The Virgin Bride

Part 1 - The Life of the Princess

Grace was a young girl, who was born into a recently-turned wealthy and prosperous Christian family. They were God-fearing people. Grace had an elder sister, Juliet, and a brother Johnson. Juliet and Johnson were twins. They were three years older than Grace. While all the three kids were loved by both parents - Hannah and Edward, Juliet could never really be nice to Grace. Juliet always envied Grace for her intelligence, beauty and charm. Grace, though, was a sweetheart, who almost everyone fell in love with. She knew Juliet was never sweet to her, but Grace never reciprocated with anger or hatred. Johnson was an obedient son, and a doting brother. Grace and Johnson were fast friends more than siblings.

At school, all teachers found all the three kids exceptionally gifted and talented. They always wondered how any parent could raise such loving kids. Grace was excellent with her singing and keyboard, while Juliet danced gracefully. Johnson, was great at volleyball.

When Juliet and Johnson were born, Hannah and Edward were in deep distress because they could not make their ends meet, and to be blessed with twins seemed less of a blessing and more of a curse. However, after much struggle, and after the conception of Grace, they started seeing success and happiness knock at their door. Thus, Grace became an obvious favorite. Also, Grace was a very sorted kid, and always obeyed her parents, and did not have huge demands, while Juliet was a little brat. She always wanted the expensive barbies, and branded clothes, and wanted to throw parties for her friends. With a lot of unfulfilled demands, as well as fulfilled dreams, the kids grew up and were now in their teens.

Grace was a sweet sixteen, and Juliet and Johnson were 19. Juliet had opted for Arts, and was learning History and Economics, with great difficulty. As such she was not weak in studies, but her recent outings with some untoward friends had made her less attentive. Her parents were not aware of her friends, but Juliet had fallen prey to some cheap habits like smoking, and drinking. Johnson, despite being a boy, was always careful of not indulging in any bad habits. In fact, at one of their friends' parties, when he saw two of his buddies drinking hard drinks, he immediately made his point clear, that he would not hang out with them any more.

Grace had just completed her tenth, and secured a distinction with 93%. Not only were her parents proud of her, but also happy that Grace, as usual, had been a hardworking girl, and proven her mettle yet again.

When applying to colleges, Grace applied to the same college as Juliet's - Francis College of Arts and Commerce. Juliet tried to dissuade her from taking admission there, saying it was not a great college, but Grace had heard great reviews about it, and was keen on studying there. Another reason to choose that college was because two of her best friends, Avanti and Ridaa, were going to take admission there. Avanti was a Hindu, and Ridaa, a Muslim. The three of them had studied in the same class for over ten years now, and so they hoped to continue studying together even further. The teachers at the school always felt happy that the kids were so clean hearted, as seeing Hindu, Muslim and Christian girls glued together in present times, was a rare thing.

Much to Juliet's disappointment, and Grace's happiness, she got an easy admission to her favorite college. As soon as she got her confirmation of admission, she took out her mobile phone and called her father - "Dad, I got into Francis, and they have offered me a free seat with only a payment of 12,000/-. They would like to meet you, before I make the payment, though. Could you please come over?"

Edward was more than glad to go, and he promised he would reach shortly. Avanti and Ridaa too got their admissions, though they had to pay up the full fee, because they had both secured only 79% and 81% respectively. Grace also called her sister Juliet to give her the news that they would both be in the same college now, but Juliet ignored her call. Grace assumed Juliet would be busy in her class, but actually Juliet was with two of her girlfriends and two boyfriends who were all in a secluded spot in a nearby area, smoking! Juliet was obviously lost in the act, so she decided not to pick up Grace's call.