The Cruel King of Ashudhar | Completed

Chapter - 4

Kirti, Past

Zavi became his school's most popular guy just a few days after moving in with the Bhaskar family. In two years he was the God and everyone at St. Teresa worshipped him like one. People idealised him, parents wanted their kids to be like him. It was a little too much, if you asked me. I couldn't understand how he aced at whatever he did. Whether it was sports, debate class or academics, he was winning trophies like it was nothing. He was annoyingly perfect, in every sense of the way.

But I knew his secrets, secrets no one believed. I knew he never had to work hard to be successful. It wasn't fair.

I wouldn't say he didn't study because he did. He spent hours studying in his room but not school books. He read mysterious old leather books that no one else could see just like his cat. And just like the cat, I could not only see the book but touch it as well.

I had stolen one of those books once. The book was written in a language I didn't understand. I was pretty sure it wasn't a language anyone could understand. It consisted of symbols, like hieroglyphs. I had spent hours hiding in one of the bathrooms, trying to decipher the meaning but came up with nothing. I wasn't the brightest student but I did try my best to decode the book. Zavi caught me at the end of the day, sitting in the shower stall with his book. I had literally pooped my pants looking at the scowl on his face. He had snatched the book from my hand, accusing me of being a thief. I never went near his books after that. Not because I was scared of him or anything, I just knew I wouldn't be able to make sense of it.

There had always been something about Zavi that I couldn't put a finger on. Not the fact that he was the freaking prince of an otherworldly kingdom. He never hid that fact from me, in fact, he made me aware of it every single second of the time I spent with him but there was something more. It was like he was sad, dissatisfied or something.

I wanted to figure him out so bad as a kid. I thought I could take away his worries but I was so wrong. Neither was he mine to fix, nor was he fixable.

I was obnoxious as a kid. No matter how much he tried to keep me away or tried to keep himself away, I was always drawn to him. I didn't understand the attraction. I thought I was just curious about his existence but as years went by and I entered my teenage years I knew there was something more than curiosity. When he spoke I couldn't help but listen. When he stared at me with those dark brown eyes my brain would stop working. When he stood too close like the times in the kitchen when he came down to grab something from the fridge, it stopped my heartbeat.

I was obsessed. My eyes followed him everywhere. At his family, in school. I would spend hours on his social media profile seeing what he liked, who commented on his photos. I didn't realise it was creepy until Priya pointed out one day, then I stopped...being obvious. I watched him when no one was looking. My teenage heart melted each time he would run his fingers through his thick hair.

He had a notebook and I had stolen it while rummaging through his things when he wasn't home.There wasn't much I could read in the notebook. Words were written in the same mysterious language. He had drawn Ashu in one of the pages. Then there was an image of a girl, words were written around it that I couldn't read.

"What are you doing?"

I jolted away from his desk at his voice.

"Nothing." I mumbled, hiding the notebook. Ashu was cradled in my lab, he jumped down too when he saw his master. Ashu had been growing fast but I loved holding him.

Zavi raised his hand asking for the notebook "What did I tell you about staying away from my things?" He growled.

"I wasn't snooping, it was right there."