The Cinderella Of Rewa

11. Nakul

Nakul's insides froze as he looked at Vedika.

And he had thought, she couldn't get any better looking than the day she had seen him in Mittal Mansion.

Her tantalizing curls were flying in the air like the waves in the ocean. Her bare hands and feet looked like they were made out of porcelain.  Nakul continued the poetry in his head till he looked at her clothes and realised something was wrong. Girls from aristocratic families did not walk around in rags like this. He knew his mother would not get out of her emarald jewellery even if she died. But then Sunaina Mittal was another category.

Nakul hadn't realised he had stopped riding. Perhaps, his horse too had been frozen by the sight of Vedika. He pulled it's reins gently urging it to move. The stallion neighed and started trotting again.

Nakul never believed in kicking or whipping his horses. He wished he could take off all the suffocating leather straps and unnecessary adornments that his mother had bestowed on the poor animal. He was confident that he could control a horse without reins. Horses were predictable and gentle creatures. But no. His father would never allow it. "Why are you riding a naked horse like a beggar?", Harsh Mittal would ask, "You are the heir of the Mittals and you should ride like a king".

If he was a king, why was he always told what to do, Nakul thought wrylt.

Nakul practically bounced with eagerness as his stallion, less attractive but older and stronger than that of his brother's, trotted down straight to the young girl standing on the edge of the river.

Only at close quarters, Nakul realised the stark difference in Vedika since the last he had seen her. Her soft feet were battered and scarred. Her hair was uncombed. Her face was covered in scratches, as well. Her palms looked like they had been charred. Nakul couldn't imagined what had happened to this girl. And he couldn't imagine either, how on earth, a person so bruised and battered could look so beautiful.

"Devi are you okay?", he asked as he got off his horse.

"It doesn't matter whether I'm okay", Vedika replied curtly. And then she  quickly looked away feeling embarrassed. This was the son of an aristocrat just like her father. He was an equal if not a superior. She was behaving like he was her lover and they had had a tiff. Her father would have been so ashamed, Vedika thought.

There was a momentary pause.

"How come you're here?", Vedika asked.

"It doesn't matter", Nakul said.

Vedika's lips twisted, "No, I am not okay", she said "My father is dead, my stepmother fired my best friend and killed her son".

Nakul took a step back. Vedika let out a humourless laugh and stepped forward.

Their shoulders brushed against each other. They started walking in the same direction oblivious to themselves.

"I'm looking for my brother", Nakul said after a minute of silent walking.

"I didn't see any brother here", Vedika said.

"Its his birthday", Nakul shrugged "He took out his new horse and went off somewhere. Father asked me to come and find him".

They walked upto the lane beyond the riverbank where one of the market places in Rewa was located - Nakul leading his horse by the rein and Vedika bringing the rear.

Nakul opened a bag tied to the back of the horse and took out a couple of apples.

"Kashmiri?", Vedika asked.

"No..from the British camp", Nakul said as held out one for his horse to eat.

"Oooh", Vedika's eyes widened. She took the other apple from Nakul's hand. The brief moment that their palms brushed against each other was  paralyzing.

They stood there, feeding Nakul's horse and running their hands through it's mane. Their fingers brushed against each other, every few seconds. Both of them recoiled for a moment and stepped away whenever it happened and then came back closer. It was like both of them had known each other forever. Both of them, for the first time were experiencing a feeling like this.

"Can I ask something?" , Nakul asked after an eternity had passed.

"Hm?"

"What really happened to you?"

Vedika looked up but didn't answer.

"I know you lost your father", Nakul asked, his voice shaking slightly, "But what happened after that? Daughters don't walk around like beggars simply because their fathers die".

"What are you talking..", Vedika began but Nakul suddenly kept a finger over his lips indicating her to be silent.

Nakul had just spotted men lurking behind the shops in the market place.

Spies.

His father's spies were tracking him. Nakul cursed under his breath. What was wrong with his father? He was the one who had asked him to go and find Akshat. Now why was he, Nakul being tracked? If his father found out that he was roaming the city market place with Yashvant Thakur's daughter, he was going to have it.

"I need to go", Nakul turned around and started walking back, leading his horse.

"What?", Vedika looked surprised, "What happened?", Vedika asked as she started running to keep up with Nakul.

"Long story", Nakul said as he jumped on back of his horse.

"But this meeting is so incomplete", Vedika protested.

"An incomplete meeting leaves the promise of another", Nakul smiled as he rode away. If he had turned around, he would've seen Vedika bend down and kiss the ground where his feet had last rested.