Flouting Our Destiny

Chapter 8

The mind of the third son of Paranjay and Pritha streamed differing flashes of the past, his heart would be calmer viewing the happy moments and shudder to see the misery-filled ones,

"What kind of game is this, Krishna?" The soft whisper which left his mouth sounded more loudly than the whisperings in his heart.

Arjun's malfunctioning inner body revealed a greyer shade of it, his blurry vision tried to shape the figure running towards him,
A woman running towards him, dressed in hues of orange and brown with hair flowing in the air, a thin and insubstantial golden neck piece which synced with her hair's rhythm. Her running pattern like that of feared and hopeless, peeping over her shoulder within every five seconds,
Is someone behind her?
The Gandivdhari Arjun slowly started to differentiate between his past and present, he looked at that woman again, who was now wearing shorts and a tank top, her sneakers made her jump slightly as she neared him,
"Aarya...Arjun" The sound waves of the present superimposed with those of the past, he wasn't able to hear anything apart from a deafening noise which sucked all his energy.
The only good thing about the situation was that there was no Sindhu Raj Jaydrath rushing behind the lady of the present.

His head bumped against her chest, as she came up to her knees to enclose him in an embrace, the warmth of her, their scents mingling, her breathing pattern failed to charm him, physically composed yet fighting to come in terms with the reality, Arjun only heard sounds of different amplitudes instead of her crying words.
"Everyone is searching for you, why did you come here? I couldn't feel my heartbeats learning about your disappearance, never leave me like this" she tightened her grip on him, the famous businessman who was almost on the verge of crying aloud in her arms, heard her heart's sound, her heart was beating within her chest but he perceived it to be beating only for him.

Their eyes met, his light brown orbs which were now shaded by redness merged with her tears,
"Arjun," her only utterance yet giving him much needed comfort, her lips poised over his, shutting his brain's mouth, "I love you so much" she tried to form a full sentence while still treating his deep wounds, his shaky voice dared to speak, his hands going around her back now, he retaliated with enormous love after a moment of irresolution.
The sun peeped from behind a tree's elegance at the two, Arjun and Draupadi, as if the celestial one mumbled, may you belong to each other, only.

Clasping their fingers together, she smiled at him boldly, not being affected by the recent overflow of emotions.

Arjun's eyes were focusing on the girl beside him, she walked, smiling, his brain again generated two parallel worlds for him, he saw himself in the same situation in an ancient attire, walking amidst tall trees and stealing silent glimpses of her past self who was fiddling with the big flower garland decorated on her neck,
his outer self now, seeing the hallucination, gripped her hand more tightly.

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Draupadi kissed his forehead before pulling the blanket to cover him, the parents were busy in sightseeing around the city and after having such an abrupt end to the day trip, everyone else was dejected.

The smart woman had suspected something wrong after seeing him behave as if he saw a ghost but let the matter bury within her mind and not to trouble him with unnecessary questions,
"I'll get you something to eat" she volunteered like a perfect wife, and then went out with some uneasiness diffusing in her heart.

The alleged sick man rubbed his eyes to not let tears fall, why did he hurt her so much in the past? Why did he not take a stand for her every time she needed him? Why was he so stone hearted?
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Bheem massaged his younger brother's shoulders, the shivering hands of Arjun were fully noticed by the big brother.

"It will take time to absorb the things," Bheem said, after a prolonged silence.
His spine twitched remembering how Arjun had thrown himself upon him and blurted out everything in horror.

"But..but.." the younger man's falling words made the other one sigh.

"It's not necessary that a person will get to know about the past, take for example, Hruti, she has no clue about our past life, but in most cases, you will have a remembrance when you meet either someone who hurt you or the one whom you loved, I might be wrong, but this is what I could gather on the topic of rebirths" A professor's mind established itself in Bheem.

"Ashwatthama injured me by..." Arjun wiped away the sweat beads on his forehead.

"And I loved my Hruti" the other man explained.

"But what if Draupadi connects the dots of our past life, no brother, please give me a solution to keep her away from all this" the concerned lover clenched his brother's T-shirt, his eyes which were filled with mixed emotions were now clearly frightened.
"We have to keep her away from people who damaged her mentally"

"Do you really think that the previously most beautiful woman will be easily hidden?"
Bheem crossed his arms across his chest and glared at his brother to leave his clothes.

"The person is not anyone amongst us, but then who?"
Bheem was already under deep contemplation so the question remained unattended.

"Ashwatthama was forgiven by her, the Kauravas too had tasted their own medicine, then?" Bheem finally spoke up after engaging in deep introspection,
"Bade Bhaiya!" The foodie guy jumped up with his experimented conclusion.

"bb? What?" Arjun shook his head, addressing Yash as the four brothers usually do, calling the eldest, bb and not Bade Bhaiya.

"He gambled her away to them, and there are many more things and..rest his history" Bheem's curled lips were understood by the distraught lover.

"He is coming tomorrow"

The room filled with an anxious emotion, the man is coming tomorrow, what if he really turns out to be the one who will make Draupadi realise everything?