FF: ~Beauty Meets the Beast~ Part 4 Pg 18 - Page 2

"Papa, please. You must take your medicine. Stop fighting with me like a child," argued a young woman of about nineteen years.

"No, no NO! I will fight boars, climb mountains, start random fights, but nothing on this planet will make me shove that so-called voodoo drink down my throat!" Mohinder wailed back.

"Voodoo?! Papa! I'm trying to help heal you!" Geet wasn't about to give up just yet. So she tossed in the bait: guilt.

"Fine, as you wish. But I won't eat a single morsel of food or drink a drop of water unless you down the 'concoction' right here, right now."

Geet smiled to herself. Gotcha. Yes, she was just as stubborn as her old man, but it certainly had its advantages in situations like right now. Both knew her stubbornness also strung from her late mother (meaning she's received a double dose😉) and so with a frustrated "humph!" he held the bottle to his lips. Silently praying to Baabaji, he gulped it all in one go. He cringed as the bitter taste flooded through his mouth.

"That's better! See? It wasn't so hard now was it?" Geet said triumphantly as she kissed his cheek.

"I guess not. What would I do without you, dear?" Mohinder smiled while Geet giggled.

"Well Papa, if you are finished being overdramatic, I'm heading off into town. We are low of some provisions and I also wanted to stop by at the bookstore."

"Of course, you be careful out there."

"Will do. Well, I'm off!" And with that she took her basket and went out the door. The town was bustling with activity. Geet could her children laughing by the bakery. At the fruit vendor's stand, a woman was screaming at the man for slyly giving her less fruits and charging more. After gathering the necessary provisions, she heard a deep voice yell her name. "Oh GEEET!"

She rolled her eyes and tried to walk away as fast as she could without making it too obvious, but alas--

"Ah, Geet, there you are. I've been trying to catch you all morning, sweetie," a man drawled. He was about six feet in height, overly muscled, with very white straight teeth, and a breath that could knock one out for a week, in a bad way.

"Oh uh, Rahul. Uh... it's nice to see you, but I really need to get going. My father is expecting me," she replied quickly.

"Oh, c'mon you really should relax every once in a while. How 'bout your come on over to the tavern with me? I'll show you all of my gaming trophies," Rahul said, wiggling his eyebrows in the process.

"Maybe some other time, I need to go now." Geet slipped away and ran down the trail.Grrh he touched me. Yuck! She knew Rahul for a very long time. Sure, he was handsome and all, but also a complete self-centered jerk. Honestly, all the man thinks of his himself. How he became the heartthrob of the village is beyond me, she huffed mentally. She stomped all the way back home.

After dinner that night, Geet asked her father if they could go to the orchards the following day and pick some apples to make apple crisp and preserves for the winter.

"Why not," he said cheerfully, "it's the perfect season and we'll get quite a bundle of fruits. We will head there tomorrow morning." Geet lay in bed, super excited. She couldn't wait, the orchards were full of trees laden with various fruits. Near there was a meadow full of wild flowers. She remembered like it was yesterday when she would run in and out of those fields and dance around. All the picnics they had when her mother, Rano, was alive. She adored that place because it held many treasured memories. She smiled before closing her eyes and embraced sleep.

Note: Sorry I know this is short, but I have somewhere else to go in, like, a few minutes. 😆 Let me know what you guys think!