Sienna Point of View

I looked at the familiar imposing figure standing before me looking thinner than yesterday with same dull eyes and five 'o clock shave. There was blackish purple shadow below his eyes reminding about the sleepless nights he must've gone through.

I should've felt sorry, should've pitied him but like every day, I felt nothing. I didn't care at all how he is.

I walked past him like always and came out of the little building and crossed the road to go inside my now home. I'm still living in the mansion with Niccolo's grandma who is now my grandma.

It took me seven months to get out of my depression and it was possible all thanks to grandma. Once I'm back to a little life, grandma came to know about my goal to save unwilling prostitutes and get them a dignified living. She immediately suggested me that I should start a small academy where I can give the women the knowledge about few subjects which may help them in living their lives on their own.

I wanted to move out from the mansion and do the job but grandma was adamant enough not to let me go at all saying that I would be relaxed and peaceful since it's countryside here. I didn't argue with her as I also wanted to live with her. She was a sweetheart and a very precious person in my life.

She helped me lease an empty building opposite to our mansion and setup a small academy over there for ladies who are like me and Phoebe.

I thought there is no meaning in my life and everything in me was just dead, but Niccolo and grandma were the people who made me what I am today. They did not rush into curing my broken self, they were slow and patient.

I'm very glad that I met grandma.

"How was your day, nipotina" Grandma asked, handing me a cup of coffee along with a plate of some fried snacks.

I grinned at her and nodded positively before taking a big gulp of hot coffee. She narrowed her eyes at me, "You are not really smiling, bambino. What happened?" She queried knowing me too well. I just shook my head and sighed loudly not wanting to worry her issues relating to him.

"He was following you again. Wasn't he?" She narrowed her eyes with irritation and anger. "Wait here for a minute, I'll just be back giving him a piece of my mind." Grandma stood up furiously.

"No, No grandma. Leave it. I don't want you to go and talk and give him a wrong impression that I care about anything that is related to him because I don't. I don't want you to dwell with such people for me." I scrunched my nose in disgust and pulled grandma to her chair.

"Here, enjoy your coffee with me." I poured a cup for her.

I smiled at how she gave me a wrinkly pout and ordered one of the maids to bring another plate of snacks.

I'm so lucky to have met her but I have this one doubt that isn't answered yet.

Why? Why did she took me in even after knowing about my profession?

Why she treated me like her own granddaughter?

"Grandma, can I ask you something?" She nodded and encouraged to continue.

"Umm, Why did you take me in? You know I was a prostitute and still you took care of me. Aren't you ashamed of me?" I asked meekly just above a whisper. I didn't want to ask this question because I know she doesn't like calling myself an escort but I'm just curious why this old wrinkly kind woman is like the way she is.

Grandma smiled softly at me, "You know bambino, few decades ago, the rank of a woman is nothing but a humble housewife and a legal bed-warmer. I was raised that way too, learning how to cook, sew, clean and how to satisfy my husband. Then I got married to Niccolo's grandpa. He was very rich and known as a lion in business world those days but he was very modern and soft from heart." She said chuckling.

"We were newly married couple and one day I was ordered by mother-in-law to get dressed in something revealing and sexy as my husband will arrive home soon and apparently he had a very busy and tiring day so she suggested me to take care of his tiredness in the night. You know what I mean, right?" I nodded to grandma's mischievous smile and made myself comfortable in the chair to listen carefully.

I don't know why she was telling me all this but I think she has some moral in the end of this story. So, I just listened to her intently not wanting to miss any detail.

"I didn't love my husband. He was just my husband. There was no question of loving each other as it was an arranged marriage but I accepted my mother-in-law's order and got myself into some nice sexy nighties and sat on bed waiting for my husband to come and get over his tiredness by tumbling in bed with me. I was waiting for him but slowly I got so sleepy that I leaned on the slept unintentionally. I woke up from my little slumber when I felt I was being moved. My husband was laying me on the bed to let me sleep comfortably." She smiled softly reminiscing the sweet moments and I was looking at her with mesmerized and awe look.

That was so sweet of her husband!

"Anyways, I woke up instantly and sat on the bed with an unease shy look. I immediately walked to him and helped him with his office bag and his clothes and served him hot food. Once he had his food and freshened up, he went back to his side of the bed and laid there ready to sleep. I didn't know what to do. To disturb him from sleep and do what I was ordered or go against my mother=in-law and let him sleep. I thought my mother-in-law was scary than my husband so I just shook my husband and told him that I'm ready to pleasure him." I laughed out loud when grandma was blushing and her already pink cheeks turned red.

"And? What happened grandma." I asked desperate to know the further story.

"My husband looked at me like I've grown two heads and I was so awkward. He immediately smile and sat while leaning on the bedpost. He took my hands in his and started narrating a story. I don't know if there's really a story like that or it was just his creation but that small story became the base for our successful relation."

"What? What was the story and how is it related to me?"

Grandma patted my head soothingly and said what her husband said, "You know how a woman is created, Dolce! When God and angels were planning to create a woman, they didn't know how to make her. It was not as easy as to make a woman since according to them woman would be a base for lives on earth. So, one of the angel suggested that they should use a drop of blood from everyone of them as a woman should as kind and caring like angels. Another angel suggested that there should be tears of God because tears are the purest and cleanest water you could ever find. The source of them is from one's inside and tears represent many emotions. Another angel suggested that they use fire. Like how fire burns everything that comes in contact with it, a woman should be as pure as fire to even suffer the heat herself to burn away the bad in others. And to some up, God suggested they add rays of sun, for, woman is always a light to other people." She narrated the myth which her husband narrated with few happy tears rolling from her eyes and I exclaimed a 'wow' tearing up myself.

How noble of him! Such good thoughts grandpa has!

Amazing.

Clearing away her tears, "I was so overwhelmed by his story that I hugged him immediately not knowing what to respond at all. That's when he said that I am not someone who is just born and raised to be a pleasurable source for some impure of an animal called man. I am an woman and I am much more than pleasing him and pleasing his parents. I am tears who wash away his sins. I am his fire who burns away his ego. I am his sun who shows a right path to him and I am THE GREAT WOMAN who extends his bloodline and legacy not caring for my health. You know how lucky I felt when I heard this from him, Sienna Bambino! No amount of gold, money or wealth could have made me so proud and happy what his words of respect made me. Till that moment, I didn't know what kind of person my husband was. I was just ordered to take care of him and I did with no questions but from that very moment, I fell for him every second." I was already crying a river listening to her talk about her husband.

"Your husband was a great person, Grandma. He sounds so sweet, mature and respectful." I said hugging her tightly.

Grandma patted my back in a soothing matter, "So, my dear bambino, do not ever question your purity based on your profession. No matter what is the source of fire and how it's ignited, it still burns us. The same way a woman's purity doesn't depend on what her occupation is; it depends on how she stood it. You, my dear should stop dwelling on how you became a prostitute and how painful it was because it only makes you weak. You need to consider how you survived it. Like I said, A woman is a Woman and no greatest of the greatest creature/man can come up to compare a woman. A source of purity is never impure, sweetheart."

Grandma's words were like honey in ears. They were soft, soothing yet true and genuine. I suddenly felt that if it was fate that I need to go through a lot of hassle to meet this old kind woman in front of me, then I don't regret going through such pain again.

She taught me a valuable lesson to me and I make sure to make best out of my life from here on.