ArHi FF:4:The BEASTS and the BLEEDING ROSES - Page 41

So its gonna be a ball…..without Lord's permission…..let the mighty lord save them from the wrath of the earthly lord😊…But then what is life if there is no fire…..I loved the bonding between the girls……and Rahim chacha…his Fatherly affection…..……I feel Khushi is blessed to have so many people who have genuine affection for her

Chapter 125: Revisiting the Castle

Simple and Sweet update..

A person who leaves her blossom in each relationship she share with everyone is Khushi'! I adore this quality of her'

Kushi stood at the doorway and beheld the radiant woman sitting on the bed, pillows propped up behind her against the headboard. The sunlight from the window cast its gentle caress on her sweet face and her sad smiling eyes looked up to see the young girl at the door.

Oh my my' again fab description' love you lin..!!

Kushi sat on the bed next to her and smiled, "I missed you all so terribly. Only when I stayed for a prolonged few days at my home did I realize how special this place had become to me."

So true' we understand person's importance when they are gone or are not around' we love them even more'

"An evening ball! And not just a ball but a real masquerade."

Wooo Hooo' Its gonna be fun Linny'.
I so damn sure Lordy is gonna be bowled by beauty of khushi.. he is gonna be mesmerized' but plz plz plz no red gown for her this time' I wanna see her in totally different color'.

Lady Lavanya snorted, "Oh, Kushi! Where has your hatred for him gone? I say this ball must be done for he can't always have things his own way."

Be careful, Khushi.. ur best friend will read your eyes and hear the words that u havent say'.

So eagar to do Ball dance with my lordy... but he will dance with khushi noo... hmmm.. Idea.. i will transform in khushi...😉

My mind, brain, soul n heart has started lining up the songs... for the coming update of ball dancing i think i will have lots n lots of songs...

pyaare pyaare lamhe, pyaari pyaari baatein
sapno ke din hain, sapno ki raaten

ho goonjen hai dil ke taraane
bajne hain geet suhaaneh
behke hai saare deewane
toh nach le nach le all night

where's the party tonight
on the dance floor
oh sapno ke din hain, sapno ki raatein
where's the party tonight
Dance with me baby, wont you dance with me all night
Won't you party party party, wont you run the floor all night
Wanna naach all night
Do you feel alright
Wanna naach all night

Rabbe Ve, everyone!!

Aurakins: Like Shas said, its surprising always to hear that you READ through all those chapters. But YAY!! You're back! Will look forward to more of your "deep-meaninged" pics. For the last one, I loved the interpretation you told me it held and let me tell you, it is true to the pixel! So dearest butterfly, get ready to fly. And of course, you already know what is about to ensue in this Narration! *wink*

Leafs: Goodness! You're free of the Captain? Really? Is this true? Oh my! This is like a burst of happy news to well……erm…..glim busy days of the Comrades. But I am so happy you are getting a break! You really need to stretch those muscles and breathe more calmly now. And hope the Captain was not too annoying. I find him quite irksome!

ASRandKKGSRFan: Congrats on turning Goldie. I always feel so happy when I see you could make it to the Inn. And sometimes, if you are unable to comment, its okay. Just read and press the "like" and I know you will have found the update to your liking!

Music: I know you are a lot busy, dear S, but we are all missing you a lot. But you are such a dear, trying very hard to show up to the Inn and whenever we have a birthday girl to be made special!

Zonera: So glad to know your eyes are better dear! Hope dear Mother or yours does not frown upon you for sneaking into the Inn when you do.

Yush: I don't need long comments dear. Just love. And I feel love even in the silences. So glad to know you care, dear.

rockprincess: You are one really excited reader of mine. I had many excited readers to begin with but now they are all mellows down cox they are part of my life and also because there is nothing much happening in the FF lately. But you are still new and jolly and as you grow dearer to me, I hope I will see you not as the receiver of my updates, but as the sharer of my joy, coz just like how all of my readers enjoy my updates, I doubly enjoy writing them!

Anusada: I am so glad to see you back, dear! I know you've PMed me about your camp, but I would really like you to share your experience here in the Inn or in the Cottage so that everyone can know what you were up to! Its always good to listen and I want everyone to pause and listen to everyone else here and I know my Comrades do it the best…….So please, dear, share it with everyone. You can use the Cottage if you want…..but I would really want you to tell your experiences at the camp with those who are willing to listen……..Because you can hear with your ear, but to listen……you need a heart! And I know my Comrades are full in their heart and yet have space for more love and listening!!!

Khusiarnav: Sush, I know I should have said this before but that little incident you shared in the Cottage about that juvenile institution……..I was so moved by that boy's outburst that I wish I could be strong at heart and able in mind to be able to hug him and tell him its alright. To work with kids like these, you need a lot of prayer, strength and patience, right? And underlying all this is love…….I wish I could be more like the person needed to give strength and love to children like them…..Thank you for sharing that with us.

Riti: It's so wonderful having you here! I really need to awaken myself to the fact that I have an crooner-writer here in my Inn!!! It's actually like having one of the greats visit you and tell you 'can I join?' Oh and did you know that I try to make my FF what the show was in the beginning. With all the connections and mysteries and symbolisms, waiting to be interpreted? There are some brilliant interpreters here and I am sure they would be happy to have you join with their thoughts. They are on a break now, some vacationing, some with family, some with exams, some busy in work……but they are all here, waiting to think, live and love this humble FF of mine…….I am always moved by their love!

Indiavizion: I am so SO SO very glad you got your little wish fulfilled on being first to comment! I think I am more happier than you in seeing your wish come true! Never knew you had a wish like that…….You are too kind, dear!

Saomom: You know why I love you the best! Coz you are willing to take me with whatever I come. Your comments are always tiny pills of support, telling me that you are all ready for the mad masalas to come, however their nature be. Thankyou, dear T, for this love of yours! And yes, you are the finest stalker in Arhasia, though you've learnt to remain in patience lately!

Happy hellgirl: Missed your Rabba Ve salutation this time but you are such a joy dear! Always!

Hope everything turns out well for Achu and Sammykins, who are being missed in the Inn and Cottage but we know there are matters holding you all away. And Soul, glad to know your grandmother is better and praying she get extra better by the day……

I want to thank all the others as well but for now, I have to narrate two chapters before I rush to do some work. I will be at the Cottage when I come, ever. Any questions, suggestions or doubts can be asked there and I will gladly answer them for you…..

The Door to the Cottage

Two updates? Yes, I am putting in two chapters instead of one in honour of two dear Comrades who are celebrating their birthday: Shas- its belated for her but still she's a dear one of all of us and we love her a lot and wish she would return soon-then we have dear Leena (today is her day) whose cheer and jolly company of monkeys lighten up the spirits of those gathered!

So no time to waste: grab your favorite beverage, gather around the warm fireplace near your Storyteller (oh, please don't squeeze me!) and brace yourselves for……well, I don't know what the update will be like for you. I think I'll let you decide……..

Chapter One Hundred Twenty Six: The Orchard Revisited

Apparently there were fruits in the kitchen but Nani insisted that fresh ones be plucked for Lady Anjali from the Raizada Orchard. (You will remember it from being the first Raizada territory Kushi had visited in this tale and the occasion which had led to the entire tale happening!).

Nani was about to order the butler to send some servants to collect the fruits when Kushi cheerily volunteered to do it herself.

"For my love for Lady Anjali," said Kushi.

Nani smiled and then Lady Lavanya added, "I will come too, Kushi, though I know nothing of fruits and fruit-plucking."

Kushi was thrilled and Nani let them do the honours of the fruit-gathering.

It was an ordinary day and all the servants were busy about the house. No one was around the Orchard so the girls had the large Orchard of manifold produce to their own. Kushi strolled around the trees and bushes with a spare basket, borrowed from the kitchen, hanging by her arm while Lady Lavanya stopped to admire the fruits.

"Oh look! A strawberry! On a shrub?" she looked at Kushi, "And all this time I thought strawberries grew on trees!"

Kushi giggled, plucked a strawberry and bit it.

Lady Lavanya stared at her as Kushi chewed with thought and then smiled, "Sour and sweet! Just perfect!"

The lady was taken aback, "You actually ate it without bothering to wash it?"

"Yes," Kushi said casually and plucked another strawberry, "The air in Arhasia is young, pure and untainted. And I must say, the First Lord was clever enough to at least position his Industry miles away from habitation and cultivation." Then she extended the strawberry in her hand to Lady Lavanya.

"Hmph!" Lady Lavanya frowned at the strawberry, "You really think I would eat it raw? I've only had it in puddings and cakes."

"Try it," encouraged Kushi, titling her head to a side as she watched Lady Lavanya's hesitant expressions.

Lady Lavanya leaned down and, without touching, bit the strawberry off Kushi's hand.

Chewing on it, she winced when the sour tingled on her tongue and hastily swallowed it, finally smiling in the aftermath of the sweetness, "It's strange……I actually loved it!"

"Then feast yourself, my lady," said Kushi, waving her hand majestically across the shrub.

Giggling and jesting and laughing, the girls ran about the entire Orchard, tasting fruits and plucking the best ones and dropping them into the basket.

"This is fun!" exclaimed Lady Lavanya, her gown and lips red with all the cherries and strawberries she had devoured, "I've never had so much fun in all my life!"

Kushi bit into an apple and smiled, "It is a known fact that the apples in the Raizada Orchard are the sweetest. Have you tried them, my lady?"

"The tarts made of them in the Castle, I have," said Lady Lavanya, "But not them raw."

"Well, then, you must," said Kushi and was about to pluck another apple for her friend, when Lady Lavanya stopped her, "Don't pluck a new one for me. I'll have the one you bit into. It's quite large to be eaten by two impish girls, I'm certain."

And Kushi watched as Lady Lavanya took the apple from Kushi's hand and bit the other side where Kushi hadn't bitten.

"Mmm," Lady Lavanya moaned happily, chewing, "This is real sweet." And she took another bite and Kushi laughed, "Look at what I've done to my poor Lady Lavanya!"

Lady Lavanya grinned and waved the apple in the air, "You've brought the best in me and, I must say, I am enjoying this new me!"

Kushi laughed and was about to reply when her eyes looked over her friend's shoulder. Lady Lavanya was too busy enjoying her apple to notice Kushi's expression.

A kind of longing and sadness seeped through her gaze as she beheld the vineyard of the place. And all above it were rich violet grapes………….

Kushi shut her eyes to not let a certain memory cross her mind. But when she opened them, she couldn't help but voice, "Violet grapes are the most enticing things one can ever feast upon."

"Are they? I know wine is……." remarked Lady Lavanya casually, munching her apple and looking over her shoulder to see the vineyard that had caught her friend's vision, "I must say, it's sad we can't pluck them for they are at too great a height."

"We can use a ladder," said Kushi, not knowing why she must have some of those grapes.

Both the girls stood there and looked around to see if they could spot a ladder.

"There," pointed Lady Lavanay, having finished her apple, and Kushi looked to where Lady Lavanya was pointing and spotted a wooden stepladder leaning against the orange tree.

With some pushing and pulling, they finally managed to position the ladder before the tall winding vine-creepers, and while Kushi lifted her gown and climbed form one side, Lady Lavanya held onto the flanks of the ladder and climbed from the other side.

Kushi was already plucking the grapes while Lady Lavanya stood steadying her stance for a while, after which she joined to help in the plucking, and together they began filling the basket below.

As the girls busied themselves in the Orchard, dressed in a suit and looking stately, Lord Arnav was walking past the Orchard, heading for his Castle, his hands in his royal pockets, as he nodded to what Master Aman was telling, who was following after his Master, equal in speed and stride as his Master's legs were, but always a respectable step behind his Master.

"The shipment to China was successful," Master Aman was saying, holding a paper before him, "And their response to the invoice had arrived last day, sire. Shall I read it out to you?"

Lord Arnav kept walking on, his hands in his pockets, and said, without looking over his shoulder, "Yes, but read out just the particulars."

He had intended to inspect the Orchard before heading for the Castle and walked into it, followed by his servant who had begun reading out the formal letter to him.

Lord Arnav had barely stepped in when he stopped, his eyes transfixed on the sight before. Master Aman stopped too, not having looked up but sensing his Master had stopped, and assuming that his Master had halted because he wanted to pay attention to what was being read, Master Aman continued reading the letter.

But Lord Arnav was far from what Master Aman had assumed. In fact, he stood there, rooted, his eyes lighting up on seeing the sight before him.

The girl he thought he would never see again was there in the Orchard. His Orchard. The more he had tried to push away from his mind, the more she had come to haunt his thoughts in her absence. And now, seeing her here and realizing it was not a dream, he felt something leap in his chest.

He gazed at her, forgetting everything else, seeing nothing but her. And to make the moment more arousing, she was standing on the third step of the tall stepladder, facing the vast curtain of vine creepers from which hung manifold bunches of violet grapes.

The memory of her tangled in the vines crossed his thoughts and, along with it, new images crept into his mind.

She was tangled in the vines, rich round grapes encircling her gown and arms and neck, and she was dancing around, as much as her hands and legs permitted to move. She was laughing merrily and then she stopped and looked at him. She winked, "Hungry, my Lord?"

He opened his mouth to answer, but with a very desirous look in her beautiful eyes, she lifted her hand and bit the grape that was on the creeper wound around her wrist, her tempting eyes on him.

Affected, he groaned aloud, "Kushi……"

Master Aman looked up from the letter he was reading and frowned confusedly at his Master. And then his expression turned to one of surprise. His Master's eyes had a strange light in them, as though he was delighted. A gentle kind of delight. This was the first time he was seeing his Master in such a form.

Master Aman's gaze moved to appraise what had caught his Master's attention so. And then he gasped, the letter in his hand falling to the ground.

Kushi and Lady Lavanya were standing nearly on the top of the stepladder, and it had begun to wobble unsteadily.

Kushi cast a panicked look at the other, "My lady, you mustn't stand on the board! Only on the steps."

"Kushi, why is this shaking?" Lady Lavanya's voice was feeble.

"Step down, my lady! Step down!" Kushi yelled.

There was only one fault in that command.

What Kushi meant was to step down from the board and to stand on the steps to balance the weight on either side of the stepladder but, in her panic, Lady Lavanya stepped all the way down the steps and slipped hastily onto the ground. The imbalanced weight on the stepladder made it unsteady and Kushi, clutched the grapes in her hold and turned pale in her face, afraid to move.

This was the scene that Master Aman looked up to see and he rushed towards the vineyard which was still a long way away and he feared if he would reach them on time.

But that was when he realized Lord Arnav was already nearing the vineyard. Even before Master Aman had moved, Lord Arnav had run towards the ladder.

Master Aman realized that Lord Arnav was heading for the side of the stepladder where Kushi was standing and Master Aman changed his route to reach Lady Lavanya.

"Kushi!" Lady Lavanya stepped towards the unsteady stepladder again, her hand reaching out for her friend, but strong hands clutched at her shoulder and dragged her away from the stepladder, which was leaning dangerously towards where she had been standing.

In the last moment, Kushi did the last thing she could think of. From the topmost third step, she leapt off backwards, hoping the grass on the ground will pillow her fall though she knew the ground would be hard.

She shut her eyes as she took the leap, and the huge stepladder fell heavily onto the ground, while she fell right into the arms of familiar warmth, and her face pressed to his chest.

"My lady, are you alright?" asked Master Aman, releasing his hold on Lady Lavanya's shoulder.

Lady Lavanya was shaken and had been staring at the ladder, but through her tear-filled eyes she saw a blurred Kushi fall into someone's arms, and only then did she turn around to look at the man who had spoken.

"Oh," she sounded disappointed, "Aman? I thought you would be ASR……"

"It was certain Master could not reach you both at the same time," offered Master Aman kindly, bowing, "Are you alright, my lady?"

Lady Lavanya nodded but her gaze had turned to look at the one who was holding the terrified Kushi in his arms.

Master Aman's gaze too moved to Kushi, worried if she was fine. And then he saw Kushi lift her head up to look at the man in whose arms she lay.

Lord Arnav frowned down at her, "What do you think you were doing? You could have gotten yourself killed, you stupid thing!"

Kushi could not speak anything, still under the terrified state of falling. She could only look up into his face, grateful that she was safe.

"I……" she began, and then her eyes fell on his neck, around which one of her hands was pressed.

She gasped: the juice of the grapes crushed in her trembling fingers was pasted on his neck. She lifted her hand to wipe it off, but he slid her to the ground, her feet touching the ground, and then moved away towards Lady Lavanya and Master Aman.

"What do you think you were doing, Lavanya?" he asked angrily.

"We were only picking fruits for Lady Anjali," said Lady Lavanya, feeling hurt somewhere that Lord Arnav had not come to her rescue.

"It's not your job to do it. The Castle has servants to do the fruit-picking," he said, fuming, and then he nodded to Master Aman, "Take the basket to the kitchen and escort Lavanya to the Castle."

Lady Lavanya made to move towards Kushi, to walk with her to the Castle, but she stopped when Lord Arnav ordered Kushi, "And you come with me, I cannot let you walk into my Castle with those sticky violet hands!"

Kushi gaped at him and then looked at her hands. She had crushed the grapes in her hand so mercilessly, that they were almost pasted on her palms and she dropped the crushed remains to the ground and found her hands to be extremely stained.

"I don't have all day," barked Lord Arnav and walked away, and Kushi cast a helpless look at Lady Lavanya and then followed after him.

Master Aman picked up the basket, feeling bitter in his heart, and then silently led the unhappy Lady Lavanya in the other direction, away from where Lord Arnav was taking Kushi.

Chapter One Hundred Twenty Seven: At the Trench

There was a well close to the Orchard which was surrounded by apple trees and there was a tall trough before it, which was up to the height of Kushi's waist. The trough was filled with water, and Lord Arnav stopped before it. He looked over her shoulder and saw Kushi come to stand beside him, still looking unsure.

Kushi looked up when his fingers circled around her wrist and then he was pulling her to him.

"Sire?" she began, but he was turning her around, making her face the trough, and he stood behind her.

Then before she knew what he was about to do, he had already held her stained hands in his and dipped them in the cold water that filled the trough. Violet mist swirled from her hands and spread out with the ripples to fade into the transparent water.

And then, standing behind her, his head looking into the trough from over her shoulder, he began rubbing his hands on hers, scrubbing gently at the stains with his hard fingers. Kushi felt like a child, having done a naughty deed, now being cleaned of her mischief.

But his touch awakened in her feelings that were nothing a child was meant to feel, feelings that were both alien and familiar to her. She closed her eyes and felt his warm wet fingers caress her fingers. His finger traced along the lines on her palms and circled the tip of her fingers. Something warm surged in her insides; she found it hard to calm her breathing.

Making the moment more unbearable was the proximity of his face to hers, his chin almost on her shoulder, and his hot breath on her neck. She knew if she turned a little to the side, her lips would……..

"Feel clean?" he asked in a low voice, close to her ear and she opened her eyes and looked down into the trough, where his hands were still holding hers.

She nodded, wishing she had shook her head. She wanted more of this caring.

"I'm next," he said casually, and then with his hand clutching the back of her one hand, he lifted it from the water and brought it over her shoulder. She couldn't see what he was about to do with her hand. She stood there, one hand in the trough held by him, and his chest pressing on her back. Her other hand was held above her shoulder, reaching back towards something.

Her wet fingers touched hot skin and she gasped, instinctively wanting to withdraw, but he held her hand where it was, caressing his neck.

She inhaled and bit her lower lip, this cannot be happening!

And then she found her fingers caress his neck on their own accord. She could not see him or his neck because he was behind her, but she didn't need to. She leaned her head backwards against his other shoulder, and closed her eyes again.

He rubbed her tender fingers against his neck, liking the feel of her touch on his neck.

He closed his eyes and moved her hand gently up and down his violet-stained neck. Feeling Kushi lean her head backwards against his shoulder, he felt his senses falter and to reawaken in himself a sense of control, he clenched his hand that was in the water forgetting that he held her hand in that hand. Pressing hard on her hand, she moaned softly, and he lost himself. He opened his eyes and looked down at her face that was close to his chest. Her lips trembled as she leaned against him, unable to understand what was happening to her.

He read the confusion in her expression though her eyes were closed and he felt helpless. He brought her hand from his neck and dipped it back in the water and Kushi opened her eyes, the spell fading in her mind.

Lord Arnav washed the stain in her hand that she had wiped from his neck and as she stood there before him, breathing heavily from the overwhelming emotions, he felt one last need to remember her hands.

He entwined his fingers through hers and held them together and he knew their fingers were perfect in each other's hold.

Kushi seemed to realize this too, but she was confused as to why he was doing all this, and she looked up at him, over her shoulder. He looked at her, his gaze slipping to her lips. He remembered the vision he had had a few minutes ago. If a grape was there, held between her parted lips…….

Kushi clamped her mouth shut, uncomfortable from the way he was looking at her lips.

His gaze slid up to her eyes and he realized she was frowning.

He pressed her hands in the trough and she shut her eyes, "What do you intend, sire? I could have washed my hands on my own."

He looked at her, expressionlessly, "I know how much you despise my touch and I meant to execute it as punishment for dirtying me, messing with Lavanya's head and wrecking my Orchard."

Kushi opened her eyes and frowned, "But I-"

"And there is something I want you to remember the next time you came to pick fruits for my sister," he stated coolly.

She looked at him, "And what is that?"

He was looking at their hands entwined in the water but she didn't take her eyes off his face.

"She doesn't like grapes of any kind. Especially violet grapes."

His gaze slid up to her eyes and he held her under his pinning look. "So don't go grape-picking again, ever," he said in a low voice, stressing on the last word, and then he released her hands and moved away, leaving Kushi before the trough, her hands dipped in the water.

Strangely, even after he'd gone, she could still feel the memory of his warm fingers over her palm and fingers, studying them, and even after wiping his hand on his handkerchief, and walking away with his hands in his pocket, he still felt her hands in his, completing the emptiness in his hold.

To return to the https://www.india-forums.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=3365278">INDEX

So, eh, any thoughts? Any reactions? It need not be long. I will never ask for long comments. I just want you to write what your heart wants to……..The Book of the Comrades' Chronicles is before you are so is the quill dipped in Ink…..and remember, I am one who understands silences too…….

Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;

Conspiring with him how to load and bless

With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run;

To bend with apples the moss'd cottage-trees,

And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core"

To Autumn, John Keats

N MY REACTION ON C 127

Originally posted by: Aquiline

Chapter One Hundred Twenty Six: The Orchard Revisited

Apparently there were fruits in the kitchen but Nani insisted that fresh ones be plucked for Lady Anjali from the Raizada Orchard. (You will remember it from being the first Raizada territory Kushi had visited in this tale and the occasion which had led to the entire tale happening!).

Yes, I do!

Lady Lavanya stared at her as Kushi chewed with thought and then smiled, "Sour and sweet! Just perfect!"

Lady Lavanya leaned down and, without touching, bit the strawberry off Kushi's hand.

Chewing on it, she winced when the sour tingled on her tongue and hastily swallowed it, finally smiling in the aftermath of the sweetness, "It's strange''I actually loved it!"

"Then feast yourself, my lady," said Kushi, waving her hand majestically across the shrub.

Giggling and jesting and laughing, the girls ran about the entire Orchard, tasting fruits and plucking the best ones and dropping them into the basket.

"This is fun!" exclaimed Lady Lavanya, her gown and lips red with all the cherries and strawberries she had devoured, "I've never had so much fun in all my life!"

Kushi bit into an apple and smiled, "It is a known fact that the apples in the Raizada Orchard are the sweetest. Have you tried them, my lady?"

"The tarts made of them in the Castle, I have," said Lady Lavanya, "But not them raw."

"Well, then, you must," said Kushi and was about to pluck another apple for her friend, when Lady Lavanya stopped her, "Don't pluck a new one for me. I'll have the one you bit into. It's quite large to be eaten by two impish girls, I'm certain."

"Mmm," Lady Lavanya moaned happily, chewing, "This is real sweet." And she took another bite and Kushi laughed, "Look at what I've done to my poor Lady Lavanya!"

Lady Lavanya grinned and waved the apple in the air, "You've brought the best in me and, I must say, I am enjoying this new me!"

Their bond is so sweet! Khushi is helping Lavanya delve deeper into herself and discover things that are new and enjoyable to her! Such a kind soul!

And Kushi watched as Lady Lavanya took the apple from Kushi's hand and bit the other side where Kushi hadn't bitten.

This line... made me think. If you equate the apple to Lord Arnav, then Lavanya and Khushi both see the entire of him on the outside, but each one sees a different Lord on the inside..(?)

Kushi laughed and was about to reply when her eyes looked over her friend's shoulder. Lady Lavanya was too busy enjoying her apple to notice Kushi's expression.

A kind of longing and sadness seeped through her gaze as she beheld the vineyard of the place. And all above it were rich violet grape...

Yes! I mentioned in my last comment that whenever I see fruits mentioned in Arhasia, I see grapes. They have become quite the necessary ingredient, isn't it? 😆

Kushi shut her eyes to not let a certain memory cross her mind. But when she opened them, she couldn't help but voice, "Violet grapes are the most enticing things one can ever feast upon."

Oh, Khushi, I bet Lordy would say the same..Only, he would probably look for you rather than the grapes..

She was tangled in the vines, rich round grapes encircling her gown and arms and neck, and she was dancing around, as much as her hands and legs permitted to move. She was laughing merrily and then she stopped and looked at him. She winked, "Hungry, my Lord?"

He opened his mouth to answer, but with a very desirous look in her beautiful eyes, she lifted her hand and bit the grape that was on the creeper wound around her wrist, her tempting eyes on him.

Affected, he groaned aloud, "Kushi''"

See? He does!! 😆

"The shipment to China was successful," Master Aman was saying, holding a paper before him, "And their response to the invoice had arrived last day, sire. Shall I read it out to you?"

Oh, China again? Now I'm sure the guess was right..😉

The girl he thought he would never see again was there in the Orchard. His Orchard. The more he had tried to push away from his mind, the more she had come to haunt his thoughts in her absence. And now, seeing her here and realizing it was not a dream, he felt something leap in his chest.

He gazed at her, forgetting everything else, seeing nothing but her. And to make the moment more arousing, she was standing on the third step of the tall stepladder, facing the vast curtain of vine creepers from which hung manifold bunches of violet grapes.

The memory of her tangled in the vines crossed his thoughts and, along with it, new images crept into his mind.

Aye, haye? Ee ka Lordy? Dil orchard-orchard hui gawa? 🤣 Oh, good,something stirred instantaneously! Ahem.. someone can't rein his thoughts. Poor Lordy, daydreaming, are we? 😆

She shut her eyes as she took the leap, and the huge stepladder fell heavily onto the ground, while she fell right into the arms of familiar warmth, and her face pressed to his chest.

She gasped: the juice of the grapes crushed in her trembling fingers was pasted on his neck. She lifted her hand to wipe it off, but he slid her to the ground, her feet touching the ground, and then moved away towards Lady Lavanya and Master Aman.

The fall on the rangoli!! It totally reminds me of that! Although it was Arnav who fell then... But that colour pasted on his neck.. *clapping gleefullly* Happier times!

"My lady, are you alright?" asked Master Aman, releasing his hold on Lady Lavanya's shoulder.

Lady Lavanya was shaken and had been staring at the ladder, but through her tear-filled eyes she saw a blurred Kushi fall into someone's arms, and only then did she turn around to look at the man who had spoken.

"Oh," she sounded disappointed, "Aman? I thought you would be ASR''"

"It was certain Master could not reach you both at the same time," offered Master Aman kindly, bowing, "Are you alright, my lady?"

Lady Lavanya nodded but her gaze had turned to look at the one who was holding the terrified Kushi in his arms.

Master Aman's gaze too moved to Kushi, worried if she was fine. And then he saw Kushi lift her head up to look at the man in whose arms she lay.

Master Aman picked up the basket, feeling bitter in his heart, and then silently led the unhappy Lady Lavanya in the other direction, away from where Lord Arnav was taking Kushi.

I feel bad for Aman and Lavanya.. *sigh* Unrequited love.. Although I'm not too sure about him... But there's definitely something on his mind and in his heart..

"And you come with me, I cannot let you walk into my Castle with those sticky violet hands!"

"I don't have all day," barked Lord Arnav and walked away, and Kushi cast a helpless look at Lady Lavanya and then followed after him.

Ahem, Arnav? Better excuse next time, please. :p Ooh, what's gonna happen? Off to read!

Oh, and I forgot these..

His Master's eyes had a strange light in them, as though he was delighted. A gentle kind of delight.

I had a gentle, warm smile on my face as I read this line. Oh, Arnav, never let the light go!