The Mystery Girl

Chapter 9: A Stranger At The Door

When Sheetal went to the kitchen, I slowly removed the phone. I opened the image of the painting and started observing it. From behind, I heard a soft voice,
"What's that in your hand?"

Worst-case scenario, the person asking me this was none other than Sheetal.

"Huh? Hehe. Wh-... What are you talking a... about?"

I continued,
"There is nothing. Ab-... Absolutely... Nothing..."

Sahil passed from behind me.

Sheetal came to me, and saw, I had nothing. I was relieved.
Now you all know it was... Sahil, as expected. He took away my phone when we walked past me.

Just after that, we heard a knock on the door. I went to the worn out wooden door and carefully peeped through a hole in it to find a short stranger, eagerly waiting for the door to open.
I looked back at Sheetal.

Sheetal asked in a low voice,
"Who is it?"

I said dryly, "Uh, stranger."

She was thrilled, "Whoa! He might be a robber. How does he look?"

I was started by her acts of innocence.
"Hah?!! You're exited to know how does a robber look? Ugh, small, stout. Excited eyes, but a sealed mouth. He doesn't look like a robber but rather looks like a courtier."

"Co-.... Courtier?"

We discussed for a few minutes while the stranger was still standing outside, waiting for the door to open.

After that, we decided that at least I'll open the door while Sheetal would see if she knew the person.

As I opened the door, the stranger said in a loud, excited voice,
"Hiiiii!!! Just close the door, fast."

When he observed me closely, he understood I wasn't Sheetal but a random stranger with a weird attire and a dumbstruck face.

He looked at me as if he had seen a sheep with bull's horns, tiger face and octopus' legs with butterfly wings posing like a chimpanzee.

Complete silence for a whole 5 seconds. Each second killed me so much that I felt a whole 5 years have passed.

Alas, his dumbfounded mouth spoke up,
"Hein?"

"Aayein?"
I said, matching his tone.

He somewhat got worried and also angry. He caught my shoulders tight, trying to match my height, as much as he can.
He continued in a loud voice and a threatening tone,
"Where is Sheetal?!! Did you hid her somewhere?"

Me, being alarmed by his behaviour, merely pointed back at Sheetal. He looked behind me, saw Sheetal and ran towards her. I felt relieved. I closed the door.

Sheetal said,
"Oh! We're meeting after so long brother!"

I knew that I wouldn't be spared now for calling him a random shortie stranger.

Sahil whispered to me,
"He's the same fellow whom I saw entering here when we went to the jungle. You should have allowed him to enter."

Exasperated, I replied loudly,
"You only should have opened it!"
I kept moving towards him by each word I said while he kept going one step behind.
"Why did you tell me to open the door? I don't know which people are strangers here to Sheetal. If you knew so much you should've opened the door."
I said all of this in a single breath. By the time I told this much he already sat on a chair and staring at me in shock, almost about to fall. I bend towards him and taunted him,
"Roaming like a omniscient!"

Even after saying this, I stayed in the same position, without moving an inch.

And now the distance between our faces had decreased to a mere 5 centimetres.

I glared into his soul, annoyed.

Sheetal and her elder brother were giggling from behind. They even started whispering something whithin themselves.

I felt his heavy breath on my skin, and saw those wide eyes.
I saw his eyeball move down to his chair that was tilted in the air and could fall at any moment.
He gulped.

Closed his eyes for a second, and opened them again, with the change of attitude.
His wide eyes became playful and his mouth widened to a smirk.

He whispered to me,
"Madam tum hum dono ko marvaogi kya?"
(Are you going to get us both killed?)

I looked at his palm, which was gesturing me to stay away. I was still staring at him with a confused expression for some seconds to understand what he meant.

I realised the closeness between us and quickly stood up.
"Sorry! I-.. I didn't... mean to-..."

I didn't even complete the sentence and started going away second by second, retrieving my original position. I quickly changed the topic. "By the way, he is...?"

Sheetal said, "Oh yeah! He is my cousin brother."

But then, he looked at our attire and told us,
"Soldiers are searching you, right?"

"H- how do you know?" I said.

Sheetal spoke on his behalf,
"He's a courtier. So he knows what happens in all the meetings."

Her brother looked at Sheetal and said,
"I am promoted. Now I'm the... oh! To make you understand, I can say, the king's assistant. And whichever king is elected, I will assist him.
And... I have got the job of getting those two strangers and presenting them in front of the queen..."

I thought that now I'll have to stay here until I die...
But, Sheetal said,
"You have a swear upon me! You're not going to take them. They are my guests!"

He was in a big confusion now. He couldn't understand what to do...
"Sister, you have put me into great trouble. Okay, I'll think upon it and try to do something."

"That's good."

I then asked him his name, with a confused but a shocked type smile which is inappropriate when you ask someone about their identity,
"My name? Oh yeah, I forgot to tell, I'm Nishant."

"Nice" I said. I really don't know why did I say 'Nice'!

Sheetal then asked,
"Oh yeah! The king's demise was a shocking event. How did all this happen?"

He replied,
"See, this information is extremely confidential, so please don't tell it to anyone. The king didn't die out of an heart attack, it was, a-... murder..."

•••••

Why is Nishant telling us this?
It's confidential, right?

Let's hope it has nothing to do with us!😜

Also, that one line in hindi. The original language spoken is hindi itself because they are in the ancient times.
But I won't be writing any dialogues in hindi except for a few ones that sound the best in hindi.

So that's all for today, folks.

I'll see you guys in the next chapter!
Next chapter releases on Friday, until then,
Stay tuned!😊💖