In the basement of a huge villa, darkness surrounded every corner. A man was tied to a chair inside that room. Both of his hands were bound behind his back. His clothes were torn apart. There was once a time when that man wore diamond-studded clothes and ate meals served in golden plates. But now, none of this mattered to him. He had no concern for his condition anymore, as if he had accepted everything and all his emotions had died long ago.

Yet there was a longing in his eyes, a desperate desire to see someone dear to him. That longing alone was keeping him alive, otherwise his condition was so terrible that he would have died long ago. But the wish to see that one person had tied the thread of his life together.

The room where that man was kept looked less like a room and more like a storage dump. Spider webs covered different corners, while dust and dirt were scattered everywhere.

The man kept staring at the door, as if he was waiting for someone. But slowly, even that hope could be seen breaking apart. He did not even know who had kidnapped him.

There had never been any shortage of pain in his life, yet he was a carefree soul who always stayed happy and knew how to make others smile.

Many days had passed since his kidnapping, yet his family had no news about him. In fact, they never even considered it important to know how their other son was doing. He was lost in thoughts about the life he had lived all these years — how just one month after his birth, his own mother left him with his maternal grandparents and never once turned back to look at him. Still, his grandparents told him everything about his parents and family, because of which he loved them deeply and worshipped his mother, father, and everyone connected to them.

Especially his elder brothers. But none of them ever respected him. That man’s name was Rishabh Randhawa. He was the youngest son of the Randhawa family, a family counted among the top ten richest families in India. Yet there was not a single comfort or luxury in his life. His grandparents were farmers who spent most of their time working in the fields of the village, and Rishabh had learned farming from them as well.

Rishabh’s mother was his biological mother in name only, because her behavior was no less than that of a stepmother. She loved her stepchildren far more, because before marrying Rishabh’s father, he had first been married to her elder sister.

But only a few years later, her sister passed away. At that time, Rishabh’s father’s children were still very young. So, with the agreement of both families, Rishabh’s mother and father got married to each other. They believed it was better for the children to marry their aunt instead of bringing in a stranger as a stepmother, because she would love them like her own children. And that was exactly what happened. Rishabh’s mother always loved them more than her own child.

In doing so, she completely forgot Rishabh. Just so the world would never call her a cruel stepmother, she distanced herself from her one-month-old baby and never looked back at him again. But when Rishabh turned ten years old, his grandparents passed away, and unwillingly, the Randhawa family had to bring him into their house.

He was extremely happy to finally be with his family, but nobody respected him. Everyone looked at him with disgust and inferiority. Day and night, he followed his elder brothers around so he could learn manners from them, yet everyone only called him mannerless.

Because he ate food with his hands instead of using forks and spoons. Unlike others who valued foreign cultures more, he chose to value the culture of his own country.

Even Rishabh’s mother never paid much attention to him. Rishabh and his father had exactly the same eyes — unique indigo ocean-blue eyes. His facial features also resembled his father’s.

But nobody ever paid attention to those things. Since childhood, Rishabh never received a luxurious life, yet he never complained about it. Whatever he got, he accepted happily. He always tried his best to do whatever he could for others, but nobody cared about his sacrifices. The limit was crossed when Rishabh fell in love with a girl, but his elder brother also started liking her.

Rishabh had told his mother that he loved that girl deeply and endlessly, but she did not listen to a single word of his. She was more worried about her elder son’s heartbreak, because he was a very introverted person who rarely liked anyone, and he had fallen for that girl.

They wanted to get him married to her. Rishabh tried everything to stop the marriage. He fought with all his strength, but his mother never agreed. In the end, he even fell to his knees before her and begged desperately, yet she refused to change her decision. Instead, she swore upon herself and told him that if he did not become an obstacle in his elder brother’s marriage, then she would give him all the happiness and love he deserved. But if he disobeyed her, then he would only see her dead face.

Because of that, he was forced to accept her decision and watch the love of his life take wedding vows with his elder brother right before his eyes. It felt as if thousands of needles were piercing his heart, and he was dying a thousand deaths while still alive.

He loved that girl with all his heart and soul, and she was the first person who truly cared for him and worried about him. It would not be wrong to say that she too had grown attached to him. But due to family pressure and poor financial conditions, she married Rishabh’s elder brother instead.

After that day, Rishabh slowly distanced himself from everyone, and his condition worsened day by day, because seeing the person he loved with his own brother was unbearable for him.

Gradually, he understood that he held no value in anyone’s life. Still, somewhere in his heart, there remained a hope that even if his mother did not understand him, his father eventually would.

And then one day, while walking on the road, Rishabh suddenly lost consciousness. When he opened his eyes, he found himself inside this basement.

He did not even know why he had been kidnapped or why he was being sentenced to death. Rishabh was lost in these thoughts when he noticed that flames were slowly spreading around him. Yet seeing all this did not scare him even a little.

Perhaps he had already given up on life.

Soon, the flames reached the chair on which Rishabh was tied.

And with that, Rishabh began burning while still sitting on the chair. Yet not a single cry escaped his lips. Only tears flowed from his eyes, because he missed his family dearly. At the very least, they should have looked for him once… but they never did. In their eyes, he was nothing more than a useless boy.

And with that… everything came to an end.