KEDAR NATH PANWAR II, the prince of Garhwal, is the half-British, half-Indian prodigal son and the constant head ache of the royal family, who is unexpectedly exiled to the Aldridge-Heaton residencial school in Dalhousie by the king.
HIMANI ARORA i...
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After the assembly, Kedar was led to the Debate Club room by the principal, where he would go through a screening process to evaluate whether the future kings were eligible to be in the club.
'The debate club captain will be interviewing you.' Mr. Bishop said, as Kedar went in. The room was big enough, with round tables, chairs, a book shelf, three personal computers, several post-it notes on the wall, and flyers pinned to the notice board. He scanned his eyes from one corner of the room to another. It was empty.
'Sorry, I'm late.' A girl's voice emerged from behind him, and the sound of the door shutting behind her. He stood, his back turned against the girl, and she seemed to be in a hurry, walking hastily towards the shelf behind him and pulled out a folder.
'You're here for the screening, righ-' She swallowed her words as her eyes met his, and his met hers at the same time. The girl from the assembly, Himani Arora. His eyes widened in realisation.
'Damn!' He whispered to himself so quickly and feebly upon seeing her. Things might not go smoothly; he could already sense it.
'Great!' She muttered under her breath, which was not audible to Kedar.
She settled behind the table opposite him while gesturing for him to sit. He unbuttoned that single button holding his jacket together with his right hand so swiftly before settling on the chair, which she would have found attractive under some other circumstances. He sat on the chair, with his right leg on top of the other, while both arms were placed on the armrest, as if it was his throne. He sat as if he were a painting, and she was the one who was painting him. He was different than he was in the photographs-a different kind of aura that she couldn't explain, with his hazel eyes, which almost reminded her of Anakin Skywalker. His side-partitioned hair fell into his forehead as he tilted his chin slightly downward.
Himani opened the folder and rearranged the papers. An awkward silence lingered in the air for a few seconds, until Himani broke it. 'So.' It came out as a sigh. 'I'm Himani Arora, the captain of the debate club. I'll be interviewing you today.' She interweaved her fingers together.
'Our debate club has been winning all the inter-school debate competitions for the past five years, and that's the very reason why we've got a screening process to pick only the best ones who would benefit the club.' She said so fast, as if she had been doing the screening for a while.
'Right.' Kedar nodded.
'So, I'll be asking you a few questions, and you'll be answering them very quickly and briefly. This is to test your ability to come up with answers in a shorter amount of time. And your opinions cannot be neutral, as you have to pick a side during a debate. You have to either agree or disagree.'
'Understood.'
'Before we begin, I have to fill out your form. So, what's your name?' She asked.
Kedar's breath almost got stuck in his lungs. A question so alien to him! No one has ever asked him his name. Since his birth, he has been recognized everywhere he goes. But she has asked him what seems like a forbidden question. And in that instance, he felt like he had shrunk into the size of an ant in front of her.
