Anaya was having the time of her life with her 4 best friends. They had just graduated college and decided to take a road trip to different parts of India before they had to start looking for jobs. It was supposed to be a one month trip. Her best friend Joanna had planned the whole thing and convinced the others to join. Convincing Anaya's parents was the most difficult task, they were very conservative and made sure she followed their strict rules. She didn't have one rebellious bone in her body and always did what was expected of her. She had never been with a boy before because according to her parents a good girl saved herself for the one she marries. She didn't agree with their views at all but thought better than to express her opinion.
Joanna couldn't bear the thought of going without her best friend and prepared a whole speech with a PowerPoint presentation and details about the whole tour with the places they would be staying to make sure her parents would let Anaya go. Two hours of non-stop talking and the final punchline of 'she has always done everything you have asked, maybe it's time for you to let her do what she wants for a change' later, her parents agreed with a condition that Anaya would call them every evening to assure them she was fine.
A week later they were on their way, Zen picked them up in a minibus they had rented for their trip. Zeeshan a.k.a Zen was a very handsome guy with a calm and composed nature, he had a crush on Anaya since first year of college but didn't have the courage to tell her. Remy and Joanna knew about it and secretly teased him. Sid was a nerd who was usually clueless about such things as he always had his nose in a book.
"It'll be a learning experience," Remy had said trying to convince Sid, "you can learn about history, geography, science and a lot of other things," so he had agreed.
The trip started off very well, they travelled to many different locations and thoroughly enjoyed themselves. Time passed very quickly and it was almost the end, one last location remained, an island a little away from south Indian border. They reached there by a ferry and were greeted by their guide. He introduced himself and asked them to follow them for a brief tour before they could settle in their rooms. He took them to the palace which belonged to a very powerful king in the 14th century, he was said to be ruthless to his enemies but passionate with the women in the kingdom.
"We have preserved the palace over the centuries and everything here is the exact same way it was during those days. We haven't made any changes, broken things are repaired but never replaced, we don't even have electricity here, it's lit with candle and lanterns like it used to be. Our whole resort is built around the palace and this place is only used as a museum," he explained.
They were in awe, every single item was so beautiful and unique. He guided them to the throne room explaining the significance of each item before they stopped in front of a portrait of a woman. Anaya and the rest were shocked at the resemblance between the woman and Anaya. The guide who had now paid attention to her noticed it too and was thoroughly surprised.
"Wow! You look exactly like her! Same eyes, same face, lips, everything," he said.
"Was she the princess or something?" Joanna asked out of curiosity.