Chapter 4
The Painting

When I reached home, I was greeted by an annoyed Ishika. She silently strolled towards the bar counter and I thought she would sit on the stool and ask me to make a drink for her but instead I saw her contradicting my thoughts and going towards the swimming pool area.

What is she upto?

"Where are you going?" I called but she ignored me completely and kept on walking.

I ran behind her to match her pace. She was going towards one of my personal rooms which very few people have an access to and that excludes my step mother and sister. That room has many paintings. For me, that room is kind of very important and close to my heart.

She really was heading towards that room and I didn't know what set her off like this.

"Ishi...what's wrong?" I called again but just like before she dodged me and punched the password into it.

Yeah it's password protected for personal reasons.

And yes, she knows the password of this room because I told her and she is one of the most important person to me in this world so why not? I told you right that I don't hide anything from her.

She marched inside the room mechanically and kept on going deeper into the room.

"Ishi-"

She suddenly turned around and with a straight face asked, "What have you been hiding from me and for how long?"

I was confused.

Hiding from her?

"No, I haven't been keeping anything from you Ishi-"

"Don't lie," she said in a monotonous voice.

"You know I'm kinda getting nervous right now. There's nothing I'm hiding from you and I don't know if you are playing a prank on me or anything," I don't know why my hands started sweating and my heartbeat increased.

She bent down and picked up a huge canvas. My eyes widened in shock.

How did she discover this?

No no, don't take me wrong.
I wasn't hiding anything.

I was just...just trying to keep this away from anyone. Even Ishika.

For a second I saw a bright shine in her eyes, as if she was going to cry tears of joy but I think I was just hallucinating because then she put up a stern face and questioned, "What's this?"

"Just another painting..." I casually replied trying to make it sound as normal as possible.

She was quiet for some time and examined the painting for about a minute.

"I'm really upset that you didn't show this piece to me before," she pouted.

"I'm so sorry Ishika. I was- you know...you were going through this break up phase and I didn't want to bother you," I tried justifying.

"Okay fine I forgive you and woman, you can never bother me," she kept her eyes glued on the painting while saying all these lines. "Do you know which place is this?" She enquired.

"Not really," I honestly replied.

She nodded and didn't say anything. I was dying to tell her that I saw this place in my dream and that I could feel that place to my core but I somehow tried to control my urge to do so.

Ishika got lost in the painting...
It wasn't that beautiful though. It was just a place.

Describing the painting - It was made from the point of view of a girl standing on a hard cemented block that could float on the water and not sink into it. It was like those hard standing man-made platform. There were several platforms of such kind. There was water of deep blue colour all around, which kept flowing like a river and the wind was chilly and swift. At the far end of the painting was a huge palace and the stairs led into the river. Beside the palace, there was an enormous gate and several boats were parked there. Also, I could hear the bells ringing in the palace. It sounded heavenly.

When I had dreamt of this place, I saw a man about whom I had dreamt about a thousand times before. He was holding a woman's hand. The wind was really swift and they were sitting on the platform, dipping their feet in the chilled water, laughing over something. He kissed her cheek twice throughout the dream and it stirred something in my gut.

It was something I can still not explain.

The painting was from the view point of that woman. I couldn't see her face but I could hear her laughter. Her hair was straight and reached up till the lower end of her back. They were beautiful, long and lustrous.

The man on the other hand wasn't just beyond handsome and too gorgeous to be true but at the same time, whenever I saw him looking at me in the dream, I could feel my heart melt like butter. There was something in those eyes that I couldn't stop myself from thinking about even during the waking phase of my life.

After five minutes of pin drop silence, I couldn't control myself and blurted, "I saw this place in a dream,"

There I go!

She raised her eyes finally and gave the artist some acknowledgement.

She kept on staring at me as if I had grown two horns.

"What?" She finally spoke.

"Yeah...," and then I told her about the divine feeling and the life-size experience that I had during that entire dream.

I could literally see tears in her beautiful eyes but they seemed to be those of joy. She didn't cry though. She gets excited quickly but I have never seen her getting so excited that she gets tears of joy.

Isn't this behaviour strange?

Why is she so happy after listening about a fucking dream?

She listened to each and every dream of mine since the very beginning, that is from two months back, attentively and at the end of it she begged me to create a sketch of the man I frequently see in my dreams.

I declined at first saying I wasn't good with portraits but she insisted by saying that it would be a good past time. I wasn't really doing much these days except for shooting and attending events and the time that I was wasting by binge watching Netflix shows or sticking to my beloved boyfriend, my phone, I thought she had a point and it was a good idea.

So I considered her idea and thought of drawing his rough sketch in front of Ishika, to begin with.

The first thing I did was to get my sketch book which I use for designing from my study and started drawing the rough sketch of him.

It turned out to be nothing like I had imagined. Ishika looked disappointed. She was more than eager to see the sketch of that man who came in my dreams but since I couldn't get it out at that particular moment, I asked her to wait for some time. 

Failing the first time made me promise to myself that I will for sure make his sketch once no matter the number of times I have to redo it. 

The rest of the day was spent cooking a whole sum brunch for the three of us (Alina too) and planning for the Gala Charity Event.

My gown was almost ready and I had attended two fittings in December. I was not just representing myself there but a whole company and this was my first grand public appearance. I had to look my best because there will be paparazzi and media all around. If anything goes wrong, I'll be screwed.

I forgot to tell you all that Ishika always accompanies me to the events that take place abroad. She attends the main event as the crew coordinator which I kinda like about her. She never leaves me alone on my own on the confidence of some assigned crew. She always is there to give a personal touch to everything surrounding me.

God bless everyone with a friend like her.

Now many of you must be thinking what I do for a living. Right?

Well, I'm amongst those few fortunate kids of our country who was born in a family that always provided well for me. But no, I didn't get it all on a platter. I chose to become a fashion designer just like my real mother but I later switched to Fashion Blogging and as my blog started becoming popular, I started winning lots of awards and recognition for my work. That's when this famous magazine called Sensation stepped into the picture and offered me to collaborate my blog with their new e-magazine. I signed a two year contract with them and it worked out so well that last year in September, as the Editor-in-cheif of Sensation stepped down from her chair, she chose me to lead the magazine and with that came tons and tons of popularity.

I can say, I was lucky to be present at the right places in the right time and that clicked and earned me so much of recognition and money of my own.
~~~
Later that afternoon, Alina called me to tell me that she had a talk with Aryan and he was very busy for the next week. He had hardly got time to even talk to her and so he won't be able to come home over dinner.

Something is fishy. I thought to myself but didn't show and hung the call.

I had decided, I would surely invite Aryan home now. No matter what.

He is ignoring my sister after last night. That's weird.

Five days later...

Finally I was successful in completing the portrait sketch. The most lively part of the whole thing was his eyes. They were so beautiful. It was late at night, probably 2 AM but I was determined to finish the sketch and then sleep.

Many times, in last five days I felt what the actual heck was I doing? But Ishi motivated me saying maybe it's an indication and I should take these things seriously. I'm getting recurrent dreams of repeated things, places and persons on a loop. Maybe, there's a message that I'm ignoring.

Yes, it is possible.

And that is what kept me going on.

But the question here is, what message?

I shut the sketch book and kept it on my night stand.

Alina was kinda upset for last so many days and the reason was Aryan. He had really been ignoring her like an ass and I wasn't liking it even for a second.

My phone went off the moment I was pouring myself a glass of water.

Ishika at this hour?
Does this woman even sleep?

"Hi," she cheerfully said.

"Good night birdie" I plainly replied.

"Eh! Wait. I have something to tell you," she excitedly said.

"Now what?"

"I had sent an email to Chloe enquiring about the event and date we have to check into the hotel. You know cross checking and stuff?" She said.

"Yeah,"

"I got an email with the confirmation letter as well as a very hush hush inside news," she told me.

"Okay,"

"You know this year there's a small change in partner assignment. On the morning of the welcome lunch day, every single person, couple or not will be considered a bachelor and they'll be assigned a partner by the organisers themselves. This step has been taken to ensure that people from different fields and parts of the world mingle with each other. Isn't this damn cool?" She asked.

"Yes it is. It's really a new concept for an event as grand as this," I asserted.

"Obviously," she said. "By the way, is the sketch complete?"

"Yes, just finished it," I yawned as I replied. I was really tired and needed some rest.

"That's awesome. I'm coming over to your house to see this," she beamed.

"Of course. Now good night," I wished.

"Good night babe," she replied and hung the call.

I switched off the lights and fell into a deep slumber.

~~~
I was wearing a white shirt dress that ended much above my mid-thigh and running around in an unknown place. Everything was white. It was like a paradise. My hair was flying all over my face and I was laughing out of sheer joy. The curtains flew between us because of the wind and the vibe of the place was cheerful.

"You cannot escape from me this time," He laughed and I tunred around to see him running behind me with a paint brush in his hand. He was shirtless and in the bottom he was wearing blue jeans.

He, as usual looked like a dream that could never come true. His laughter echoed in my ears and I kind of felt the need to stop running and just admire his beautiful face but I had no time.

"Nooo...you will put paint all over me," I yelled as I kept on running around the same place. Sometimes I tried to go from behind the sofa and at times I stood on the table.

I just wanted to escape.

I giggled as I saw myself doing something crazy. I went into the kitchen, took a bowl full of flour and waited for him to catch me and think that he won.

The moment he came close to me, I threw that bowl of flour on his body and head and dropping the bowl right there, running for my life lagging my lungs out.

"No one will save you today woman," he threatened playfully as he paced behind me.

He finally caught me near the stairs and as I tried to wriggle out of his hold, he tightened his grip around me.

"Let me go please," I pleaded but I don't know why I was still kind of not able to control my laughter.

His eyes turned intense as he gazed deep into mine. His hold still didn't loosen.

"I'm sorry for this," I wiped the flour off his face and kissed his cheek.

He smiled and kissed my cheek back. He put a strand of my hair behind my ear making me shiver with a mere contact of his fingers near my soft spot.

He bent down a little and could feel his lips were just inches away from me. I thought he would just kiss me but instead I felt some wet thing on my cheek.

I snapped my eyes open in reflex and found him taking two steps back and laughing his ass off.

I touched my cheek and looked at my fingers. He had coloured my cheek red with oil colours and now I remove that thing, I would have to apply turpentine all over my face.

I was pissed at that moment. I huffed and tried to show fake anger but couldn't keep the facade up for long. I joined him and was laughing so hard that I had to take his support to stand upright.

That's when he bent down to kiss me, this time for sure on my lips, without playing any tricks but then I heard him call my name in a very low voice.

____________________________________

Hey everyone!

How was this chapter?

What do you think about Aisha?

Isn't Ishika a really weird person. Giving crazy reactions on insignificant things. Well, I know those things aren't insignificant though.

What do you think about the dream and why did that man call Aisha by her name? Does he really know her name? Or does he even exist?

Also, can anyone interpret her dream?
Anyone who can tell why she dreamt of everything white and a tint of red?
And other details that you noticed.

Do not forget to leave your votes and comments on this chapter. It would mean a lot to me to read about how you are enjoying this book.

See you next time with another update. Bye for now.