Wherever You Stray, I Follow (Kunwar Pratap/Ajabde [PrAja])

16//~wounded~

Have you ever laid in bed at night? 

And

Thought about everything?

Wanting to scream and cry, but don't want to wake anyone.

Instead, you just sit there and the pain just breaks inside of you.

≪ °❈° ≫≪ °❈° ≫

Ajabde had left the palace yesterday, exactly a day after the entire fiasco with Kunwar Pratap. She hadn't wanted to leave but it was her engagement and that thing was simply not a good enough reason to postpone it and even if it was, she couldn't tell Kartikey that.

But she had tried anyway. She had insisted on staying behind in the name of unfinished business but Kartikey had ended up dragging her along with him not listening to a word she had said. He wouldn't even let her attend the training session that morning. 

Kaki didn't know about her little adventures so once she was home, she couldn't say or do anything that would provoke unwanted questions as she didn't want to end up having to lie. She had lied once, that was enough for a lifetime. 

If it had been any other circumstances, she would have been furious at Kartikey. He was the one who was supposed to side with her but instead he had purposefully put her in a spot where she was forced to accept what he wanted from her whether she liked it or not. Then, he trotted off to practice with everyone's blessings. 

She had more important things to worry about than holding a grudge.

The entire ceremony was a blur. She remembered that there were rituals and music and dancing but if you asked her less than 24 hours later, what exactly had happened, she had no idea. This made her even more furious. She had waited for her wedding her entire life. She had dreamt about it almost every night. She wanted her wedding to be perfect, worthy of being remembered for a lifetime. They were supposed to be the biggest days of her life and she was just missing out on everything.

The next morning when she got ready to attend her regular training sessions, that night was still on her mind. She was sure everything he had said was just nonsense word vomit he definitely didn't mean but then there was the part at the end. 

When he told her about all his struggles, he sounded so broken.

It pained her to leave him alone but she eventually had to. She could not be caught in a room alone with a prince at night. Whatever their relationship was, the difference in status spoke otherwise to the outside audience. 

And after that, she hadn't seen him or heard about him. So finally she was glad for today when she could finally see for herself that Kunwar Pratap was fine.

Ajabde covered her face with the end of her turban and climbed out of the window. It was almost time for Kartikey's ride and she had already told Kaki that she would leave before everyone woke up as she had work to do in the palace. She walked over to where Kartikey's horsecart would be waiting for him.

"Ajabde, tum?" Kartikey questioned as she approached the cart.

"Ji," Ajabde replied and climbed onto the horse cart.

He scoffed and then attempted to play it off subtly.

"Humari sagai ko hue ek din bhi nahi hua. Tume prashikshan mein aana hain?" he questioned.

"Aap ja rahe hain?" Ajabde asked.

"Hum kyun nahi jaiyenge,"

"To hum bhi kyun na jaiye,"