THE RULERS OF RISHABHAPRIYA

Sad Things Happen

Surabhi's POV

Roop Bhabhi and I walked out of the chamber where Aparajitha Bhabhi and Adi bhaiyya had occupied after she fell asleep. The others were in the common area while no words were said. Adi Bhaiyya looked at me as soon as I entered the chamber and stood up to know his wife was okay. I nodded and sat down beside Roop Bhabhi on the couch facing them. I looked at Bhaiyya and he did not look well. "What are you thinking, Bhaiyya?", I asked and everyone turned to me and then him. He shook his head but then started, "She will never forgive herself for this, Surabhi. After you were gone, a few incidents happened in Ratnagrabha. And we all knew Mrinalini was behind them. But she was too heartbroken to do anything. She was determined to not spare Mrinalini for everything she had done to us".

He sat up straight and continued, "Remember our visit to Hamsanaada for the ritual to continue the construction of the dam?", I nodded, "That day, she had presented Aparajitha broken bangles and a white saree. She said she would kill me and make her go through the same pain she was living in. She had always made it clear that if anything went wrong for us, it would be because of her. And we had guessed she was behind your disappearance too. And Aparajitha wanted revenge for everything. But after Dharm and Yashaswini, she had changed. She had promised herself she would never let our children see that side of hers. She continued to live like that too but today.... It is just that all these years of pain had come to an end and she was feeling a lot of emotions when she killed her", he did not have to say anything else.

I nodded and sat back thinking about what had just happened. Suddenly, I remembered Sunaina and that she was poisoned. I stood up and everyone looked at me surprised. Bhargav asked what was wrong. "Sunaina......", I said and he looked like he had just realized that too. We both ran out of the chamber and went back to the place where the attendees were cleaning the blood covered floor. She was nowhere to be seen. "There was a woman laying here. Did you see her?", I asked an attendee. She shook her head and got back to her work. 

"We were so engrossed in the fight that we did not see where she was", he said. "She was poisoned, Bhargav. There is very little chance that she is alive right now", I said as worry filled me up completely. He ordered someone to get our horses ready and we walked out of the hall to go find her but before we could walk out of the palace, we heard some kids yell Bhargav's name. We turned around to see Maharaj Madhav of Simhaswasa carrying Sunaina who was unconscious and her siblings walked behind them. 

The kids ran to Bhargav and hugged him while tears rolled down their eyes. I ran inside the palace and made way for him to carry her in. I guided them to the nearest chamber and he laid her down on the bed gently and turned to me. "Get me some wet clothes and a blade", I did not think he had recognized me and walked away to get what he had asked me bring for him. I gave him what he asked me to get and stepped away to let him work. It was no news that he was well learnt when it came to medicine. 

Sunaina's skin looked pale and weak and her breathing was not very strong either. He made a few cuts in her skin and applied a green looking paste on it and placed the wet cloths on each cut. He kept muttering something while doing all that but we could tell that it was working. In just a matter of seconds, her pale skin turned to normal and her breathing improved too. He stood up and turned to me and said, "She will be up by tomorrow. Make sure to keep someone near her. As soon as she wakes up, I will need to see her", I nodded. 

Just as he ended his words, Bhargav and his family walked in looking worried. Bhargav greeted Maharaj Madhav but his face held no happiness. Bhargav's mother looked at Sunaina's unconscious form and sat down beside her while tears rolled down her cheeks. She caressed her hair and sobbed for her brother and his wife's death. Even though I was angry at them, they did not deserve to die. I just wanted Sunaina to wake up so that we could know what really happened. Bhargav held his mother who cried for her loss and Janaki and Radhika too joined them while his father stood away looking at them with tears in his eyes. I looked at Maharaj Madhav and gestured him to walk out with me to give the family some privacy. 

"Who is she?", he asked. "She is Maharaj Bhargav's cousin sister. She lost her parents yesterday. But how did you find her? Mrinalini brought her to the palace as far as I can remember", he shook his head and said, "I saw a medicinal herb I was looking for a long time on the way here and went to find it. I lost my way and found myself in the forest. There I saw four kids crying while the eldest of them was yelling for help. I brought them here on my horse but then they started to scream her name when we saw her passed out on the ground, just outside the palace stables. And then I brought her in. I hope this helps you in finding the killer", I sighed and told him that the killer was dead and that his sister had done it. 

He was shocked but that helped him realize who I was, "I remember now. It has been a long time since I had seen you. What happened?", he asked and again, I explained everything that happened after the war. "Yeah. Life is like that. Sad things happen. We need to learn to move on", he said and walked away. I felt someone's touch on my shoulder and heard Adi bhaiyya whisper, "He lost his wife recently. That is why he is a little bitter to everyone", I felt pity for him but nodded and turned to look at him. "I still can't believe you are back", he said as he smiled widely. 

"You have no idea how tough it was to stay away from you all, Bhaiyya"

"I should have come here earlier", he said.

"No, you shouldn't have. If you had seen the person I was just a few months ago, I don't know if you would even recognize me, Bhaiyya. The dungeons had made me a completely different person"

Dheer Bhaiyya walked to us and stood beside Adi Bhaiyya and listened to me speak about everything that happened after my kidnapping. The torture, the pain and the relief when Bhargav finally released me from the dungeons. "Now that you are back, we will make sure to not let any harm reach you, we promise. As your brothers, we failed once and we feel ashamed on ourselves for that", I shook my head and replied, "This was greater than any of us, Bhaiyya. I'm just happy none of us had to lose each other forever".

"The people of Ratnagarbha will be delighted to see you after so many years. I can't wait to announce your arrival to the whole kingdom", Dheer Bhaiyya said as I fake smiled. I did not plan on letting them do that for obvious reasons but decided to keep quiet for the time being. "Wait! Padmini had been here before us. Does she know about this?", Adi Bhaiyya asked. "No, Adi she doesn't. Vallabh knows though", Adi Bhaiyya turned to Dheer Bhaiyya and asked how he knew that. "A few days after they returned to Vajrasiri from here, he had met with me alone and explained everything. I did not say anything because I had promised him because Surabhi, for some reason, did not want us to know about her being here".

Both turned to me with confusion on their faces and I knew they wanted to know why I did not reach out to them. But before I could come up with an answer, Bhargav slammed opened the door of Sunaina's chamber and asked for Maharaj Madhav urgently. Dheer Bhaiyya ran to get him and I walked into the chamber to see what was wrong. Sunaina had gained consciousness and she was calling for him. All of us were shocked to see her say his name. The door banged open again and in came Maharaj Madhav and Dheer Bhaiyya while they panted. "Everyone move away from her!", he ordered and we listened to him. 

"M-madhavv!", Sunaina cried. 

"I'm right here, Sunaina. What do you need?", he asked. 

She tried a lot to gather strength and then said she was searching for her siblings. He told her that they were all in the palace and were safe. But she held his hands and begged him to save them. We all stood there watching him calm her down and slowly put her to sleep while he kept caressing her hair and whispering that everything would be alright. I saw Bhargav turn to look at me with a smirk on his face and then Adi Bhaiyya do the same to us. "You both thinking what I'm thinking?", I asked. They laughed and walked away. 

Aparajitha Bhabhi woke up by the evening and until then we had all gotten some time to catch up on everything that had happened here. Bhargav and his family had to proceed for the mourning quarantine after Sunaina woke up, and we weren't supposed to touch each other until the quarantine ended. They had shifted to his house in the kingdom and were staying there during the quarantine. He kept apologizing to Bhaiyya for not being there when they were in his kingdom. "You saved my sister from all that torture. This is the least we could do", Adi Bhaiyya said. 

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This chapter was more like a filler

But I see a new blooming love here😏

Let me know in the comments who your favorite couple is from the Akhandadesh series!

Lots of love💗