A Different Destiny - A Mahabharat/Karn Fanfic

CHAPTER 25 : HIDE AND SEEK

As Narada muni entered Vaikunth loka, all he heard were shrill giggles of a little girl and a woman and laughter of a man. As he neared the sources in the never ending cosmic ocean of milk, he was both surprised and amused seeing the divine Lord Vishnu, playing hide and seek with a child while Goddess Lakshmi stood to the side, looking at the both of them with a divine smile on her face.

"Meri Ishey kahaan hain? Where is she hiding?" wondered Lord Vishnu out loud as if he didn't know where the little girl was hiding.

The little girl crawled under Adisesh's tail, occasionally peeking out to see if the person seeking her is nearby while the supreme lord pretended to not know the little girl's whereabouts.

"Where did my Ishey go? I'm unable to find her!" pouted the divine Vishnu, a bit dramatically.

Hearing him, the little girl giggled and then gasped while covering her mouth with her hands when Lord Vishnu's face turned towards the direction where she was hiding while Adisesh and Goddess Lakshmi looked at her affectionately.

"Hmm... I wonder where my little one is hiding" wondered Lord Narayan out loud while circling around Adisesh while the little girl snickered behind her hands.

Suddenly, Lord Vishnu caught her with his arms and raised her wiggling body up to his height while Isha squealed and her giggles of delight were heard throughout Vaikunth making Narada muni smile in delight.

"There is my Ishey! I finally found her!" exclaimed Lord Vishnu.

"You found me mamashree!" little Isha giggled while the divine self took their seat on Adisesh while placing her on his lap.

"Of course, silly. I'll always find you, no matter what" said Lord Vishnu, booping Isha's nose making her grin.

*****

The very next day after Karn literally stuffed Isha with food was the last day of them being in Dwaraka. They are leaving for their respective kingdoms in the next day.

Isha was in the garden along with Lord Krishna and some kids. All of them were playing hide and seek. It was Krishna's turn to seek those who were hiding and so far, he found all of them who were hiding except Isha.

"Hmm, I wonder where my Mayuri is hiding" wondered Krishna out loud while Isha silently chuckled, peeking from behind a far pillar, looking at Krishna.

Just when he turned his head in her direction, she went back to hiding while kids played around with them. Not wanting to get caught by hiding in the same place for so long, Isha started moving back with a grin on her face, trying to go to a different hiding spot as healthily as possible, until her back collided to a hard wall making her gasp and turn around, wondering how a wall appeared out of thin air, only to realize that she didn't collide to a hard wall.

Instead, it was Yuvraj Karn's chest that she collided into. She blinked, looking at his chest and tilted her head up to look at him to find him already looking at her amusedly.

"Aahaa! There she is!" rang a voice out loud from behind her, making the two of them to break their stare and look at the source of the voice.

"But looks like Priyadarshan here has found my Meenu before I did" said Lord Krishna standing a couple of feet away from them with a mischievous smile on his face, making Karn narrow his eyes at his cousin in suspicion.

"Madhav!" exclaimed a voice from behind Karn and all three of them saw Arjun walking towards them with a huge grin on his face along with Bheem and Nakul.

"Kya Madhav aap bhi. Aapne toh kaha ki aap hum sab ko dwarka se padharne se pehle poori dwarka ko dikhayenge. Aur kal toh hum sab yahaan se apne apne rajya ko jaa rahein hain. And we haven't seen like even an inch of Dwaraka!" exclaimed Arjun.

It suddenly dawned on Isha and Karn that they were indeed leaving Dwarka the very next day and a deep feeling settled in their guts and whatever that was, they were not comfortable with it.

Lord Krishna didn't miss their expressions and only had a knowing smile on his face.

"Of course Parth. We have a whole day ahead of us! Let's go and explore Dwarka today!" said Krishna and Arjun grinned in response.

And so the whole lot of them - The six Pandavs, the two Princesses of Panchal and Lord Krishna went out to venture the beauty that Dwarka provided. Peaceful farms, shores where the vast sea began, the luscious forests and the temples too. They even went to see the temple that Isha went to before she was attacked by Thimpa.

After visiting the temple, they went to the market nearby it and Isha was quick to go towards the same stall where she saw those gold bangles that she liked, which didn't go unnoticed by Karn. Isha was kind of bummed after learning that the merchant has already sold those bangles, but decided to not let that sour her mood and enjoy the little time that she's got in Dwarka. 

At one point, all of them reached the shore of a river. Isha sat down along with Draupadi while Krishna and and the Pandavs, except for Karn were having fun. Isha giggled looking at Krishna and Parth making fun of each other while Karn smiled staring at her. Isha who casually looked to her side saw Karn staring at her, immediately looked straight ahead of her and then bent her head down shyly, her cheeks turning pink.

Karn's smile too widened seeing her blush and the two of them kept exchanging glances and shy smiles. Soon, the dusk approached and all of them made their way towards the palace. Within the blink of an eye, the dawn too came and it was time for them to go back to their respective kingdoms.  

For some reason, the thought of parting from Dwarka made both Isha and Karn anxious. They were unaware that it was them parting from each other that was making them anxious. After bidding their goodbyes to the Dwarka family, Draupadi and Isha made their way to the chariot that Krishna himself was riding as he wanted to drop them off at Panchal whereas the Pandavs each got on their horses and chariots with Kunti riding with Karn. Before parting though, Isha made her way towards Arjun who was standing with Kunti while Karn was talking to Sahadev regarding something.

"Pranipat Rajmatha Kunti, Parth. This is where we part our ways" said Isha looking at Kunti and then at Arjun who was looking at Draupadi who was chatting with Balram regarding something.

Kunti smiled at her and said "I have a feeling this won't be the last time we meet, Putri," glancing at Karn who was already repeatedly glancing at Isha while talking to Sahadev.

Kunti's words confused Isha but when she looked at Arjun and Draupadi stealing glances at each other, she smiled and said "You might be right, Rajmatha."

Upon seeing that Arjun is not responding, Isha cleared her throat loudly, causing Arjun to look at her like a startled cat.

"So, Parth! I expect you to regularly send me letters and respond to the letters that I'll send to you. Else, there will be dire consequences that you won't like" said Isha making Arjun grin and Kunti smiled at the two of them.

"Of course, Sakhi! I'll write to you regularly. After all, you being angry at me is not good for me in many ways" drawled Arjun making Isha giggle.

Maybe I should start planning for two weddings instead of just one thought Kunti while walking towards Karn after blessing Isha.

Soon it was time for them to leave and everyone got on their respective mode of transport. Isha and Karn's restlessness increased even more. Isha - with a frown on her face was clutching the pallu of her saree tightly in her clenched fist at the uneasiness that was spreading in her.

"Everything okay, Meenu?" asked Lord Krishna looking back at Isha with a knowing smile on his face.

She nodded with a tight smile in response and soon, he started leading the chariot from there.

For reason unknown to her, Isha looked back and saw an equally unease Karn who was staring at her with a frown etched between his brows. She then turned to her front once again and tried to breathe in and out to ease herself out of this feeling while Krishna drove the chariot with a divine smile.

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That's the 25th Chapter! Hope you guys like it! I'm extremely sorry for the late update. Some things happened and I was unable to post regularly. Add that with the procrastination too. 

I want to thank you all once again for all the love and support you guys have given this book! Please keep it coming! Thank you so much once again! Love you all!