When Shefali woke up after a long night of not-much-sleep-at-all she was enraged to not find Eshant on the bed.
"Did I commit such a grave crime that he could not come to sleep here at all!"
She whispered to herself rubbing her face in a drowsy way.
Now every ear of the palace will pass on the new talk to each other, the Chauhan slept out of his mansion... She thought knowing fingers would undoubtedly raise on her.
She made a loose bun with all her hair and got up.
Taking a new Saree out she forged her way out. She felt a lot fresher today, unlike yesterday. She knew the stress of moving about in a span of less than two months was heavy on her and a day full of rest was probably all she needed.
The ghat was empty like every day. She had come to a realization that she was the one who bathed the latest but she did not mind it at all. Instead, she liked being there on her own.
She left the lehenga in the maid's care who was almost crying to do that.
Since the cloth was very heavy and Shefali's sleepless mind did not want to argue anymore she handed it over to the maid's care. The maid was too elated at the sudden change.
Shefali took longer today since she was wearing a saree and it was a bit troublesome alone but she managed.
She let wet hair fall over her saree knowing the cotton saree would dry up way sooner than a choli did.
When she walked out, the maid had already left.
Shefali slowly walked back to her mansion.
Her steps were uneven feeling a heavy burden on her. She wanted to run off to the palace and question him but she let the thought pass.
She walked up the stairs after greeting the soldiers who bowed.
The room was still empty.
She sighed in disappointment.
She slowly drew her sindoor over her head and made tiny a dot on her bangles like every day.
She stood up drawing her anchal over her head.
As she turned around to the door, she found herself standing in front of Eshant.
Her glance advanced from his bare chest to his face over.
His wet hair was falling all over her forehead making a meritorious mess.
His glance was stuck on her but his lips did not spare a word.
Generally, Eshant did not come back to the mansion after bathing but since he had not taken spare clothes he was bound to come back, or so Shefali thought.
Shefali walked out of his way but he did not move a step from the door frame.
She patiently waited for as long as she could.
"I need to go out"
She said avoiding his gaze.
"I see"
He said.
Shefali looked at his unbothered face with disbelief.
"Move out of my way"
She demanded.
"What if I do not?"
He said crossing his arms somewhere between smiling and not smiling at all.
Shefali glanced at the sun from the window that was up.
"Aren't you going to Jaisalmer? Hurry up"
Shefali almost taunted him with the buried urgency of reaching the kitchen before they sent anyone in her search.
YOU ARE READING
𝟏𝟓𝟐𝟗: 𝐀 𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧 𝐢𝐧 𝐑𝐚𝐣𝐩𝐮𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐚| Indian Historical Fiction
Fiksi Sejarah𝐁𝐎𝐎𝐊 Ⅰ 𝐎𝐅 𝐑𝐀𝐉𝐏𝐔𝐓𝐈-𝐁𝐀𝐈𝐒𝐀 𝐓𝐑𝐈𝐋𝐎𝐆𝐘 Shefali Roy had lost her parents in a pandemic when she was just one year old. That was the first time she was orphaned. The next time she was orphaned was when she was seventeen. The army of...
