The Leader.
It has been five days since she last saw him. She remembers sobbing her heart out at the thought of losing something she couldn't even understand. She would've never if Aniruddha didn't show up himself. Now as she stands infront of the window overlooking the cloudy mountain range, she understands his words far better.
"We grew up together Mrinal, I know you more than your own parents. I know what you love to eat, what you hate wearing, where to find you when no one else does. I know when you're upset or when you're happy. I can tell it simply by looking at your eyes. They speak to me more than you do." Aniruddha said looking straight at the lake. His back facing her.
"If anyone would've asked me a few years ago why I know all these things? Why is it so easy for me to read you? I would've failed to answer. I could easily say that I studied you better than others. But where is the need to study a random person more than necessary? The answer is simple Mrinal. When the person is not just a mere person to you. When the person becomes more than just the random girl visiting your house. When every growth on that person, be it the physical growth or mental, seems appealing, intriguing..... attracting.
I never wanted to rush things Mrinal. I would still love to see you running around the entire area with that innocent, untainted smile on your face but the situation is demanding something else right now." He turned around and his intense grey eyes fell on hers.
"You need to face some truths and you need to take decisions on them.
And the truth begins with the first and foremost fact that you're not that small girl anymore Mrinal. You've grown up...." He said, moving towards her slowly.
"You've grown up to become this beautiful woman standing right infront of me. As true the fact is that I would love to protect your innocence for the rest of your life, there is another truth and that's where I need your decision. The prospect of you being loved by any male other than me doesn't go well with my brain. Being loved by a male includes touching, a lot of that Mrinal. Hell, it means way more than that. I know somewhere deep within, you already know it. I don't like the image of it and my mind doesn't stop creating them unfortunately. You know, I am a jealous man and I don't love sharing my favorite people, particularly a girl with obsidian eyes. What makes it even worse is that I have been craving to love her since I stepped into adulthood." He slowly places his hand on her cheek and wipes away the tears. Then he nears his face a little closer to hers.
"I wanted you to feel what you mean to me and my family. The things I let you you do, you've earned them. I can't let some unknown woman touching my books now, can I? It needs enough trust, enough.... love to become her. I am not getting married to anyone Mrinal, because I can't. Because I have given every bit of myself to one and one woman only. I think I don't need to explain who that is.
Now, if you want to claim your rightful place, you have to decide on it. The place, however, will remain vacant, whether you take it or you don't." Aniruddha whispers before placing his lips on her forehead. Her heart stopped right there.
That's it. She saw him leave with Tashi a few minutes later. Tashi is one of the guards of the palace, he is also a very close friend of Aniruddha. What worries Mrinalini is that he hasn't returned since that day. On the other hand, the Mahipal is about to arrive tomorrow. She feels weird about the entire turn of events. A part of her is relieved thinking she'll get rejected once again but the slightest chance of getting accepted by them is clenching her heart from inside.
How fool can she be? How fool to not realize what she feels for the one man she could tolerate apart from Baba. How did she fail to understand that what he gave her was much more than mere comfort? Every thing he did for her is out of love. Everything he still does is out of love. He makes her feel safe, he protects her at every situation, he encourages her, stays beside her no matter what, what is it if not sheer love?
Her tear stained eyes look back at the sky, she closes them one last time as the tears pour out of them freely. Then she snaps them open with a new found determination and runs out of her room. Her feet take her to the main gate and she stops right infront of a guard. The brown eyes of the guard look back at her and his eyebrows furrow.
"Is anything wrong Rajkumari?" He asks worriedly, remaining conscious about the other guards hearing their conversations.
"Why is he not coming back Tashi da? Is it for me? Have I done anything wrong again?" She asks the man. Tashi releases a deep breath and looks back at her. He then glances around him once again and settles his eyes back on her obsidian ones.
"Do you truly want to know? If you do.. meet me behind Buro Shib Mandir at five." He whispers looking worriedly around her.
"And yes Mrinalini, you might be one of the reasons he hasn't come back. And I think you deserve to know what's going on." He says looking sadly at her. Her eyes widen but then she realises his limitations and nods her head in understanding. Hanging her head low she slowly turns around and walks towards the entrance of the palace.
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Tashi waits behind the mandir patiently. He has given it a lot of thoughts before deciding on this move. He has to do this. The muscles of his ears stiffen in alertness as the creaking sounds come from within the woods. He very carefully brings out his dagger knife. He cannot risk it now, after reaching so close to the destination.
The creaking sound stops abruptly making him snap his head to his right. Releasing a sigh of relief he hides the dagger under his clothes. She has wrapped a black shawl around herself. He furrows his eyebrows in confusion because he doesn't remember telling her to be this stealthy. But again, this is Mrinalini, her sense of understanding is better than other people he has encountered in his life. He sees her coming towards her, when she gets closer he whispers,
"Can't talk much right now, not the right place. Just follow me." Like he expected, she follows without protesting. Her trusting him so much surprises him sometimes. She is like a sister to him and he knows that the root cause of her trust is connected to Aniruddha somehow.
They keep walking deep inside the forest. There is hardly any light visible. Weirdly enough Tashi confidently walks towards a tree and crouches infront it bringing out something from within its trunk.
Mrinalini's eyes widen when she sees that the thing is nothing but a lantern. A lantern that has enough fuel to run for three to four hours, as if it was kept ready for them. She looks at Tashi, her eyes furrowed. Tashi stares at her with a knowing look.
"Have question? Start asking." He says as he keeps walking.
"Where are we heading? Why is a ready lantern kept secured so deep into the forest? Do you come here often?" Mrinalini starts.
"I do. Not often, everyday. Dada does too." Tashi says holding the lantern infront of them. The information confuses her even more.
"Why? Why would you come here knowing the risk of unknown insects, wild animals and god knows what else?" She asks looking genuinely concerned.
"Because we are dealing with a bigger danger right now." Tashi looks at her sadly.
"A bigger danger? What's going on Tashi da? This is...." Her words gets stopped when her eyes fall on the light coming from within the woods they are nearing.
"I know what I am about to do might get me in trouble but I think you deserve to know this...." Tashi pauses and then adds,
"..see this." Saying so he pulls apart the branches of trees walking through it, eventually reaching a clearing amongst the dense forest. Mrinalini's eyes widen at what see witnesses infront of her.
There are make shift tents everywhere, at the centre of it there are woods burning, as if a campfire. The entire area is lighted by multiple flaming torches. People, most specifically farmers and laborers are scattered around the place, divided into multiple groups working on things she can't decipher from the distance she is standing at. Looking closely at them she recognizes some of their faces. She has seen them coming to Aniruddha a few times.
"What is this place? What are they doing?" She asks looking beside her at Tashi.
"This is our base. We are forming an army to fight...." Tashi pauses suddenly contemplating on how to place his next words. She looks at him and her eyes widen in realization.
"To fight against my father." She states looking infront of her. Tashi hesitates.
"Yes, that was our first intention but right now, as I said, we have a bigger danger to deal with." He says looking pointedly at the campfire.
"A bigger danger than my Babamoshai? What?" She asks but her query gets interrupted.
"Enough Tashi!" The deep voice booms from behind them. She flinches but Tashi only hangs his head.
"I apologize dada. But she needed to know." Tashi says.
"She has learnt enough. She doesn't need to know anything else. I truly did not expect this from you Tashi." He says, voice stern. Mrinalini's eyes fall on him. His upper body is bare, there is mud everywhere. Some parts of his body seem scratched, even slightly bloody here and there. He has been fighting, even a kid could tell. His hair is tousled. Even in this cold weather, sweat is dripping down the sides of his face. There is a feral, a rugged look about him that she has never witnessed before. An aura of authority surrounds him. She gulps down the nervousness and meets his intense eyes. As if seeing him in a new light.
His eyes soften for a millisecond before it becomes stern again.
"Take her back to the palace Tashi. It's an order!" He commands and Tashi gets ready to move when she raises her hand infron of him. Her eyes remain fixed at Aniruddha's face.
"You.. you are their leader. You are fighting for them." She states the obvious but there is this glint in her eyes that makes one look at it differently.
"You know everything about me and I.. I know nothing about you. I never knew. I am such a fool." She chuckles at herself sarcastically.
"How can I claim something knowing that I probably never deserved it at the first place?" Her voice breaks and to this Aniruddha furrows his eyebrows.
"I.. I am the daughter of the Maharaja you all are fighting against. The Maharaja who tortures his own subjects to no ends. I deserve equal treatment for sharing his blood, don't I?" She adds.
"Mrinal!" Aniruddha raises his voice glaring at her.
"Don't you dare compare yourself to that man. You.. you are nothing like him. You are my Mrinal and I have taught you better than hanging your head low. Never bow your head when you're not at fault. Did I not teach you that?!" He asks. Mrinal looks up at him.
"Then why would you hide it from me? If I am not like him, why would you be so secretive with me? Why?" She asks, her voice confident. Aniruddha closes his eyes.
"Because I can't risk your safety. I just can't." He says opening his eyes and looking at her.
"Call me selfish but you are too valuable for me to lose. I can't fathom you being hurt, it.... it frightens me." He utters. Mrinalini's eyes soften and for the first time she gets this unknown urge to move forward and stand closer to him.
"I can protect myself Ridhu da, trust me." She says looking straight at his grey eyes and the age old yearning within him pushes him forward to place his forehead against hers. He closes his eyes and whispers.
"I know love. You can say that I am a coward but you're the only weakness I could not overcome. I don't want to. So let me protect you, let me keep you safe when I can. Because if anything happens to you, I'll lose my mind and I would hate to become a wild animal Mrinal."
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Love, Puja. 😊