Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction, and it does not intend to represent or harm any individual or community.

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

Inside an operation theatre in a hospital people were in panic. The nurse was shouting, "Doctor the patient is losing the pulse."

The doctor was shouting and instructing the nurses. On the bed there was young girl lying with oxygen mask on her mouth. Her face was very pale and her eyes were almost close. She knew her time was almost up.

She saw the doctor trying to save her and she thought to herself, "I was born with a medical condition due to which I was a quadriplegic since birth. I cannot move on my own. I was always on a wheelchair seeing other people walk, run, use their hands to hold things, do normal everyday things very easily which I cannot even dream of."

" I always thought why was I born ? Why didn't I die the moment I was born? I am nothing but just a burden to everyone who cannot do anything. Like a block of wood which can breathe and do nothing on its own. No even worse than that even a block of wood is more useful than me. "

" My life was like a very long bad dream. All twenty years were like hell every day of it. Most of it was spent on the hospital bed even when I went out I hated myself, I hated seeing other people do things easily which I cannot do. Everyday was like a nightmare a very long nightmare which never seemed to end. "

" But right now it felt like everything was ending. All that pain, suffering, agony was ending right now. I am going to be free maybe this is the moment of my salvation. If I ever get reborn I only have one wish to get a normal body so that I can see the world. "

These were the last thoughts of the girl. Now the voices from the room seems to be fading away, her eyes are now fully closed, the machine for checking her pulse is also showing nothing except a flat line.

Now everything turned dark there was no voice to be heard, nothing to be seen, no light only darkness. Suddenly there was a light a very small light but it was increasing every moment and after some time it surrounded the whole place completely consuming the darkness.

Inside a room there were four people sitting. Two middle-aged men one was the assistant of royal family and other was Mr Midori, a middle-aged woman Mrs Midori and a young girl who was bowing her head down holding some clothes in her hands. Slowly the girl opened her eyes and turned her face up by just a little and saw the room and the people sitting in the room. The room was neither too small nor too big. There was nothing in the room except the people. All four of them were sitting on the floor on cushions. Just a painting was hanging on the left side wall in terms of accessories. All four walls were painted with the same green colour.

The girl was surprised looking at this and started wondering, "Huh where am I? Wasn't I was just in the hospital? Who are these people?" Suddenly she heard one of the man speak

"I think we have discussed everything. And I assume I can leave the rest of the arrangements to you Mr Midori."

"Of course of course it will be our pleasure. You don't need to worry about anything now." Mr Midori replied. "It is our luck that the second prince wants to tie bonds with us. You should not be worried about anything we will complete all the preparations and they will upto the standards to satisfy the second prince. " He added.

"You should not worry that much about the preparations you just need to make the minimum arrangements. The second prince does not care about the decorations and all those unnecessary things he just cares about this marriage. That is why he sent those clothes made of the finest quality of silk made by the royal tailor's assistant himself." the assistant said while pointing towards the clothes the girl was holding with his eyes.

"Yes yes our Ai is very lucky that the second prince has taken a liking towards her and wants to marry her. He didn't even ask any dowry how kind he is." the woman, Mrs Midori said while looking towards Ai.

"Oh don't be ridiculous Mrs Midori what can the royal family ask you and what can you provide us? There is nothing like that. The second prince didn't ask for dowry because the royal family has everything and any gift from the commoners would only dishonour them." the assistant said while maintaining his little smile.

"Yes the second prince is very generous we have only heard good about him and how he is very kind, brave, helps those who are in need and what not." Mr Midori described as he witnessed the person everytime he was doing those acts.

"We just hope that the marriage will happen peacefully tomorrow." the assistant said while looking the middle aged couple in front of him.

"Ai might be our niece but I raised as my own daughter. She lost her parents when she was barely a year old and since then she was our daughter and to think that after 19 years she will leave this house..." saying this much Mrs Midori started crying or atleast that is what others would think seeing her.

"Then I will not take your precious last moments with her and my job here is basically done so I must go now." the assistant said and stood up.

The couple also stood up along with him and Mr Midori said, "Thank you for coming here today and thank you for those clothes."

"Oh the clothes are especially for the marriage ceremony gifted by the second prince." the assistant said as he walked towards the door.

The couple also followed behind and now everybody left the room except Ai who was sitting in the same position since the beginning with her head bowing down and holding the clothes. Now she started thinking

"Huh what is happening? Where am I? Wasn't I was in the hospital how did I come here? And who are these people and what are they talking about? Ai, Midori, second prince, marriage what are all these things?"

After some thought she remembered something, "Wait a minute this seems like things I read in one of the novels. I could not do anything except lying in the on the bed so I read a lot of books and these things seems like they are from one the books I read last month. Let me think who are these people again. Uh.... Yes I remember now Ai Midori she was one of the side character. She was a beautiful quiet girl who always did what she was told. Then later the king's younger brother saw her one day and decided to marry her. He was an old man nearing his fifties but Ai's uncle and aunt didn't cared and she was married anyway. But she did not lived much after that because of the torture she had to face and she died not even a year after her marriage."

Remembering these things Ai's expression turned dark "Wait so doesn't that mean I am now Ai Midori in the story and I have to marry that old man. Nooooooooooo."

"No no no this cannot happen I just died in the hospital and now I'm in this world of everything goes according to the story then I will have to die once again very soon I can't let this happen."

In the room Ai was alone sitting in the same position with her head down, "If I remember correctly in this story Ai is a side character whose parents died when she was very small or to be exact they were killed by her uncle the younger brother of her father. Since then, she lived with her uncle and aunt who treated her like trash from the very beginning what else to expect from the killers of her parents. They made her do every work and to others showed they cared for her. And now one day when an offer of marriage came from that old man they want to use her to join connections with the royal family."

" I need to get out of here but how? Since the assistant came to deliver the dress this means that the marriage will be tomorrow so I don't have much time I need to do something. I need to think something quickly"

This caused Ai to panic and the dress from her hand started to slip a little. Seeing this her hands moved unintentionally to hold the dress. After stopping the dress from falling her mind went blank and she started staring at her hands.

"I... I was never able to move my hands not even a single finger h.. how did I do this? Yes I remember now Ai wasn't a quadriplegic no everybody is not quadriplegic how stupid I am. Wait so this means th.. th...that I can stand as well and walk and run and do everything I want on my own as well. No this cannot be real I must be dreaming I must be imagining things. If this is real I should try to stand up. "

Ai slowly lifted her head up looked around, took a deep breath and then mustered the courage to the most challenging yet the most desired task of her life. She kept the clothes on the ground put one hand on the ground to support herself and slowly tried to lift herself up. Scared as she was she stopped not knowing what to do if she falls, not knowing if this was a dream and it will end as she falls and she will again wake up in the hospital and will soon end up on the wheelchair like always. She was scared, she was nervous, she was panicking all of this could be seen on her face. But just a moment later she showed a little determination took a deep breath again and tried getting up keeping one hand on the ground supporting herself she was slowly getting up. She could feel the power in her legs which she never did and then after god knows how long which felt like an eternity which was a very short yet a very long time she stood up on her own two feet.

She was looking at the ground at her surroundings from the top of her height she never knew she could things from here she never knew she could come so high up from the ground yet here she was standing. Tears started rolling down her cheeks.

Now she slowly lifted her right leg and put it one small step forward, paused took a deep breath and did the same with her left leg and continued the process of taking these small steps and enjoyed herself walking for the first time.

She was in her own world enjoying walking inside the room but her joy was short lived as the door opened and her uncle and aunt entered the room. Seeing her standing looking at them surprisingly her aunt shouted

"Ai what are you doing here playing like a little girl tomorrow is your marriage there is still a lot of work to do and you are simply wasting your time." Her aunt paused looked at the ground and ran towards were the clothes were lying and started shouting with even a louder and harsher voice

"WHAT WHY DID YOU THROW THESE CLOTHES ON THE GROUND YOU FOOL? They are from the royal palace for you to wear during tomorrow's ceremony and you, what are you thinking are you out of your mind?"

Her uncle was also looking at her angrily from behind. Ai looked towards both of them closed her eyes for a second and when she opened them she spoke

"I am against this marriage. I don't want to marry that old man." Her eyes filled with determination and her voice with firmness as she spoke these words.

Her aunt's face twisted with anger her blood boiled as she looked towards Ai. Her uncle started rushing towards her

BAM!!!

Ai fell on the ground her left hand covering her left cheek as it turned completely red tears filled her eyes but they did not escape as her uncle roared

"WHAT DID YOU SAY YOU FOOL? DO YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT?"

Her uncle bent down grabbed Ai's hair and forced her to look up so she can look in his eyes

"Old or not he is the younger brother of the king marrying him means we will become a part of the royal family so, shut your mouth and do as you are told. Did you forget the fact that I have fed you every day of your life? You owe me without me you would have long been dead on the streets. So be quiet and do as you are told otherwise I will kill peel your skin and kill you. "

" Enough if you lose control and do something to her face then it will be not good for us tomorrow. " Her aunt said.

" Then tell this fool to keep her mouth shut. " The uncle roared back. He then stormed out of the room furiously.

Ai now was sobbing lightly still trying hold her tears from overflowing the hair in front of her head was now also a mess. Seeing her condition for a few moments her aunt spoke with a firm tone and cold eyes

"You heard your uncle don't make me repeat it and don't make any mistakes tomorrow. Now go to your room. "

Now her aunt also left the room along with the clothes leaving Ai crying alone. She said to herself

"No after all these years I can finally walk. I got a second chance in life so that I can see the world, so that I can do what I want to do. I won't spend this life crying and regretting. Nobody can stop me from living my life not this uncle, not this aunt, not the royal family no one."

Note : From now text in single quotation ' ' means that a character is thinking or talking to themselves and in double quotation " " means that they are talking to others.

...****************...

Ai was sitting alone in her room

'I cannot panic right now I know the story and what will happen next. If I am careful enough then I can plan my escape from this place.'

'If I was going to reborn it could have been as a baby in any other world where I would have no memories of my past life but I was reborn as Midori Ai a secondary character in a novel who also had a miserable life. This only means that I am here so that I can change the miseries of both of us no now I am Midori Ai and live a life the way I want. There is no way I would let this second chance in life slide.'

'Ai was just like a puppet who only did what her uncle and aunt told her she never did anything on her own or without their orders. And I was a person who could not anything on her own even if I wanted it is kind of a similar situation not being able to do what you want.'

'Ai was a kind and pure hearted person but her uncle and aunt are vicious people. Her father and his younger brother her uncle both were doctors. One day few people came with a proposal to her father and uncle to make some special type of medicine which will enhance the physical abilities and will shorten the recovery time from injuries. They even told her father to test those medicines on his patients and see the results and he will be rewarded heavily but her father never accepted this proposal and said he will never do something like that.'

'But his brother had other plans. Blinded by money and with the desire to leave his older brother's shadow he again secretly met with those people and accepted the offer. When Ai's father found about it he stopped him and even warned him that if he tries something like this again he will not hesitate to report him to police.'

'This made her uncle very angry and he plotted and to kill her father and his family by burning their house. Somehow Ai survived that incident and to not look bad in people's eyes he adopted her. Of course he never wanted her and always treated her harshly. He always wanted to get rid of her but after finding out that his wife is unable to have children he decided against it thinking she will be useful for doing housework. Her aunt always supported her uncle whether it was killing his brother's family or treating Ai like a maid. In short these two people are criminals who have committed heinous crimes and should never be forgiven. '

'Ai on the other hand was a smart and kind person from the beginning. Just like her father she was also interested in medicine and studied it from her father's old books. She studied about different types of herbs and how to make medicine and also practiced it on small animals when they get injured and treated their wounds. She also learned it from an old man who lived in the neighborhood who also happened to be the person who taught her father and her uncle and a retired doctor. Not only that, but she was so good she started attending patients in her uncle's absence when she was just a teenager. '

'But this did not change the fact that she did not receive love and affection as a child or was always told to do the housework. But she never complained or asked for anything was always obedient and treated everyone kindly. One day when her uncle was outside a patient came and told that he came here a few days ago and when he had a fever her uncle gave him the medicine for that and he became fine just after taking it once. He even felt more energetic and powerful than he had ever felt but now he is not feeling well again and he does not have the strength to even walk properly. Ai checked the medicine which was given to the man and found out it was made by her uncle and the ingredients used provide a lot of strength to the user for a short period of time but it also has major side effects. '

'When she asked her uncle about it he beat her mercilessly and told her to keep her mouth shut and if she tells anyone about this it will only get worse. Ai stayed silent for a while but one day she saw her uncle meeting with some unknown people and they were talking about a medicine which increases strength dramatically and her uncle was taking money from them. She again tried to stop him but this time her uncle locked her in a room and abused and tortured her for almost a month which made her a silent girl she is now. '

'One day the second prince of kingdom saw Ai picking herbs near the forest and decided he wants to marry her. That old man who is nearly the same age her uncle wants to marry Ai and will later kill her after playing with her. They knew he was an old man they knew that he was cruel and treated others like his toys they knew his past deeds yet they sold her to him just because he offered money, gifts and they thought that they can get close to the royal family by this. '

"How cruel..." Ai muttered to herself thinking about all of these.

'Now I have decided what I have to do. I must stop this abuse which she silently endured all her life. I will be kind like she was, explore the world and live the dreams which I saw. Thank you God for giving me this second chance. This is my aim in this life and I will complete it. '