The Second Mother (DISCONTINUED)

Chapter 1: O Jaana

Grey eyes. A little bluer. Not icy enough. Maybe just a little greyer.

Aanika huffed out loud as the eyes on the canvas turned out the wrong colour, again. She looked off into the distance with a sigh, trying to recall the colour of his eyes but coming up blank, again. With another resigned sigh, she took the bigger paintbrush and began painting the background for her next commission.

She knew creativity had long abandoned her but she forced herself to move. She had been lagging behind for a long time. If she didn't finish the painting now, she might as well hang a rope around her neck, for its better to die on your own choice than starve and die. With a heavy hand, she started painting the masked men, Charmiin'. They were a group of four singers who were celebrating their tenth anniversary next month. A fan had commissioned her for the piece and despite not having any specific interest in the band, she had agreed to do it for the stomach.

The clock struck midnight but she still hadn't finished the painting. It was all his fault. Who was he? And why were his eyes such a mystery? Those Kanji eyes of his have been haunting her for four months now but she still couldn't quite remember where she'd seen them. As her brush dipped in the paint to finish the last touches, she couldn't help but feel that something was missing.

On taking a closer look, she found that the lead singer, Nakul's eyes looked dull. The colours didn't do his green eyes justice. As she observed his image for sometime, a lightbulb switched on in her head. Taking a little silver glitter in her hand she meticulously dropped it onto the painting, specifically his eyes. Next, she took some golden glitter and sprinkled it onto the entire canvas.

As she gave her work a final once over she decided that this was the best she could do. A little sated, she went off to sleep on her hard but familiar cot. Soon, she'll go back home, soon.

As the alarm went off, Aanika woke up feeling tired. Three hours of sleep really didn't do her much but she had an early morning shift and she couldn't afford to lose her job. With the tensions of the day already making her dizzy, she walked upto the small table that she called a kitchen and quickly fixed herself a coffee. Who needs breakfast anyway?

Once she was sure that the floors had been sweeped to perfection, she walked into the mall's restroom and changed from her janitor uniform into an apron to go start her shift at Starbucks. As soon as she entered the shop, something felt off. She was yet to find out but she knew today was going to be stressful. Her gut was never wrong.

As Aanika moved to make coffees and block out the scorns of her coworker Jenny, she could feel that there was something sinister going on. She would know soon enough, she guessed as she saw Jenny making her way to her.

"Hey there, loser!"

Choosing to ignore her until she gave her something to talk about, Aanika continued to work on the counter until she was pulled by her arm to face the much taller, much more arrogant and much much more insufferable female. As she practically jerked her into herself, Jenny scowled and whispered in a dangerous tone, "You're going to prepare twenty orders for the RSO Industries and hand them to me."

"I am pretty sure the schedule says we have to split the work, Jenny. Or are you too far up in fairyland to read your damned schedule?" Aanika snapped back as the witch tried to tighten her grip on her hand, almost leaving marks. Usually, she wouldn't have commented but she knew that if she didn't stand up today, Jenny will go full on bully and start shoving her into walls.

Jenny's eyes narrowed as she leaned the tiniest bit towards her. "Don't try me, Cinderella. We are splitting the work. You make it, I take it. And don't dare to defy me because you wouldn't want your little secret out, would you?"