My Ruination

Chapter 18.

~Maahira~

It was a little late in the afternoon and I was heading out for an early dinner with my friends after a trip to an art museum. One of my friend's Rebecca's fiancée was an artist and one of his paintings had launched his work to the world. It was going to be an entire event at a museum where his paintings would be auctioned. I touched-up my lipstick one last time and left my room but as I was going doing the stairs, I heard someone's small and breathless sobs. I rushed down the stairs to find Darsh standing between two kitchen islands and crying his face into his hands.

"Darsh, honey, what's wrong?" I questioned but walking into the kitchen had answered my question already. He had spilled what looked like red food coloring on the countertop and it had dripped down the white shelves at the bottom, making it look like a murder scene. "I am sorry." He sobbed, "Neerja promised she would colour my clay dough later but I...I was too excited."

I removed my purse and phone and placed them on the countertop and headed towards him, bending to meet his height as I ran my finger over his cheeks and soothed him, "It's alright, Darsh. It was just an accident." He calmed down a little, the tears drying up on his cheeks and the sobs becoming distant as I wiped the corner of his eyes. "It was a mistake. I feel so...bad." He just feels really guilty for a making a mess and that makes me want to laugh a little but also feel his sadness deep in my heart.

"It's okay, Darsh. We can accidentally spill stuff all the time." I reassured him and grabbed the roll of tissue papers, "Maahi will clean this up and it will be as good as new." I promised and tore off a good amount of tissue paper. "I will help you." He announced and grabbed the roll off my hands. It took 2-3 tears of the tissue paper to remove the excess liquid and the stain that was left behind was nothing a cleaning liquid couldn't remove. Darsh patiently watched me all this time, holding the roll of tissues like it was something very fundamental. His sobs had settled down and his smile was blooming back again after watching the mess getting cleaned up.

I grabbed the spray bottle and tissue but he sweetly signalled for the bottle and said, "I will be the sprayer and you will be the wiper." I smiled at him and handed him the bottle. He sprayed the liquid at the stained region and vigorously begin to rub it in and wipe it down. As I cleaned the stains, he came closer and pecked my cheek, catching me by surprise. I looked at him, a mischievous smile on both our faces as I grab his chin and bring him close to kiss his cheeks. My lipstick left a red mark on his cheek that immediately caught his eyes on the shining glass surface of a fancy cupboard. "Maahi, it is RED!" He giggled out loud and I simply shrugged at him.

While I move back to scrubbing, Darsh dropped the bottle of cleaner near me and ran away, his pounding footsteps echoing around the kitchen. This is all cleaned up anyway, so I do not bother looking back for him. I grabbed the bottle myself and was about to spray again when a loud, feminine voice pierced the air, "Oh my honeysuckle, my precious flower." She said and I got back on my feet to see a woman, about my age, pressing her cheeks to Darsh's and squeezing him in her arms for a hug. Darsh was clearly ecstatic to see her, judging on the basis of his speed of dropping everything to reach for her. She was also the first woman I had seen besides myself in this mansion who wasn't an employee.

Could this possibly be Darsh's biological mother? My throat dried up at that thought. She coddled Darsh for a few more minutes before placing him back on his feet and scanned the house, in search for someone and coming up empty-handed. She spotted me in the kitchen and walked towards me, pausing just opposite the island.

"Hello, I am guessing you are one of Neerja's helpers." She said politely but my mind spinned with that assumption. What makes her think...oh...ofcourse, I was holding a bottle of cleaner and tissue paper in my hand. I do not affirm her statement with any response but she blatantly continued. "Can you tell me where Zaeden is? If he is not here, that's just bad." She curled her bottom lip with disappointment, "But if he is in his office, I can walk right in."