A Kingdom of lies.

Chapter 14: Frostbite turns into Flame.

Standing in front of the judgemental eye of my floor length mirror, I had a frown painted across my face. I had never actually ahd time to get to know my grandmother. I had heard that she was a tough woman with strong ideals and principals. In fact, after my first meeting with her, I realized that not only did she strongly resemble Zara but also was very similar to her in personality. She too seemed cold, carefree, flippant, fearfully relaxed and detached from the whole world. Both of them seemed to be living in their alternate universes but were meerly spectating in our world. But, after some careful observation, you would quickly realize that there was so much more to it. Zara, I knew for a fact only escaped because she was disgusted with this world. She was disgusted with the way society worked and how it placed men above women so casually. She hated it. But she was far too proud to admit that in the open. I had no idea about my grandmother though. I knew she had taken the chance to get to know me because we were biologically related but would she ever see me as her grandaughter? Would she ever love me the way she loved Zara? Would she ever stop meeting me out of pitty and force and begin meeting me just because she enjoyed my company? I already knew the answer to every one of these questions. No. Never. Impossible. How could she? She never saw me grow up. She never spent time with me, telling me stories, taking care of me or doing anything remotly related to what a family would be expected to do. I was a stranger in her heart. I might as well have been an aquantince to her. Blood did not make a family. It determined relation and that was all. Love did and both of us lacked it.

I could not see her as my grandmother and she could not see me as her grandaughter. Did we blame each other for that? No. It was just the way things happened. How could we force each other to love? We had to brew it like coffee. Give it time to mature like wine and enjoy it like basking in the light of a slow sunny afternoon. That is why, out of everything in my life, I gave my family the most importance. I never rescheduled anything when it came to them. Even if I was sick, I met with them. I needed a family and they needed one too. We all did. No one liked to bask in the lonliness of their life. They had friends and family to prevent that. Everyone did.

Thus, I stood in front of the mirror, my hair flowling down my back and curling its light chestnut ends at my waist a little. My air blue dress stopping right above the caps of my knees. My white faux leather flats covering my feet and concealing my toes. A few golden bracelets dangling from my wrists,  a pair of white and gold chandelier earings decending from my ears and my gold necklace resting peacefully at the base of my neck. My engagement ring was sparkling on the fourth slender finger of my right hand and a the slender braided srtraps of a small black shoulder bag escaping through the fingers of my hand. The only thing I lacked was my sunglasses which I had already carefully placed in my bag. Right then, a sigh escaped my lips.

I look like a teenager, I thought to myself, dissapointed.

Then again, I kind of was. I was only 21. My teenage life could literally be seen behind me at this point. But still, was I wrong for wanting to to impress my intimidating grandmother?

Brushing away my thoughts, I slowly left the room and then, the house. I slipped into the comforts of my coffee colored leather seats in my Rolls Royce Phantom, peering through the tinted windows at the sprawling skyscrapers, a clear trademark of New York City. Gosh, I loved this city. I loved its energy, its finesse, its culture and pretty much anything related to it. I honnestly did not understand why people found life here so tiersome and stressfull. It was actually quite relaxing.

Lost in my thoughts, I did not even notice the abrupt halt in the movement of the car. I however, did notice when the chauffer held open the door. I smiled up at him, rejecting his hand he had extended to help me out of the car. I simply smiled at him through my sunglasses and gracefully slid out myself. I hated it when people helped me to do things I was perfectly capable of doing myself. Walking quickly through the glossy glass doors of the Hilton, I flash a quick, polite smile at the doorman who returns it by tipping his hat a little. I literally glide through the crowded lobby to the elevators and slip inside one, pressing the number 25 with my shea buttered finger. I was normally never in such a rush but I wanted to avoid the papperazzi at all costs today. The moment the elevator door seperates, I step out and begin to walk to the end of the corridor. I then stop at the door of her room and softly knock the oakwood door. I patiently wait for a reply as a gaurd opens the door, smiles and steps aside for me to enter. I return the smile and walk in, after which another gaurd shows me into her study. The moment the door is opened, I walk in to see my grandmother.