(#Book 1 of Fates Series)
Sanskriti Chauhan, the princess of Udaipur, has been a rebellious royal kid ever since she started breathing. Being groomed to be a perfect wife for a modern day king before you could even spell your name wasn't something s...
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Walking through the corridors of Jaipur Palace with a 9 year old child directing me towards his family was really an amusing feeling.
Vedansh kept blabbering about how his school friends were real amateurs and how they still believed all the non sense their mom's filled their minds with.
"You won't believe but they still believe tooth fairies exist! Can you believe it?!" He asked me in a dramatical way with his eyebrows shooting up. Though his facial features entirely reminded me of Meera di, his behaviour and antics was absolutely like his dad.
While normal kids of his age found solace in bright coloured cotton shorts and tees.. this little guy over here was practically dressed in over sized sweats and t-shirt that were perfectly colour coordinated- grey, to be precise.
"Who are you talking to Vedansh?" I heard a dominating feminine voice booming near the area where the deity of Lord Krishna stood in all its glory.
"Angel.." Vedansh looked at me with playful glint in his eyes. The eyes that glistened with tears a while ago.
Astonished by the probability of a stranger entering into the Royal premises, a feminine silhouette dressed in green bandhani saree sauntered to Vedansh and froze when her eyes landed on me.
"Aye aye, Lady Don!" I could hear my voice breaking, unexpectedly. The great Ritika Devi Rathore has tears in her eyes, God knows after how long. The sight was rare on its own.
"Laado?" She whispered softly. "You.. how.." Who knew the lady don could stammer too. A lone tear escaped my eyes as I ran towards her and hug her tight. No matter what inches my heel were, I knew I could even swim across a river with them to bask in the warmth of her motherly love.
"You guys know each other?" Our moment was broken apart when we heard Vedansh's confused tone.
"Well she's your Maa-" I cut her off.
"Of course. You know what I endear her with?" I walked towards Vedansh.
She understood that I didn't want to be introduced to him as his Maasi. Not because I was in rift with his parents. But because it would be difficult to make the innocent soul understand why was I never present in his life.
(Maternal Aunt)
"Par-Dadi or Dadi?" He asked me in confusion. I shook my head with a small smirk and answered him, "Lady Don." As Vedansh giggled at the name, Dadi sent me a playful glare.
(Great Granny or Granny?)
"You better not call me that, young lady." She scolded with a hint of satisfaction. "Over my dead body, Lady Don." I mocked her again.
"I'll call you the same, Lady Don." Vedansh giggled again. As soon as we saw Dadi getting angry, we held each others hand and ran across the corridors to escape her warth.
We landed with a huff on the ground of the garden Vedansh led me to. Looking at the sky, I put my arm under my head. Very cautiously, Vedansh climbed upto me and kept his head on my arm and flung his own across my torso.
"I wish I met you earlier." I heard him mumble. If he wasn't laying so near to me, I bet I would haven't heard him.
"Why do you say that?" I asked him. His entire concentration was on the butterfly pendant I was wearing.
"I wouldn't have cried for mom." He said in a gravely disappointed tone. Not being able to contain my curiosity, I decided to question him about the topic.
"Wasn't your mom around before.." I tried to think of a more polite word of 'being dead'.
"She was but she wasn't." He said. "What do you mean?" I asked him in confusion. As long as I remember, Meera di had been trained to be the perfect wife and perfect mother ever she was born.
"She didn't like me, let alone love me. And no I am not complaining about how my mom denied to get me some toy so I claim her to be bad." He paused for a bit. Maybe contemplating about opening up to a stranger.
"What would your mother do if you tell her you had a nightmare?" He asked me. I didn't want to tell him that I never had a good bond with my mother to cry about having nightmares to her.
"No idea about my mother, I never had a good bond with her. But normal mothers would hug you and pacify you to sleep, I guess?" I wasn't qualified to answer this little guy's question.
He smiled sadly at me. "My mother would look at me with disgusted expression and say she didn't have time or patience to deal with my tantrums." He said. "Now do you get it?" He asked laying back on my arm.
I softly hummed. This guy was as messed up as I was at his age.
"What about others? Your Par dadu, Par Dadi, Dada and Dadi?" I asked him.
"They are good. They love me." He said. "But they aren't my mom." He chuckled mirthlessly.
"That makes us two." I said softly. "Atleast you have a family to love you." I mumbled absent mindedly.
"What do you mean?" He asked. He looked up at me with his doe eyes.
"No one loved me in my family. Neither my parents nor my grandparents. Let alone my sibling." I sighed.
"Then I met your Par dadu and Par Dadi. I guess they are the only one who care for me in this world." I said with a small smile.
"Not even your father?" He asked me. I shook my head negatively. He sighed.
"Atleast my father loves me. I am a bit luckier than you." He said. I smiled at his comparison.
"No matter how bad my mom treats me, my dad always loved me. He plays football with me, he helps me with homework, he stays awake everytime I am sick and pats me to sleep if I get nightmares after I watch a horror movie. No doubt he scolds me at times. But it's okay. I can handle a bit of scolding in return of all the love he gives me." He said with a smile.
Atleast he's a good father.
"You know-"
"Vedansh." I heard the familiar husky voice I dreaded the most. ~•~•~
