As Chenchita watched the couple return towards the Penta, she felt the presence of Narayana behind her.
The anklets on his feet chimed as he walked towards her. The sounded just as sarcastic as his facial expressions.
"I..." Chenchita knew he had heard every word. That meant he even heard the part where she admitted to remembering about herself being Mahalakshmi.
"No. No. Of course. I totally understand..." He sighed dramatically. "Of course. I'm the cruel one who ignores you..."
"I..." Chenchita tried to explain but that grin made its way on her face. She struggled terribly to hide it.
"Yes. Urgh... Who else is there in this creation who is far more cruel lover than me? I play dumb with you and do all sorts of game playing. You're the sweetest and most innocent one." He dramatically exclaimed. Sarcasm overflowing from the tone.
"In my defence, you roared at me. Me." She defended herself. "I have every right to be offended."
"Oh. No. Don't play that with me. You..." He took one more step at her and Chenchita shot off running. Her laughter rang through the trees around. Narayana chased behind her. She ran around the trees with him chasing her. "Yes, yes. Laugh away now but you, Sri, are going to pay for this."
"Oh. Don't worry. I'm quite capable of paying. Goddess of Aishwarya." She stuck out her tongue at him and ran around.
"Yes, yes, weigh your husband with your rocks. I'm as light as a feather."
The two almost ran all over the forest and reached the lake. Finally, when she was within grab, he grabbed her by her waist and lifted her off the ground.
"Don't you dare... I know what you're thinking." She warned him. But what threat was valid against Keshava? He threw her in the lake and stood at the banks. When she recovered and retained her footing, she glared at him.
"Abboo... I am so scared. See, I am shivering with fear." He sarcastically exclaimed.
"You..." She jumped at him but he instantly disappeared from the place. Reappearing over the tree branch above her head. "Get down now."
This time he stuck out his tongue at him. She wanted to get angry at him but he was way too beautiful to be able to retain any anger for throwing her into the waters. Especially when he rested on the branch in the typical Narayana way. His leg from knee down dangled off the branch. Supporting himself on his elbow. He started eating a berry from the tree.
"It's all your fault. I can't even get angry at you..." She complained.
"Well, bold enough to assume I am allowed to get angry around you." He teased her and threw the half eaten berry at her. She looked at him, sat down at the root of the tree and ate the half eaten berry. The sweetest berry she had ever eaten.
"I guess I just felt annoyed. Like I always feel this distance always troubling me. Whatever form I take, there is no peace untill I am near you but you seem so content within yourself. Sometime I worry that maybe you don't really need me to be there at all. I was worrying about it. Then you were so angry as Narasimha. Even I felt so scared to reach out to you in that moment. I felt so angry at myself for being scared of you. I wanted to be right next to you but then there was also fear. I had never even known you like that. The always loving, smiling, laughing, teasing, and peaceful Hari suddenly becoming so scary. Then when I finally gathered the courage, you growled at me." She started to talk looking at the seed.
Narayana hopped off the branch and got on the ground with the grace of a leopard. He sat down before her.
"You are a part of me. My very heart. Sure. I am independent on my own. I am complete on my own. I am full and complete. But your worry that you aren't important to be is honestly the most ignorant thought you can have. For someone who has mastered Vedas, you should be knowing that I always give back love in equal measure. If you are Vaikuntheshwari then that itself tells your place. If you are confident that you love me far more than anything, then isn't it obvious that I give you back the same? That is exactly how bhakti is."
She chuckled. "It is not the same, Keshava. You are Keshava. Complete in yourself but I? I am incomplete without you."
He laughed at her. "Silly, Moksha isn't some reversible phenomenon. One who has attained paramapada don't fall down from there. You know this. Then how come you worry about being separated from me?"
"Asakti to something crashes a jeeva into mrityuloka and tortures them through the cycle of life, death and rebirth. You are far beyond it. If this is asakti to you wouldn't it also lead to same disaster? I would lose myself if I am separated from you. Even a single moment without you is difficult then what to say about several lives?"
She touched his cheek tenderly as if he was the most fragile flower. Her eyes filled with love. Then, she touched his shoulders, moving down to his hands.
"Tch.. po... All these lies from your honey sweet voice. You talk about how you suffer when you are away from when you compelled yourself to not even remember. As far as even asking, who I am to you." He accused her and got up.
"That was just anger."
"Oh, so if you are angry, you will forget me? How unfair? I should also forget you then when I'm angry."
She instantly stood up and looked at him, scared, "Hari..." She reached out to him but he moved back.
Her heart raced extremely fast in worry.
No. If he ever even for a moment forgot her, she wouldn't be able to bear it.
She walked towards him but he moved back a few feet. "What? All of luxury of being angry is only for you? I don't get to be angry that you even called me a beast?"
"I am sorry." She instantly apologised, fear catching her. "I never meant to offend you. I..."
"Can't take words back, Chenchita. Once out of the tongue, can't be taken back. You even said there are so many other humans in this samsara. That you can marry anyone."
She instantly held her ears, "I am really sorry. You know it more than anyone. I have always belonged to you. Whether you are angry or happy, I belong to you. Whether you love me or hate me, I belong to you. There is only you. I know no other person but you. I desire no one but you. Whether I play games or not, you have always been the only love I have and will always be the only one." She almost felt as if she would break down. The thought of pralay didn't worry her but the very thought of Hari ever forgetting her scared her down to her soul. There was no existence to her without him.
He saw tears in her eyes. He could tell that she would start crying if he played with her any longer.
He extended his hand, silently asked her to take his hand. Chenchita didn't care as it pierced her foot when she stepped on a sharp stone. All she knew that Sarangapani had extended his hand for her and that is all the wealth she had. When her hand touched his, he pulled her and lifted her off ground.
She held on to him tightly like her very life depended on it. He placed her on a tree branch and healed her leg. She was far more worried about getting him to look at her than at the stupid injury. "Tch. Let it be. I don't care about it." She said.
He placed both his arms next her and looked into her eyes. "Exactly why I have to care for it because you don't."
"Y..yo.. you're not angry ?" She asked.
He just winked at her in response and grinned.
"It is not a possibility for one to forget you once they experience you, Keshava. No one forgets love once they experience it. It isn't possible to forget you. Least of all for me. You are my everything. My breath, my King, my love, my happiness, my hope, my light, my everything. You are beyond desires yet, my greatest desire is only you."
"Priye, if I am your everything then why do you worry at all about anything?" He softly traced her neck and then caressed her cheeks with his thumb holding her face. "If I am your everything then also know that once you do surrender to me, it is my responsibility to make sure that everything is well. I will myself lead you to me. Whether you are in samsara or anywhere else, once your reach out to me, I will come running for you."
She wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged me. "I will break down if you ever forget me." Almost cried.
He chuckled. "Chenchita, I was just jesting with you. I am never going to forget you. You are my wife. How can anyone forget their wife, silly?"
Author Note :-
I know that he was really unfair to play jokes like that her and almost making her cry but Krishna had also once jokingly told Rukmini to leave him and marry Shishupal. It is present in Bhagawatam. So, this chapter was inspired by that.
Narayana is playful like that. He plays pranks like that on everyone. But it is also meant to remind them of a certain. Here, Chenchita worried about what would happen if she is separated from him even if temporarily but this is about Narayana trying to tell her that when someone surrenders to him, Narayana himself takes the responsibility of them. He himself bring the jeeva to himself.