I am exhausted.

Smiling in front of people who are going to be a part of your family is stressful. Why? Because regardless of how much you think of them as a family, you still need time to think about the sudden changes that will happen in your life. Right now, as we are having a family dinner in a fancy restaurant with the Ahuja family for the wedding discussion, all I can think about is how I feel so distant from them.

I always feel like I am in solitude, regardless of the number of people surrounding me. Solitude, while being surrounded by numerous people, is somewhat ironic. So, as a person who was around lots and lots of people who cared for you regardless of not knowing your past, and yet feeling like no one would understand you, it feels like you are in Solitude, right?

Those who were in the same situation as mine probably would have felt the same as I am feeling because right now, in front of six people at the dinner party, I am feeling alone. As if living alone throughout my life has somehow become a curse for me.

Before my dad died, everything was okay. Our family was okay. Everything seemed like they were in its right place, but just when my father died, everything turned upside down for me.

From trusting anyone at the mere age of four to trusting no one after his death. From wishing that your father would always be there for you, to his death even before he could see one of us achieving anything, to not hoping anything good would happen to you. My life has been like that.

As I looked at the plate with the food being served, I looked around the table. Aman was sitting with Nisha, as they were the ones getting married. Priya was sitting beside me, but she was scrolling through her Instagram. (I have no idea why she is so reckless about social media, but as she is my young sister who I love a lot, I can't force her to do something that she doesn't like) My mom talked with Arheer Aunty about the remainder of the wedding preparation that was left and finally, Sukhdeep uncle was enjoying eating his food. In all, everyone seems like they are busy with their own lives.

A small part of my mind kept telling me to run away as they wouldn't notice my presence at all, and the guilty part of me almost listened to it until I saw Aman glaring at me in anger. He knew that I was reluctant to attend this dinner ever since they announced it yesterday and when I told him my reasons for not attending the dinner, he... He burnt my hand on the stove.

My gaze turned towards the said hand and saw the way how the homemade remedy my mom made for me was working because right now, it feels much better than yesterday. I feared that I might get blisters in the future with the way it was burnt, but as it got treated right away with my mom's homemade remedy, it feels like it will get treated soon. However, I had to get my wound checked behind my mom's back because she might get heartbroken if I did the check, even after she told me not to.

She hates the medical facility here; she thinks, and I quote: 'We will not have enough money if we spend our money every time we go to the hospital when we get sick, with some home remedy of mine, you will get better way before the medicine that was prescribed for the said disease.' And her remedies work well for me. But for Priya, though, they don't work that often.

Priya is a person who has Citric Allergy and Pollen Allergy. She is the only person in the house whose healthcare is quite an expensive price mark. Mom is not stingy, but she doesn't trust the healthcare facilities here, after Dad's death.

Now that she is at NYU Business stern for BS/MS in the accounting program, I was sure that she would pass with flying colors. I was in the same university too, but I took Management and Organizations for my bachelor's and for my master's. As I was on the same campus before her, almost every teacher who knew me, had high hopes for her as well. Saying that the legacy must follow, but who knows, maybe she doesn't even need my help for that. After all, she is good and unique.

Considering that I was so lost in my train of thought, I felt my sister nudge me and she looked at me and then at my brother Amandeep, who coughed a little to get my attention. Once he was sure that he had everyone's attention, he made the announcement.

"Today, we are here for this dinner party organized by my in-laws for both of our families after our engagement. I would like to first thank them for inviting us and then I would love to announce something that would cheer everyone," he says as he looks lovingly at Nisha. "Nishu, remember the deal I was talking to you about, which was one of the biggest deals for the company I was working in? I got a message an hour ago from them and they accepted the deal."

"Really?" Nisha Bhabhi asked him. "But you said it was hard to crack that deal."

Aman nods his head as he replies. "It was indeed hard, but you know me. Once I made up my mind to do something, nothing and no one can stop me." He glances at me for a little. As if he directed the last line toward me and I kept my fake smile plastered on.

I know that he is my big brother and I should respect him, but he doesn't deserve respect from me after what he is doing to me even after the mistake I made three years ago.

"Congratulations to you, Aman," I said to him as I raised my glass. "I hope you gain more achievements in the future as well."

"Thank you so much, Reena," Nisha says on Aman's behalf. "I promise you one thing: I will always love your brother with all of my heart till the last breath of my life."

I nod at her declaration, as I know her heart is pure, unlike my brother's. "I know. Thank you for that," I say to her.

Regardless of the way, Aman treats me every day for just one mistake, I will not hold a grudge for his mistakes to his Fiance. Ever since their engagement, she has always been sweet to me. And I am a person who knows if the feelings the other person is showing are genuine or not. Well, I wasn't like this before, but after that incident three years ago, a lot has changed.

After that announcement, we all ate our dinner, mostly talking about the wedding preparations for the couple. It ended up with Mom announcing my interview that was going to be held tomorrow.

"You are interviewing for the post of Sales Manager for Romano Industries?" Nisha asks. "I heard that they had a big turnover last year, but there was a scandal two months back."

"Yeah, I heard about the scandal, too," I replied to her. "But one of my professors has recommended the company to me. That's why I am thinking about taking this shot."

"Hmm. If that were the case, I hope you will do the best for the interview." She says to me and then nudges Aman while adding. "We both could drop you at the place where the interview is going to take place, Right Aman?"

He reluctantly nods his head. "Yeah, sure. We will."

I shook my head as I didn't want him to drop me off at Romano's head office. "It's okay. I will manage it on my own. And who knows how long it will take? I am sure that there would be a lot of people interviewing for that post."

Nisha nods her head. "But if you want to, I will come early in the morning to wish you luck." She says. "I will then leave for my office after that."

I shrugged my shoulder, as it wasn't a problem for me. As long as I don't have to spend time with Aman. "Yeah, sure. I am okay with that." And when we ordered dessert, I excused myself and started walking toward the restroom.

As I was looking at my mobile to see if I had any messages or missed calls while we were talking. I bumped into a blonde girl who was crying.

"I'm sorry," I apologized to her, but she started yelling at me instead. "Can't you see where you are walking?"

"I said that I am sorry. You don't have to create a scene." I told her as people started looking at us weirdly. "Unlike you, who like attention, I don't like getting attention." I continued.

She laughs at me when I whisper that last sentence. "Seriously. You want to cross me?" She asks me.

I shake my hand in defense. "I didn't mean that I-" I thought to clear myself up, but a single glare from her told me that she wasn't in the mood to hear anything. "I will take my leave," I say.

I started walking towards the restroom again when I heard that girl pushing someone. "Leave me alone, Jake!"

I turned my head and saw her talking to a guy who seemed six feet tall, almost three inches taller than me. I couldn't see his face as his back was facing toward me, but I could hear the anger in his tone. He was pissed. "I wasn't the one who lied to my mother that I was dating you! You were the one who kept pursuing me even after I told you I was not interested in you and yet here we are. Don't you understand the meaning of No?"

She huffs at him and then suddenly slaps him. "You should know that I like you so much but I don't deserve any of this. If you like someone else, tell your mom about her and then resolve the whole problem." She says, and then strides towards the exit.

Shit, it looked like a personal matter. I looked around and saw that only the servers and I had seen that. I should have turned around and pretended that I didn't see any of it. As I turned towards the restroom, I heard him chuckle a little. "Thank god she has left on her own."

Did he just feel happy after hurting someone's feelings?

Yep, that's exactly what he just said.

How could I forget that all the guys are the same? I am sure that he is exactly like my Ex.

I had the urge to turn around and give him a piece of my mind, but reluctantly ignored him and got inside the restroom. After freshening up, I touched up a little and got out. I could see Priya coming towards me. Her face was full of worry. "Di, Did you get hurt?" She asks.

"No, why did you ask?" I asked her instead.

"I saw someone stomping their way out of the exit from here. And I thought you fought with someone." She replies with a shrug. "You fight with anyone you randomly meet."

"That's so not true!" I said this in my defense. "Tell me an example if you think I fight with anyone randomly?"

"Umm..." she started thinking, and then she said. "What about our neighbor, Vicky Sinha?"

"You know why I don't like him!" I remind her. "Did you forget the ways he tries to approach me, even after I said 'No' to him?"

She nods her head as she considers this as a situation. "Yeah, that is true. But you do fight with other people than him too! Like Jennifer's boyfriend?" she says.

"If you think that me despising Arnold is like fighting him, then you are wrong," I told her as we started walking back towards our table. "I despise him because he is the reason why Jennifer doesn't have time to spend with me for a year!"

"Oh, that does make sense but you despising Arnold is like me hating Austin," Priya says. "He is dating my friend Anna and all I can do is be the third wheel and remind them constantly that I am also there when they are talking."

"See, That's what I was talking about!" I say. "At least you get the chance to meet Anna, I can't even meet Jennifer in person rather than on our usual morning walk."

"By the way, I heard they are celebrating their first anniversary. Did she say something to you about it?" She asked me as we sat beside each other. "I hope we can hear good news soon!"

"What good news?" Nisha asks. "Is someone pregnant?"

"No, it's not that." I jumped in. "We were talking about my best friend who is celebrating her first anniversary today. So she thinks that my best friend's boyfriend might pop the question now? They already are a parent of cute little husky after they started living together."

"Oh, my god! They are a parent of a cute little husky!" Nisha says as she clasps her hands together. "I want to meet that puppy!"

"You will. Jennifer would love to meet you!" I told her. "So, Priya has a feeling that today she might be engaged, but I think not. But I think I would know the answer to that question tomorrow."

Nisha nods her head. "If that were the case, congratulate on my behalf too!" She says as she digs into the desert.

Once we were done, and after we paid our bills, we went on our way. Priya was sitting beside Mom in the backseat while I was sitting in the passenger's seat. I kept smiling throughout the whole journey, as it was refreshing for me. As a person who likes road trips more than anything in this world, I have always felt happy whenever we go somewhere in our car.

The moment, Aman stops the car inside the garage, my mom, and Piyu (that's my nickname for her) get out and get inside the home. I looked at Aman, who scowled at me; and then he grabbed my hand that he burned yesterday and grasped it tightly. "How many times do I have to tell you not to look cheerier than you are, huh? It makes me mad whenever you smile all the time." He then throws my hand away.

"So, what am I supposed to do? Show my actual emotion in front of Maa and Piyu." I retorted back. "I am not as good at hurting my family as you are."

"What did you just say?" He slammed down on the steering wheel as he glared at me. "You think you deserve kindness after what you did?"

"And what exactly did I do? I didn't cross my lines, heck I didn't even let Justin do anything more that day. Yet-"

"You shouldn't deserve to be treated nicely. I trust my best friend more than you and I know that you were the one who came on him. Not the other way around!" He interjected me as he fisted his hand on the steering wheel. "I never thought that you would be like this in the future. I wished that you were dead."

"You think, I love to live this life miserably?" I scoff at him. "I tried to kill myself, not once but twice and you think that I am living a goddamn happy life!"

I got out of the car but didn't shut the car door. "I am happy for your life. Trust me. But I won't believe everything you say from now on. If you think that I was the one who came on your so-called friend who by the way was the one who tried to force himself on me. Then I feel pity for you for having friends like him." I said. "Just remember to be nice to Nisha. After all, she deserves you, not the other way around."

Once I got inside the house, I started walking towards my room with a pain in my heart. I am his sister, blood-related, and yet he will trust the words of his friend more than me? Why is he like this to me? Why am I the only one who has to suffer in the end? Why?

As I came to my room, I heard Priya singing from the bathroom. One of the talents she got from our dad, and that we all are proud of it. We all three got a little bit from our dad; I got the talent for cooking food from him. He was one of the best chefs in our family. My brother, well, he got the brains like him, well as‌ anger from him. It's not just him, though, we all get a little bit of anger issues in our blood, but Aman is the only one who shows his anger out in the open, unlike us. And then my sister Priya, who had a wonderful voice like him.

You could say that my dad was multi-talented, but maybe it was the way we all were raised like that. Especially after his death, Mom always encouraged us to honor his talents, and we all listened to her because we saw how miserable she was when Dad left. Although Priya may not have remembered the phase mom went through since she was still a baby at the time, we told her when she got old enough to know about the hardship mom went through.

As I looked outside the window of our room, I saw Aman talking to Vicky Sinha. Vicky, who is our neighbor, as well as the one who approached me even after I said 'No' to him so many times. I saw that Vicky turned his head towards my room's window and smirked at me. It was as if, something was going on in his head and I felt a shiver run through my spine. Something is wrong with him. He always gives me the vibe that he has something big going on in his mind. Something that would be bad for me

I walked away from the window and started searching for the pantsuit that I would need for the interview. As my eyes started searching for the correct pantsuit that would look good, my hands somehow stopped at the one that was the luckiest one for me. Once I kept them up in the clothes hanger after ironing it, Priya finally came out of the shower with her nightdress on and she sat on her bed.

"So, are you nervous, di?" She asked as she started applying the night cream to her face. "I know that this is the first interview you are going to have after graduating and internship, and you must be excited about it but aren't you scared a little?"

"I am scared Piyu, but I think I will manage it," I told her as I sat at the edge of her bed. "It's my first interview and I don't think that me being scared about it will be good. So, let's see, what will happen tomorrow."

"I know!" Priya cheers me up. "And besides that, you always solve every problem that comes your way. You are one of the best sisters anyone could ever ask for."

"Yeah." I tried to divert the topic and then told her that I was going to have a shower.

Once I was in the bathroom, I looked at myself in the mirror. The words kept flashing in front of me, taunting me. The way she praises me as the best sister is...is...it's like once they get to know the truth, will their views on me change too?

What will they do then? Make me an outcast? Or worse, will they treat me like how Aman treats me?

Once I glanced back again in the mirror, I saw not the person who everyone likes. but the person who has lied, who was hated by the person she loved the most, and who gets treated like shit just because of one thing.

I loved someone who not just betrayed me but also had other intentions as well.