Lekha is an orphan who has quite a fascination for all things connected with Rajasthan(India). The fascination comes to life as she is pulled into the century when the Mughals and Rajputs are in a tussle over Rajwara (Rajasthan of today). The story...
I turned to look back at the person and was a bit confused as to how the person knew me. Then had a aha moment as I connected the familiar voice to the chocolate brown eyes staring at me. I could have easily passed by this person in a crowd ,but the voice was embedded in my mind because of the rude and harsh dismissal of me at the gate. The man had an expression less face as he looked at me. To me even now he had the hint of rudeness and arrogance in the way he spoke.
"Bhaisa (brother) do u know Lekha?" Gayatri asked eagerly.
"Never met" came the reply, daring me to say otherwise.
My mouth fell open with surprise. He was rude plus a liar too. If that was his way of ignoring me then that was it, I could play the same game.
"Bhaisa this is Lekha , she arrived yesterday , all of a sudden. We found her in the alcove in Gayatri's room " said Vasundhara. This sentence caused a sudden frown in his eyes, but it was gone in a second. Again it seemed I was standing under the shadow of suspicion , it was getting a bit irksome by now as non of it was my fault.
"But my mother discovered that she was after all a long lost niece of hers', whose parents had left for a world tour and never came back. Poor thing got orphaned by some bandits they met in a jungle near Dilli. "
"How did she reach here?" interrupted the rude man, his eyes on me , the lie scanner on. Even I stared back with an 'I am not scared of you' look. Now that I had told Mahadevi sa my whole truth , I was not scared anymore and by the way she treated me , I was sure she believed me somewhat. My prophesy though had yet to come true.
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As I scanned him back boldly I found him to be quite good looking with his rugged looks. He had slight curly jet black hair, cut short, unlike the shoulder length I had seen so far. There was a scar mark running right from the temple across to his left cheek. I wondered how his eyes got saved from what seemed a sword wound. He shifted his head a little as if conscious of me inspecting his scar and was trying to hide it. He didn't have the mustache like the ones the rajputs kept, thick and bushy, but more trimmed and smart. The thought made me smile slightly at the comparison and he glared at me. I immediately put on an expressionless face.
I heard Vasundhara explaining the story of my arrival the way I had told her with that dash of spice, she loved so much. I stared at a far off place in the garden there, as I didn't want to get another glare from that annoying man and most importantly didn't want to make any enemies out here while I still had to stay.
We again moved forward towards the dining area after the sweet farewells the sisters gave and also squabbling about how fortunate he was to be part of the wedding procession. The whole time I could feel, his eyes drifting towards me with suspicion, but I kept my eyes averted towards the garden as if I had discovered something fascinating there. I could feel his eyes boring on my back as we moved forward. Although confident my heart was beating like a drum, thinking about what he might be suspecting me off. In general I was quite brave especially after I had been left all alone on my parents' death, but this century full of spies and wars, one never knew when it was going to be their last meal on earth.
"Gayatri"
My heart dropped down to my stomach and I turned around scared.
