|| Never Without You || [ The Tale Of Arjun-Draupadi ] (I)

𝙲𝙷𝙰𝙿𝚃𝙴𝚁 𝟹𝟹

Paanchaal, Kaampilya

Arjun held his breath, a subtle curl of a smile etched on his lips. 

Her grip on his palm tightened into a signal squeeze, to which he glanced up at her. 

Oh God, those eyes could set a thousand hearts to fire straight there. 

Her brows furrowed slightly as she lowered her lashes, hinting towards his hand below the water and bobbed her head discreetly, asking whether he had the ring; more than asking, it was a sheer ultimatum from her side. 

It should be a crime to be this adorable, and more than that, when his hands were itching to pull her close.

She gave a firmer squeeze to his palm, and tried to warn him; her lips parted softly in breath, her doe eyes trying it's best to look into his without faltering, and her feeble attempt to look commanding. 

And oh, he was loving every moment of it.

He would play along, because why wouldn't he? 

Arjun nodded slowly as if accepting, lowering his eyes to which she breathed out slightly in a gesture of victory, a tiny smile forming on her lips. 

He discreetly, almost as stealthily as he could, detached his ring from his ring finger, and tilted his hand as if giving in to her, hiding the actual ring beneath his thumb. And pretending, he shoved his ring in her hands, as if he had been played fair and square. 

As expected, Draupadi bit back a jubilant smile.

"Found it!" She squealed out like a chirping bird without wasting much time, pulling out her hand from the cauldron waters, and showing the ring to everyone. Her face seemed flushed with a shade of crimson as if she had literally won a battle. 

"Our Princess won! Our Princess won this round!" Her girlfriends giggled, one of them almost crash-hugging a grinning Draupadi.

"Our Princess!" The people started cheering with laughter and chuckles.

Arjun was trying to control his smile as Shikhandi blinked after a while, "Krishnaa? Wha-what. . . ring is this?"

"Hnn?" Draupadi furrowed her brows, her jaw dropping slightly. Even the people around began to notice, and they started looking at each other with confused noises and whispers.

"Arrey Krishnaa? What is this?"

"Arrey. . . th-this isn't the ring I had dropped!" Dhrishtadyumn almost flushed a shade red, probably realizing who's ring her sister actually pulled out instead.

"Krishnaa I guess you probably, pulled out Arjun's ring. . ." Malati chewed on her words, whispering embarrassedly in her ear from behind, making the latter's eyes go wide.

"Ahem, I think this is the actual ring," Arjun pulled out the real one in his fingers holding back his chuckle, "Isn't it?"

"What the. . ." 

The crowd erupted in huge peals of laughter, "O my goodness! Prince Arjun!" 

"God! What is this Prince?" They giggled, "Who does like that?"

"What did I do?" Arjun innocently shrugged, "If Princess pulled out my ring, where did I fault. . ." He sighed a little, playing naive as his mischievous glance travelled towards the Princess.

Draupadi stayed rooted to the spot for a good damn while, not being able to blink for a moment. Her jaw dropped, a soft gasp left her lips unintended as she tried to form words but none came out.