Her Unloved Prince [√]

Prologue

         

11 years ago

No one found shelter in the abandoned hut when the rain started its heavy downpour with its half-collapsed roof as any adult would realize the risk it possessed during a storm. But the 8-year-old decided to find refuge in the hut, than the confines of his home.

As he huddled up and sat in the small corner where the roof was still attached, he hoped that it would keep them warm, but the sound of thunder brought the little bundle in his arms to cry and wail.

He knew the baby was cold, but he also realized her cries will bring the attention he didn't need, as he soothed the baby he kept hoping her cries will stop soon.

When the rain stopped and the bundle in his arms slept. He closed his eyes for a moment, hoping his drunken father would have slept as well.

    

As the first rays of sun peeped in from the sky, the baby cradled in his arms woke him up with an ear-splitting cry. She must be hungry, he decided and wished he could soothe her hunger with his candy, but his mother had told him the baby was too young to be fed like him.

   

He was thankful his mother loved his sister even if she despised him. Eight-year-old Vihaan couldn't understand his mother's actions, but he knew his sister would be regularly fed unlike him who had often missed regular meals.

    

As he stepped outside the hut and walked towards his house. He was greeted with silence and has his feet cautiously made their way inside the house trying desperately to keep his sister's cries from waking their father, he stumbled upon a piece of furniture and would have almost fallen if it isn't for his quick reflexes.

   

He learned how to dodge and duck from his father's drunken blows at an early age and he looked up to the object that caused him to stumble only to freeze when he spotted his mother lying on the floor.

  

He was accustomed to the blood, but the stillness in her face pricked his mind and he saw the moment his father stumbled out from his parent's room.

" Throw the basta*d away, " he lashed at him when he saw the child in his arms and Vihaan tucked the child a little closer to his chest and all the while wondering what the word basta*d meant and why he kept calling his sister like that.

" Mom is still not waking up though I tried calling her. Should I call the doctor? I can lie and say she fell from the stairs, " he spoke up which brought his father's attention to his wife and Vihaan saw he stood frozen for a long moment before turning towards him.

" No, leave her be. She must be tired and will wake up soon " his father spoke up and Vihaan wondered why his father was looking scared, he had never been scared before only angry.

Vihaan knew until his mother wakes up. His sister can't be fed. So he placed her in the crib and took a pillow and bedsheets to cover his mother as she was still on the floor.

When his sister continued crying, he resorted to asking his father for help, who was busy packing up his bags in a hurry and he saw him taking his mother's jewelry as well.