Lekha (Completed)

Lekha 16

When I reached Vasundhara's room I saw to my relief that she was still sleeping tired from the late night celebration. I slowly opened her trunk again and hid back the camera inside my bag.

Since I couldn't sleep again I decided to get ready and go for the morning prayers in the temple. I went to Gayatri's room to see if she had woken or not , but she too was sleeping.

It felt odd to go to the temple alone but I needed some kind of celestial strength to clear my mind. I felt quite confused by my morning adventure. I should have been happy for accomplishing the daring feat successfully but somehow I felt my happiness incomplete. Something was missing and I couldn't figure it out. I missed my mother in a time like this, who only had the power to soothe away all my fears with just a stroke of her hand on my head and telling me not to worry as she was there beside me 'always'.

On reaching the temple I found almost all unfamiliar faces. It seemed that the ladies of the palace were too tired after yesterday's excitement. I sat at the back of the prayer room having my own little private conversation with God , asking Him to help me to choose the right path while here and also clear the confusion I felt . I wanted my personal silver lining after the heavy clouds in my life.

Someone came and sat beside me. I opened my eyes to find Vikram smiling at me.

"What are you doing so early here in the temple and where are the others?" he asked.

"They are all sleeping. But what are you doing here?" I queried.

"I am asking God for a beautiful wife for me" he grinned.

I couldn't help smiling at that but closed my eyes back in prayers. After a few minutes he nudged me and whispered "How much more time are you going to take bhaktan (a female devotee)? Let's go or God himself will get bored by your demands and throw you out of the temple."

He had a funny sense of humor which always brightened my day. I felt that he was maybe God sent to lift up my spirits.

After taking prasad we went down the temple stairs and sat in a corner eating it. He entertained me for quite some time with his funny anecdotes making me giggle like a little girl at his antics. As we started back towards the palace he even tried teaching me some local words which I tried to memorize by repeating after him. We were so engrossed in this student teacher routine that even though I felt as if someone was watching us I ignored it.

We had almost reached the jenana deohri when we met few ladies from the palace and they invited him inside to sing a song for them. It seemed he had previously too entertained them with his singing. After a few no's and yes's he sang a local song for us which again I couldn't understand but I couldn't ignore the fact that his voice was very beautiful. If he wasn't a Rajput, I bet he would have been a lead singer of the palace.

He seemed to be a major hit among all the young girls and even their mothers. As he sat there talking to all of us basking in the praises, suddenly everyone stopped talking and looked up. As my back was towards the entrance I turned around to find Rudra standing at the entrance.

I found it odd but it seemed he was staring at me and my smile vanished instantly.

"Vikram ..."he said in an authoritative note. "What are you doing here so early in the morning , singing love songs. Were you not supposed to have gone for your training?"

"O bhaisa what a bore you are "replied Vikram still in a jovial tone. It seemed the only person to be affected by his cold note was me as the other ladies too started asking him to join the group.

"When did you return back bhaisa? " Vikram queried"Were you not supposed to have come back with the others by the afternoon today?"

"I had some work but you make a move boy or I will ask your trainer to make you work extra hard today" said Rudra.

As Vikram moved towards him, he made no movement to move away from the entrance. He seemed to be looking intently at me. Feeling a bit odd I got up to move towards Vasundhara's room.

"You girl !" he said.

I turned around and it seemed no one had heard him but as he was looking at me, I realized he was calling me.

"Come here" he said again. After a glance towards the ladies present I moved towards him .

"Come outside" he said.

He took me towards the same corner we had stood in , in the morning.

"What were you doing with Vikram?"he said in a cold tone.

"What! ...I don't understand what you mean. Didn't you see that we were just chatting with everyone and he sang the song at the insistence of all the ladies present" I said, still a bit confused at where this conversation was leading to. He now seemed so different from the person I had met in the morning. I had almost believed that we could be civil with each other from then onward if not too friendly. Now he almost sounded vicious.

"Don't try to act smart girl. Don't I know why he chose to sing a love song for you while he had previously always favoured the ballads written in honour of our heroes."

"Why don't you ask him about the reason for the love song . There were other girls too and if it indeed was meant to serenade anyone , it could have been any one of those. Why blame me? You yourself know that I can't fully understand the language and  the song is an impossible feat for me. So why will anyone sing a song I can't understand even if like you say it was meant for me  " I still couldn't understand his attitude towards me. 

 "I know what games you are playing. I am warning you to lay your hands off Vikram"

"Stop" I almost screamed at him. "What kind of crap language are you using to talk to me. I made a mistake this morning in thinking that no matter how rude or suspicious you seem to be at least there was a decent person inside you. I was wrong."

My breathing had got heavy with anger as my hands clenched hard by my side.

"Oh! so your plans was for both the brothers. Anyone would have served your purpose. I should have suspected it  in the morning itself the way you were acting in front of me. You tried to tempt me and when you were unsuccessful you went after my brother. You shameless girl."

At that moment I was very much tempted to gouge his eyes out which looked at me with such scorn.

"Don't you dare spread your malicious lies about me. Think whatever you want about me but if you try to spoil my relations with others, you don't know what I am capable of." Warning him I turned to leave, but was pulled back as he grabbed my arm and pulled me towards him.

With my arm twisted behind my back, I was so close enough him to feel his heart beating against mine.

"He is my brother always remember that and I would not hesitate to destroy anyone who even hurt him the slightest. So don't try you female wiles on him." His eyes narrowed in anger. I was too stunned for a second but as my hands were not free , I used all the strength I could muster and stamped his toes with my heel.

This got the desired effect of him releasing me with a curse in surprise. Before he could catch me again I distanced myself from him.

"Not all relations are built like that filthy mind of your constructs. Vikram is like a brother to me too just like Udai bhaisa. If you put your filthy hands on me again or speak such filth about me, I will tell Mahadevi sa. You better stay away from me if you know what's better for you" I warned him. My face burnt with extreme anger.

As he stared back at me with a cold hard look, I turned around back towards the entrance and walked all the way with my head held high and back straight. Thankfully he didn't try to stop me by words or action. I couldn't let the disgusting man see the tears rolling down my cheeks.