The Estate

It was a beautiful day, the sun shining brightly through the large windows, with the gushing sound of blowing wind, rustling leaves of trees, chirping and singing birds making a nest in the nearby bushes, water dripping from the roof on the lawn, it all sounded like natures soothing and calming music which could heal anyone who cared of it.

Ranae and Caleb on the outskirts of the city had brought this large piece of land, soon after her start up had taken off and they started to make large profits, from the investments they had made in it for over a year.

The estate was a barren land, when they had first visited it for inspection, it wasn’t fit to build a home nor could be used for Agricultural.

Large dark rocks and thorny bushes surrounded the old house, making it Impossible to walk through them, A little farther on the property there was a palace on the property which was turning into rubble, a lake with overgrown tall weeds still growing out of control, and hills on the the far end of it, but in its earlier days, this was a magnificent architectural and ancient site which, always had people gathering for parties, and dances hosted by it’s owners, and this now had turned into a ruin.

The estate had been a private property, and for nearly 400 years it was owned by a single family and had been passed down their generations to younger generations.

As the last owners passed away their kids moved abroad and settled their, they didn’t want to stay in their ancestral palace, this palace due to decades of negligence and no maintenance was turning into rubble and looked like a haunted place that was not suitable to be made a home again, The large Iron gates and the spooky Statues and structure around the property were an added benefit to the ghosts but, they too weren’t interested in inhabiting this place.

Cursed, might be the correct word to use for the estate.

Ranae and Caleb loved the estate instantly at the first look, no they were not crazy but because it was away from the hectic city life and pollution and had a lot of privacy, which their family was desperately in need of, the estate was located in an area isolated from the the city, woods surrounding it, but easily connected them to the main cities by hidden roads throughout the property, no one had any idea of this, the property dealers too had no knowledge of it.

The roads were not built as secret ways but had been blocked or destroyed in the years of neglect. Caleb had stumbled upon one of them during one of their visits and kept its discovery to himself, he didn’t think much of it at that time but later discovered it’s true purpose.

Caleb wanted to dedicate more of his time with his family and this place was the most ideal for him. The estate in it’s prime time would have been the talk of the country but time and nature had run its course and turned this masterpiece into a barren land.

They left the old palace as it had been, Rae didn’t want to destroy something that had stood for centuries, instead she wanted to renovate it when she had time and money for it, they had to do a lot of work to make this estate a place fit for them to live and call it theirs.

Rae didn’t want to hire anyone for the plan of the house as this was her dream home and wanted themselves to plan everything, from the placement of the house on the estate, to the garden, fruit orchard, herb and veggie garden for the kitchen, they planned everything and wanted it to be accommodated to their requirements, They had researched quite a lot for the finalised plan and hired the best of Engineers, architects and landscape designers for it.

Rae wanted to manage everything by herself and she was quite capable of it, her hard work and perseverance payed off finally. This was their first ever property they purchased with their hard earned money, and Rae had turned it into a beauty as it once was, well almost...., it was still in process.

Once the house was built and the gardens completed the view of it was mesmerising, the house was simple and classy it wasn’t over the top, they had built it just according to what they needed.

The house had a big lounge area which could easily accommodate around hundred guests, there were two guest rooms to the left of the lounge and an Office room, a Study for the family to the right, a passage leading to the kitchen and a dining area which then opened into the back yard of the mansion, there were large stairs to the left and right on the passage which led to the first floor, there was a master bedroom on the right and two kids room and a play area on the left of the stairs. It had all the modern amenities and requirements in the simplest form of way and had a classy look.

The Mansion was surrounded with beauty of nature, tall trees on the hills behind the house, shadowing over the fruit orchard between the mansion and the hills, It was Rae's idea to grow their own fruits, and wasn’t a wrong one, after all she had the means and the determination for it.

The entrance for the house faced the lake, In the morning when the sun peeked through the trees it was surreal. The sun set was even better as the light dimmed and turned reddish purple with crimson gold hue, the reflection on the lake looked as though the estate was floating in the sky.

Anyone who had a glimpse of it would feel like the estate was not in this world but in a fairyland.

......................

Rae: “ Hon, what are you up to?”

Both staring into each other’s eyes kept silent for a long time, they looked madly in love with each other, it wasn’t like this during the early years of their marriage, their’s had been an arranged marriage, with a simple ceremony involving only their close family members and friends, They despised each other when their parents had arranged for their marriage, they didn’t spare even a look at each other.

The thought that their feelings were not being considered for the biggest decision in their lives was a torture and they didn’t care for anything else.

But slowly things changed, and they grew feelings for each other, they had to work through a lot of differences to be at this stage.

Caleb was a tall guy and Ranae only reached his chest in height, his freshly showered body was still wet and smelled of his shower gel and cologne.

Ranae always smelled like freshly bloomed flowers, she was not too fair nor too dark her skin looked like the sun had kissed it, Caleb on the other hand was too fair almost white like snow.

Ranae had beautifully large brown eyes, with chubby cheeks and small and full pouting lips, her hair was silky straight and dark brown in colour, it reached her waist when left open against her back which she rarely did, she always styled it in a simple pony tail or in a clean bun.

When compared to Caleb no one would have ever thought that they could be a couple, Caleb was the perfect guy every girl would wish for as a husband, Ranae was beautiful and was breath taking, she always stood out anywhere she went, no girl could ever match her charm, but she was categorised as dark skinned according to the standards of the society, and fate had brought this young and beautiful couple together.

Caleb turned Rae towards him and was Mesmerised by her beauty, Her face had turned red due to the heat emitting between them, Caleb had his eyes fixed on his wife, Rae couldn’t take this torture any longer and hid her face in his chest with embarrassment.

Caleb lifted her chin so that their lips could meet and gave her a soft kiss, his lips were wet and Rae felt as though the droplets sizzled when they met, Ranae had completely lost her balance only by this and Caleb supported her by holding her in his arms.

He moved his head a little back to glance at her and embarrass her even more and she was, He smirked and kissed harder this time and he took her closer towards the wall for more balance, he held both her hands above her head so that she didn’t move.

Bang! The door was slammed open.