A Gift

Aisha nodded and then changed into a white dress, covered in printed tulips. Mays could have gotten one of the gowns that Dhananjay had bought for Aisha but she knew that Aisha would only become a laughing stock if she were to wear those heavy, princess gowns because the real world does not work like that. It is different.

"This is not a gown. It's short." Aisha turned to Maya.

Even after getting married, Aisha never learned about how the outside world works. Arun knew everything about her thanks to Dhananjay and let her be in a delusion that everyone outside wears gowns and heavy accessories. Aisha always doubted her attire after marrying there when she looked at her mother-in-law in pants and her sister-in-law in frocks.

"That's how you should be dressed when going out."

"So, do everyone wear gowns when they are home?" Aisha asked.

"No, not really." Maya pulled a beautiful braid and tucked a little purple clip on the hair at the side

"Did you get this for me, Maya?" Aisha asked, remembering that she only had gowns, no short dresses.

"You look beautiful, Miss." Maya ignored the question and only smiled at Aisha.

Aisha held Maya's hand, "Thank you, Maya." She hugged Maya. No one had ever gotten her a wholehearted gift like this. A gift high in love and not in value that could capture Aisha's heart. Maya even remembered that purple was Aisha's favorite color although she had come to hate it when she died in the room that had that color but Maya made her fall in love with that color again.

"I'll inform Father, after meeting Mother. You get ready and wait for me near the entrance. Also, ask the butler to keep the car ready." Aisha let go of Maya and then left the room to the third-floor storage room where her mother's only portrait lay.

Aisha walked through the long corridor in her sleeper until she reached her father's study room where he normally resides but took the stairs up to the abandoned third floor instead, where the high-ranked servant's rooms lie. No servants were allowed here when Aisha's mother Nisha used to live there. Dhanajay loved Nisha and hence decided to marry her. He gave her all the riches of the world. Beautiful dresses, accessories, the whole third floor.

The maids stared at Aisha, who was walking through them elegantly and confidently to the last of her mother's remains. Aisha was never allowed there as per her father's orders. He feared that she might come to know about her mother's tragic story. Evil as he was to Aisha, he kept a delusion in front of her that he loved her mother and loved Aisha too.

Nisha got everything and lived happily until Neel was born after his birth, Dhananjay showed his true colors. He threw her into the well of snakes to turn her into his family's first blood slave. Nisha was horrified by her husband's action. How could a gentle and lovely man like Dhanajay change so drastically? After spending a few months in the well she realized that she didn't marry a sweet angel but a cold demon.

Of course, like Aisha, Nisha didn't die and successfully turned into a blood slave. Like Aisha, Nisha was tortured for years until Nisha finally met death immediately after giving birth to Aisha.

The huge painting that was covered with rusty old white cloth, that had turned all brown due to dust, was the only distance between Aisha and her mother.

Aisha pulled the cloth off her mother's painting and for the first time in her life, she saw how her mother looked. All she ever knew about her mother was from her nanny, that she was like a foreigner, with bright green eyes, light pink, soft and silky, long hair, and a fair face.

She knew that her only resemblance to her mother was the texture of her hair. While none of that was a lie, one thing that all of them forgot to mention is that, if one looks at Nisha's portrait very closely and carefully one would notice that Aisha looks exactly like her, except for the color of her hair and eyes. Aisha is a carbon copy of her late mother.

"You are so beautiful, Mother. Green eyes that have the same color as grasses, and pink hair that may remind someone of cherry blossoms, you are like nature, itself. Calm and beautiful" Aisha said looking at her mother's mesmerizing beauty and then turned to her left to look in the mirror.