However I did remember Sahil's words when I was finalized to go to Boston. “Good for you, sis! Good for you. Perhaps you should take a permanent residence there and never come back.”
To this day, I couldn't understand whether Sahil said that out of goodwill or malice. I didn't waste another second shitting over it so I moved onto the next candidate- Mister Ashish Patil, my father. Like Sahil he was unreadable, too. More like bipolar. At times, he would behave like a parent should. Probably. He'd call me once a week to know how I was doing and tell me to take care of myself. He'd even ask if I needed extra money. At rare times, the conversations would move on to other mundane things like sports or news. It made me happy. 
But then, he also held the power to crush that happiness within seconds, reminding me why it was temporary. He stopped hitting and punching me for quite sometime. However he compensated for that by slapping me with words, often spitting how disappointing and shameless I was. That it must have been their bad karma to bear a daughter like me. Perhaps I should say the same for both of you. 
“I recall when Pa beat me with a belt once in my eighth grade, just because I corrected him on his mistake. That shit... it terrified me. I couldn't sit properly for days. I never corrected him again, of course,” There was a tremor in my voice as I said this. My fingers absentmindedly rubbed above my elbow, nearly hugging myself as I shook from within. I continued. “Then another day, he hit me with a belt again. I begged him not to. Please use your hands. Hands chalega- I pleaded. Haha, what was I, a masochist? Th- though it oddly worked since he didn't hit me with a belt ever again.” 
Kylie looked stunned, like I was an alien, speaking in an unintelligible language. I squirmed. Shit, did I say too much? I didn't even speak to Abhi about this. How I was finding the courage to share these things again? For some reason, I couldn't stop. It was like tearing open an over-filled can, not knowing how to close it without spilling out its contents. Wasn't it ill to speak about your parents outside? I should have kept my hoè mouth shut. I should have...
“Are you sure they are your parents? Who the hell does that, Nat? It's... It's...” Kylie broke the silence, disbelief dripping in every word. I glanced her way to see her hand balled into fists. Her teary eyes filled with anger... for me? But why? Before I could respond, she encased me into her soft, shaky arms with my head nestled above her chest. Her peach scent spread like a gentle breeze.  It felt weird to be pitied like this by someone other than Abhishek, Rithik or Mitali. For once, I let myself be since she smelled nice. 
“You have yet to hear about the disaster of my mother,” I spoke, letting out a dry laugh as we parted. “I think your sensitive soul might faint so maybe, I'll spare you from my sob 온라인카지노게임.”
“No, I won't. Please tell me.” Kylie said, looking me dead in the eye. Talk about the epitome of determination. 
I swallowed my dry throat. Truthfully, I didn't want to talk about my mother. Let's be real, she wasn't a great martyr you'd sing praises about. That's when it struck me- She hurt me the most. She hurt me in ways I didn't know if I could ever recover from. Recover from my pent-up desire for a motherly love. What was it like to be loved by a mother? To be embraced by her, to be friends with her, to chat with her. I envisioned it all, but alas, my mother's face couldn't fit in there. There was only one face rampant in her since time immemorial- her angry face. She appeared no less than a monster in front of my eyes. It put me on a chokehold. I was already becoming short of air as I described some of the events. 
“That's horrible...” Kylie found, her face crestfallen after I told her. She tightened her grip on my clammy hand. “Mrs. Patil sounds like an unstable person. Someone who's probably sick of her marriage or life in general. Instead of addressing whatever is bothering her, she unleashed it all on you instead. Still no excuse for what she's done. Abusers like her easily rot up in jail here.”