chapter 20 part-2 #2
?And then came the second revelation.
?The girl he had been thinking about...
?The girl whose face he had somehow been unable to forget...
She ?wasn't merely some ordinary woman.
?She was Princess of Amber.
?A royal princess.
?His eyes slowly moved toward her again.
?And suddenly, his mission became even more complicated.
?Because the very person he had been trying to find...
?was standing right in front of him.
?And the scroll he had come to retrieve
?was with her.
?For a moment, Abhimaan almost smiled thinking about her.
?Not because of the scroll.
?Because he had found her.
?He had spent days believing that the stranger from the temple fair had disappeared from his life before he could even learn her name.
?Yet destiny had placed her directly in his path again.
?His fingers slowly tightened around the bark beside him.
His gaze softened for the briefest moment.
?
?He didn't understand what was happening inside him.
?He told himself it was merely attraction.
?Her beauty.
?Her presence.
?The memory of the temple fair.
?Nothing more.
?He couldn't possibly have fallen for someone he barely knew.
?Could he?
?Abhimaan looked away for a second, trying to regain control over his thoughts.
?But his eyes returned to her almost immediately.
?And that irritated him.
?Because Abhimaan was a man who controlled everything.
?His anger.
?His emotions.
?His decisions.
?His enemies.
?Yet today...
?A girl laughing in the rain had managed to steal his attention without even knowing he existed.
For a moment, Abhimaan in the shadow of the trees, simply watching the rain fall around her.
He had seen her before. Yet somehow, seeing her like this made that first encounter feel insignificant.
Her long hair was completely drenched, dark strands resting against her shoulders and trailing down her back.
The rain had soaked her white attire, making the fabric fall more closely along her graceful silhouette.
She seemed utterly unaware of the effect she had on the man silently watching her.
His gaze caught on the delicate curve of her waist where the wet fabric had settled, then travelled away almost immediately as though he had caught himself trespassing somewhere he shouldn't.
But the image had already settled in his mind.
She looked impossibly soft against the wildness of the storm-rain glistening on her skin, wet hair framing her face, her clothes clinging just enough to make his usually disciplined mind betray him.
For one dangerous moment,
His gaze lingered.
Then a droplet slid down her cheek.
His fingers moved instinctively.
He stopped.
His hand tightened at his side.
No.
He didn't even know her.
And yet, standing there beneath the rain, watching her brush her wet hair away with that innocent little gesture,
Abhimaan felt an unfamiliar urge to step closer to shield her from the rain, Abhimaan's hand almost lifted.
He wanted to brush the wet strand of hair away from her cheek.
He wanted to feel whether the warmth of her skin remained beneath the cold rain.
The urge came so instinctively that his fingers actually tightened at his side.
But he stopped himself.
He took a slow breath and forced himself to remain where he was.
For a man accustomed to controlling everything around him, he found it unsettling that the simplest thing-keeping his hands to himself-suddenly required so much discipline.
His hand slowly curled into a fist.
"No." The word left him in a low murmur, more an order to himself than anything else.
Abhimaan clenched his jaw and looked toward the sky, drawing a slow breath.
?He watched as Ashnoor turned in the rain, laughing while Gauri splashed water at her.
?A strange warmth settled somewhere in his chest.
?Abhimaan didn't want to leave.
?Not yet.
?The scroll could wait for a few more days.
?Because after believing he had lost the mysterious girl from the temple fair forever-
?he had finally found her.
?And unknowingly, without either of them realizing it...
?the first thread of their destiny had just tightened.
?
?Meanwhile, Shyama notices that Ashnoor has been standing in the rain too long.
?Shyama: "Rajkumari, bas bhi kijiye. Aap bheeg kar poori tarah thand mein kaap rahi hain."
?Ashnoor laughs and says she isn't cold.
?Gauri teases her:
?Gauri: "Haan haan jiji , abhi toh aap bahut bahadur ban rahi thi. Kal subah agar zukhaam ho gaya na, toh Mamisa se main nahi bachane wali."
?Ashnoor playfully splashes her again.
?Everyone laughs.
The rain showed no sign of stopping.
Ashnoor and Gauri were still laughing like children, completely forgetting that they were princesses of Amber and that half the palace would probably be worried about them catching a cold.
Ashnoor ran a few steps backward while trying to escape Gauri's attack.
"Bas, Gauri! Ab aur nahi!"
(Enough, Gauri! No more!)
Gauri laughed.
"Abhi toh shuru kiya hai!"
(We've only just started!)
She splashed another handful of rainwater toward her.
Ashnoor squealed and immediately tried to run away.
?But then thunder cracks loudly.
?Ashnoor instinctively steps backward-and slips slightly on the wet and smooth marble pathway.
"Ah-!"
?Everyone freezes.
?But it isn't Abhimaan.
Before she could fall, a strong hand caught her firmly by the arm.
"Gudiya..!","noori..!"
Her laughter immediately stopped.
She looked up.
Karandev stood beside her and Harshvardhan behind him ,his expression somewhere between irritation and concern.
"Aapko zara bhi apni fikr hai bacche ?"
(Do you have even the slightest concern for yourself?).
Ashnoor blinked innocently.
"Bhaisa..."
(Brother...)
Behind him stood Harshvardhan, already smiling at the sight of his completely drenched sister getting scolding.
He had followed his elder brother out of the court hall because he had been looking for Ashnoor.
Ashnoor look at him with a accused look .
"Main bhaisa ke sath nhi aya ," he announced, "hum to chuhiya ko dhoondhne aaya tha. Socha tha saath mein bhojan karenge."