Chapter 129

Sorry. Not feeling well. That is why I am unable to visit the Forum. As soon as I am back in health, will read, love and "like" all comments. Until then, do forgive me and enjoy the chapters...

Chapter 204: Charmed by a Chase

Lady Anjali leaned back in the armchair, sipping her fruit juice as she watched her grandmother knit. The window of Lady Deviyani's room was open, since letting Fortune for his morning nut-hunting and, through the bright window, blew a slight morning breeze, along with the sounds of servants working their Saturday chores in the backyard.

Occasionally they heard the chatter of a familiar twosome. Nani and Lady Anjali shared a glance, knowing without having to look over that it was Payal and Kushi in the backyard.

"Kushiji is in charge of the maids doing the washing," reminded Lady Anjali, "And Saturdays we wash curtains and carpets."

"So it is," Nani nodded, "And I suppose Payal must have joined her sister, the two inseparable if spotting the other."

Lady Anjali smiled sadly and then sighed, "Kushiji will be heartbroken when Payal leaves tomorrow for the Village with Akash."

Nani paused her knitting and frowned at the floor, "If that grandson of mine was not so obstinate..."

"Could we not try and talk him to change his mind, Nani?" Lady Anjali asked concernedly, "I really want the ritual to be completed."

"More than the ritual, I want him to know what village life really is like," Nani pointed out, "He calls himself the Lord of the land. How can he be one if he knows not what life his people live?"

Lady Anjali gazed at the brilliant sky through the window, "I want Kushiji to be happy..."

Nani opened her mouth to say something when there was a knock on the door and, when verbally admitted, the door opened and the General stepped in, dressed in his outdoor attire.

"Are you going somewhere, bitwa?" Nani asked.

Lady Anjali answered for him, "He is going to the village, Nani, to get the herbalist for Lightning. Didn't I tell you?"

"Oh yes, it must have slipped my mind," Nani smiled at the young man, "Does your horse not look better?"

"No, she seems to be getting worse and I am afraid the wound must be tended differently," the General bowed, "It may take a while and the herbalist may insist for my presence if the treatment be too hard on Lightning. I may be late for lunch, hence."

"It's a Saturday and even Akashbitwa and Arnavbitwa are here," Nani said, "It would have been wonderful to have lunch with the whole family after so long..."

"But I am afraid I may not-" he saw Lady Anjali's yearning look and sighed, "I will try to come as early as I can, Lady Mother."

"Nani," the old woman reminded him, "Call me Nani, bitwa; we are family, you know."

The General smiled warmly, "At heart you are my Nani, the first I have ever had. But by tongue, I wish to address you by who you rightfully are. Forgive me if it displeases you."

"It doesn't displease me, bitwa, but when you address me by that title, you accord a distance..." Nani said.

"Distances matter not when hearts connect," the General opined.

Nani smiled, "I always knew my Anjalibitya had married a smart gentleman but I didn't know he was wise too."

Lady Anjali giggled youthfully and the General looked at her and winked, "Well Nani, there are different shades of me that only my wife really knows..."

Nani raised her eyebrows in surprise but said nothing.

As she watched her husband leave the room, Lady Anjali wished after him, "Do be safe, my love. I wish only goodness and health follow you and dear Lightning."

The late morning air was rent by the sound of Kushi's youthful laughter and the maids, who were doing the washing and drying of the Castle curtains out in the open lawn, looked over their shoulders to find Lady Payal pouting from the remark her younger sister had made.

The two sisters were seated on the bench at the backdoor of the Castle, talking sisterly things amongst themselves, while one kept an eye on the kitchen servants through the open doorway and the other minded the maids at washing in the back garden.

"Ah, Lady Kushi and Lady Payal," JayPrakash arrived on the scene, having heard the former's laughter, "how enchanting is the mirth you share that we are all drawn to you like bees to buds."

Kushi grinned, "But not as drawn as your bee instincts are to a certain bud."

JayPrakash blinked, "Certain bud?"

Payal winked at Kushi, "A certain bud that sells vegetables..."

The maids, who were putting up the long white curtains to dry on the clotheslines, started giggling.

JayPrakash went red in his ears and lifted his head proudly, "Well, it seems the tale of my romance is known in Arhasia a little too much."

"Quite much!" exclaimed Payal, "How can we not notice the lone Prakash who goes on evening strolls outside the Castle gates when the gardens within the Castle premises are wide enough for exercise."

"A true lover of Arhasia's landscapes does not confine himself within the walls and gardens of a Castle," JayPrakash reasoned with a wise grin.

Payal grinned in return, "Why, doesn't this vast Castle afford enough space for romantic thoughts?"

Before JayPrakash could afford an answer, however, Kushi eyed her sister, "Come to think of it, I suppose that is why you must leave for the Village leaving me behind..."

Payal was taken aback, "Whatever do you mean, Kushi?"

Kushi sighed dramatically and looked at the grass in mock misery, "You have no care for my feelings, Jiji, or you would have invited me along when you and Lord Akash go to Buaji's tomorrow." She looked at Payal with a sneaky sparkle in her eyes, "But now that I've given it some thought, I know you are refusing to offer me an invitation because you want the Cottage all to yourself and Lord Akash..."

JayPrakash blinked disbelievingly. He was certain he was dreaming this conversation.

Payal went red in the face, "Kushi, how-- that is not-"

The elder sister stared at the younger, knowing that the latter was only making unreasonable reasons to hide her grief of not being let to visit her home.

"Kushi, you know I only want you to come," Payal said understandingly, "But if your husband-"

"-and I come along, you will be deprived of your privacy in romancing, right Jiji?" Kushi sneered.

Payal gasped, "You little-" she reached her hands out as though to grasp at Kushi, but Kushi shot up and escaped her sister's reach.

Fired up by her resolve to not let her younger sister get away with her astute words, Payal got on her feet and chased after her.

JayPrakash realized, in worried excitement (which is an emotion of rare combination because he was both worried of the outcome of the chase and excited by its rare occurrence), that he was certainly not dreaming.

The white sheets and curtains, some dried and some wet, still hung in many numbers on the numerous clotheslines, but Kushi and Payal ran over the wide back garden, the latter chasing the former, laughing as they lifted the sides of their gowns and danced around the hanging white curtains and sheets that were flaying in the gentle breeze.

The maids stepped back as the First Lady and the Second Lady of Arhasia ran amidst them from one end of the garden to the other, circling and then back to where they had started to resume more laughing and chasing.

The sounds of their laughter filled the Castle air, and servants and family members peeped out of their windows to see what the amusement was all about, a rare happening in the sombre Castle.

Nani's ears perked up at the sound issuing from her open window, "Is that Kushibitiya?"

Lady Anjali stood up and walking to the window, looked down.

After a pause, she said, "Nani, you must see this."

The Lady Mother of the Castle put her knitting down as she stood up, and ambled hastily to the window to join her granddaughter.

The sight she was greeted with was her two granddaughter-in-laws (if there is such a phrase) rushing about the back garden, laughing and yelling out inaudible exclamations, while the maids and servants stood crowded at the doorway of the kitchen back door, applauding them on, some on Payal's side and some encouraging Kushi's legs and some cheerleading for both in the excitement of the scene.

Lady Manorama was furious and shut the windows of her bedroom, wishing Lord Manohar and Lord Akash had not gone to the Market.

"Not like they would do anything about the noise if they had been here," commented Lady Manorama frowning at the window which could not quite muffle the happy sounds from outside, "But I would have had someone to hear my urgent complaints." The sound of the Prakash brothers and the servants cheering the girls was heard just then and Lady Manorama shook her head, "Really! What a zoo this Castle is turning into!"

It was not just the ladies of the Castle who had heard the sound of the girls at their frolic. A certain young man who had been leaning back in his armchair, musing over a book, looked over his shoulder and frowned suspiciously at the open library window in the distance.

Shutting his book and placing it onto the table, he stood up and sauntered towards the window, the sunlight glowing on his pale yellow shirt whose first two buttons were undone.

Pressing his firm fingers on the window sill, he peered down as the gentle wind blew at the hair over his forehead.

The surprised look in his eyes turned to one of keen amusement on seeing his wife running over the back garden, dancing and skipping around the white curtains and sheets that were hung all over the place. He didn't notice the maids, the servants or even the sister who was chasing his wife. He couldn't quite bring himself to blink or look away as he watched her run, the hair-bun loosening and her long hair streaming like a black river in torrent as she ran, both hands clutching at the skirt of her gown.

The way she laughed and the mirth that lighted in her eyes, how her cheeks looked red with the running, how her hair slapped on her face as she raced against the breeze...

He couldn't keep himself anymore.

With quick urgent strides, he was out of the library, rushing along the landing, frisking down the stairs, and heading for the kitchens.

Leaning against the backdoor frame, the butler smiled warmly as he watched the girls but the smile died when he saw the shadow that had appeared at his side.

"My lord-?" Rahim Chacha was not sure what to say and if anything said would be appropriate, considering how angry Lord Arnav would be to see all the servants not at work and the First Lady and Second Lady not in their ladylike form.

But that was when Rahim Chacha saw Lord Arnav's expression. It was not one of annoyance but of rapture.

And the First Lord's gaze was trained only on one...

Kushi chuckled as she looked over her shoulder, knowing her sister was right on her heels, "You are too slow, Jiji! Has the Second Lord's affection softened your youthful swift?"

Kushi ran between two white sheets and emerged out, laughing, only to collide into a cold stone chest waiting for her at the other end.

Gasping she looked up, and stared at her husband's face through the strands of hair that had been blown over her face.

Panting with flushed cheeks, Kushi looked immaculate in her sun-kissed form.

His arms were around her, holding her to him, as his warm desirous gaze read the dancing lights in her eyes and the tremble on her lips.

When the chaser, Payal, appeared laughing from a behind a curtain, her legs halted and the smile on her face froze when she beheld what was before her.

Kushi panted wonderingly, "My lord, what are you doing here-?"

She had barely caught her breath from the running when he took the little remaining breath in her, his face leaning towards hers as his lips came crushing onto hers in an intoxicating kiss.

The maids gasped. Poor old Rahim Chacha almost fainted.

Turning red in her cheeks, Payal squeezed her eyes shut and looked away.

At the topmost window, Lady Anjali's mouth fell open in astonishment and Nani grinned.

The sudden silence had brought the curious Lady Manorama to peer through the tiny space between her bedroom window only to have herself blink in disbelief:

"Hello Hi! What is this I see?

Heartless Arnavbitwa making love scene?"

And not to tell what JayPrakash did. He danced a jig and didn't mind when Surabhi scowled at him to stop. Instead he professed, "How can one not celebrate at the sight of expressed love? I, for one, cannot... for I am a man of love myself."

Surabhi rolled her eyes and decided against replying.

Without a care for where he was and who was around him, Lord Arnav drank his wife's exhilaration, making her chased-red cheeks redder with his persuasive kiss.

Kushi's hands grappled at his collar as she struggled to catch her breath.

And then he withdrew from the kiss, though his arms were still around her and Kushi inhaled a fresh intake of air as she leaned against him for support.

When her heartbeat had calmed down, she bravely looked up at him.

The warm desire that swirled in his eyes weakened her knees and she gulped nervously.

He was reading the passion on her lips and the realization made her all jittery, but soon the fog in her mind cleared and she tried to comprehend what had driven him.

Kushi was clearly confused. His own words were in disarray at this juncture. He didn't do it private so it could not be for him, but there was no General here either. So who had he done it for?

She looked at him again just in time to see the clever glint in his eyes.

He leaned towards her again and, fearing he was going to kiss her again, she looked away. She had the family and servants to think of. How much more could she embarrass herself...And that too, before her Jiji's eyes! What will Jiji think of her! What if she tells of this to Amma and Babuji...?

His warm breath was on her ear and, affected, she closed her eyes.

"Next time, Kushi," he said in his low drawling voice, "Make sure you don't play chase when I am around."

Kushi turned her head to blink at him.

He smirked as he pressed her hips against him, "Or I will have to chase you myself and remind you of how you drive my senses mad."

Senses? Mad? Kushi stared at him cluelessly, but he had already released her.

She watched as he turned and walked back to the Castle. She knew many eyes were on her, watching her staggered expression and sympathizing her poor state.

But Kushi's mind was flying with the breeze.

He had said that she drove his senses mad. Was that a good thing or a bad thing?

She remembered the way he had looked at her, his eyes burning with desire, pressing her to him to show her how much he wanted her...

He had wanted to kiss her. Not to show the others but because he wanted to.

He had changed so much... He was beginning to openly express his hidden desires. And if she could ensure that he cared for her enough, she could easily make him want her to be happy. And there was one way he could make her happy... by allowing them to visit the Village.

She was certain he would let her go now, what with the General being here and all. Hope flickered in her and she grinned brightly.

I am coming home, Amma. I am coming home!