𝑰𝒍𝒍 𝑭𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒅 ✎

[25]

This chapter is dedicated to tharuni_8002 ❤️

_______________

Maneka

I don't know what my life has become. I really really do not know. I spent the entire night in a practical hut with strange men who practically kidnapped me.
And now I am being served breakfast as I sit curled up on the bed.

"Do you want to go freshen up first?" Kidnapper one says, the one whose hand I slept on all night.

A snarl makes its way across my face as I nod.

My Kidnapper nods in reply and offers to direct me out of the hut. When we step out, the bright light of the morning hits me. I immediately sigh. He points to a small cubicle at the corner of the plot, stating it to be some kind of a restroom.

I snarl again. There is no way in hell I am using that...that place. It looks like a breeding ground for all things nasty. The door is covered with chipping paint and there is no proper upper covering for the small cubicle. Its merely covered by a straw roof.
I sigh. Why is this happening to me god.

"Go on." Kidnapper one urges. He is still standing behind me I realise. Without uttering anything I make my way to the...."washroom". Please notice my heavy sarcasm.

When I push the door open, I am already expecting to find the ugliest sight in front of me and I hold my breath too, incase of bad odor. But to my surprise. Its clean. Its clean?
I blink my eyes again. Realising its not my hallucination and the cubicle is actually clean, and it also doesn't smell at all. There is no odor whatsoever. Which is more than I was expecting.

Thank god for small mercies I think in my head as I say a silent prayer thanking god before I do my business.

After I am done peeing and washing my face with the tap water, I am trying not to think what kind of water it is. I unlock the door and step out. Only to find the injured kidnapper at the front of the gate. He hears me emerging out and out of the blue shoots me a smile. The smile holds something weird though.

"How was your washroom experience, your highness?" He asks. There is humour dancing in his eyes, which makes it hard for me understand if he being lewd or just laughting at me. Before I can come to any conclusion though, he follows up his statement with a new one.

"I was just asking because, my Arham here spent more than half an hour this morning cleaning that restroom up for you." He throws his head back and laughs, " And trust me when I say this, the before and after of that hardwork is worth a lot. This cottage is quite abandoned mostly, so the restroom was in terrible shape."

I don't know what to say. My mouth hangs open. Kidnapper one did for me? There is no way. He must have done it for himself because the restroom was extremely fargone and his friend is just trying to lie to me so that I get tricked into believing that they actually care about me and maybe ease up on their punishment. Yes, that is a prefect explanation.

Kidnapper one hurriedly and suddenly emerges from the right side of the cottage. He is holding a log in his hand. He stares his friend down.

"Jai, will you care to shut the hell up. It won't take me long to change the status of your fractured arm to broken arm." He says through gritted teeth.

His friend ignores the threat.
"Did I say anything wrong though, Arham?" He goads, "Why did you take the trouble of cleaning the restroom?"

Kidnapper one also known as Arham, clenches his jaw, "I did it for myself. Am I not allowed to use clean washrooms?"

See. I knew it.

His friend doesn't seem to trust him though, he looks away still laughing.
"Okay. My bad."

"What are you staring at?" He snaps at me, his eyes averted to the ground. Picking up more sticks.

I shake my head, "Nothi-" before I can complete he tells me to go eat my breakfast in the cottage. I roll my eyes and oblige. I am very hungry, so I am not going to say no to food. Besides, I need energy to be able to stay alert and come up witn a plan to escape this mess.

The breakfast is a glass of buttermilk and two rotis dripping with ghee and jaggery. This is the most textbook village breakfast, if I've ever heard of one.

I immediately drink the buttermilk in quick gulps and then dig into the rotis. I roll them so it is easy to eat.

"Rajkumari ji, When you are done, come out, we have to leave as soon as we can." Injured kidnapper tells me while I am still on my fifth bite. My mouth is stuffed so I am not able to question him quick enough but alarm bells start ringing in my head as soon as he says the word leave.

"Leave? Leave to where?" I ask.

Injured kidnapper, chews on his bottom lip, as if deciding if he can tell me.
"I am not sure how much I am allowed to tell you yet. But don't worry, we have orders to drop you back to Talya."

Did I hear that right? I could jump and dance right now. But I manage to keep my feelings in check as I shoot him another question.
"Whose orders?"

He smiles. "Sorry. That is definitely not my business to tell." Without anything else, he walks away. I am left half happy and half shaken.

I do still manage to finish eating, and then I wipe my hands on the bedsheet, not caring about dirtying the place. This is my petty revenge.

"I am ready." I announce to no one in particular. But when no one comes to get me, I make my way out on my own. Where I find injured kidnapper already seated on a horse cart and the other one setting up blankets on the horse cart. He turns to look at me and motions to join them. I do just that, practicay skipping since I know where we are headed.

But just as I am mounting the cart, I have a dreadful thought. What if I was lied to? What if they aren't taking me to Talya?

The fear is still cluctching me as we start our journey.

-
_____________

A/n: There isn't much in this chapter. But wait for the next one, coz shit is about to get good ;)

Also what are your thoughts on Arham and Luv?