Roshni

I opened the locker and took out the necklace I was looking for. 

"What are you doing?", Anav Ji asked me as I opened the box.

"Nothing", I told him.

"I don't remember this necklace. Where did you get this?", He asked me.

"This is my necklace", I told him.

"I can see that but who gave this to you?", He asked.

"What do you think?", I asked him back.

"I have not seen this necklace before so Mumma didn't give this to you", He said as I smiled before picking it up and adoring it.

"Are the diamonds real?", He asked suddenly making me glare at him.

"Of course they are hundred percent real", I told him kissing on it.

"I have never seen you adoring any jewelry this much", He told me. I nodded.

"Because this is special", I told him tracing my fingers on it.

"It belongs to my grandmother", I told him.

"How did your greedy brother let you have this costly necklace", He asked me suddenly.

"He is my brother. Stop calling him greedy and Badi Dadi already knew I won't be able to have this necklace after her so she had made a will in which she named the necklace in my name. She added that if it would be stolen ever then my brother had to pay for it", I told him.

"It seems like it is very expensive", He said as I nodded.

"How much your brother has to pay you then", He asked suddenly.

"They are real and rare diamonds. So I guess somewhere near 98 Lakhs", I told him as he looked at me with wide eyes.

"I am not poor", I teased him smiling at his expression.

"It's in the family for ages so yeah kind of antic", I completed keeping it back. I look at the necklace whenever I miss my great grandmother. She was the only one in the family who loved me without any greed.

Bhabhi tried to persuade me many times to give this necklace to her as she is the daughter-in-law in the family and she deserves all the family jewelry. There were various fights at home when she literally tried to snatch this last memory of my dear Badi Dadi.

Bhai knew if he tried to snatch it from me I would report him to the police. I could take anything but I can never share my belongings. Especially not this. I hold this really close to me.

"I thought you a damsel in distress", He told me as I glared at him.

"I never share my things with anyone. Once they are mine, They are mine for a lifetime", I told him. He whistled. I find it so irritating at times. Is he some bad boy or what? It doesn't look good.

"Possessive much. Is this applicable for me as well?", He asked as I glared at him.

"Get ready soon yaar. We are getting late", He told me.

"We still have three hours", I told him.

"But you take forever in getting ready", He told me.

"Shut up. Here I don't even know how to put eyeliner and you are acting like this. I have to do all my make-up myself", I whined looking at the make-up kit. My whole life I despised this thing but now I have to try.

Maybe I would resemble a ghost.

"I asked you if you need a beautician but you said 'No Anav Ji don't waste money. I would do It myself'", He mimicked me.

"Shut up", I told him.

"I will choose your lehenga. You try to do your make-up and hair", He told me as he went to the closet. I feel like a child when he does that. Why do have to act like the elder one here when he is a childish person? 

"What is this? Is it eyeliner or kohl? What if it's black lipstick", I murmured. I looked at it carefully and found eyeliner written on it.

"Alright let's separate the makeup items. I need kohl, eyeliner and that thing used to color the eyelids"(Warning-honestly I don't know what we call it. I will google it later. I don't know anything about make-up and clothes so don't expect me to give a long description of them. I never did makeup so if I would do it suddenly. I would first separate the makeup items), I murmured.

"Now for cheeks. We call it blush right? In school functions, they used lipsticks for it and I always removed it because I felt irritated with the bright colors on my pale skin", I kept on complaining as I opened Youtube and type the lamest thing I could type at the moment.

'How to do makeup like a pro?'

And let me tell you nothing was going in my brain at the moment. I remembered my mother's words at the moment.

Flashback

"See Mayura is the best in everything she does", Bhabhi said or indirectly taunted me as I removed my glasses. Yes, my eyes are weak but not that weak that I can't stay without them.

"She is beautiful and intelligent", She again said as I sighed putting my head on my table. I have to wash my hair today. It's been 9 days since I washed them. Don't blame me my exams were going on and they are heavy. It takes forever for them to dry up.

"You are right here. See Roshni her hair is a mess. She does not even know how to tie her hair properly what could we expect from her", Ma said as I pouted looking at my books. One chapter is still left and I have my exam tomorrow. I am so messed up. I thought scratching my head.

The good thing is the first thing I do every day is to take a bath. Otherwise, it would have been ages since I took bath if I sat down studying before.

"A girl should be perfect. She should know how to prepare food. She should know how to carry herself. She should know how to look good. Being a book worm is nonsense", Bhabhi said.

"A girl has to do this. A girl has to do that and the only thing boys do is take birth. Why don't you expect these things from Bhai", I spoke under my breath making weird designs on my mathematics book.

Why I am not solving the question? For the last one hour, I am looking at the same question.

Something is really wrong with my mind. What if aliens tried to take over my brain. I thought looking at the ceiling.

"Roshni", I heard Ma as I hummed tapping my feet on the floor. I was so bored and I have studied nothing.

"What are you doing?", She asked me. I looked at her with a bored face raising my eyebrows.

"Why are you eating your pencil?", She asked me with disgust as I realized I was having my pencil in my mouth between my teeth though I was not eating it. I removed the pencil and kept it between my books. I closed the books taking a sigh of relief. The words were literally dancing in my mind. 5 was doing Salsa with 1. 3 was doing breakdance and I was standing in the middle doing Kathak.

I need sleep otherwise my brain would blast any moment.

"I don't know what will happen to this girl. Now she got glasses as well. I told her not to use her laptop and phone that much but she would never listen to me. Who will marry her now? She is not even knowing how to cook", Mumma said as I sighed looking out of the window.

"I made dal that day", I told her.

"Keep saying the same thing. You don't learn by doing things once", She told me as I sighed.

"Mayura made Pasta that day and it was delicious", Bhabhi said.

"I will make pizza if you bring the ingredients for me", I said looking out of the window.

"Yeah just tell her to do something and she would name the costliest ingredients so nobody would ask her to do anything", Mumma said as I bit my lips knowing how well she understands me. I don't know how to make pizza but if I take its name then Mumma never asks me to cook because according to her its ingredients are costly.

And I hate pizza with my whole existence. 

"Who will marry this girl? Just wait and watch Mayura would get married early and she would stay single her whole life. You were having so much problem when she said she would marry a rich businessman because she is beautiful but this is going to be the truth. Even if you got married, it would just be a regular middle-class family having money problems", She said.

"There is nothing wrong with it. If someone is living respectfully in the society, it is enough for me", I told her.

"And have you thought how much Mayura would show off after getting married in a rich family", She told me.

"It's her problem not mine", I told her.

"At least learn how to do make-up or different styles for your hair. You can do any parlor course", She told me.

"I am an aspiring engineer ma why would I do a parlor course. Just because Mayura did that. Seriously", I asked her in a higher pitch.

"I don't even like your decision of being an engineer. This field is not good for girls. See Mayura is doing a teaching course. She would get a job in a government school and would get married in a good family", Ma started again.

"According to you, girls only have to do two things in life: Become a teacher and get married. And yes then give birth to kids. The world is changing Mumma", I told her in irritation.

"Our world goes like this only", She told me.

"Oh, really then why Bhaiya gets everything without doing anything. He didn't even score well in his school and college. He took wrong decisions and so much loss happened but nobody said anything to him. While I have always hard to get success but still you want to snatch it from me. If it was on you, you won't have ever given me permission to take up engineering. It's because of Shiv Bhai Saheb that I am completing my studies in the field I wanted. He is the one paying for my studies", I told her.

"Keep your tongue in check Roshni. You Bhaiya won't like to hear these things", Bhabhi glared at me.

"Go and tell him everything. I am habitual of having slaps every day. I am not scared anymore. But remember one thing you are talking about Mayura and trying to taunt me right? Everybody is having his own good days, Maybe today is her time and maybe tomorrow it's mine. Maybe I get everything in life that you thought Mayura would get and maybe she would get what you thought I would get", I told her as I turned to leave.

"Stop there Roshni. You think you can find your so-called true love. But let me tell you nobody likes such an outspoken, shameless, and ugly girl like you. Your Bhaiya has to pay so much dowry to get you married even in a poor family", Bhabhi told me.

"Don't eat your own words later Bhabhi. For instance, I won't ever marry in a family who want dowry and I am working hard to be self-sufficient in paying for my own marriage but your big egos won't let me do that. It would be a huge blow on your egos if a girl paid for her own marriage", I told her as I went to my room to have a good sleep.

Do you guys think Roshni is right? I think she is.

You can't judge someone from their looks. Outside beauty is not everything and doing a comparison is the worst thing.

And again do you guys like the outspoken side of Roshni or the timid one.

Also, the story is going to have few flashbacks from now so you can further understand Roshni's past.

Vote, Comment, and Share.

Till next time...