"Sanskriti Chauhan."
Arunaditya's face felt like his blood was drawn out of his body. His face became pale while his eyes widened momentarily. He seemed to be frozen.
'There's no chance she would like to come back India, specifically Jaipur, after what she had gone through. She had no relations tying her to their mother land. Why would she be here, out of all the places? Didn't Rudra Pratap Chauhan, her grandfather, say she was in London and had no intentions of coming back?
Definitely this woman couldn't be her.'
"Are you okay, sir?" Mahesh, Arunaditya's secretary, inquired his boss's face. His boss was generally calm, confident and polite around him and the rest of the employees. He admired him as his employer and had been under his direct orders for last 5 years. If anything, he thanked God everyday for blessing him with such a good boss. Especially after hearing his friends bad mouth their bosses.
"Absolutely okay." Arunaditya remarked after clearing his throat. He displayed his assistant a fake smile too, to make him worry less.
"How are Diksha and Yash?" Arunaditya enquired about his secretary's family bringing a smile on the fellow's face.
"Yash is being a what a toddler is meant to be, absolute headache and Diksha is way too tired looking after Yash the entire day." He chuckled remembering how his son, Vedansh used to destroy his paper works by scribbling with his crayons, years back. "I can totally relate." He smiled at his secretary.
"I am going home. You can take the rest of the day off too, Mahesh." He said softly. Mahesh nodded and displayed a grateful smile at his boss's generosity.
Driving through the familiar streets of Jaipur, Arunaditya couldn't help but walk down the path of memories.
How good were the days when he had nothing to worry about. His childhood was as good as a the first born in the family could have.
His mother died giving birth to him. His father re-married a few years later, bringing home a mother for Arunaditya. Thankfully, she wasn't wicked and definitely didn't distinguish between him and his step siblings. She showered him with all the love and care Arunaditya could ask for.
At the age of 13, he was sent to London for his education where he lived his biological uncle. It was only when he was 20, he decided to live his life a little before he was forced to emerge into the Royality he was born into.
He travelled through the world when for a year and half when one day his father called him and informed him about his betrothal to the Udaipur Princess. He was really disturbed that day. He had known Meera when he was residing in India. Over the years, they had become the best of friends. But getting married to her, was entirely a different subject. He never had any romantic feelings for Meera. How could he commit to her while his soulmate waited for him in any other part of the world?
But little did he know, he would envision a dream of falling in love and living his life with Meera's younger sister, Sanskriti.
While he knew the Chauhans hid another daughter in the walls of Udaipur Palace, he could never meet her. She was considered as the ugly duckling of the Royal family.
During his expedition in Rome, another beautiful paradise in Europe, he met a strange teenager. She was barely nineteen, wore a white dress and sipped on a cup of coffee when they met at a cafe. They were practically strangers and weren't ready to share their identities to one another. So they settles down to share their nicknames to introduce themselves.
Kriti and Aditya.
Talking for a few hours, they found that both of them were alone in the city of Rome. They decided to be travel buddies until one of them had to leave for their country.
Arunaditya couldn't tell when he fell head over heels for the young lady but he was sure, she was the soulmate he has been looking for.
One fine evening, they decided to get sip on some wine. The glasses came on as the evening rolled by and both of them ended up getting drunk.
With the feeling of getting drunk came by the confessions. Kriti confessed that she was the ugly duckling of Udaipur Royal Family, Sanskriti Chauhan. Aditya confessed that he was the Crown Prince of Jaipur. Before he could tell her about Meera, Sanskriti had already dosed off.
The days passed by and the attraction between the souls, craves for something more than just closeness. Lust began developing between the youngsters.
Unexpectedly, they surrendered to the feeling of lust one night, stealing each others first kiss and first time, without addressing the elephant in the room- Arunaditya's betrothal to Sanskriti's sister.
That was the same night Arunaditya's will of refusing his family to Meera's proposal determined. Now that he was already in love with the innocent soul lying naked in his arms, he couldn't even think about spending life with another woman.
The next morning, the Chauhans called Sanskriti and asked her to come back to the estate urgently. She confessed to Arunaditya that she had earlier fled away without informing her family and didn't have the courage to face them. He assured her that he was going to support her in the future no matter what.
What he didn't expect was Meera's reaction on his arrival. The look of hurt and betrayal that passed Sanskriti's eyes was something he still had nightmares about. Without giving him the chance to explain, she fled away.
Arunaditya had to control his selfish desires to chase after her and cage her in his arms when he got to know some shocking facts about the Chauhans, the Rathores and Meera. He had lives and reputations to save now. He had to choose between the love of his life and his family, his subjects and his bestfriend.
Unwillingly, he let her go. She couldn't have lived happily even if he had managed to get her back. They wouldn't have let her live her life. They would've killed the fire she possessed.
Result? He still cried for his lost love at night. He still blamed himself for the innocent soul's heartbreak. His life lacked peace, love and warmth. He didn't have anyone to come for, except Vedansh. The only ray of hope in his dark life.
Wiping his tears away, he sprinted of to his room and decided to call it a day. He asked his grandmother to look after Vedansh for the night as he needed some space. Her reply definitely amused him.
"You don't have to worry about him anymore, Arun. He got what he has been craving for."
~•~•~
I hope this chapter helped in building a little bit of positivity about Arunaditya in your heart?
Truth is yet to be out.
Keep reading!
(PS: I'll post another update tonight if we manage to get 15 comments atleast!
Also, the next chapter is the one you guys have been waiting for so long.. the chapter they finally meet!
Make sure you complete the comment goals!)
Love yaa.