PAINFUL PLEASURE [COMPLETED]

39. Jealousy

Do inline comments!

SIDDHARTH'S POV

The third and last task was that there were three doors. One prince could pick only one door. Whatever they deemed the most important in life. Some chose POWER. Others chose WEALTH. Nobody so much as glanced at the last door except the younger prince.

He walked up to the door and read the label- RESPONSIBILITY. His responsibility to his people is what had driven him to that point. He picked that door and opened it. There, clad in pretty jewels and a red lehenga, sat the princess.

She smiled at him. A beautiful smile that made the prince's heart skip a beat.

"I was hoping it would be you," she told him.

"How? Why?" He stuttered, still not able to grasp the reality.

"I saw how you performed the previous tasks. I was impressed when you refused to kill innocent animals for no reason. And when you spent the day with my people, soon to be yours as well. They wrote me letters, requesting that I marry you and make you their king. Only you could have surpassed the other doors and chosen this one."

The princess' voice was melodious music, and the prince basked in it.

"It would be an honour to marry you, princess," he said gratefully.

"It would be an honour to have you as my king," she replied.

The prince and the princess married. They solved the problems of both kingdoms together and lived happily ever after.

I was crying. Tears were streaming down my cheeks. If Avneet noticed, she didn't say anything. She let me have my moment and kept stroking my hair.

How many times had my mom done this for me and Abhi Bhaiya?

How many times had she made both of us lay in her lap and stroked our hair while narrating a story?

Today, particularly, I missed her a lot. But these were also tears of happiness, or so I told myself. I was grateful to have Avneet in my life.

The girl who always understood me. She saw me for who I am. She accepted me with my flaws and did not try to refine me into a perfect man.

I was enough for her. She was happy with me. I was happy with her. And I knew that our moms would be proud of us for the adults we had become.

"You cook a good story on short notice," I praised.

"Happens when you read an awful lot of books," she chuckled.

"You don't read that much," I pointed.

"Not particularly, but I do read in my free time."

"Wouldn't I know?" I snickered. She even has a book in the dashboard of my car to read when she's bored while travelling. With me. The audacity.

"Only you would know," she said, and I turned my head to see her grinning at me.

She gently wiped my tears with the pad of her thumb while keeping a warm smile.

"Vaishu bhabhi said that we could go meet them the day after tomorrow," she told me.

"What? When did you ask them?"

"I texted her yesterday."

"Oh," I was gently surprized that she remembered.

I do wanna meet them. Bhaiya, Bhabhi, and my nephew. I can imagine Rohan running towards me and rummaging through my pockets to look for my phone. At least that's what he did last time.