Mixed Feelings.
Siya ~
We were all on our way back to Jodhpur and us being us, planning for the next trip to Kashmir. Till now, we had figured out when to go, the places to cover but currently debating about the people to take.
" Of course we will ask Ranaji." Rohit bhai had said and all the coke which I was sipping on in the car flew out of my mouth onto Cockroach's shirt who was in the Passenger's seat.
" Chuhiya what the hell!" He looked annoyed, cleaning himself up and I gulped the rest of it down my throat before speaking up.
" There is a chance in absolute negative that we are asking him. Why do you want to ruin a perfect dream destination vacation for me?" I retorted, glaring at my brothers.
Hansika Bhabhi had slapped my hand.
" Siya, I know that you have made it your sole life mission to annoy the stars out of him but he is the son-in-law of the house and moreover, he is the King and most of all, apart from the stunt he pulled by marrying you like this, he is a good man." Bhabhi said and I rolled my eyes at her explanation.
" I don't care. Not one percent." I told her but there was my inner voice back at it again.
" Such a liar." I heard it in my brain.
" Shut up." I muttered to myself, trying to shake it off.
Good for them, they decided to change the topic from my dearest husband, note the sarcasm, to how boring work was these days.
Kritik had already fallen asleep and by the feels of it, I was right on the same path as I let my eyes and laid my head back for support.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
" Siya....Siya wake up. We are home." I heard a voice and felt someone shaking me, which broke my sleep.
" Huh?" I asked, opening my eyes and looking around to see that I was still in the car but it had come to a stop.
" We are home. Come on." Rohit bhai said as I got down from the car. Hansika bhabhi, Cockroach and Kritik had already gotten inside. It was almost ten in the night.
" Come on." Bhai asked as I got down from the car and we made our way inside too.
" There is she." Mumma said, looking at me and I couldn't stop myself from going and hugging her.
" We did not see tigers again Mumma." I complained to her, resting my head on her shoulder and I heard her laugh.
" Tigers must have found out that you are coming there and they hid themselves." She joked and this, for some damn reason, reminded me of Arjun and I closed my eyes shut again, shaking my head in frustration over myself.
" Stop thinking about him." I thought to myself.
" Now go back to the palace tomorrow beta. Stay with us tonight." Papa said as I snuggled next to him.
" You bet. I was not going to go there right now anyway Papa." I told him.
" Then call and let him know that Siya." He replied.
" My phone's dead and I need to go and change. Why don't you tell him?" I asked, more like informed him before running to my room without waiting for a reply.
Right now, anything to avoid the man who has been trying to get into my thoughts without even trying! Ughhh!
I freshened up and changed before making my way back to the living room where Mumma had already set the table.
" I will go and meet Tanaya bhabhi real quick." I told them but Mumma stopped me.
" She and Mahir have already gone to bed for a while but don't worry, they will wake up soon. Baby will want milk. Then you can go and meet them." She said making me sit for dinner.
She had cooked peas with potatoes, something I absolutely loathe so I just had one chapatti and stuffed my mouth with Gajar ka Halwa later which I absolutely love and she had made that too!
" How is your college going on?" Papa asked as we made our way to the living room again, this time finally deciding to start Chak De! India which we couldn't the other day because Tanaya bhabhi's water had broke.
" It's going." I vaguely replied which earned me a nice glare from him.
" It's going good. My internals are starting after Holi." I told him the truth which I had been hiding from him to go on this vacation.
" Siya your internals are starting in four days and you are coming back from Ranthambore?" His voice had grown a bit stern and I sighed.
" See, this is why I was not telling you. You wouldn't have let me go!" I exclaimed, throwing my hands up in the air.
" Vineet please, you know our daughter, she will score good marks. Stop getting angry on her." Mumma came to my defence and I grinned. Always the saviour when papa starts taking my class for studies. (A/N - I wish my mumma could do this too. Instead, she complains even more to Papa ://)
After her intervention, the topic subdued slowly as the movie started to play and we were all engrossed there for the next two and a half hours.
" Why do we keep doing this is ourselves?" Bhabhi asked standing up after the movie. It was almost 2 at the night and I agreed. Kritik had slept at 11 before we started the movie so we had no pressure to look at the time.
" I have work tomorrow unlike you all." Papa taunted us. Rohit bhai and cockroach looked revolted and I snickered at their expressions.
" Actual work." Papa again roasted them both in one second and I did not stop myself from laughing this time.
" I love you so much Papa." I said in between my laughs, pointing at the expressions of my two brothers.
Hearing this commotion, Tanaya bhabhi had made her way downstairs with baby Mahir who was wide awake.
" What is going on here?" She asked with a smile on her lips. She must have heard us laughing like maniacs.
" Siya is loosing her brains at 2 AM." Cockroach said with humiliation still lingering in her voice as Mumma hit his head.
" Off to bed now everyone. Enough of this." Papa demanded and we all agreed like the obedient kids we were and went to our rooms.
I swear I made my way to the bed, switched the lights off and kept my phone aside but even after an hour, I couldn't fall asleep.
" There is absolutely no point of this." I talked to myself before getting up and walking out of the room and climbed up to the terrace which was already open.
I knew my brothers weren't asleep either.
" Hello kids." I announced myself to them as they were standing up the railing. I went to stand next to them.
" Why are you still up?" Rohit bhai asked.
" I dunno. Maybe because I slept for so long in the car." I replied and they nodded before I asked them the same question.
" Why are you both up?" I asked them suspiciously.
" We have a meeting with some investors from the US in about half an hour. Just waiting for that." Cockroach told me.
" Ohh so you two do actually work." I couldn't stop myself from commenting and earning a head pat from Karan bhai and a soft chuckle from Rohit bhai.
We stood there in silence and then we made our way to the study where they finished their meeting and I looked around before finally settling with my book which was lying there, Heart of Darkness but couldn't really focus on it, my mind was too distracted to read.
Their meeting went on and on and finally, I had started to feel sleepy so I wished them goodnight in a hushed tone and then got back to my room. This time, I had no problem falling asleep at 6 in the morning.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
" Siya....wake up beta. It is already 11. Come on." I am pretty sure it wasn't even 9 and my mother was lying as I kept pillow on my face and decided to ignore her but she is my mom.
She parted the curtains away and switched the fan off before speaking to me again and now that my sleep was perfectly ruined, I got up.
" Mumma why do you always do this?" I groaned, looking into the watch. It was 9:30 in the morning.
" Because had I said 9:30, you would most definitely not woken up. Now get out of the bed and get going for a bath. Your Papa will leave in an hour and you'll go with him." She said and I rolled my eyes.
" Why are you so desperate to send me?" I asked her.
" Because tomorrow is Holi and Raani Maa Sa would want you there. This is your first festival with them Siya." She reminded me that tomorrow was Holi!
" Fine, I'll go on one condition." I got out of the bed.
" What?" She asked, narrowing her eyes at me.
" All of you will come to the Palace to celebrate Holi with me." I folded my arms in front of her in a demanding way.
" Promise." She kept a hand on my cheek lovingly before leaving me alone to get ready.
I took a quick bath and then changed into my usual oversized T-Shirt with jeans and sneakers before leaving with Papa and hearing lectures about studying well for the exams. As we got there, he parked near the office wing and I hugged him, bidding bye before making way to meet Mom.
Siya's Look ~
She was easy to find. Just ask one of the maids and she would take me to her and I was particularly enjoying this facility till it lasted.
" Hi Mom, Preeti bhabhi and Janu!" I picked her up in my arms and she giggled happily.
We all asked each other about our trips and then made some plans for Holi tomorrow before Mom noticed my eyes.
" How long did you sleep last night Siya?" She asked, raising a brow.
" Umm....three hours?" I posed my answer as a question and she sighed.
" Go to your room and sleep. You look like you'd drop any moment now." She instructed me and I nodded before leaving them and then was halfway across the room when I heard the voice I was desperately trying to not hear because of the damn anxiety.
" You are home." He said, making me stop in my tracks but I refused to show it to him that he affected me in any way.
" I am back to the Palace Ranaji." I subtly contradicted him without facing him but could hear his footsteps come near me and my heart rate quickened and I think came to a pause when I found him standing in front of me.
" How was your trip?" He asked with nothing but genuine interest in his eyes.
" We didn't get to see any tigers." Maybe it was the lack of sleep which made me lose my filters in front of him and I found myself confessing and complaining.
His eyes twinkled with amusement.
" Of course they'd hide. There cannot be two Queens in the forest." He joked, smirking and my mouth was left open.
" I'm not queen." I was quick to reply even after my initial shock.
" You are Queen if I am King and the last I checked, I am." He replied in a teasing voice and I kept a straight face even when I felt my heart do a tiny little summersault at his words.
" Ranaji I am sleep deprived and if you continue to talk to me, you'll soon stop making any sense to me so I'm off to bed. Have a bad day at work." I said in an attempt to slide away from him.
" Come on, Little One." He gently took my hand in his and I let him without creating any sort of nonsense because he was trying to help me and secondly, I was too lazy to find the room on my own.
Yes, I was here one month and I still couldn't locate my room from various places.
" Why are you not in the office?" I asked him as we were almost there.
" I was on my way when I saw you." He replied, throwing the door open and then all I could see was the bed.
" You can go to your work now. Thank you." I said, looking at him and threw my shoes away but he was still holding my hand.
" Not before you explain." He asked, his voice turning from concerning to a bit of devious and suddenly, my calling him by his name came back to me.
" Explain what?" I feigned innocence but I knew that I was not fooling him.
" Do you want me to spell it out for you Siya?" He asked, raising a brow and I looked away, refusing to let him know that I know what he is talking about but in the end, it was not going to benefit me so I gave in.
" I don't understand your problem Ranaji. You were the one who had asked me to call you by your name and I did. Isn't that why you wanted?" I asked in turn, trying to get away but his hand pulled mine towards him and I found myself holding his shoulder because suddenly, him and I were standing extremely close to each other.
His breath fanned the naps of my neck and I could do was continue to hold him tight because he was making me go weak in the knees.
What on Earth is happening with me since the past few days!!!
" So you mean to tell me that you did not take my name for the first time out of spite, Little Flower?" His tone was mocking and his eyes looked like were ready to prey on me.
He closed the little distance between us with one step before I put it back by taking one back and his hand had slipped from my arm to my waist, encircling it in a gently yet firm manner.
This time, instead of coming closer to me, he pulled me to himself for the second time and a gasp escaped my lips. His hand on my waist was making me feel things which I had never felt before. Like a jolt of electricity running through me along with a feeling of security.
Yes, I most definitely needed sleep.
" You annoyed me." I heard myself confessing the truth to him and that smirk playing on his lips had turned to a smile.
" That's more like you." He whispered in my ear and then let go of my waist and I withdrew my hand from his shoulder. Suddenly, the distance between us was making me feel cold.
" More like me? And how would you know what that means?" I challenged him, trying to get a hold on my feelings.
" Because, Siya Arjun Singh Rajvanshi, I look at you. That is my favourite thing to do." He replied without mincing one word and walked out of the room, leaving me alone, confused and shocked at the same time.
" Stop affecting me Arjun Singh Rajvanshi. You have no right!" I spoke to myself as I felt a feeling of loss when he walked out.
This wasn't supposed to be happening. I was supposed to not care and I most certainly was not supposed to let him make me feel things which I never had but ironically, I wanted to.
It was almost like I wanted him to not leave me like he did right now. I wanted him to stay.
" Oh My God please don't let him mess with my brain like this. He is undeniably hot but I cannot be infatuated with him!" I screamed into the pillow, throwing myself on the bed. But I knew that sleep was the last thing on my mind right now.
Only because a certain King had started invading my thoughts too much for my liking now!
To unlock the next one, 1000 votes are what I seek on this Chapter. Do let me know if it is too much.