Chapter 7— Return

The night went on with one in deep sleep and the other in a not so deep sleep, as always.

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The next morning Kalindi woke up first and felt a weight on her stomach and touched it with sleepy eyes which were not able to open. Her eyes widened immediately throwing away all the sleep when she felt a hand leisurely laid over her stomach. Then only she remembered that she is a married woman now and the one who is sleeping beside her is her newly wedded husband. Above all, yesterday was their wedding night.

Kalindi calmed herself down and regained her neutral emotion and tried to remove his hand but suddenly that hand captured her hand in a death grip. Kalindi instantly turned to her side, ignoring the slight pain, only to see a pair of eyes looking at her with no emotions. Now it seems like a real challenge for her to keep her neutral face without any emotions. His grip loosened immediately as soon as he realized that it is her but still he held her hand and both continued to look into each other's eyes.

The bird's sound coming through the balcony made them snap out of their staring competition and he withdrew his hand and stood up from the bed. She too stood up from the bed and adjusted her saree as it got disoriented too much. Kalindi mentally scolded herself for removing the dupatta (upper cloth) of her lehenga and sleeping only in blouse and skirt, till now. Hereafter she is going to wear a saree as she is a married woman and how she is going to manage it at night is her biggest worry right now.

He went to the bathroom to take a bath while she waited in the room and then she went to use the bathroom after he came out. She took a relaxing bath to calm down her nerves. When she came out dressed in a new saree without any jewellery, she didn't find him in the room, so looked around to find him. Then her eyes fell on the balcony where he was doing Suryanamaskaar looking at the rising sun, with only dhoti (lower cloth). His bare upper body was shining in the sun and quickly she averted her gaze. Turning away from him, she continued wiping her wet hair by keeping it on one shoulder.

Abhyuday finished his prayer although he doesn't have the private temple here in the palace of Hridaypura. He turned to get inside the room, and was welcomed by her back view. Her back was properly covered by a normal saree-blouse but what caught his attention was her waist with some water droplets, the part which was not covered by her saree. Kalindi felt a gaze on her and turned around to see him looking at her. He moved his gaze up when she turned around but there was no change in his expressions, neither when he looked at her waist nor when je looked at her eyes.

She asked him,"Shall I call for the maids to help you in dressing, Yuvraj? " This is the first time she has talked to him. He remained silent for some time and then said,"I don't need help in dressing. You can call for yourself ". Saying so, he went on to put back the little jewels that he took off last night and Kalindi waited for him to finish off before calling the maids. Then the maids helped her to get dressed while Abhyuday had already went out.

Later everyone had their breakfast and the people of Rakhshatra started preparation for their departure. Kalindi's things were already packed in the bullock carts along with the plants and flower pots that she had grown all these years. The entire royal family of Hridaypura was present in the entrance of the palace, including Uttara, to send off Kalindi as it won't be frequent event for her to visit them. Even for her brother's wedding, she may not be present. Her mother was crying while her brother and father were controlling their tears.

Kalindi had a tight lipped smile on her face, as she doesn't like to cry in front of everyone. She got blessings from her parents and brother, met her sisters and step mothers. Last but not the least, her cute younger step brother wished her a happy life. Then she went towards the horse carriage where Oormila (Abhyuday's step mother) and her daughter were waiting for her, while Lekha and Rekha followed her as they were also moving along with her. Suddenly, King Virendra stopped Kalindi on her way to the carriage and said,"Princess Kalindi, now you are the Yuvrani (Crown Princess) of Rakhshatra. So your place is there".

He pointed towards the elephant where Yuvraj Abhyuday was already seated on the throne on top. Kalindi gave her father-in-law a small smile and moved towards the elephant while Lekha and Rekha will be walking alongside the elephant. A small ladder was placed so that Kalindi could climb 'Mehdooth', the royal elephant. Abhyuday frowned as he was sceptical about how Mehdooth will react to the new person on him. But to his surprise, Mehdooth knelt down so that Kalindi could climb easier.

Abhyuday's step brother was very much shocked as the elephant was very intimidating and no one except his brother can command it, even the driver needs to have permission from his brother to climb on the elephant. Kalindi smiled a real smile and caressed the elephant and climbed on it. She got seated beside her husband within the available space. Then the return procession of Yuvraj and Yuvrani of Rakhshatra started from Hridaypura.

During the long journey, they took a stop for lunch and then resumed the journey. Kalindi was so embarrassed at some point that she could hardly control her expressions, after all the situation of accidentally sitting in her husband's lap after climbing the elephant is not usual thing. But she missed Abhyuday's expression, who also lost his composure for a moment and then regained it. He frowned at Mehdooth (the elephant) as if accusing it for doing it purposely. Only Mehdooth knows if it had done it deliberately.

Finally by the end of the day, they reached Rakhshatra, where they received a grand welcome. Or let's say it was Kalindi who received with the grand welcome. She smiled at the people while sitting with joined hands (Namaste posture) and humbly accepted their love. Once they reached the palace, the new couple was invited inside with proper rituals and then went to the common temple in the ground floor. The couple should do puja (prayer) as the first thing after entering the new home. After the prayers, everyone went to look after their respective works.

Oormila ordered a maid to show Kalindi, her new chamber and also give a tour of the palace. And then Oormila said,"Kalindi, this maid is assigned to you from now onwards as you are new here and needs some help. Ok". Kalindi didn't refuse her words and just nodded. She can definitely say that the purpose of the maid was to spy over her rather than helping her, but still she didn't refuse it as she herself can very well handle it.

Kalindi already started to feel annoyed at her mother-in-law's nosy behaviour and not to mention it's step-mother-in-law. Kalindi mentally sighed at her own thoughts. First, the maid lead Kalindi and the other two maids to Yuvraj's wing and showed around the wing. At last, Kalindi reached her own chamber and dismissed the new maid out. Then she went to the common bathroom of hers and Yuvraj, which is situated in between their two chambers. After entering the bathroom only she realized that the doors on both sides of the bathroom, connecting to the two chambers, doesn't have any locks at all. Kalindi cursed mentally but right now a relaxing bath was her priority, so she took a bath. Then Lekha helped her to get ready. Then suddenly Rekha hurried inside and informed,"Yuvrani, Yuvraj is here ".

No sooner did she said, he came inside her room and Kalindi greeted him. Abhyuday nodded and clapped twice, following which a girl little older than Kalindi entered the room. Abhyuday said," She will be the one who will help you get familiar here". The maid joined her hands and greeted Kalindi, who nodded at her with a frown. Abhyuday went away from there without any further explanations.

Kalindi's frown deepened further and she looked at the new maid and asked,"What is your name? " To which the new maid replied,"My name is Gopika, Yuvrani. You can call me Gopi". Kalindi gave a formal smile as she couldn't understand how many spies she would have to handle. To get her mind away from all these stressful thoughts, she had to get away from the palace and visit the garden. The flowers will refresh jer mind and also cheer her up when she feels low.

So Kalindi asked,"Rekha, call that other maid who lead us here, we shall go look at the garden so that our flower pots can be arranged ". Rekha was about to go but then Gopi replied,"Yuvrani! That maid was already dismissed from your service by Yuvraj when he came here. He has assigned me instead of her". Kalindi was confused by his actions but she couldn't help a relieved sigh escaping her. " He is confusing ", Kalindi murmured to herself. Then they all followed Gopi to the garden and fixed the place for the shaded garden and then ordered the gardeners to arrange it properly as it was already dinner time.

Everyone had their dinner quietly and went to sleep. Kalindi went towards her chamber and from a distance she could see a girl wearing a dress like that of a courtesan was arguing with the new maid Gopi, who was waiting for her mistress.

*These two may not have love at first sight, but attraction is there for sure, It may turn into love Or something even more, let's see how long it takes*.

𝙷𝚒 𝚐𝚞𝚢𝚜,

𝙳𝚘 𝚟𝚘𝚝𝚎 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚖𝚎𝚗𝚝 𝚒𝚏 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚕𝚒𝚔𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚌𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚝𝚎𝚛. 𝚃𝚑𝚊𝚗𝚔𝚜.

By:- sahawrites

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