The four Pandavas stood at the main door of the castle of Indraprastha waiting for Draupadi and her son to arrive soon. All of them had been waiting impatiently to meet the newest and tiniest member of their family, while missing their brother who would have to wait a couple of months more to meet Prativindhya.
Soon the lines of chariots and palanquins started arriving and loud music was played while flowers being showered in their welcome. Instantly Yudhistir rushed towards Draupadi helping her out of the palanquin while all of them gathered.
"Oh look!" Nakul exclaimed as Drishti stepped out as well, "Who has come!"
Drishti went towards them, greeting them cheerfully. All of them met the baby, Yudhistir getting to hold his son first while his brothers argued who would hold him second. They all stepped in, while Yudhistir still held his son, when Bheem was given a chance to hold him, he started crying very loudly.
"You scared him!" Sahadev exclaimed accussingly at Bheem while Draupadi took her son back trying to sush him.
"You are banned from taking him now!" Nakul declared holding a finger up at Bheem also partly pissed that because of him he didnt get a chance to hold the baby.
"Dont worry, Bhrata Bheem, I'll teach you how to take care of Prati, I have been doing it really nicely, ever since he was born." Drishti claimed waving a hand off nonchalantly.
"Prati?" Nakul asked with a confused look, Drishti grinned explaining that the baby's name was too big for him and her tongue always twisted on repeatedly calling him that thats why she decided to give him a nickname which sounded better and cuter and suited him well.
"Thats creative." Sahadev said and Drishti didnt know if he was being genuine or taunting her.
The rest of the day passed in a blur as baby Prati was slightly troubled with a change of place or maybe because of the long journey so he cried most of the day.
A few days passed quite blissfully until it was time for Drishti to finally go back to Hastinapur. Kritika too was eager to go and meet her grandmother, who was been taken care of by the neighbours upon Drishti's special request.
Almost a week after their arrival, a letter from Hastinapur on behalf of Pitamah, Gandhari and Kunti came saying that soon Dushasan and Karn would be arriving in Indraprastha with treats and gifts on occassion of Yudhistir's son's birth, and they would also take Drishti and Kritika back to Hastinapur.
That was one thrilling news for Drishti, getting to know that finally Karn was coming to take her back with him.
She didnt sleep all night long in excitement as finally the wait was to be over.
Snowy flew in through the window coming from Kritika's room, and Drishti grabbed him in a cheerful hug, "Snowy! Do you know how happy I am?"
The owl nodded in an obvious manner, he knew how crazy and insane Drishti could get when it came to Karn. The whole night went by talking to Snowy, Drishti telling him that she was mad at him for spending so much time with Kritika and not her, Snowy had his reasons, Kritika never compromised with his meals, infact she overfed him which Snowy enjoyed a lot.
The next day Drishti didnt need to be woken up as she was already awake before the time she usually woke up. Soon all of them gathered in the hall waiting for Karn and Dushasan, though the Pandavas didnt seem much delighted with their news of arrival but couldnt do anything as it was Pitamah's decision to send them.
"When do you think they will come?" Drishti asked leaning on the balcony with Kritika keeping keen eyes on the entrance. Kritika shrugged with a small smile, "Soon, maybe."
"I am so excited to go back to Hastinapur," Drishti said, "Even though I dont want to leave Prati too, but I am sure from now on I'll be coming here often so it'll be fine."
"Oh, look!" Kritika pointed at the doorway as suddenly a few chariots made their way in. Drishti quickly scanned every chariot but couldnt find Karn in any of them.
"There's Rajkumar Dushasan!" Kritika exclaimed brightly pointing at Dushasan's chariot, where Dushasan could be seen waving at the two girls cheerfully, his smiling gaze especially fixated at Kritika.
Both the girls quickly descended down and already found Dushasan standing in front of Yudhistir and his brothers being greeted a little coldly while all the gifts were being put inside the castle.
"Finally you came!" Drishti cheered as she saw Dushasan who had a reason to smile now. He glanced shortly back at Kritika who walked behind Drishti with a shy smile and said, "I had to afterall."
Drishti rolled her eyes with a smile and quickly asked him if he'd want to see the baby, he almost said no as the Pandavas stood there but Drishti knew him well, it was a deep deep secret that he too was actually excited for the first baby of the next generation regardless of the fact that the baby belonged to the cousins they have rivaled since forever.
Grabbing his hand and not giving him a chance to speak, Drishti dragged him in to the room where the baby was quietly playing in his crib while his mother folded his tiny clothes closeby and stood up as Dushasan entered.
"He's sleeping, let's go back." Dushasan said as he saw Draupadi, he was awkward for sure, by Drishti wasnt letting him leave without meeting the tiny human being, "You blind man, he is not sleeping, come here!"
Drishti picked him up from his crib cautiously and Dushasan stood all stiff and uneasy in front of her. She offered him to hold the baby once but he was in constant denial as he furtively glanced at Draupadi standing in background who wasnt saying anything.
"I will teach you, look you have to support the spine alright?" Drishti said but Dushasan was still hesitant, a few seconds later Draupadi approached them and looked up at Dushasan, "Its okay, you can hold him. You too are his uncle afterall."
Maybe that statement put Dushasan to a bit ease and he then realised that he too was an uncle, to this baby. That thought never crossed his mind and now amazed him.
Drishti was now adamant to hand the baby to Dushasan and passed him in his arms in a swift moment, Dushasan was so highly scared, he completely stopped breathing causing Drishti to laugh while the other two ladies chuckled.
"Dont make this scary face to him! Smile up now." Drishti said still laughing at how Dushasan held the baby as if it was made of glass and could break at his minimal movement.
"Take him back, Drishti, take him back!" Dushasan said panicking a lot and something more mischevious popped in Drishti's mind as she stepped back and pushed Kritika in his direction letting her calm Dushasan while handling the baby.
A part of Drishti forgot Draupadi was still there and could get the hint of what was going on between Kritika and Dushasan but Kritika handled it in a such a polite and amiable manner that Draupadi didnt suspect anything and went back to her work leaving the three of them with her son.
Drishti stood in background watching how Kritika encouraged Dushasan who was calm now and very much enjoying the moment with her. Drishti knew she was a good friend.
Watching them suddenly she was reminded of Karn's absence again, he was suppossed to come with Dushasan, a lot of questions ran in her mind. At first he hadn't written to her almost for two months now, and when she craved to see him so much, he hadnt showed up. Whyyy?
After Dushasan had enjoyed his time with his newborn nephew, he informed Drishti and Kritika that they had to leave now. Drishti took her time with Draupadi and others espcially with Prativindhya before they all finally started leaving.
Getting on the chariot with Dushasan, both Drishti and Kritika set for Hastinapur while Drishti couldnt supress he curiousity more, "Where is Angraj?"
"He is here in Indraprastha only, he dropped at someone's house saying he needed to be there." Dushasan said nonchalantly. Drishti suddenly claimed she wanted to meet him that moment. Dushasan tried to explain it to her that she could meet him later but Drishti reasoned that they should drop Kritika at her neighbour's house in Indraprastha so that she could meet her grandmother while Dushasan took her to wherever Karn was.
Seeing how stubborn Drishti was there was no other way left for Dushasan to do which was added by Kritika's request as well, as she claimed she agreed with Drishti. At first Dushasan dropped Kritika at her neighbour's house so that she could meet her grandmother while in the meantime they would return with Karn and all of them will go back to Hastinapur.
A rapid beating of her heart for an unknown reason scared Drishti. She didnt know why was she suddenly getting an awful feeling. Maybe an intuition like something bad was about to happen. That feeling had been growing ever since Karn stopped writing to her. She knew she wont be able to live with the anxiety anymore.
It was not even a few minutes away when Dushasan stopped the chariot and they stepped out of it in front of a medium sized house. Drishti wondered what was Karn doing here? Dushasan advised her to go on if she wanted while he'd rather stay outside.
Drishti nodded making her way in with a slightly heavy heart, her eyes fell on the other chariot in the backyard of the house tied to Karn's horse, Vayujeet. Drishti smiled at him, before making her way to the entrance.
Just as she was about to enter she heard something which didnt sound nice to her maybe. A manly voice, "Putra Karn, I want you to get married to Vrushali, as soon as possible, will you do that for me?"
That was it, Drishti's steps were frozen out of the shock which came her way like a massive truck. She wanted to believe she heard something wrong. She waited anxiously for someone to say something or correct whoever said this. Her heart was beating so fast at the moment that she could feel it in her head.
There was silence, intense silence, that could kill anybody, that was killing her. She tried to keep her breathing uniform, gulping and blinking a few times, wanting to barge in immediately but her frozen legs didnt help.
Another manly voice asked, "Say something, Karn."
Please dont say anything.
She was begging, trembling, panicking and going insane all at the same time. Why was she feeling like she couldnt breathe? She was suffocating in an open yard. Her brain was a messed up place since very long, it had the ability to blank out or work in some kind of ways that was hard even for the doctors to come up with an explanation at times when she was a teenager, thanks to her troubled childhood.
Her fingers shook, her limbs shook actually, her eyes were finding it unable to stay in one position, her breathing was cutting short. She knew she was having panic attack right before something which could be disastrous.
It was all before she heard the familiar voice of the man she loved, coming out all stiff and forced, the mere words caused an instant numbness to whole her system.
"As you wish father. I will marry Vrushali."
*Author's Note*
You are all free to tell me how much you hate me for this.
Why do you think Karn took this decision and will it now change everything between him and Drishti??
(Stay tuned)
And I know you might not be any happy with this chapter but still
Vote & comment??😅