In a quaint town of Milan, there lived a girl named Nikita who was raised by her loving grandparents. She was sheltered with their warmth and affection, infusing in her a belief that the world was a place of inherent goodness. From her earliest memories, Nikita perceived kindness in every smile, honesty in every word, and sincerity in every action.
Nikita’s innocent soul was nurtured under the gentle guidance of her grandparents who shielded her from the harsh realities of life that lurked outside their cozy abode. Nikita was taught to see the best in everyone, to forgive easily, and to trust implicitly. In short, she grew up in a bubble of blissful ignorance, cocooned from the cruelty of the world.
As Nikita blossomed into a young woman, she nurtured within her the unwavering belief that goodness prevailed. Soon, she embarked on her journey of matrimony with the undying conviction that it was just an extension of her “kind, honest, and sincere” world!
But life, as often it is, is the most unpredictable. It always has its own plans.
With each passing day, she realized that this part of the world was completely different from the one she always believed in. Nevertheless, her undaunting belief in “omnipresence of goodness” always overruled her insecurities. She kept on believing that anything and anyone can be changed by being good no matter what. She thought it might take some time but eventually one day they would realize the beauty of spreading goodness all around. But, she was grossly mistaken.
As the years flew by, Nikita encountered moments of disillusionment that completely shattered her innocent illusions. She witnessed cruelty, betrayal, and deception that slowly chipped away the very foundation of her unstaggering belief in the inherent goodness of the world. Her mind and her heart were constantly at war with each other. One told her that it was futile to invest time and energy on people who never deserved it, while the other told her to be patient. Being a die-hard optimistic she always chose the latter, convincing herself that these were mere anomalies and aberrations in an otherwise benevolent humanity. She desperately clung to hope.
Years trudged by, Nikita now in her late forties painfully came to realize that the world was not the utopia she always believed it to be. Her veil of innocence was completely withered. It was staggering toward its painful death. Despite her relentless pursuit of goodness and best intentions, she felt trapped in a dungeon of manipulation and deceit. She realized that she spent a lifetime pleasing people who were unworthy of kindness. She felt burdened with the weight of her naivety.
Her world of illusion was crumbling in the face of harsh reality. She mourned the death of her dreams that she held so dear, and her undaunting belief that goodness always triumphs in the end. Lost and broken, she found herself amidst the wreckage of her shattered innocent illusions.
With a heavy heart and trembling hands, Nikita set out to reclaim her life. The road ahead was fraught and uncertain. But, she knew she could no longer cling to the “illusion of innocence”
Her journey in this life had been long and arduous. She decided to walk away from it with her head held high tempered with fires of experience.
