Chp. 9 Back to the Palace
Abhimanyu rushed out of the hut to follow her but there was no sign of her. Damn these telecallers he thought, because of that idiot phone call he couldn't even ask her name. All along he had been thinking about getting kunwarji close to that girl and make him accept his feelings for her and now when his work had been made easy by her presence, he had done absolutely nothing to stop her. He had failed. He wouldn't get such a chance again. He thought that he was being too cynical he didn't even know whether kunwarji had even seen her or no today. After all, whatever had happened today had been the plan of destiny.
But what exactly had happened today? He was still lost in thought when he heard kunwarji call his name, "Abhimanyu, how did you manage to find me?""Kunwarji relax, you need rest," he said in a concerned tone. He made Armaan lie down again and then said, "When you didn't turn up for so long, I decided to call you up but your cell was not reachable. So I decided to go in search of you. On the way, I saw a pool of blood near the bushes and found your bracelet near it. I was worried for you. I saw a trail of blood and decided to follow it and then I spotted this shack. Armaan tried to get up but his shoulder ached severely, he touched it and found it firmly bandaged."Abhi, who tied this and how did I land up here? The last thing I remember is that I was listening to those girls when I think I was attacked by a snake and within a few moments I lost consciousness and fell on the ground," he said. "Girls? Which girls kunwarji?" queried Abhimanyu.Kunwarji's face lit up as he said, "Ahimanyu, you remember the other day, the girl who was by the riverside, I saw her today!""Really?'' Abhimanyu feigned surprise."Yeah, while I was going to check the remaining 2 locations, I was walking through the bushes when I heard someone singing. The girl had a very melodious voice. I halted for a while to listen to her. But soon she was interrupted by her friends and they started talking about her love," replied Armaan."What! She's in love?" asked Abhimanyu incredulously."Yeah, but why are you so shocked?" asked Armaan."Oh nothing, kunwarji. So then what were they saying?" he asked feeling dejected, since this girl was out of bounds, they would have think of some other way to get Kunwarji away from Princess Muskan."You know, this girl intrigues me. She is in love with a guy she hasn't even seen, and she loves him with such sincerity and devotion you won't believe. You know I was really jealous of this guy initially, but now I'm not," he grinned and continued, "Abhi when I saw this girl that day, I was instantly attracted to her in some unnatural sort of a way. The more I thought about her, the more restless I was to meet her. But still I just didn't want to accept my feelings for her. But today when she said that she was in love with someone, I felt like I was stabbed, I felt that I had lost my most priced possession, and it was then that I realized that I am in love with her. Yes Abhimanyu, I'm in love with her!"Abhimanyu was shocked at this discovery. He was happy and sad at the same time. Happy because kunwarji finally believed in love and sad because his new found love already belonged to someone else. "But kunwarji, didn't you just say that she is in love with someone?" asked Abhimanyu depressed."Yeah Abhi, you're right," Armaan said with a twinkle in his eye. "She is in love; she is in love with none other than the prince of the Shishodiya kingdom, Prince Armaan Shishodiya!" Abhimanyu was relieved to hear this. He said, "Whoa! kunwarji congrats. So did you talk to her? What's her name?""No Abhi, unfortunately I couldn't talk to her and nor do I know her name. Before I could talk to her I was bit by that snake and I fainted. What happened after that I don't know, but yeah, she's become the princess of my heart!" he replied gleefully."I know kunwarji. Your wound was taken care of by that very girl and she has done it really well. She was here when I came. She said that she has removed the venom and applied a herbal paste. Does it hurt still?" asked Abhimanyu."Not much, I really want to meet this girl Abhi," Armaan said with longing in his voice."Yeah kunwarji, we shall definitely do something about this. But at present you need rest. We need to get back to the palace. One more thing, Nikita ji had called, she was really worried about you but I haven't told her anything," said Abhimanyu."Good Abhi, thanks a lot. What would I do without you?" Armaan sighed."It's okay Kunwarji will you be able to walk back to the car?" he asked concerned."Yeah, I'll manage. Let's go," replied Armaan.Armaan got up and put on his shirt. They slowly walked out of the shack. It had grown extremely dark. They treaded their way through the bushes in the dark. They soon reached the car. Abhimanyu sat in the driver's seat with kunwarji by his side. He drove slowly in the cool night. The sound of cicadas following them. A bat swooped in the sky above them. It was after midnight that they reached the palace. It was quiet. Everyone was asleep. Abhimanyu left Armaan in his room and after making sure that he was comfortable and didn't need anything more, waved him good night and left. He decided to check on Nikita before he hit the bed. The corridor was deserted. He sneaked to her room. She was sleeping peacefully. He kissed her forehead and whispered, "Sleep well my princess, see you in the morning." He closed the door and left. He was extremely tired and fell asleep immediately as he hit the bed. However, Armaan couldn't catch a wink of sleep till the early hours of dawn. He was still thinking about Ridhima before he fell asleep. She kept haunting his dreams throughout the night.*** Edited by tes_v1 - 15 years ago
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