A NEW HOPE - Page 17

hey Anjali...it was a splendid update...convo were hilarious and very interesting...thanks dear for this marvelous part... 👏 👏 👏

Hey dear great update.

the idea of having the wedding in Barmerr is great. and the converstion betweeen all of them is very nice.

Waiting for the next update

hey anjali where are you?? update pls...

Hey sorry for the delay everyone... update coming up right now....

When the cars stopped outside the palace entrance, four royal guards left their posts and came over to open the car doors. One by one, all 15 friends got out of their cars and stood on the threshold of the palace. They were surprised when they saw that Kakasa had arrived before them and was standing at the entrance with a thali in his hand. It was a royal custom to welcome the king home and in this case, the wedding couple as well.

Abhimanyu went forward first and stood in front of Kakasa who applied tikka to his forehead and then did aarti of Abhimanyu. After this was over, Abhimanyu stepped over the threshold and into the palace. He turned around and standing behind Kakasa spoke to Rajveer and Naina.

"Ab aap dono ek saath aaiye…" He said to them.

They came forth; and the same ceremony was done. Once the aarti was over, Rajveer and Naina touched Kakasa's feet for blessings as he was the eldest, and then walked inside the palace. The rest of their friends followed and as soon as they entered, the wonder of the palace seemed to take the breath out of them.

"Wow… yeh toh bahut hi bada hai…" Aalekh exclaimed.

"Yea… it's huge." Yudi added.

Indeed the palace was huge. Where they were standing at the moment was the main hall of the palace. Sort of like a gigantic version of the den back in Ambala. There were paintings of Abhimanyu's ancestors on the walls, a couple of sofas were arranged in the center around a small but beautiful table which had a vase on to of it and was filled with the prettiest blue orchids.

There was a big fireplace as well, in one corner of the hall which had a mantelpiece with the most delicate, exquisite and expensive old but unique royal showpieces.Right above their heads was a huge crystal chandelier which was glistening in the sunlight coming through the big windows that were on either side of the hall which were adorned with intricate carvings on them. The windows were covered at times with the red and gold curtains that were at the moment tied up.

While everyone had been admiring the beauty of the palace, the chauffeurs had come inside with their luggage and had taken them up to the rooms. Abhimanyu decided it was time for them to rest.

"Ab hum aapko upar aapke kamre tak leke chalte hai… mahal ko hum baad mein dikhayenge… humaare paas bahut waqt hai…"

"Haan, mujhe bahut neend aa rahi hai…" Navin said.

"Tujhe toh hamesha sirf do cheez karne acche lagte hai Navin; khana aur sona…" Gunny said.

"Guys, chill… hum log yahan aaram karne aaye hai, can we go up now?" Rajveer said.

"Haan… let's go."

They walked over the marble floor to the other side of the hall where there were another big set of doors which led to a grand staircase that would take them to their rooms. The staircase was carpeted in red, and the railings were polished. They walked upstairs and they noticed that just like the main hall outside, there was a chandelier hanging from the ceiling as well, though a smaller one. Abhimnayu led them to the second floor first.

"Yahan par Ali, Gunny, Navin, Yudi, Pooja, Sameera aur Shalini ke kamre hai…"

"It's a good thing that this time we have separate rooms, after all yeh mahal bahut hi bada hai…" Sameera said.

"Haan, aur waise bhi agar humein alag alg kamre nahi milte toh rooms khali reh jaayenge…" Pooja said.

"Aisi baat nahi hai Pooja, hum sab sirf pandrah log hai… alag kamre toh kya… agar aapko do kamre bhi de de toh bhi mahal mein bahut se khaali kamre reh jaayenge… hum toh chahte hai ki aap sab shaanti se rahe…" Abhimanyu said.

"It's perfect. Yaar, main ab chalta hoon… goodnight everyone." Navin said, going to his room.

"Well, inhe aaram karne dete hai… humein bhi niche chalke thode der ke liye sona chahiye…" Abhimanyu said.

"Okay…" Roma said.

The remaining friends go back downstairs to the first floor where Abhimanyu shows Neelu, Sherry, Roma, Aalekh and Huda to their rooms.

They say goodnight and go into their rooms to rest.

"Abhi, tu kya humein bhool gaya?" Rajveer said.

"Nahi Raj… hum aapko aur Naina ko bhoole nahi hai…"

"Toh phir kahan lekar jaa rahe ho?"

"Aap chaliye toh sahi… Naina…"

"Raj, chalo…"

"Theek hai…"

Abhimanyu leads Rajveer and Naina to the other side of the floor where three rooms were. One of these three rooms was a bit further off than the other two. Abhimanyu stopped outside the room that was the farther off one.

"Naina… yeh raha aapka kamra… aap abhi aaram kar lijiye… hum sab do ghante baad niche milenge…"

"Okay, thanks Abhi…"

Naina said goodbye to Abhimanyu and Rajveer and went inside her room. The two friends then went to the other rooms and went inside to get some sleep. The special thing about these rooms was that they were bigger than the others. One of course was the king's room which was meant to be big and the other two were princely suites which were normally unused but were now perfect for the wedding couple to use.

Abhimanyu's room had been decorated very royally. There was a grand bed placed in the center of the room, next to it was a small seating area made for four people to sit. There were small couches covered in red cloth that was placed around a glass table. In that part of the room, this was the only furniture, set with some of Abhimanyu's personal belongings. The room was connected to another small room which had a big closet which held all of Abhimanyu's clothes; both royal and casual.

The bathroom was equally big and made of white marble. After changing into something more comfortable, Abhimanyu went outside the doors in his room that led to the balcony and sat there for a while.

Rajveer and Naina's room were somewhat the same, except that there was a little more furniture placed in Naina's room. She had a small dresser to herself which was next to the doors that led to the balcony. Her room was painted in a light crmeish ivory color.

After Naina had changed, she decided to leave unpacking for later on, and got into her bed which was laid with many pillows, and a big pink bedspread. As soon as Naina's head touched the pillows, she was fast asleep.

Rajveer, who had changed as well, decided to unpack some of his luggage before he went off to sleep. Within 5 minutes, everyone in the palace was fast asleep. Or at least most of them were; there were two people who were unable to sleep. Abhimanyu, being one of them was currently outside his room on the balcony decided to go downstairs. As he stepped out of his room and began going downstairs, he saw someone going through the doors that led to the main hall. Abhimanyu followed the person to the hall, and saw that it was…

"Aap?"

The person turned around and saw Abhimanyu standing a few feet away. She was shocked when she heard a voice behind her as she had thought everyone was asleep.

"Haan…"

"Roma, aap soyi nahi?"

"Nahi… mujhe neend nahi aa rahi thi… toh soch liya ki main niche aake, mahal ko dekh loon…"

"Oh…"

"Waise, aap yahan kaise?"

"Woh… humein bhi neend nahi aa rahi thi; itne samay baad Barmer laut aaye hai, isliye socha ki sone se accha hoga ki hum apne mahal mein ghoom le… waise agar aap chahe toh hum aapko mahal dikha sakte hai…"

"Sach? Theek hai…"

"Chaliye…"

Together, Abhimanyu led Roma from the main hall towards the outer area. Outside the air was cool and pleasing. They had seen most of the front side of the palace when they had arrived so Abhimanyu and Roma went towards the back side. Here, Roma was surprised to see that there was a big swimming pool, two actually. And there were chairs laid on either side.

"Wow… do swimming pool? Mujhe laga ki yeh mahal kaafi…"

"Puraane zamaane ka hoga?" Abhimanyu completed for her.

"Haan…"

"Well pehle thoda puraana tha, lekin ab yeh mahal bahut hi modern hai… aage ek garden bhi hai, chaliye… hum aapko dikhaate hai…"

"Okay…"

They passed the swimming pools and went further away from the palace. Behind the pools, there was a huge open ground which used to be barren before, until Abhimanyu decided to turn it into a garden.

There was grass growing on all sides with different types of flowers growing. There were roses, orchids, carnations, jarbera's, tulips, lilies and even daisies, and they were all in different colors, orange, pink, red, white, purple, blue, yellow. There was a path that was made in between all these flowers that ended near a swing that was a little further behind.

Abhimanyu and Roma walked over to where the swing was and sat down. It was around 5:00 pm and the sky was beginning to darken slowly.

Deciding that it had something to do with the wedding preparations, Roma went back to her room to get some rest.

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In the room, which was the study, Abhimanyu, Navin and Aalekh were sitting and talking about the call that Abhimanyu had received a few minutes ago. The call had come from Ambala, precisely from Major General Gaur at headquarters.

"Okay, Abhi saaf saaf batao ki Major Gaur ne kya kaha?" Navin said

"Usne zyada kuch nahi kaha, sirf itna hi kaha ki humein ek saath kahin akela milna hoga aur woh humein phir se phone karenge…"

"Hmm… toh kya usse pata hai ki hum Raj aur Naina ki shaadi ke liye yahan aaye hai?"

"Haan sir, woh apun aur Abhimanyu sir ne unhe phone kiya tha Ambala se nikalne ke pehle…" Aalekh replied.

"Good, ab kyunki un dono ki shaadi hone waali hai, main nahi chahta ki unhe kisi bhi cheez se pareshaani ho jaaye, isliye unhe abhi ke liye aaram karne do… agar baat bahut aage badh jaati hai… hum baad mein kuch karenge…" Navin said.

"Haan, un dono ko filhaal rest ki zaroorat hai…"

The three of them sat there for a few minutes after which Navin's phone began to ring. It was Major General Gaur's phone. We can hear only one side of the conversation.

"Yes sir…"

"Okay sir"

"Humne unhe filhaal kuch nahi bataya hai."

"Hmm…"

"Lekin press waale…?"

"Aur Brigadier Chandok ko bhi…"

"Ji sir… ho jaayega…"

"Aaj hi pahunche hai sir. Shaadi ki saari functions dus din baad shuru honge…"

"Sir, yes sir."

"Okay sir."
"Maine socha bhi nahi tha ki main ek mahal mein rahungi aur ek royal shaadi ke hisse mein shaamil ho jaoongi…" Roma said.

"Phir toh yeh acchi baat hai ki aap humein mile, hum sabse dosti kar li aur yahan aaye…"

"Haan… yeh jagah ki peaceful aur shaant hai, Ambala se bilkul alag hai…"

"Hmm… hum yahan kaafi waqt baad aaye hai; lekin ghar aake accha laga… yahan par ek alag si chain aur sukoon milta hai…"

"Par yahan aap akele rehte kaise ho? I mean, itne bade rajya ke raja ho…"

"Akela toh hoon… lekin Kakasa ne humaara khayal bachpan se rakha hai… woh hamesha ke liye toh nahi rahenge… par kya kare…?"
Before either of them could speak anything else, Abhimanyu's phone began to ring. He answered it and spoke for about a minute or two before hanging up and then turning to face Roma.

"Kya hua?" She asked.

"Kuch nahi, humein thoda sa kaam hai… humein waise bhi andar chalna chahiye… aap thodi der ke liye so jaaiye… baad mein mahal dekh lena…"

The two of them went back inside the palace. Roma went towards the doors that led to the rooms while Abhimanyu went towards one of the rooms that were on the ground floor. She noticed that Navin and Aalekh had gotten up and were waiting for Abhimanyu in the room.

The conversation ended. Navin switched the phone off and turned to face Aalekh and Abhimanyu and told them everything that Major General Gaur had just told him. . From what he had been told, everything in Ambala was going fine for the moment. Brigadier Chandok had been informed about the details on the terrorists, and had later released a statement to the press that Mr. Shroff was in a comatose state, while he was really resting in KMA.

M.G. Gaur was sure that the remaining terrorists had heard the news and had wired a connection from the chalet to the headquarters to keep an eye and ear open for any developments.

So far, the headquarters had not seen nor heard anything of importance, but M.G. Gaur had told Navin that if anything came up, he would call again and also that everyone that was invited for the wedding would be arriving on the day before the functions began. By the time they finished talking, it was almost 6:00. Everyone had said that they would wake up by 6:30, so the three of them decided to sleep for the remaining half an hour.

***********************************************************

Meanwhile, in Ambala at Kanchenjunga Military Academy, Major General Gaur was in a meeting with Brigadier Chandok about the latest developments. They were sitting in B.C's office and talking about what they were going to do next.

"Well M.G Gaur, agar aapko lagta hai ki wahan par kuch ho sakta hai toh aap aaj hi Barmer ke liye nikal sakte hai…"

"Okay sir…"

"Good, aur haan thode dino ke liye wahan ke headquarters mein undercover hi raho, unhe pata nahi chalna chahiye…"

"Yes sir…"

"That'll be all, main shaadi shuru hone se ek pehle Barmer pahunch jaunga…"

"Sir."

The meeting ended and Major General Gaur left to get ready to leave for Barmer. It was already around 7:00 p.m. and if he left tonight, then he would reach the army headquarters before midnight.

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Thats all for today, sorry for such a small one... i'll give 2 updates tomorrow...