Shadows Of The Past

C H A P T E R - XIV

G R E E N - E Y E D   M O N S T E R

"Ladies and gentlemen,
Will you please stand?
With every guitar string scar,
on my hand
I take this magnetic force of a man
To be my lover..."

"Lover" by Taylor Swift played loudly on the speaker as Devika stood infront of the mirror, perfecting her mascara to give a final touch to her perfect make-up look as the black slit dress hugged her curves perfectly and flowed down her legs reaching her feet which were clad in shining silver heels. A silver neck hugging necklace adorned her neck with matching silver earrings and a perfect red shade of lipstick highlighted her plump lips as she sang along the lyrics of the song, her eyes shining with joy as she stepped back to have a final look of herself in the mirror with a huge smile.

"How does mumma look, baby?" She grinned as she turned to look at Aarushi, who had been watching her get ready for the past one hour.

"You look like a Disney princess mumma. So pretty!" Aarushi grinned back at her, making her hug her baby.

"Thank you!" She said, kissing her daughter's forehead fondly, and that is when the door of the room flung open, and Ayesha entered inside the room with a packet of potato chips in her hands and a few in her mouth as she smiled widely on having a look of her sister.

"Jiju is gonna faint today!" She exclaimed as she looked at Devika from head to toe with a proud smile.

"Jiju? It's a doctor's dinner party. Why will he be there? I've been working for this hospital for more than two years now, and he never showed up at any of the parties!" Devika shook her head in disbelief as she walked past Ayesha to grab her clutch from her wardrobe.

"But my gut feeling says he will be there!" Ayesha shrugged her shoulders as she took a seat next to Aarushi on the bed.

"I know he won't, Ayesha. He is too busy to attend parties." She said, her voice lacing with anger now as she grabbed her black mini clutch and shoved some money into it, along with her lipstick and a pocket perfume when her mind wandered back to the messages they exchanged yesterday, after her denying to go for the dinner date, he didn't text her again. No messages, no calls. As if he got mad at her for rejecting his offer, just like she predicted that he would, of course. But his ignorance did affect her, giving her another reason to be hurt.

"Now listen to me, I might get very late, so please have dinner and put Aarushi to sleep, she has school tomorrow!" She instructed as she walked out of the room and into the kitchen to check if the cookies she kept in the oven were baked. After she came back from work early today to get ready for dinner, Aarushi suddenly wanted to have her favorite strawberry choco-cookies hence Devika quickly prepared some and left them in the oven to get baked before she would leave, much to both Aarushi and Ayesha's delight.

"You cooked dinner as well?" Ayesha asked, surprised as she saw rajma chawal ready in the casserole. "Eating from outside frequently is not good for Aaru. So kindly have this and don't order anything!" She said as she pulled out the cookie tray from the oven carefully and transferred them into the cookie jar before throwing the tray away into the sink.

"You're such a good mom, di!" Ayesha smiled fondly as she grabbed a cookie to taste.

"How is it?" Devika asked, smiling back at her.

"The bestest cookie ever!"

"Feed them to Aarushi too once they are cool. I am getting late!" She glanced at the wall clock in the hall to check the time. It was already half past eight.