"What the hell? Who was it? Was that prank? Was that real?" Her mind went blank for a minute. She kept staring at the wall in front of her. She then shook her head and laughed at the notion, "ha-ha, of course, it was a prank and not a good one. Half-sister!" she scoffed. She again went silent. "What if? Na, that's impossible. I have a father who is dead. I have his photograph at home. But why do I have only one photograph of my father? Do I really have a sister?" she again pondered over the talk she had with that strange girl while completing her sketches. "Oh, that stupid girl!" she yelled and threw the colour pencil at the wall.
Priyanka came running after hearing her yelling. She stood by her side and asked, concerningly, "what happened? Are you alright?"
She sneered and smiled at Priyanka, "I am fine. Just tired. May I have a cup of coffee?"
"Of course." Priyanka went away to get her a cup of coffee.
Ashma hid her face in her hands, inhaled for a few seconds and exhaled. She repeated the cycle to calm herself down. Thoughtlessly, she picked up a colour pencil and started finishing her sketches. She was unable to believe her ears after what she just heard. A girl was claiming to be her half-sister. How a Korean girl be her half-sister? And who was Young-Soo? What does he have to do with her mother? And so what he was on his death bed, why was her mother supposed to hear about it? If he really was her father, was he going to die? Why does she care if he dies or not, he is just a stranger. All these questions kept floating in her mind making her unable to concentrate on her work yet her hand kept moving on the piece of paper.
Priyanka came with a cup of coffee. "Here you go." She carefully placed the cup away from her drawings.
"Thank you." Ashma looked at her with gratitude.
Priyanka's eyes fell on the drawing Ashma was currently making. She screamed, "what the hell?"
"What?" Ashma asked innocently.
Priyanka pointed toward the drawing, "the theme is red, not purple. You made the entire dress in purple."
"What?" she looked down and saw the blunder. "Oh, no!" she screamed. She grabbed the piece of paper and tore it into pieces with anger. He pinched the bridge of her nose and closed her eyes. She again took a few breaths to calm herself down.
"Chief! Ash! Are you okay?" Priyanka asked worriedly.
Ashma took a minute to catch her breath and said, "I am sorry. I am just too tired. I am not feeling well."
Now, Priyanka was furious. She snapped at Ashma, "how will you? You have been working for three days straight. You eat, shower and sleep here. You have people to work for you but no, you have to do everything on your own." She was moving her hands too much. Ashma didn't know whether to look at her furious face or dancing hands or listen to her scolding words.
"Woah!" Ashma exclaimed.
"Don't woah me! Get your ass up." She continued reprimanding Ashma.
"Excuse me!" Ashma raised her eyebrows with surprise.
"You need to go home, now! and have some rest." Priyanka started yanking her out of the chair.
"Home?" Suddenly Ashma remembered her talk with the girl on the phone. If she went home, she will blurt out everything in front of her mother. For once in her life, she didn't want to know the truth. "No. I… I am fine, not home… I don't want to go home.
Priyanka relaxed her shoulders and calmly said, "Ash! Please go home. I will send all the work for your approval in the evening. You can then work from home. For now, you need rest."
"But" Ashma tried debating but was of no use.
"No but, move your butt," said Priyanka. The girl who was afraid of Ashma a few minutes ago was now scolding her.
"Hey! Nice wordplay," exclaimed Ashma with happiness but Priyanka folded her hands over her chest and stared down at Ashma. She accepted defeat, "Okay, I am leaving."
She stood up from her chair, collected her things and dumped them in her big colourful jute bag.
"People will laugh at you if they see your bag," pointed out Priyanka.
"Why?" Ashma was still dumping things inside the bag. After colours and fabrics, she moved to files.
"A world-class designer has a jute bag and not some branded purse," answered Priyanka.
"How many branded purses can hold packets of colours, stencils, fabrics, my phone, my wallet, my files, my spare clothes and whatnot? You will find my whole house inside this bag." Ashma said with pride. Priyanka facepalmed. Seeing her reaction Ashma laughed out loud and walked away towards the exit.
She reached the parking lot. She took out a key fob from the pockets of her black kurta and pressed the button. Her Hyundai Tuscon chirped. She loved her SUV. The starry night coloured car was spacious and luxurious as well as comfortable. While driving the car she used to forget every worry, every stress of her life. But today even driving couldn't get rid of her thoughts. She was feeling uneasy and tense.
As it was an off-hour, the roads of New Delhi were slightly empty. She was driving smoothly from Lajpat Nagar to Pitampura, where she lived with her mother and grandfather in their ancestral home. It used to take her one hour to reach home but today it just took her 40 minutes. Her ancestral home was not a home, it was more of a mansion. Homes in Delhi were so compact that it was rare to have a garage inside the complex but being an ancestral home, Ashma had the space to park four cars inside the courtyard. The mansion had two floors, eight rooms, all with attached baths. It had two living rooms, a large library, an exercise room, a home theatre and an open terrace garden. Her room was the largest as it had an office space for her.
Since childhood, she had all the luxuries under her feet yet her mother taught her to be independent and free-spirited. She was a kind, polite human being.
She parked the car, took out her bag and stood at the entrance motionless for a minute. She gathered her calmness and went inside. A tall, old man with all white hair ran to her and hugged her as he was seeing her after three days.
"Oh, my dear Ashu! How much I missed you?" he swayed her left and right with excitement. He then looked at her downhearted face. "Are you okay?"
"I am fine, nanaji (maternal grandfather)," she replied sweetly. Her grandfather was a retired government official who was well-respected in his community.
"Really! Look at the dark circles. You didn't come home for three days and now you say you are fine?" He softly placed his hand on the lower part of her face. "Well! Why are you here at this time? It is not even noon. Did Priyanka kick you out?"
Both started laughing out loud. To save face Ashma replied, "No, I was just tired after eating and sleeping at the office. I thought I should eat and sleep at home. Also, I missed you." She hugged him again.
"What about your work?"
"I could work from home for a bit Priyanka will be sending everything by evening."
"Okay, I will ask the cook to make something for you."
"Thank you, and tell Madhu aunty I want spicy food." She kissed him on his cheeks.
"Our cook knows what you like to eat. She will make it accordingly. You go and take a shower first," ordered Surya.
"Yes, Boss!" she saluted Surya. She started going upstairs but her eyes fell on the photographs on the wall. Her mind instantly went to the phone conversation. She turned around and asked, "Nanaji! Where is mom?"
"She went out for grocery shipping."
"Um… Could you please tell me about my father?" she asked carefully.
"Now?" he was surprised.
"Yes?" she was not sure what she wanted to hear.
"Why so sudden?"
"Just was missing him."
He came close to Ashma, looked at the picture on the wall and answered, "Well! He was your mother's classmate. He loved her very much. He was a sweet guy."
"Not that. I know that. Their life story."
"Okay! They lived together for months without marriage which I never approved of."
"Yeah, I know that too. After that what happened?"
Surya took a deep breath and continued, "he asked my permission to marry her. The day he was supposed to marry your mother, his car met with an accident. After a few days, we came to know that your mother was pregnant with you. She got her love back in you." He kissed her forehead.
"So you mean I am my dad's incarnation."
"Yes dear, now go before your mother comes from her shopping."