Fighting For Love

Chapter 6

Ram ran and didn’t stop until he reached his room. He thought he was going to run out of breath. He lent against his bedroom door panting heavily. He saw something gleaming on the floor. He bent down and picked it up. It was a gold locket and it had the initials “TB” engraved on the back. It must belong to Tashi, Ram thought. He made a mental note to ask her and then focused on what he had to do. He had to get into the bathroom and take one of the ointments out. It would stain Tashi’s beautiful skin to a horrible pale green colour. He turned the handle to the bathroom to find that it was locked. I must have forgotten to unlock it this morning. Ram thought to himself. I’ll go through my bedroom instead.

Ram entered his bedroom and walked towards the door on the right-hand side of the room. This was a second door to the bathroom. The other door had been built so that the Princess could use Ram’s ensuite bathroom. He opened the door and walked in. He froze at what he saw.

Princess Tashi was in the bath tub full of hot, steaming water, with protectors over her eyes. Her beautiful chocolate coloured, curly hair was spilling over the edge of the bath tub. She looked so amazing that Ram almost forgot what he had come here to do, until he saw the stool with all of the ointments on it. He could see that the bottle had not been opened and decided to come back for it later. What if she uses it? Ram thought as he turned to go back into his bedroom. He sighed and then immediately cursed himself.

“Penelope? Penelope is that you?” Tashi asked in her angelic voice.

Ram didn’t know what to do or say. He just stood there, hoping she would let it go.

“Penelope, could you get me a towel please. I would like to come out now.” Tashi said oblivious as to what was going on.

Ram crossed the room and picked up a green towel. He knew that the brown ones were his and that the green were hers. He took it back and put it on the edge of the bath tub, so that she could feel it touch her shoulder. He picked up the ointment bottle from the stool and put it in his pocket.

“Penelope? You’re awfully quiet. Are you alright?” Tashi asked in a concerned voice.

Ram had to say something and he knew he had to tell the truth because otherwise he would get caught in a very awkward situation later on in life.

“I’m not Penelope, Princess,” Ram said as he moved towards the door to his bedroom.

He heard Tashi gasp. She grabbed the protectors and opened her eyes. She realized that it was not her maid, and then the whites of her eyes expanded and her mouth opened as though she might scream.

Ram was at her side immediately, his hand over her mouth. “Don’t,” he said in a gentle voice. When he felt sure that she wasn’t going to scream, he moved his hand away.

Her eyes widened, but he must have conveyed something to her with his tone, because some of the anguish and surprise went out of them. There remained, in her great brown irises, a kind of apprehensive wondering, however, and at last she said with quietness to match his own: “I can’t imagine what you would be doing here.”

Ram laughed. “I thought you were going to scream and shout at me for coming in here and seeing you like this.”

“What?! You mean you saw–” she said, her eyes widening again.

“NO! No. No. I didn’t see anything. I swear, Princess. I just can’t believe that you’re taking this so calmly. I expected you to do... well... anything but this.”

“Well the reason I am not reacting like what you described is because I do not jump to conclusions and I would like to know what you are doing here before I react.” Tashi said with a quavering voice. She looked embarrassed.