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25% Ugly Duckling / Chapter 1: Chapter One : Free birdie
Ugly Duckling Ugly Duckling original

Ugly Duckling

Author: Adya_Singh

© WebNovel

Chapter 1: Chapter One : Free birdie

"I'm a free bird

I'll fly high and will touch the sky

I'll reach for the stars and I'll win all the wars."

Amidst all the bad luck that has been a soulmate to Rhythm finally the big day has arrived when she is going to write a new chapter of her life. Most people have bad days or weeks or months but the case with Rhythm is totally different, she has a bad life. It's not an exaggeration, it's the truth.

Nothing comes easily to her. Whenever she tries to do something, to make her life a little better it always gets ruined by one thing or the other. No matter how carefully she does things but their fate is to always end up into dust. It's like she has been cursed to never be happy. She is literally "Queen of bad luck."

Being an average looking girl she never had much of a confidence and always has been a girl with low self esteem. Luckily she was good in academics and a gentle nature so she has always been in good books of her teachers. Regardless of her close knitted relationship with bad luck, she has always been optimistic, well maybe for few minutes but it still counts for her. It's not easy to ignore the fact that bad luck loves her she still try to do something good for her and make her a better person. Because of all the kisses from bad luck she has become a crybaby but still she has been a brave heart. Many times she has hit the bottom when her all hopes were shattered but she managed to dust herself up and tried again. Not that her success rates were high but she always tried on her part and that matters!

She always worked on herself to build confidence, increase her self esteem and that includes working on her looks and personality.

Though she belongs from a small town but dreams have never been small. She always dreamt big and achieve something in her life to prove her worth. She doesn't want to be just a face in a crowd, she want to build a good life for herself. The result of her hard work has finally paid off, she has been selected to get admission in a prestigious college in Bangalore.

It has not been easy for her to be an ambitious girl in a small town where the width of people's thought process is not more than the fifteen centimeters scale. By God's grace she is blessed with supporting parents and because of their undying support she has achieved all the good things in her life. Her dad has always been her pillar strength. Whenever she felt low he kept on reminding her that she is a fighter and it's her duty to keep on fighting no matter what. Her mum is a strong lady herself, she is a strong feminist and she always pushes her to do her best in her own way, that is by always criticizing her. Sometimes she is really hard to her and that makes her hate her mum but you know mums always do what's best for their kids so she kinda understands that. She has a big brother, Neer who is in Army too. She looks up to him for everything. He is just perfect in every manner whether its academics, sports, oration or looks. He always protects her, cheers her up and pampers her in all possible way. He is her superhero after her dad. Right now he is posted in Bangalore so it'll be extremely helpful for her to know he has got her back, there too.

***************

It was a rainy day and traffic was horrible. The roads of Patna were not very helping in this situation at all. Airport was still few kilometers away from where the cab has stuck and only half an hour was left for the flight.

"Its of no use sitting here and waiting for traffic to get clear. I guess I have to walk from here," Rhythm murmured to herself.

Double checking she had everything with her she paid the cab driver and started running in the direction of the airport.

She was moving to Bangalore, where she will pursue her Post Graduation. She got admission in Xavier's College Of Entrepreneurship in Bangalore. She was so excited and nervous at the same time. It was first time when she will be without her parents in a totally new place. She was a very pampered child she has never stayed away from her parents till graduation but now she felt like she needs to grow up a little bit and explore herself and this was the perfect opportunity.

She was supposed to go there with her dad but he couldn't manage to be with her. Her father is in army so she completely understand how things work there. She missed him for not being there but right now she needed to put her big girl pants on and reach the airport as fast as possible.

While walking towards the airport she remembered her mother saying it would have been better if she stayed for two or three days more and leave with dad. She thought may be it would have been better if she listened to her mom but then she was thinking only about the new adventures that awaits there.

"Well this was absolutely not the kind of adventure I dreamt of," she said to herself while running.

The rain started firing its missiles but thankfully with low intensity. She was feeling good that she chose to wear denim joggers and crop top, she was comfortable with running in them.

She reached the airport in time and was settling in her seat as shown by the air hostess. She put her bag in the area provided above her seat and took few steps backwards to see that she closed it properly and then she bumped into someone. She turned around and her eyes went wide with horror,she hit a guy with her elbow on the nose.

He was standing there rubbing his nose with deadpan look. She was mortified. It's been just five minutes in the plane and she has created troubles already.

"I'm so so sorry. I didn't know you were behind me. I'm extremely sorry," she sincerely apologized.

"It's alright," he said dryly and murmured something under his breath.

The air hostess came to see what's going on, the guy said it's nothing so the air hostess told them to take their respective seats.

She took her window seat and saw that guy was sitting beside her. He was looking so pissed off. He was still rubbing his nose with his handkerchief. Rhythm just hoped that his nose was not bleeding.

"Are you alright? Just let me see please. I'm really sorry," she said with her gloomy face. She was woebegone with what she had done.

"Hey. It's completely alright. You have already apologized enough. Let it be. Chill," he said with a small smile.

She sighed. In order to not to embarrass herself more she decided to plug her earphones in and relax a little bit.

She opened her eyes and saw her watch, she was asleep for an hour. She looked outside the window and saw clouds floating around the plane. She turned to her left and saw the guy sitting beside her working on his laptop. She didn't want to remember that incident again so she just looked in front of her seat.

"Your phone buzzed for about twenty or thirty times,".

She turned her face in the direction of the voice.

The guy who was working on his laptop looked at her for a second and then continued working.

"My phone?," She asked for confirmation.

"Yeah," he replied.

She quickly took her phone out of her joggers pocket. Classic Rhythm. Not even sounds of nuclear explosions can wake her up. She saw forty five missed calls were there. It was like her whole family called, her dad, mum, brother and her best friend, .

She called them one by one and told them she reached the airport safely and is now on the flight.

"No!No! No need of booking an uber cab. Bro is coming to receive me," she quipped.

"Chillax! I'll be fine. I'll call when I'll reach the college. Bye.," She said and put her phone back in the pocket.

After a while sound of someone who was heavily breathing started coming. The guy working on the laptop looked around to see who is was, he found Rhythm was crying and cleaning her nose with tissues.

He looked at her for a while and then decided to mind his own business. The sound didn't stopped so he looked at her again.

"Leaving home for the first time?," he asked looking at her.

She quickly wiped her tears and looked at him.

"Yeah. Going for college," she answered.

"You'll be fine. Relax," he replied while working on his laptop.

"Thanks and I'm really sorry once again," she said with downed face.

"It's okay," he said and looked at her and chuckled.

"I think you should take care of your nose it's looking like a tomato," he remarked.

She laughed. He continued with his work and Rhythm decided to drown her sorrows in the music so she plugged her earphones in and closed her eyes.


Chapter 2: Chapter Two : Settle Down

Rhythm came outside the airport and saw her brother waiting for her. She got so happy by seeing him. It's like home away from home for her.

By the time she reached there it got dark. She checked the time and it was 8pm.

"Bhai," she shouted and waved towards him as he turned his face in her direction.

"Here you're," her brother, Neer said giving her a sweet smile.

"Yeah. Finally I'm here," she hugged him.

"Let's go then," Neer said and Rhythm nodded in approval.

While they were on their way Rhythm was looking outside the car and was fascinated by the city and the buildings.

"City looks more beautiful at night as compared to morning," Neer said.

"I bet," she replied.

"So you cried or not while leaving home?," Neer chuckled.

"Oh please I don't cry. I'm not a kid," she frowned at him and cross her hands in front of her chest.

"C'mon tell the truth," Neer said with smug face.

"Fine. I didn't cried at home but when I talked to Sarva I suddenly realized I'm leaving everyone who care about me behind I couldn't control my emotions," she replied with gloomy face. She remembered how she embarrassed herself in the flight and chuckled softly.

"It's all a part of growing up. I'm sure you will do just fine here and I'll always be there whenever you need me," Neer patted her head and smiled.

"I know," Rhythm smiled and continued looking outside the window.

They reached the place where her brother's battalion is . She stayed at army guest house and had dinner with her brother in the officers' mess.

She always liked the ambience of army area. The peace, the decorum and everything so perfect. She has spent most of her life in the army area.

"Good night Golu," her brother pulled her cheeks and chuckled.

"Don't call me Golu again and don't do that too," she said annoyingly.

"Why not? Isn't your name Golu?," Neer questioned with innocent look.

"No, it isn't. You named me Golu. I don't accept that name," she thundered.

"Okay. Calm down. Go sleep now you have a big day ahead," Neer said patting her back. She frowned.

"Ahem,"

"Am I interrupting something?,"

"No no. Golu meet Captain Ihit," Neer introduced the young man that walked between their conversation.

"Ihit this is my little sister," Neer said looking at him.

"It's Rhythm," she looked furiously at her brother and then smiled looking at Ihit.

"Nice to meet you ma'am," he smiled back at her.

"Came here on vacation?," he enquired.

"No. She is joining college here tomorrow ," Neer replied.

"That's great. Which course? ," Ihit asked looking at Rhythm.

"MBA," she answered. Ihit simply nodded. She felt like it's time for the small talk to end.

"I gotta go now feeling very sleepy. Bye," she said looking at her brother.

Her brother nodded.

"Good night," Ihit said.

She waved at him and went to sleep.

She jumped in her bed and slumber embraced her within few minutes.

Usually before any big occasion she couldn't sleep and plan everything in her mind but today she slept like a baby, maybe because she was tired because of the journey.

In the morning Rhythm woke up by the knock on her door. It was her brother asking her to get ready and come to have breakfast in the mess.

She rushed and got ready. She hurriedly walked towards the mess.

"Slow down. You will trip,".

She looked in the direction of the voice and found Ihit standing behind her.

"If you'll spook someone from behind then definitely they will fall," she replied and smiled at him.

"My apologies," he said.

"It's okay. Good morning to you too," she said with mischievous look.

"Good morning ma'am," he chuckled.

Both entered the mess. Rhythm saw her brother sitting on a table and sipping coffee. She walked in his direction and sat in front of him.

"Eat quickly. It's getting late," Neer stated.

She nodded and waited for her breakfast to arrive.

Neer was busy looking at his phone so Rhythm decided to inspect the room. Her eyes were roaming around the room when she noticed Ihit eating his breakfast alone.

"Bro, your friend is eating alone. Can we invite him here to join us?," she asked her brother.

"Sure," Neer replied. He shifted his gaze from the screen of his phone to look at Ihit.

"Hey buddy, come join us," Neer invited him.

Ihit sat beside Neer.

"Thanks," he said.

"It's okay," Neer replied.

"My Golu here is a softy. She thought you were eating alone. Little did she knew you were waiting for your friends," he added.

Rhythm's cheek went red from the embarrassment. She couldn't believe what just happened. She made total fool of herself.

She always wants to help other. There's a special place for underdogs in her heart. She has to understand that not everyone needs her help, who knows this habit of hers' will lead her nowhere. This world belongs to crooked people and not to do gooders.

"So thoughtful of you ma'am," Ihit said looking at Rhythm with a gentle smile.

Rhythm just smiled back. She didn't know what to say when she is feeling so embarrassed.


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