The room was very vast and the walls of the room were painted dark violet, with soft artistic baby pink leaves floating down from a silver tree, all painted beautifully on the walls. The room had two side doors, presumably leading to a bathroom and a closet. The eastern wall was made up of glass and right now curtained with dark violet velvet curtains, blocking all the light from entering the bedroom. The other three walls had various art pieces and chest of drawers stacked over or against them. The floor was carpeted with the softest carpet you could find.
The bed was placed in the centre of the western wall of the room and sheathed in sheets of violet satin and a beautifully floral comforter. The whole room was obviously feminine but wasn't over bearing to the eye. It was quite pleasant and elegant to look at even.
An alarm blared on one of the dressers beside the bed and a soft, feminine hand exited the blanketed lump on the bed and made away towards the clock, before hitting it unsuccessfully to shut it off. It failed and the alarm kept on blaring loudly, probably waking up the whole mansion, except the one it was intended for. Finally losing the patience with the clock, the hand picked it up and hurled it away towards the opposite wall to stop it from ringing.
The alarm clock clashed with the wall and fell down on the floor, in a heaped surprise. It would have blinked stupidly at the sheer audacity of the occupant of the bed, if it was a living thing, but as it was not alive (luckily for it), it settled with it's continuous and loud ringing.
"Arggghhh!" The occupant of the bed growled, as it finally removed the blanket from over it and got up, sittinh on her knees and glaring at the offensive clock which was still blaring. "Shut up! Shut up! Just do me a favor and shut up!" She shouted at the alarm clock, which for its credit was persistently going on even though it's whole structure was mangled.
She was beautiful with her unblemished skin and straight long nose. Her eyes were brown and her hair dark brown. They reached just above her waist and were styled in a feather cut. The girl growled again and muttered something that sounded offensive, but bit her lips in anger as the clock continued it's dramatic whining. "I hope you know, that I hate you!" The girl shouted at the alarm clock as she got off the bed and walked towards it.
"I am sure it understands." An amused voice answered her. She leisurely picked up the alarm clock and turned it off, before turning towards the newly arrived person slowly. She watched her cousin brother/best friend standing at the door, leaning on the doorway before turning and moving towards the dustbin. His eyebrows were raised and a slight smirk played on his lips. His hair falling on his forehead was being swiped back again and again by his hand. "Poor Clock." He added almost pityingly as his eyes followed the object's descent into the dustbin. He imagined it flailing for help and screaming as it went down. Shaking his head to clear off the weird image, he turned towards his cousin, who was now facing him with hands clasped tightly on her chest and a frown etched on her forehead.
"You?" She dramatically breathed. He chuckled in amusement before nodding in mock seriousness.
"Me!" He replied, "What's your point?"
"To what reason do I owe the pleasure of seeing your face first thing in the morning?" She asked, indicating clearly that it was anything but pleasure.
"Aren't you a ball of sunshine today- nope- everyday? Miss Grouchy?" He asked in response. "By the way... The reason I came here was to ask you to shut off that offensive clock and let others sleep. You know you never get up due to ringing clocks. Why do you even make the show of setting it beside your bedside? It's just a waste of perfectly fine alarm clocks! You should just set the alarm on your phone and be done with it." He tried to make her see logic, even after knowing perfectly well that she would let all that pass above her head and continue to do what she pleases.
"The alarm clock is for peasants like you to come and wake me up after it wakes you. And moreover I can't keep throwing my cell phones at the wall when they refuse to shut up. Been there, done that... Also, clocks are cheaper." She replied unhurriedly, as she went towards her vanity and picked up her hair brush and began to delicately brush her hair. He rolled his eyes at her non sensical reasons and stepped inside, before going to her bed and falling on it, watching the beautiful field of lavenders that she had painted on the roof. During the darkness of the night, this field was set aglow, due to the distinct paint she had used for this project. It looked beautiful.
"You could always ask someone to come wake you up."
"And be done with the procrastination while waking up? No thanks! I would continue with my current routine if you don't mind." She was proving to be so much difficult right now. He was fed up of her ringing clocks. They had become the bane of his existence, ruining his good mornings and making them bad, the first thing everyday. He needed it stopped and immediately.
His room was right next to hers, along with three other cousins of theirs, who would rather bear her atrocities (such as this) in silence, rather than speak out loud, like he did. When they were young, she and him were inseparable. They were best friends and spent every second of their day together. They had demanded to have rooms right next to the other and continued with the arrangement even when they had grown up. And now he regretted his stupid childhood counterpart for making such a measly decision. He needed an out and it was too late to change rooms. He sighed again.
"You have got to stop this habit. It's gonna make me insane and give me dark circles. Your alarm basically start ringing at five in the morning! FIVE! Why do even need to wake up at five?" He asked her while he grit his teeth. She waved him off.
"I want to wake up and breathe in the cold morning air. It's fresh and healthy!"
"And totally out of your league!"
"Mind your language!"
"Or what? You would tell Grand Da? What else could you do apart from being a tattle tale? Huh Princess?"
"How dare you?"
"Oh I could dare do more than that!"
"Mind your own business!"
"THIS is my business!"
"No it's mine!"
"When it rudely wakes me up, it becomes my business!"
Their fight had started much more earlier that day and like always their other cousins kept out of it, because they knew not to interfere when they both were at it. When their fights started or ended nobody could predict and taking sides could land you into loads of trouble with both of them one way or the other cause they refused to let others badmouth the other even when they were amidst fights.
Adiva and Yamin Rasan were best friends and the world knew it. They were first cousins, children of two brothers. They were born hours apart from the other and Adiva was the elder of the two. They had refused to be separated after their birth. Somehow latching on to the other for comfort. Even now they were each other's first choice for safety and comfort, when anything went wrong. Yamin was awfully protective of Adiva.
Adiva Rasan was also the darling of the whole Rasan family. She was the beloved great grand daughter of the head of the family, Ehlam Rasan, who spoiled her to the core and was referred to as Grand Da by all the younger generations. He was akin to royalty and sometimes his fame preceded even that of the Royals.
Adiva was lovingly called as the Princess of the Rasans. She was stubborn, headstrong and impulsive. She was also awfully soft hearted and clueless though. It made her interesting. Her male cousins and her only elder brother by three years, were all protective of her. Even some of her female cousins were, but they had their moments of jealousies, which went unnoticed by the clueless Adiva.
Grand Da would have bought her the moon if she so demanded it, but she didn't... thankfully... and so it was all right. Also, he punished anyone who tried to tell him that he was being unfair regarding Adiva and the other children, just ask her elder brother Sinan Rasan and he would tell you about the day when he had complained about Adiva being given royal treatment and he had been punished by making him stand in the corner of the room, facing the wall, while none of them dared to talk with him for the rest of the day. He was also asked to clean the lawn and mow the grass, the next day. He had since then grown up and himself became quite accommodating for this sister of his, when he noticed, how she didn't even realise what was happening around her. She didn't complain regarding many things to Grand Da, even though he always knew, somehow. But when she did complain, the person better watch out.
Returning back to the present though, Adiva and Yamin were done fighting and now were aborting their fight for their grumbling stomachs. They decided to meet the other at the dining table and went off their merry way.
•••
Riesha Rasan sat on the dining table and watched her elder sister skipping down the stairs. An automatic scowl etched on to her face. Adiva greeted her warmly and seemed unaware of her sister's irritation but Sinan frowned when he witnessed the blatant dislike his little sister showed towards Adiva. He understood that it was difficult being Adiva's siblings. They paled in the shadow of her sun. Especially as their Grand Da thought that everything ended and began with Adiva. But Adiva had nothing to do with anyone's behavior except herself and she had never been anything but nice to her siblings. Yet Riesha had grievances that had escalated as they had stepped into teenage years and now she wanted Adiva as far away from herself as possible.
Riesha had tried to trip Adiva many times in the formal dinners, so that she would lose her face in front all and stop being Grand Da's precious. But Adiva had escaped unharmed. How? She herself didn't know!
She had also tried different tricks from physically harming herself to set up her sister, to emotionally blackmailing her parents against her, but nothing worked. Adiva couldn't be dislodged from the hearts of anyone. They could ask her, Riesha, if they didn't believe this sentence. She had tried after all.
Adiva was also very impulsive, saying and doing things that were actually quite rash and surprising. But she seldom cared. She had been this way since she was young and now wasn't the time that she could change it. She had pulled Sinan and Yamin through enough impulsive actions along with herself and gotten away with it. But somehow all of her cons just made her more and more likeable, making her female cousins and sister jealous of her. But she didn't realise this either.
Sinan sighed as Adiva settled herself and began to load her plate with a sandwich and filled her glass with the orange juice. Yamin joined them a while later and seated himself between a fuming Riesha and a clueless Adiva. Sinan was sure his action was to protect Adiva from Riesha if need arose. Yamin had always been this way.
"Get ready." Adiva told Sinan and Yamin. Riesha narrowed her eyes at her sister, while the other two frowned in confusion.
"What are you gonna do?" They enquired anxiously. They knew her well enough to know that these kind of words meant she was going to do something impulsive again. In reply to their question, she just cackled and gave them an evil smile. They gulped before looking towards the other.
•••
Ehlam Rasan sat in the conference room of their mansion along with the next two generations of his family and some members who were from his generation. Some members of the Furaats were also present. They were all accumulated to choose the next name for their peace treaty. It had already been twenty five years and last time the daughter of the Furaats had come to their home, as a grand daughter in law of his cousin brother. Now it was their turn to send one of their daughter to the Furaats. Even though each time they sent a daughter they were apprehensive regarding it, they still trusted the Furaats and the Furaats them, because the daughters stayed happily in their married life. Yet the tension remained, reminding them starkly of what could go wrong.
They had all made gold plaques with their marriageable daughters' name engraved on the plaque, and then another layer which slid on and off the name hiding it from view (They are extravagant I know, but what else did you expect?). There were twenty five girls from the whole family, who could be married off in the Furaats. The plaques were kept in a small wooden bowl, made of sandalwood. He gestured towards his favourite grandson, Adiva's father Aun Rasan, who nodded slightly and picked the bowl before shaking it gently till the plaques mixed with the others and then set it on front of his Grandmother Nyqa Furaat, who was blindfolded, for this work.
Nyqa Furaat had come on her own will not the treaty's, married to Ehlam Rasan. Now she sat as the head of the family, a loving matron and an intelligent advisor. Her presence in the main branch of Rasan family, even though she was from the side branch Furaat family, had done a major change to the way the families saw each other.
She smiled and inserted her hand inside the bowl and shuffled the plaques once more, before softly picking one and then taking it out of the bowl. She removed her blindfold and handed over the plaque to her husband who graced her with a soft, loving smile rarely seen and reserved for his favorite people, before he accepted the plaque and met each eye in the room as he slid the layer off the name.
Etched in gold on the plaque, was a name that seemed to mock him childishly. It was the name that made him go soft in the heart and an automatic smile to grace his face. He inhaled sharply as he read it again and again trying to make sense of what he was seeing... It said-
Adiva...