The Alpha and Me

76. A lookalike of her mother?!

76. A lookalike of her mother?!

Enjoy 2 chapters ❤️❤️❤️

***

Nandini's POV

The interior was all brown and soft at sight. It felt like I was in my grandmother's home back in my childhood.

"It's not as good as..."

"It's better than I thought, sir. I love it." I cut him off before he compared this beauty with the giant diamond Malhotra mansion was.

My Alpha boyfriend's mansion seems to have come out of anime. It has no comparison. But this house was no less. It was comfortable and all pleasant. I had an urge to flatten on the rags I was walking on since they felt buttery soft under my flat shoes.

Oh yeah, I've switched from heels to flat shoes for the safety of my baby. Manik would be starstruck seeing the change.

I can't wait to see the glint of happiness in his eyes when we meet. I'm sure by now he should've read my messages and seen the picture of the pregnancy test I took.

"Give me five minutes, Nandini. I need to get out of these suffocating clothes and join you soon. In the meantime, you can enjoy some dry fruits." Stanley Archibald offered me to sit in the exquisite living room with couches making my mouth water.

The couches came across as blocks of chocolate. I ran my hands on them and closed my eyes, feeling its velvety texture under my palm. I would've fallen asleep on it if I didn't get up.

My feet sailed forward and I found myself wandering through the corridors of Stanley Archibald's manor. Although there were no striking chandeliers overhead to praise on every second step like it is in the Malhotra mansion, there were huge portraits covering the walls.

I went on exploring them as I moved from one corridor to another. It was a maze I liked to surge through while being greeted by the unalive yet looking very much alive people in the old frames.

Not all of them were merely painted characters coming from a painter's mind. Some were the ancestors Mr. Archibald took down after. I was appraising one such portrait when I felt someone's presence around me.

I spun around and caught a glimpse of a woman running away. Taking after her, I called for her to stop. I was so engrossed by the frames on the walls that I came way deeper into the manor and forgot my way back.

"Hey, excuse me, ma'am. I lost my way. Please help me." I ran after her.

At a point she tripped and stopped to gather herself. That's when she also turned around to analyze how nearer I've drawn to her.

My steps came to a dazzling halt. My heart plummeted in my chest and mouth dried out as I let my eyes take in the features of the woman.

I observed the paleness and wrinkles on her facade that rippled as she attempted to bite back a cry, "M-mom, is that you?"

Green eyes lifted up with horror, flickering alongside unshed tears. "Mom? I-is that really you?" My voice faltered and reduced down an octave as I pressed my hands to my heart.

This has to be a dream. I'm definitely hallucinating about my mom being alive. She died long back when I was fighting the odds as a growing up teenager. I've seen dad close the lid of the coffin in the church and take her in the rear for her final rituals.

I was right there when she was being closed down in the pit of earth, getting sent back to God.

"M-mom, I... I can't believe it... I-is it r-really..." I caught on her yelp before she dissipated into the shadows while I remained there trembling in my spot.

It took me a mighty five minutes to compose my features and start moving. No longer did I want to go back to the living room. My focus was on finding out the woman I saw.

She could be someone else.

I refused to embrace it. There's no way it was someone else. If she were, she wouldn't run away from me. She would not have tears in her eyes. They wouldn't be as green as mine. If she were another woman, she would have stopped by, smiled, and helped me find my way other than subsiding like a wisp of smoke.

Only someone you know from the past. Someone who's been dead for years appears in front of you from the unknown acts that way.

Someone who cannot meet your eyes or make their presence known.

Someone who doesn't want their non-existence turning to existence again.

Jesus. It has to be my mom.

It was her.

I looked and looked. My feet ached but there was no sign of her. With my eyes burning more with tears, I made for another corridor twisting into the left. I was half way through when a hand came around my elbow and yanked me against my stride.

"Miss Murthy, is that you?" I raised my eyes to an old woman dressed in a black uniform.

Her nicely done hair and extravagantly clean uniform specified she was the keeper of the manor.

"I... I..." Hell, the words won't come out.

She didn't even try to ask me the reason for my tears as she spoke in a monotonous voice, "Visitors often find themselves adrift in the labyrinthine corridors of this manor. Let me help you out of here."

I quietly followed her, my throat growing bone dry. The images of my mother filled my head. Her eyes were full of yearning and it made my chest heavy. A sob exploded on my lips.

"You can take a breath of relief, Miss Murthy. You'll be safely led out to the living room under my scrutiny." Someone needed to stop the oldie because she was stressing me out more.

"Please allow yourself to calm down." She said.

I was still in a state of shock and dealing with my rising and falling emotions. I saw my mother. Or her lookalike. I don't know.

Whatever it was, I swear to all the gods and the goddesses the living creatures worship that I will leave here only when I have done my research and drawn my conclusion.

Tbc…

Target:50 comments 120 votes