Part 20 Together
Khushi stopped seeing Arnav advancing her furiously. He came to her and asked,
"Did Hemadri meet you?" He asked.
Khushi was not surprised. After all, he was Prince Aparajith. He had his hands all over the kingdom then why not in the palace? She made up herself to handle him.
"Yeah... he came to meet me formally," She said with a normal expression.
"Why didn't you tell me about it?"
"I was supposed to tell you, before that, the girl caught my sight. How could I refuse her?" She said not showing any expression on her face. Arnav felt it odd.
"What did he say? Did you ask you anything?"
"Arnav, I think this is not a place to talk about it,"
"Why?"
"We are getting watched,"
"So what?"
"Do you trust me?" She asked.
Arnav gulped down and nodded yes.
"If it is true, please don't ask me anything, as of now. Let me handle him. Trust me... I will do it"
Arnav rolled his eyes. She walked to Atithi's room.
There she saw, Atithi sitting at the corner of the room. There were screens around her. Khushi sighed. She came to Atithi and smiled.
"Sister, see, these guys are making me sit alone," She said sadly.
"This is how it works," Khushi said and sat with her.
"You should not sit with her," Arunima said.
"No problem... this is not a big deal in our country," Khushi sad.
"Are you going to be with me?" Atithi asked delightedly.
Khushi nodded yes.
"I will tell you stories"
"Really? I was so worried about how to spend time" Atithi said.
"What story sister?" The other girls also came to her and sat with her but a little aloof from Khushi and Atithi.
Khushi started telling them Panchatantra stories, Akbar and Birbal stories, and Thenali Raman stories. The girls laughed wholeheartedly and also learned morals from the stories. They liked the stories very much as well as Khushi.
"We like you very much, sister," Mihira said.
Khushi smiled.
"Will you come here every day and tell us stories?"
"Sure"
"You should take a bath if you sit with Atithi," Yamini said.
"But, I take a bath every day..." Khushi teased.
"Sister, everyone would take a bath... I'm not talking about it. You should take a bath if you touch Atithi or her things"
"I have no problem," Khushi said.
They chitchatted.
On the other side, Arnav was suffocating as Khushi didn't come from Atithi's room till dinner time. In fact, Khushi intentionally did that. She didn't want Hemadri to doubt her intention.
Arnav was tensed as he wanted to know what Hemadri talked about with Khushi but she was with the girls. Losing his patience, Arnav thought to send a guard to call her. Before him doing that, Khushi herself came to his room.
"I was supposed to call you" he said.
"Why?"
"Don't you know the reason?"
"I told you..."
Cutting her,
"I trust you and it does nothing with it, Khushi. I want to know what Hemadri told you"
"Promise me you won't lose your temper," Khushi asked.
"Will I lose my temper?" he asked shrinking his eyes.
Khushi nodded yes.
"Did he misbehave with you?"
"No... it was me who misbehaved with him," she said controlling her laughter.
"Whaaaaaat?" he was shocked.
"I mean I played up with him..."
"I didn't get you"
"He asked me to marry him"
"Whaaaaat? How dare he!" he gritted his teeth.
"Cool Arnav... It's obvious if a girl looks beautiful" She said that to make him laugh but Arnav was not in the mood to laugh.
"What did you say?"
"I agreed"
Arnav looked at her unbelievably. He gritted his teeth wrathfully.
"You promised me not to lose your patience" Khushi remembered.
"Is this why you had my words?"
"Relax... I said I will marry him. It doesn't mean I will marry him"
"But, what is necessary to lie to him?"
"It won't come into the LIE category... It's called Royal Sly" She said with attitude.
Arnav rolled his eyes.
"He agreed to bring his head-spy to the king to withdraw his allegation"
Arnav frowned.
"Don't you believe him?"
Arnav nodded no.
"I asked him to prove myself innocent to marry him"
"You had taken a risk," Arnav said.
"We have to... we have no choice"
"No, you don't have to do it"
"Why should not I?"
"Why would you take a risk for me?"
"Is not my duty to save you?"
"Hemadri is a dangerous man, Khushi"
"I will try my best... if I cannot, you will take care of him"
"We don't know what he is planning"
"His plan will not work..."
"You look overconfident"
Arnav heard a knock on his door. He gestured for Khushi to hide. She rushed to the bed and sat behind it. Arnav opened the door and raised his brows. He gave a space for the person to enter. A man entered and bowed. He was Arnav's spy who was serving for Hemadri. He removed his fake beard.
"Anything should I know, Satyam?" Arnav asked.
"Jee, Yuvraj... I got urgent information. Please ask your guest to be careful. She agreed to marry Hemadri it seems"
Arnav was silent.
"He was fully set to marry her. Yet, he has some other plan for her"
"What plan?"
"I don't know about it. He didn't talk about it"
"With whom he talked?"
The spy hesitated to say with whom he talked.
"Tell me..."
"With the priest..."
"Whaaaat?" Arnav was shocked.
"Yes, Yuvraj. They are going to discuss it tonight at the Priest's place"
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, Yuvraj. They didn't know my presence and talked about her"
"OK, I will take care of them. Be careful. They should not know your identity"
"Jee Yuvraj"
Satyam again stuck the beard and left the place.
Khushi stood up from behind the bed.
"Didn't I say? See, he is planning something"
"Can't you track them? I mean, can't you go to the Priest's place to know what they are talking about?"
Arnav became thoughtful.
"Doesn't your palace have any subways?"
Arnav nodded yes.
"Can't you reach the priest's place through that?"
Arnav nodded yes again and said,
"OK, I will go to the Priest's place tonight"
"It seems the priest is not a genuine person"
"That was what I kept on telling... who believed me?" Arnav said wearily.
"This is a good chance for you to prove them wrong," Khushi said.
Arnav nodded yes.
"That's great. Go there and catch them red handed"
"Are not you coming with me?" Arnav asked.
Khushi was stunned.
"Me?"
"Didn't you ask me to take you with me last night?"
"But, the subways must be secret..."
"It will be secret even though you got to know about it. I know"
Khushi got stuck. His trust in her made her speechless.
"Trusting someone to this extent blindly is not good for a Prince like you"
"What's the point, Khushi?"
"You go..."
"Why are you scared?"
"Why would I be scared? Didn't you see how I pounced on you last night?" she said folding her fingers tight.
"Yeah, I saw... that's why I want you to accompany me. Don't you think I need someone to protect me?"
Khushi kept her hands on her hip and looked at him sarcastically.
"From when Prince Aparajith needed a fragile girl to protect himself?" she asked.
"From the time, the fragile girl entered his life" Arnav smiled.
Khushi got stuck. She could not understand what he meant.
"Are not you coming with me?"
"Do you think it will be wise to take me with you?"
"Why?"
"What if I shouted seeing something in the subway?"
Arnav chuckled.
"Come and see..."
Khushi thought for a while and said,
"Ok... let's go"
"Now?"
"Then?"
"Wait"
Arnav went to the cupboard and removed a set of clothes. He handed them to Khushi.
"Wear this..."
It was a male clothes.
"Wow... am I going to get disguised?"
"Yeah... we are going to go in disguise"
"It will be thrilling" Khushi went to her room taking the clothes.
While changing the dress, she thought something. How would Arnav prove them even though they talked about him and her? What if they turned the table just like Hemadri did? She took her mobile out. What would have happened if she had captured the video of their activities? What would be these people's reaction if they saw the video? Would they think she was a witch? She knew the risk yet, she thought it was necessary. Let them think anything... after all, she was not going to be there after proving Hemadri's guilty.
Switching it on, she put it on silent mode. She kept the phone in her hip belt. It was so comfortable to hide the phone. She stuck the beard and looked at the mirror. She chuckled.
"Khushi... you look so handsome in this dress. Try it after going to Delhi. Girl will start ogling at you" She laughed.
Taking her mobile, she captured a selfie.
"Wow... what an experience... Thanks to Arnav. I'm going to walk in the REAL subway tonight..." She was excited.
She opened the door slowly and peeped out. As there was no one in the corridor, she walked to Arnav's room.
On the other side, Arnav was tensed.
"Was taking Khushi to the priest's place right? Is not it risk? What if anything happened to her? No... how would anything happen to her when I'm with her?" Arnav thought confidently.
He saw a man entering his room without knocking on the door.
"Hey, who are you?" he asked.
"Prince Aparajith, don't you know me?" Khushi asked in a base voice and caressed her mustache with the backside of her finger.
Arnav looked at her and burst out laughing.
To be continued...