Chapter 4
1982 Words
“They say true love only happens once”
“Really?”
“Yeah, don't you believe it?”
“No…”
“Oh-”
“But …you know it”
“Know what?”
“I have only one pair of eyes and one heart that longs for no one, but you. You can't leave me blind or heartless, brat”
☆☆☆☆☆☆
“Ara, my heart…drink this, It's better for your health”...Nana pleaded as she extended a spoonful of soup towards the broken woman in front of her.
The woman in front of her was nearly dead now. Nobody knew how she survived after such a big fall from the royal stairs. But she did, she had to..
“W….where …is …r..Ruby…l..love?”
Ara asked with a trembling voice. The trauma was still fresh, the pain, the loss, and the anger…she was feeling all this at once.
“Sleeping”.
“I….d..do..don't…have …appetite.”
“Don't, …please don't, you lost your baby, but don't lose hope. Everything will be alright.”
Ara shook her head with the little energy she had.
“N…no-”
“ No, remember your dream? You still have to complete it..
You and Ruby-love will go to stream together, under the perfect shining sunlight, a glow on her face, between carnation flowers, like the stars in the sky and the beauty of the moon,
you will twirl, and she will compliment you, saying, "You are the most beautiful.. Mama”and you will have a baby bump again.....it will happen soon, my heart …slowly but surely..”
Ara listened to her words, the same words Ara used to say to Nana, her perfect dreams …
☆☆☆☆☆☆
Two weeks have passed since the horrendous day, Ara was better physically, but the pain she carried was fresh, still fresh …and maybe ..will always remain fresh …
She barely was allowed outside, You know why?..because the child she lost was a boy, a perfect heir to the kingdom, and now..
Zustan's hatred towards her increased, what could she have expected? Zustan hate doesn't bother her nor any bit of love he feels towards her. The palace suffocated her, losing her baby, the baby her womb carried was no more …
She had been crying for the past 2 weeks, even though the child wasn't born yet, he will still be her baby, which is no more…
How much more?
How much more?
“My dreams....will remain dreams..”
Ara spoke as she realized..
“no, Ruby…. will fulfill them..”
Nana spoke as she was patting Ruby's head as the little princess slept beside her mama.
Ruby was hugging her tightly, her face buried in her mother's arm, the place of her comfort, her place of calm. Ara arm was around her like she was protecting her little world.
“ How?”
“I promise you jaan, she will be the most loved, not the most desired, but loved.. someone will love her with his whole-”
“No! don't say that!…a.. A man only knows how to play with women, and after using them, they discard them !. She will be desired but not loved! Nana! She…will never be loved for who she is..”
Ara spoke with pain in her eyes, a heavy weight on her heart and a chain around her neck. Tears welled up in her eyes.
Her hands were clutching the bed sheets so tightly that they could strangle someone.
“Zustan, the moron,...I saw his true face..he wouldn't find it less worthy to just sell-”
“don't say that, oh my heart! No, please !”
Nana spoke with tears in her eyes, not believing what Ara had said …
"She is precious, she will be respected, she wouldn't let anyone do anything with her …remember..she is a blessing right?..she is the colour red..the colour that people see when they take revenge, my heart”!...
“Ara, my heart beats for you. You are like my daughter. Even though we have known each other for less time, you have become so important to me. Let me tell you something,
Do you know who stays when everyone leaves?....
“Who?!”
“God… he listens to your sorrows, and also sees your happiness, your love for Ruby ..do you think if you beg him for your daughter, he wouldn't fulfill it?...
Everything in this world is temporary,
I will die soon and you will die one day too, everything will end..but the only one who will be with you even after the end will be ....him..
No one but him …he really loves you, my child. He loves me, and he loves Ruby, but he loves you more because you are someone who is still holding on, going on ..not caring for yourself, but Ruby…
She is the emperor of my heart and light of your eyes, let's grow ourselves with her, let's make her respectful but a woman of faith and a woman who knows her value, her worth and that no one will cherish her more than her own self and her God”
“.... “
The old woman realized she had succeeded in calming the raging woman in a unique yet logical way.
☆☆☆☆☆☆
Three years have passed since that heart shattering day, the day when Ara may have realized her worth a little ..
It was Ruby Elenora Velmire's 5th birthday. The doll she is! A porcelain doll, a doll made of fine shiny tiles, she was like milk, soft and creamy.
She was perfect, everyone said that, but everyone also knew that this much of a beauty in one person is more than a curse than a blessing.
Her light brown eyes reflected the sunlight so beautifully that can draw everyone in them, her high bridge nose, rosy cheeks that will draw everyone in, her long lashes were like a curtain protecting her beautiful eyes, she had a soft milky colour, and a beautiful mole on her left side of chin, it wasn't big but perfect.
Her dark brown hair was not extraordinary, but on her they were the perfect shade of brown, a brown Noone has ever admired before….she was …a porcelain doll, a doll come to life…a doll wants to be understood, but is always seen as an object..
Ara stood beside her as they walked along the garden..
The people seemed to notice the presence of the mother and daughter that are not often here, they noticed how the color of Ara clothes had changed, they had become dull and lost their charm, their brightness, hardly a piece of jewelry on her and Ruby?... Don’t ask.
She wasn’t like other kids.
Such a humble, shy lady she was — just like how a perfect lady must be. But it wasn’t forced; she was naturally like this: intelligent, shy, humble... there was only innocence in her, nothing more.
Ara would get scared sometimes, thinking how anyone can take advantage of her little world, her princess …oh how much she wanted to kill those creepy features of men, who would dare to look at her baby.
They are hardly outing even in the garden but it was Ruby's wish which brought Ara here in the garden, it was nothing but a garden …a garden with mere flowers, and leaves …the same garden that suffocates Ara, she just remembers her grief here..it was a very big garden, way too big.
For Ara, the flowers there meant nothing but a piece of nature that people admired by killing it.
The main gates of the castle were very far away from the entry inside the palace..it looked like a castle from outside but was like a palace from inside.
“Mama, when I will be big! I will make a garden in my room, and a beautiful one ! You will help me plant trees and flowers there..and there will be a bed in between. Where me and you will sleep, and you will sing la~la~la~..”
My little princess,
She won every show,
Her little dreams so high,
She makes the nightmares go!
It was a song Ara sings to her, to cope with the nightmares that startle her in the middle of the night, choke her, till her eyes started to bleed with tears, as she try to reach for her only world,"mama”
Ara didn't say anything.
They slowly made towards the middle of the garden, there was no grass there..a path to walk without Ruining the garden. Little did Ara know that after years, Ruby will not walk but run on this path…
and slowly, they both went back to the castle..the king? Zustan hardly came to even check on Ruby, probably busy with his new wife and new children. It's not like Ara wanted him to come either while Ruby?...
She didn't care about anything, she just wanted to be with her mama endlessly, she was curious, but she was also scared..scared without her mama …
☆☆☆☆☆☆☆
Ruby looked up to her mother, who was clipping her nails very gently, like holding a honeycomb — afraid the honey might spill.
Oh How much she wanted to lean in and kiss her mama cheek,the other cheek, nose, left eye, right eye and tell her she means the world to her, how can she never imagine herself without her.
mama..a soft whisper came out of her mouth.
“hmm…?”
“I love you, mama”.
Ara suddenly stopped, Ruby …had never said this before, it would always be Ara who would tell her first and then Ruby would respond…but she..herself spoke like she knew every meaning behind, every pain behind her mother's tears.
“I…I,. L..-.”
Ara found herself fighting back tears. How can she not be grateful? When her world was saying
I. Love. You.
“I love you too, very much …from the mountains to the ocean, from the stars to the very grain of sand, I love you”
Some days later
Ara had just put Ruby to sleep, She had fought with Zustan this morning. He had entered her chambers early in the morning, and as usual, they started fighting over things, and then he had slapped her.
She wasn’t scared of the slap itself, but worrying that one slap today can lead to much more in fate's path.
She wasn't scared for herself, but for her daughter, she knew the only day when she would be gone, her daughter would not be safe anymore.
This thought terrified her. Her only wish is nothing more than happiness and safety for her little world. So she has to plan out something, something that will protect her daughter endlessly.
☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆
“So, what do you think?”
“What?”
“You know what I mean”
“That's none of your business to think,”
Zustan spoke as he looked at Sandriya, his second wife..
Maroline was sitting in front of them, they were talking about something serious.
“Just give her a roof and kick her out, let her live her life. She doesn't seem to want you either”
“You are right, mother. This is the only way. I will carry out this soon, don't worry”
☆☆☆☆☆☆
“She was like the ocean, the shimmer she held,the reflection she gave, everything twinkled around her, the diamond everyone wanted for themselves, and he was like the moon, alone yet still the most captivating of all, he was the one,people would stare …. But his eyes only found her, for him, she was like a poetry a poet would read again and again, she was like a dream, a fantasy, she was for a moment a reality and then …a dream, her eyes held his world where he would only find himself, his reflection”
- Writer
