“ You are not my daughter and that’s the truth”. 

Eva stood dumbstruck when she heard this. Her heart rolled up while digesting those pieces of bitter truth. And she said-

“ Father you are lying. I know that. It.... it cannot be. The blood running through my veins is yours, isn’t it? You are saying this under some pressure, aren’t you? Did mom say anything??”

To this long speech her father just nodded his head expressing - ‘ no dear. This is the truth.’ Eva couldn’t take it anymore and she thrushed open the door of her house and ran away into the meadows straight. 

Her father wanted to go after her but his wife stopped him and said- “ Let that problem go away. She is nobody to us and for god sake please throw her out of the house. I can’t bear it any longer. If you wish to have all the property of my father than you will have to do this”.

Maybe her wife’s wish was from the core of her heart due to which Eva never returned to her home back. Her so called father did receive all the property of his father-in law and then felt as if he was the happiest man on this earth.

On the other end, his wife was also very happy as she got rid of the biggest problem of her life. Now she wished to have children of her own but that wish was next to impossible as her husband never did actually spend time with her. He was in love for money.

  On the bench beside the flowing river laid weeping Eva. She recalled her past :

She was reminded of the courtroom scene when her parents were fighting for the subsidy of Eva after their divorce. The Judge had finally left the decision upon Eva and she chose to stay with her father. She did not decide on the criteria of love but thought where would she lead a better life. She felt that since her father was more balanced in monetary matters therefore she would lead a better life with him. Unknowingly she repeated the mistake which was once committed by her so called father as well. Soon the old man got married to another woman and the value of love perished slowly. 

She felt lonely while having a company of a few birds, a snake and few fishes in the river. She had come 12 miles away from her house and now was tired both mentally as well as physically. 

By now Eva had stopped sobbing and then stood determinantly, promising her future that no matter what she will be having a much better future. She had a lot of questions in her mind - “ Who are her parents ? Where was she born? Why did her parents abandon her? Are her parents dead or alive ? What will she do next? Where will she go ? And many more . These questions were demotivating her idea of having a better future. She didn’t have any clue about her actual parents. 

It was turning dark now . And Eva’s priority was to find a shelter for herself. Nothing was seen till the farthest end, her stressed eyes could see. For a second, she considered the option of going back to her so called father and her step mother but she realised that they were left behind and cannot re- enter her life. Her beautiful blue but watery eyes were scanning the locality when a car stopped in front of her. 

Eva felt confused cause neither did she ask for a lift nor any help than why did the man stopped the car. ‘ Maybe to enjoy the beautiful scenario’ she thought and continued scanning. Although her eyes were somewhere in the corn- fields that stretched across the vast grasslands, her concentration was on the sleek, shiny, red car whose driver- side window was now open and a thin, pale man with red hair, brown eyes, long nose and quite a fair countenance asked in bold voice-

“ Hey you, can you tell me where does this man live?” And the man took out a photo from his pocket. It looked pretty old and dusty but the man in the photo seemed to be familiar.

Eva turned her eyes towards the photo and then her lips parted with a vague distress with a surprised look on her face. She was startled with the man’s voice again-

“ Hey you,  I am talking to you.” 

Eva said angrily-

“I have a name sir, and that’s Eva. Please call me by my name from next time onwards. And about the photo than I knew this man until last hour but not now. So you can leave.”

“I am sorry miss. I did not mean to hurt you . Actually this man in the photograph has my daughter since she was two and he had promised me that he will return her when she will grow up. Right now she must be of your age only and I wish to meet her. I am kinda in a hurry. Catch you up later.” And he drove past her. She waited for some time evaluating all the events which occurred so fast.

Suddenly the man’s words seemed to be kind. But couldn’t believe what she heard right then. Was he her father? Why did he leave her daughter to such a mad man? All these questions again began emerging in her brain. She wanted to stop the man but he had left before she could regain her normal state. 

Now she had no option other than waiting for that man to drive down this very lane . She made herself comfortable on a tree and waited their for the man. 

  In the midnight beside the flowing river covered with blanket of moonlight, holding the branch of the tree laid sleeping Eva. She had a tough time sleeping with all these questions and uncertainty of the man’s return. 

Suddenly she heared the voice of the same man and she jumped up from her deep slumber. To her surprise she saw the man coming out of the car siting under the same tree on which she had slept. She gently climbed down the tree and went in front of the man. 

“Did you get his house ?”

“ Are you still here? Don’t you have a house or parents?” The man said a bit shockingly.

He got his answer from the very sad countenance of the girl.

“ Actually, I did not find anyone ahead to ask about the whereabouts of the man who stole my daughter so I decided to come back here and rest until the sun shows himself. 

“ Stole?”

“ Yeah, in my olden days I was a very poor man and I and my wife lived at Mr. Anthony’ s ( Eva’s so called father) house on rent. Soon my wife got pregnant and we had a beautiful young girl with blue eyes but after two years Mr.Anthony’ wife gave birth to a boy who died before he could see this world. Mr. Anthony was very furious at his lose and he came to us for asking the arrears of rent. We did not have sufficient money to pay him the total and so begged him to provide us with some days to arrange for it. He then shoved us out of his house and gave us two options- Either arrange the money within two days or leave our daughter to them for eleven years to pay their dues. It was a tough decision but we were not capable of giving him the required money so sacrificed our daughter.” Tears rolled down his cheeks in memory of his beautiful young one. 

“Later, we realised what sin we had committed by using our daughter to pay the rent. But it was too late as Mr. Anthony had taken her to a place where we couldn’t go. Till then I have been waiting for this day to arrive but I guess God is punishing me for the sin by not returning my daughter.” And the man started crying. 

Eva couldn’t see her real father crying and told him- “Father, please don’t cry. I am the girl you are finding .....” and she told her father the whole story.

Her father was too delighted to meet her daughter and so was Eva. After talking continuously for the whole night, her father took Eva home.

Eva couldn’t Wait to see her true family and she chatted gladly with her father....