The woman who reads tarot cards

Chapter 6: The masked muddle

A young man in his late 20s came out of the adjacent room in the shop, radiating his aura all over with long hair falling to his mid-neck and well-groomed beard. His eyes were mellow, copper-colored, harmonizing with his skin tone, and intense for any lady to descend. His well-proportioned physique held high with a broad shoulder.

"So, are you okay now?" He fastened his hair into a topknot, looking at me.

"Yes, thank you, sir," I uttered shyly. Yu Jie went into the room to see some sculptures.

"Sir? You sure have to recover your memories," he gazed at me, puzzled.

He began to work on a statue. "How did the Kaali pooja go?"

"Well, it was all good until I passed out of suffocation." My eyes followed his hands on the statue.

He resembled a male sculpture that came back to life. He was muscular yet elegant; delicate yet rough; gentle yet sharp. His hair whirled along his chiseled jawline to the tune of the night wind.

"Don't you think you are gawking too much at me?"

"Oh! Sorry, but you are too attractive to resist." I liberated my honest words without thinking as if someone entranced me.

"What?!" He chuckled. "Don't be sorry. I am not complaining."

I sheepishly smiled at him and heard Yu Jie calling out for him. The evening passed with brief chats between Yu Jie and Vinayak and my exhilarating exchanges of eyesight with the latter. We left the shop delayed and walked back to our home.

"It feels good to be home," I threw myself on the sofa. "Home?" I smiled, "Home."

"Did you go insane after flirting with Vinayak?" Yu Jie jumped next to me.

"Flirt? Don't talk like this to your sister! And don't mind the elder's business." I clutched his little cheeks.

"Okay, I got it!" He forcibly freed himself from my grasp. "I found this outside."

It was an invitation for an unofficial lunch meeting with the King the next day. "Do you want to come along?" I asked Yu Jie. He nodded in opposition.

"Well, you can stay home and call over your friends. I can make fix you lunch to enjoy with them."

"Sounds good. Good night." He disappeared into his room.

I fell asleep on the sofa with the King's invitation in my hands, thinking about Vinayak's lovely smile.

I woke up the next morning at the crowing of a rooster; though, the sun was slow to arise. It was dark outside that it felt like midnight. I went down and found a note from Yu Jie on the dining table: I am out to invite my friends to lunch. You can lock the house and leave. I have a spare key.

I had my breakfast and tidied the house. Then I cooked lunch and snacks for Yu Jie and his friends. It was fifteen minutes past eleven, and I got ready to visit the King. I wore a simple and elegant half saree and parted my hair to my left, and braided it with a crystal hairpin on the side. I was all ready when I heard the carriage and hopped on to it. I hummed the familiar song repeatedly to the palace habitually.

The way and palace are now amicable that it was easy for me to find the garden hall. I witnessed two men sitting from a distance and walked towards them. As I entered the hall, I saw the King sitting with Vinayak.

"Your majesty." I bowed to him and side-eyed Vinayak.

"Oh, did you have a comfortable trip?" The King inquired, gesturing me to sit.

"Yes, your majesty." I sat opposite the King, while Vinayak sat on his right side.

"You need not call me majesty; as quoted in the invitation, it is just a casual lunch among friends. You can call me Vaibhav as you always do." The King asserted.

"Yes, your majesty, I mean yes." I made a weak grin. "I didn't know you were coming," I sought Vinayak.

"Why? Were you expecting a private lunch with Vaibhav?" He friskily targeted me. I gaped at how close we were to call the King by his name.

"No, why would I?" I spontaneously objected in a worry of being mistaken by Vinayak.

"That was fast." Vaibhav swung his head in disappointment.

"Let's stop. We are getting Yu Yan nervous," Vinayak  simpered.

The lunch went awkward between me and the other two, while they enjoyed making fun of me. After having food, we had a walk in the garden; the wind carried the aroma of the exotic flowers of the yard, easing my nerves, and eventually, I felt comfortable around the two guys. They continuously recalled our times together from our childhood and our entertaining discussions. The late noon ended gracefully with the sunset.

"What's the name of the river?" I pointed to the river that flowed on the way to the palace.

"That is the river Agastya. But, none goes there as sages, and black magicians regularly invade the river bank to conduct rituals. They say it is holy, and some say the departed souls haunt it at nighttime." Vinayak replied.

"What kind of ritual?"

"They don't reveal and carry out in secrecy. However, it came to my notice that there were blood offerings, which is against the law. So I have stiffened the guard along the riverside with regular patrols." Vaibhav answered this time.

"Oh." I felt strange about this river and familiar as well. Did I do anything terrible to anyone to get doomed? I was still with my thoughts.

"I think I should get going," Vinayak crushed my silence. "I need to attend my shop, duty call."

"Of course, you can't neglect your duty. Why don't you accompany Yu Yan back? Anyway, both of you are going to the same neighborhood," Vaibhav proposed.

"Why not? That's a clever idea." My face eased. We bid Vaibhav goodbye and retreated.

"Yu Yan?" I heard Vaibhav call my name. "I thought this would suit you." He took out a hairpin shaped like a sequence of small flowers with pink and red glazes.

"Thank you." I took it in my hand and felt the smoothness of the polish on it. "It is beautiful."

"Not as beautiful as you," He let the words out in shyness. It was amusing how a masculine man, a King, can act like a teen boy in love, shy and hopeless.

"I know," I boastfully smiled at him, as my face became red. He always made me comfortable and showed his love despite his status, which amazed and impressed me.

We started home after saying goodbyes for one last time. Vinayak kept staring at the hairpin in my hands quietly on our way back. "I heard he proposed to you when I was absent." He finally broke the ice, thankfully, as I felt choked by the flame of his silence.

"Yes," I responded, staring outside.

"Did you say yes?"

"Does it matter to you?" I turned towards him.

"Yes, it does. So did you say yes?" He appeared impatient.

"No, I am yet to give my answer." I glanced at him.

"What is your answer?" He made me want to play with his agitation.

"I will tell him shortly." I fiddled with the hairpin.

"Do you like him?" He put forward a simple yet complicated question.

I could not answer it. The quietness in the coach came back to life again. I explored different emotions with these two men, but all ended up in one certainty, a forbidden desire. I wondered if it was okay for one's heart to be shaken by two people? Many thoughts crawled over my consciousness, and suddenly the reality of my existence knocked me out of this love debate in my head: I need to find the reason for my curse, not a lover in this world. However, everything that happened on its natural course had led me to only these two.

It made me ponder, what if my lover was the seed of my curse?