The guest in Red.

The night's moon seemed more beautiful than usual, but nothing tonight was as beautiful as Aima. Love had cast its color over her, and for the first time, she felt envious of her own fate. Gathering the folds of her lehenga in both hands, she stood before the mirror, watching the girl staring back at her , someone she barely recognized tonight.

Aima, don't look at yourself so closely , someone's eye might fall on you.

She was speaking to herself, and yet, some part of her wished someone else were watching. Someone specific. Someone who wasn't supposed to matter anymore, but somehow still did.

"Aima!" a voice called, pulling her back from wherever her thoughts had wandered. "Where did you disappear to?"

It was her friend. Aima blinked, looking around as if waking from a dream , she was, in fact, wearing a bright red lehenga, bangles catching the light with every small movement. But she was standing at someone else's wedding, in someone else's moment, wrapped in a joy that wasn't hers to keep.

"Come on, everyone's waiting for you on stage," her friend said again, gently tugging at her arm.

Aima gave a faint smile, the kind that looked convincing enough from a distance , and walked quietly toward the stage. Her steps were steady, practiced, the way one learns to walk through pain without letting it show. But just before she reached the stairs, her eyes lingered a second too long across the room, on the groom & bride seated beneath the flowers, laughing at something someone had said.

And Aima climbed the stage, smiling for everyone else, carrying a heartbreak no one in that hall would ever see.

_____****

I wrote this short story months ago for a magazine's contest, hoping it would find its place there. I waited, patiently, holding on to that small hope but in the end, I didn't win. Someone else did, and their story deserved it too. Still, I refused to let that moment take away my confidence in my own writing. So today, I'm sharing this piece with my favourite community here, @ladiesofhive because I want your honest opinion. Do you think it deserved to win? I'd love to know what you genuinely think of my writing and I'll be waiting for your thoughts and support.

Thank you so much #aimanwrites