The Kingdom Of Stories And Lies

Chapter 9

"She is hot!" this is the first thing Caroline says to Niran once Arya leaves them. Niran just shrugs and thumps on the bed. 

"come on, brother. You cannot deny it." He sits up "she is....okay," Caroline's eyes go as wide as an elephant.

 "you have such an ego, Niran. Bigger than the ocean." He looks at her. Bored. "aren't you supposed to be settling in instead of this nonsense?" her smile fades "yeah, yeah of course, then get out please." Niran chuckles and gets out of the room. 

He was heading to his room when bumped into Arya. She smiled at him "your sister is lovely." He nods "indeed." Arya never meets his eyes when she says "I didn't know you had a sister. In fact, nobody knows." 

Niran just shrugs "Caroline isn't the one for public affairs and it simply never came up or like it was always about me....the heir." He says the last word as if he despises it and for a moment they stood there staring into each other's eyes and Arya thought that maybe, just maybe he is not all evil after all. He is just a kid, like her. He was forced to grow up too quickly, he was hardened by the brutality of life and its circumstances. He was forced to face responsibility just because life decided to surprise him and play some games and for a moment she understood him. 

Her eyes shone with understanding and he had to look away. The thought of her green eyes gazing into his makes him scared. Scared that she might know the battle going on inside of his heart. How much he is tired and exhausted yet he cannot speak. He truly is trapped and maybe she is the one to free him. Arya is the one to break the silence "I need to go, excuse me." He nods and moves aside to make way for her.

She looks back, just once and he is watching her. Devouring her, like he is memorizing the way she walks or how her lips move or how her eyes go to his. Everything. 

Arya bumps into her father and for Niran's delight, he caught it and stopped midway to watch him. Arya's expressions are angry and furious and Niran only caught snippets of what was being said like ungrateful bitch or when Arya said what? You wanna cut me again or something? Niran's blood was boiling and it took everything in him to not go and smash that man's skull.

 She caught him staring and glared at him but he still didn't quaver, he leaned on the wall and crossed his arms over his chest, and then she pulled her father into his room and closed the door behind her. "seriously father! You had to do this in front of everyone in the hall, didn't you?" he looks at her with hatred and Arya wonders how did her mother ever love him, she did not say it though. 

After what happened a couple of days again she is in no mood to get cut up again so instead she says "I suggest you go back to your day drinking and let me get back to work." She then turns around and leaves and heads to the only place where she can escape her life, her mind, the only place where she can escape herself. The library. 

For once she wonders what would it be like to be remembered by many and cherished by few? How lovely would it be to a story, a book. Books indeed are homes to a lot of people. Because flipping through the pages, somehow, she is home. She picks up a book, sits in the chair adjacent to the window, and starts reading and reading until the sun fades into darkness and so does her heart.