𝐀𝐀𝐈𝐍𝐀

o n e

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    I T  W A S N 'T  T O O  farther a distance amid the whiffs of haldi and kesar from the lounge hallway that swept over ebony staircases, barrelled with the burnt ember scars of the antiquated fireplace that ran dormant for over a year now. The orchards, though, gleamed in prime. The Mastiffs missed their attendants, and the kerosene half-filled back into the lanterns. The sun had started to descend and so had the charm of the place.

    Hollow, forlorn, and maddening.

    It was supposed to be a peaceful twilight, relished in the mellow, cool air of winter, with elaichi chai and a moment of sweet colloquy. Although it was shaping up to be exactly that until the dirty cerulean walls resonated with yet another tussle at Hira Ghar. It was too big for only two people residing. Too many wishes of being left alone and too daunting for any passerby until they read the name of the maalkin on the sorel gates.

    "I don't want to hear that question again, Aaina," Kaki declared as she stretched her aching back while her legs rested on the olive ottoman afore her.

    "But what is so wrong with it, kaki?"

    She rolled her eyes. "Not again with the same tantrums. Be gone, I need to rest. "

    "And I need to know. Why do you pretend like there was nothing?" Aaina asserted in sheer agony.

    "Waah. Do you see this, Razia? She thinks her kaki has started to pretend now, " the woman spoke, white arrogance lining her tone. Razia, who stood beside them, a quiet witness to the brawl. She could not side either party no matter how much she wanted to. To succor to her employer or soothe her saheli.

    "If you are so sure something unusual did exist, then run up your memory. Don't come after me, your kaki, the one who raised you since you couldn't even walk. "

    She huffed. "You won't even tell me about my bro —"

    "Bahut hogaya. You need to stop being by yourself so much. Only bhagwaan knows what stories you cook up in your mind by sitting idle all day. No wonder our vyapaar has taken a toll. You don't deserve this kind of a job, Aaina. I have to do it all myself. "

    And now she was deviating. Aaina knew her well to be prepared for an array of scolding like so. It was not the first time she said that in a fit of anger. Nevertheless, she did not simply care, she thought.

    "Why do you always have to find fault in me for asking questions you don't have the answers to? And if you do, why can't you just relieve the burden off your head?"

    "Then stop asking them! Ugh, it's your age to question everything. In a few years, these things won't matter"

    Aaina huffed. "You're saying our memories, this house, my childhood, won't matter?"

    Kaki looked at her in the eyes, her thick kajal peering at her niece like a python in the dark night.

    "Yes. In the end, you only remember the bad things that. And I don't want that to be the nightmares for my deathbed at least"

    It had Aaina frozen for a second. She had not expected such bitter words out of her kaki's mouth after everything. She may have scolded, she may hinder, but she never spoke something so pinching to the core.

    As kaki averted her face back towards the table fan in tactful carelessness, Aaina stared at the fairly empty ceiling, paled by the lack of sun and shadowed by the noon glooms, in an attempt to find one reason that would gainsay her presence there. Hot tears welled up. And why not. She was to leave Hira Ghar in less than a month, knowing she'd not have a choice in the matter. Yet that was not that big of a concern. What bothered her was the doubts in her mind, the blurred memories that hung from a thread, the curious, hopeful soul demanding a little satiation. Only the truth, nothing more.