walking-talking novella in itself yet all the people saw was a gifted, intellectual, very handsome and to some extent arrogant boy of 16. And so he pretended to be what people expected of him.

Pushing his hands deeper into his pocket, he said to Vivan, " Well, it's his money, he can use it any way he wants to", he shrugged and looked away. 'Let's hope it was not from my fortune', he added in his head.

Sharp at 7, eager faces of students stared at Thomas expectantly. With a nod of his head, the morning assembly began. The Lord's prayer followed by the national anthem then the school anthem. It was a long and lengthy affair after which their headmaster took his place behind the podium and Thomas walked down to join Vivan in their classline.

"Good morning, students", The Headmater's voice was a bit shaky, a result of old age,  " I am sure you all have heard about the addition to our student body from" he coughed "different sources", his beaming eyes landed on Dev with mock accusation and a stream of laughter went up in the air. " However for those who don't know", he continued, "I would like to introduce Ms. Kathy Pradhan. She will be joining the 11th grade. She is the first recipient of the Le Brun scholarship." Kathy walked up to the stage and bowed as she was introduced, " I hope you will all welcome her heartily." Sounds of clapping resonated the bright morning in the valley and Kathy smiled.

It was perhaps in that moment that Thomas was finally struck with the revelation that she was indeed, extremely beautiful. She wore, what happened to be the standard uniform for girls, Navy blue pleated skirt with oxford white shirt. Now that the constrain of casual clothing was removed and Thomas had the liberty to compare her with his well-to-do female classmates, he found that she was better than all of them combined. There was a particular softness to her face, her lips were pink and full and the most beautiful part was that she was oblivious to her own beauty. She was rather desirable. However the moment passed and Tom realized that his memory flashed again and again to her grey clothing. It was an indicator of the stark difference in their fortune and something he cannot overlook.

Kathy, on the other hand, was smiling down at a lot of happy and expectant faces, when something shinny flashed through the scene and caught her attention. It was the Headboy's badge and its bearer was Thomas Haden. Oh yes, she had heard a lot about him from the girls' she shared her dormitory with. Apparently he was the most famous guy of the school and had a strong female following. They had explained him in great detail and with a lot of unwanted excitement but Kathy knew better than to accept their biased opinion about the Ice Prince. For a second, their eyes met and her breath caught up. Then his blue eyes flashed with the same disgust she had noticed yesterday and she looked down, flushed with embarrassment. The moment she had accepted the Headmaster's offer, she was aware that she might be belittled due to her economic standing. She had steeled herself for harsh words and she knew she had a mission to achieve. She has to be the best of the best. She will make her family proud. Taking in a deep breath, she met Thomas' gaze with ferocity. She was determined to defeat him at something she knew she was best at-studies and gave him a run for his money, she did!

Thomas duly accepted the challenge her gaze threw at him. He was the best at this school, be it at anything. And so in that moment a silent pact was sealed, which would bring some happiness and some woe to both its parties.