All these things annoyed Aisha.
'No one in this house gives a damn about me. No one respects me, something that I deserve but never got. So, whenever lowly maids like her did anything of a kind that would hurt my pride, I could only do one thing—'
"Shut up! You bitch." Aisha immediately pulled her wrist out of the disrespectful maid's hand and slapped her hard on the cheek. "You ruined my mood completely."
'— I hit her, I hit the one who cares about me the most. Maybe because I was going through a lot and wanted to take it out on someone. I needed a sandbag and I had found one, It was Maya. However, no matter how poorly I treated her she never felt bad or defeated. After every hit, she got up. Her face only ever had a bright smile on it.'
" Just be careful, miss. " Aisha hated that smile.
Because it made her feel like a loser who only knew how to whine over everything. Who complains and hits but can never stand up for herself in front of her father. It annoyed Aisha that both of them were in almost the same kind of worse situation yet one lived happily and the other only cried.
She hated that Maya was strong, Aisha wanted to strangle her confidence and make her like herself. But never succeeded, no matter how many times she hit her or insulted her, Maya always stood back up like a bright star.
" Hmph! " Aisha left the room while slamming the door in Maya's face.
"Every time— every time I hit her, she just pinches her hand and keeps a smile on her face, even if that face of hers is bleeding.
Aisha slammed at the window that appeared before the sair case using her fist. "How is she so kind and loving—" The tears that would easily get out of her eyes yet again didn't disappoint her. "I hate myself for hurting her. Yet I can't stop myself. Why? " Aisha cried and then remembered that her father had called.
Wiping off her tears, Aisha descended the stairs, patting her face in the hopes of clearing the tear patches that might have formed due to the makeup on her face.
When Aisha reached the entrance of the dining table. The head maid was waiting there, to open the doors for Aisha, that led to her family.
" You look extremely happy today, Miss? " She said.
" Yes indeed—" Aisha pulled her shoulder up in excitement. " —this would be my first lunch with my family. "
The head maid came forward towards Aisha, abandoning her shift, and then placed her hand over her shoulders, pushing them back down to their place.
She came very close to Aisha's face, instilling horror into Aisha, due to her wrinkled face and big black eyes with a huge spot of red in her left sclera, which covered almost whole one side of her sclera.
"Don't be so happy. You might think this is your new beginning but instead, it is your end. Your father is planning to throw you away now that your worth has been nullified." She said and then moved back to her shift.
She smiled stretching her wrinkled skin around her cheek and her eyes. Her eyes felt worse than that of Aisha's father. They were filled with rage. Dhananjay never looked or smiled at Aisha that way. It was different.
"Nonsense. My father had promised to set me free once the project was over." Aisha yelled at her, clenching her fist tightly denying the maid's words.
"Indeed. But instead of freedom, he is just going to transport his goods somewhere else." She replied.
"What?"
"Haha! My naive little Miss. He is going to sell you off to the Raichands. Now do not tell me you don't even know them."
On hearing it, Aisha lost her balance in the horror of the last statement. It felt like the whole ground below her was pulled away from beneath her feet not giving them the privilege of standing on it and instead pulling them in.
Betrayal! That's what Aisha was feeling. Aisha's nanny had said, 'When you feel like everything around you is destroying and that the ground is seeping you inside itself, that's the feeling of betrayal.' Aisha's own blood father had betrayed her.
'Then what was my loyalty towards him for?'
"Ha! Serves you right. How dare you stay alive after killing my sister?"
"I didn't." In the darkness of that intense moment, Aisha found a way to reply.