Chapter 5

JENNIFER'S POV

But soon my smile faded as I remembered the conversation of father on his phone, which I overheard
on the day of my graduation day as a medical student.

As usual, since my childhood no one had ever thought of attending any of the school proceedings be it
my annual function or any parent teacher meetings. I used to win the best student award since the 4th
grade. But no one from my family would be ever there to cheer for me. I always had to paste a smile on
my face, in front of my teachers and suffer the brunt of my jealous classmates.

Imagine... a little girl of 10 years coming to the house, elated of getting a gold medal for being the all
rounder of the class but in return, what does she get from her father? A tight slap for disturbing him
while he was busy playing ludo with his son!

So, even on the day of my graduation, I decided not to ask him if he would turn up or not in the
function. I thought of somehow smuggling mumma put of the house, as he would not have allowed to
let her go if asked directly.

On my way to the kitchen, I stopped midway when i heard some whispers from the balcony of the
master bedroom.

"Surely, something isn't sitting well, or else who in his very own house shall speak so softly?" I
murmured to myself. I tip-toed to the room, but froze completely when the whispering became audible
to me.......

FLASHBACK STARTS

"Yes boss, she shall be 25 soon after 2 weeks." Father stated with a grim look. "No sir, not at all! I
always make sure she doesn't have any link-ups, flings or boyfriends for that matter." He growled while



twitching his face in disgust.

"Yes sir, she has her graduation day today. I won't let her study more if you say so..." O-okay sir, I
understand, it's none of my business." "She shall be brought to you whenever you want, currently she
stays in my house!" He almost spat with gritted teeth. Then after some 'hmms' as a response, to
whatever was been blabbered on the other end, he exahled. "So, Jennifer Mathews gets to go to her
father's MANTHENA ESTATE when she's of 30, not before it...." He trailed off and then cut the phone
with a curt nod.

Estate? Like as in, am I rich?

That too... father's MANTHENA estate? Then who is this man in front of me?! And what the heck is
Manthena Estate?

That explains I have a mother too, or is mumma my mother?

And... I knew in all these 25 years of my life that my birthday comes in the Month of August. So how
come two weeks after in the month of March?

And is that why Alex, Mohan, Anthony, Nathan and all those guys had a hurried break-up with me...? I
never had an active dating life but I had been with some guys in my higher grades in the school and
college.

******

Many questions had bombarded in my mind that day. I was suffocated. But I was sure on one fact why I
had been never allowed to handle any of the documentation stuff, or certification things on my own.

I was beyond shocked. Although the people living with me, in this hell were nothing to me except of
mumma, but still thinking that I was residing in a house where I was being kept as a kind of hostage,



sent trembles down my spine.

I collapsed on the floor, I wanted to scream loudly, like what the fuck? Is my life some kind of a joke?!
That VERY ME doesn't even know her real birthday? I was not at all in the mood of taking up more
shocks, so I quickly consoled myself. Then composing my disheartened state I got up. I checked where
'father' was. He was busy in his phone typing some stuff. Then I rushed out of the house without
mumma.

Reaching my university, I had rushed to the library and cried there in the empty hallway. Then the rest
of the day went by in a haze.

FLASHBACK ENDS

So... now you know why that man is only a 'father' to me and not papa or dad.

I had decided on that very day that I shall find every single thing these filthy bunch of people had been
hiding from me. But to my utter disappointment, the internet could provide me only with the never-
ending pages about the acres of land Manthena Group of Corporation owned, the factories they had,
the motels they constructed, bridges they had built, and what not. But, not a single thing regarding the
Manthena family, or any such stuff on their personal lives. I had to even make sure that I didn't do the
searching on my phone but in some cyber cafe to avoid any tapping of my phone !

Even some of my very trusted police associates could not do much in the matter. Like what the hell?!
Are these Manthenas a group of people or just robots of some alien planet?

Then suddenly my chain of thoughts was interrupted by 'the one and only' who had been breaking me
from my trance since Pleasure Club... yup! You got it right.. Sameera.

"Hey! What's up?" She shouted on the phone as music blared in the background.



"Nothing much... Just thinking about the degree to which you are drunk!" I joked putting up a smile as a
pair of brown eyes flashed in my mind.

"Umm... only 4 shots!" Her words slurred slightly.

"That's too much."

"Yeah! That's why I have called you to help me stand without falling on the bartender.... Poor guy! He's
been trying hard to stop me from stripping in front of these fellow pals of mine...."

"WHAT!?" I stood up perplexed.

"YAAAA! Chill, even I can have a bombshell body.. And I think they shall love it...." she said giggling.

"Wait Sameera... I am reaching there... In which night club are you by the way?" I enquired in a firm
tone, controlling myself from slipping into the panic mode.

"The Devil's Deeeennnn" she shouted again and may be did something which made her earn some
hooting.

I was panicking now...

"Stop Sameera...! I'm here, dont do anything stupid.. up get that? And MISS SAMEERA VERMA!
DON'T YOU DARE CUT THE DAMN PHONE!!" I yelled as I rushed to the house to get my keys and
made my way to Sweety.


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