The Inseparable Princes

50. Allured

Rama sat under a beautiful tree beside their cottage, meditating calmly, as the only sounds that he heard were those of melodies birds and a few insects. The sun shone radiantly, its rays washing over Rama, as he looked even more divine than he looked otherwise.

Lakshmana had just returned after collecting some firewood, after having finished the morning ritual for Suryanarayana along with his brother in Godavari. While he was walking in, he thought he had seen a woman there. But when he turned around, she wasn't there. Rubbing his eyes, he looked again, only to see that nobody was there. Was he hallucinating?

"Lakshman? Are you looking for something?" asked Rama, smiling, as Lakshmana looked around frantically.

"I thought there was somebody here. A woman," he said, eyes looking tired and sleepy.

"This is why, Lakshman, I tell you that you should be sleeping and taking your share of rest. Now you're imagining the existence of nonexistent people? Wow! Come on, and I think you should also right away!" said Rama, as Lakshmana looked ready to whine.

"Bhaiyaaaaaaaa!" he whined, stomping his feet like a toddler. "I am fine! And I did see a woman here," he said, before his eyes went around the entire place in caution and finally landed back on Rama. He quickly dropped the firewood in its designated place, and ran to his meditating brother and decided to interrupt. He didn't mind. He had already interrupted it himself by asking Lakshmana to sleep and all that. Lakshmana sat on the ground, his hands on his Bhaiya's lap, as he innocently placed his chin on his hands. "You know what I was thinking?" he asked dramatically.

"What?" asked Rama, brows springing up, as Lakshmana lifted his face up so he could see his brother clearly.

"That woman, most certainly, must have got lured in for you!" he cried emphatically, as Rama's eyes widened.

"What! Why? Why me?" cried Rama helplessly, as Lakshmana laughed loudly.

"You're so handsome, my love! The charm that you carry around, the elegance with which you walk. Everything about you! Oh Ram, I've fallen for you. I can't live without you any longer!" said Lakshmana romantically, running his fingers through his brother's curly locks of hair, as he enacted his imagined conversation of Rama with a celestial maiden who had apparently fallen for him. Rama laughed heartily, smacking his brother lightly on the back of his head, before Lakshmana joined him too, chuckling at his own self, and his Bhaiya's momentary fear and curiosity, thinking about how he'd counter a woman in such a situation.

"Laksh, you seem to make a beautiful heroine!" remarked Rama, a single brow raised in appreciation for Lakshmana, as the latter got ready to continue.

"I really do, don't I?" he said fashionably, as he almost performed an entire catwalk while imitating an imagined clingy woman who'd apparently wish to spend the rest of her life with Rama. Rama hit Lakshmana's arm with the back of his palm, before both of them burst out laughing.

"Lakshman! Come here na, I need your help here!" a scream was heard from Sita, who was inside the cottage.

"Okay, okay, bhaiya. Our enactment of this woman who recognises you as her love interest shall continue later on, okay? We've got to show this to Bhabhi. Oh what a laugh she'd have. But for now, bye," said Lakshmana hurriedly, waving his brother off at the end like they'd have a long time before they could meet again. While retreating, he redid the brief catwalk, only for about two steps this time, before turning around to his brother to see if he had seen that, and found him to be chuckling at the nonsensical roleplay.

Was it surely going to be just a roleplay?

★★★

Rama opened his eyes after a long meditation session, only to see a woman in front of him, as she stood there, almost gawking at him most annoyingly. But Rama, being the kindest person one could ever imagine, looked up at her with a serene smile.