Maya sat in her room with the idol of Krishna that she used to tell all about her day to, as the rest of the family hastily prepared for the party in the evening. They all enjoyed the celebration at the stroke of 12 except for five people. Amish, Maya, Ranav, Akshay and Atul. Amish wondered what happened between Maya and Atul and could barely get any sleep. Maya's mind is filled with what Atul said that neither his wife nor her mother's death was merely an accident. She couldn't get him to tell her any further. Ranav felt very uneasy about leaving Maya in her house to sleep in Maheswari's house after what happened the night before. Akshay, despite choosing to help Maya with her acquisition of the shares in return for hiding things from her, could feel her pushing him away and could not bear the distance that the lie had put between them. He can't wait until the next day when he can meet her again at the party. Atul felt bad about how he lost control and felt more responsible for the situation that his sister was in. Rishab and Kekti will also attend the party in the evening and Atul couldn't wait to see his sister and get to talk to her. Not only will his sister attend the party but also his 9-month-old daughter, Rithika. His daughter was left in the care of his in-laws as the little princess needed 24/7 attention. When she turns 1 year old, she will come back home to her father, which is why he needs to get his sister out of there before he can take responsibility for his daughter.
"Need help?" Ranav's voice startled Maya and she turned around to find him standing outside her room as he peeked in at her.
"With what?"
"Your dress, obviously. You have such poor taste that I thought maybe you would need help from the fashion Divo here." Maya scowls, trying to look offended, although she couldn't hold in her smile.
"Are you saying I am bad at picking clothes?"
"Exactly. Let's go."
"Where?" Maya tilts her head as a mischievous smile blooms on Ranav's face.
***
"Hmmm? How do you like this? Are you comfortable?" Ranav asks as Maya looks at herself in the mirror after putting on the Magenta-coloured lace indo-western suit that Ranav had picked for her. She turns around pulling her hair to the front to get a better look at the behind, which is a deep back that stopped right on top of her inner strap. Ranav's eyes widen before he quickly looks away as a blush makes its way to his cheeks.
"It is comfortable. Good pick." Maya's voice sounded from behind him but Ranav didn't dare look back.
"Oh, then let me look at other models too." He walks around the store, trying his best to erase the picture in his head. He questioned his decision to bring Maya to the shop when his eyes fell on a turquoise-coloured gown. He could easily imagine Maya wearing the dress with its puffed full-length sleeves and the silver threadwork on the mid-section of the flowing netted cloth. The skirt area can make a wide circle and with an underskirt, it would be bulky and fit a major occasion. Like a wedding. Ranav asked the salesman to get the dress for him as he made his way to Maya.
"Try this," Ranav said with a wide smile, sure of his choice. When Maya came out of the trial room, his breath hitched at the sight of the beautiful woman who stood before him. The fabric cascaded around her hips as the embellishments shimmered like stars. At the time she looked like a symphony of grace and poise. The dress looked better on her than he imagined and he imagined her to look like an angel. She looked like a dream. Dream? It reminded Ranav of his weird dreams which only seemed to increase these past few days, which was mainly why he wanted to come back. In a week, he's going to leave to find the burnt Mansion. He wanted to look at her one last time before he went in search of the answer. He looked at Maya again. Will you still look the same when I return?
***
In the end, they got both the dresses and Maya could not seem happier. For someone who doesn't know what to pick for herself, she sure is excited to dress up.
"Why are you so good at this?" Maya wondered aloud as they drove back home.
"I got it from my mom."
"Hmm?" Maya looked at him. "Your mom?"
"Yep, she is such a Diva in her youth. She made sure to look good in whatever she wore. As a child, she always took me window shopping, because we couldn't afford new clothes, but she made sure that I knew what's good clothing. At least she used to buy me clothes every year, but she used to wear the same old clothes every year."
"She must've suffered a lot."
"Hmm-mm. She suffered a lot before we couldn't afford clothes. Finances didn't hurt my mother as much as her family did."
"What did she do, then?"
"She created her own little family. A family that couldn't hurt her." Maya smiles at Ranav's words. That was such a good solution, Maya thought. Create your own little happy family. "We're here."
***
Maya wore the Meganta colour dress she bought earlier and paired it with a pearl bead necklace and studs. She wore a matching bracelet and her usual watch. Maya is so obsessed with time that she wears a watch wherever she goes. She parted her hair from the side and pinned a flower hairclip to the shorter end. Indeed, Ranav has a great taste. She looked like a princess. A knock on her door pulls her away from admiring herself in the mirror. She walked across the room to open the door to find Atul standing on the other side, but he was not alone. In his hands was a little ball of sunshine that brought an immediate smile to Maya's face. The baby girl, Rithika, looked at Maya with beautiful wide eyes, curious searching Maya's face.
"Oh my god!" Maya covers her lips with her palm in admiration of the little girl constantly trying to fit her fist into her mouth.
"Wanna hold her?" Maya nods with excitement and Atul slowly places her in Maya's arms, instructing her on how to hold her. With chubby cheeks begging for kisses and a toothy grin that could light up the room, the girl made Maya nervous to hold her delicate body.
"She's so tiny!" The girl gets her hand on Maya's hair and starts pulling and Maya bursts into giggles as the baby does the same and their laughter echoes through the walls around. Maya couldn't define the tug that she felt in her heart as held onto the girl as she would with her life. Maya never had many encounters with babies so young and could feel her eyes grow moist at the baby dressed in the light pink lace gown. "She's absolutely beautiful. Rithika, right?"
"Yes. I thought they would come late to the party but they were early so I thought I would let you meet her."
"Hmmm." Maya nods, not paying any attention as she is completely drawn into the little girl's antics as she tugs at Maya's hair, then her dress and then goes back to pushing her fist against her mouth.
"I am sorry for yesterday, Maya." Maya looks at Atul and her smile fades a little, remembering the previous night.
"It's okay. I can understand." Maya assures Atul with a soft nod as she blinked her eyes. "I am going to keep her with me all the time." She says, hugging Rithika closer to her chest. Atul smiled at both the girls smiling at each other like they shared a deep secret.
"Okay. But before that, let's go meet Adi Bhayya too?" He says pinching Rithika's cheeks as the girl quickly stretched out her hands for her father to take her and Maya reluctantly handed her to Atul. Maya's eyes followed the little girl as Atul rounded the corner to Adi's room. Maya was still smiling as they disappeared, but by the time she got down to the party that evening, Maya's smile was nowhere to be found.
***
Hello Readers,
Please do vote for the chapter and leave your opinions in the comments to let me know what you think and so the story could reach more readers. See you in the next chapter...
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