BATTLE OF LOVE (completed)

CHAPTER 7

Dharani's POV:

"So assuming you heard everything, are you ready for the marriage Dharani?" Acharya asked me.

I wanted to say no, I desperately wanted to but I remained silent.

"So, should I take it as a 'yes' Dharani?", Acharya asked me looking straight into my eyes as if he is reading my expressions. I immediately looked down trying to compose myself and hide my feelings before he actually reads them.

"Or would you like to take your word bac...."

"It's a yes," I replied confidently. Taking your word back is the worst thing you could do in a royal family. It is a sign of weakness and is just unacceptable. Moreover, I am pretty sure Arjun would never agree to marry me. So why should I be the one to reject.

"What about you, Arjun?" asked King Indra turning towards his son.

"You remember what you told yesterday right?" he said signaling Arjun about something.

The room was filled with absolute silence and I realized that the only sound that could be heard is that of my bangles, and that is because my right hand is slightly shivering.

"Umm...father....I, " Arjun stuttered perhaps for the first time in his life, "accept....accept... this marriage proposal."

I looked at Arjun in disbelief. My eyes widened and I didn't know how but my hand was already on my forehead. I didn't expect this from him. 

"So it's official. You both are going to get married," king Indra said smiling while Acharya was writing something on a paper.

"This is more of an agreement king," he said as he wrote down, "and they knew it, so should we. Let us not mock traditions by making this a grand wedding. Let us keep it simple. We will start constructing the new city first. There is a lot to do. We need to build the houses and arrange for an army. We will send a tenth of the newly recruited trainees from both the kingdoms and..."

"Can I train them, Acharya?" Arjun interrupted. Seriously? This guy is not at all bothered about the marriage. What the heck is going in his mind? Trainees from Mitra. God, they are not used to his unforgiving nature. Acharya is a strict teacher but is nowhere near Arjun. He knows when to stop, but Arjun. I've heard about how severe his training would be. Half of the trainees will leave midway.

"No Acharya. He is a ruthless man. He will torture our soldiers." I immediately regretted my word choice as I realized that King Indra was also present in the room.

"I didn't ask you," Arjun shouted as his eyes reddened with anger.

"Neither did I tell you, " I replied calmly looking straight into his eyes. He gets offended every time he realizes that his anger does not frighten me.

"Stop, Arjun. Is that how you behave with guests? " I heard King Indra speak.

"Sorry," Arjun immediately apologized to me. However, he just did it for formality. He didn't mean it.

"You can train the soldiers, Arjun," Acharya replied as he finished writing the agreement." He replied in such a calm way that I seriously doubted if he had heard me and Arjun arguing again. "Dharani will join you as well to make Mitra soldiers feel more comfortable and to protect everyone in general from your anger."

Arjun didn't like it, yet he nodded and Acharya left the room followed by King Indra leaving us both alone.

"Why do you love disrupting my life so much?" Arjun bursted as soon as they left the room. "I was trying to find solace in training the soldiers, yet you decided to ruin it."

"I've heard stories about your training. Mitra soldiers, or any new recruits for that matter, would not be able to take it on their first day. Neither are you used to training new soldiers."

"How come you know about me?" Arjun asked with a look of suspicion. I researched about him all night.

"Are you trying to know more about your future husband?" he said as he moved forward with an evil smile.

"I will never consider you as my husband."

"Neither will I consider you as my wife," Arjun shifted to his normal aggressive mode. "You should have thought before accepting. I was dumb and so were you. Now we both will be facing the consequences for the rest of our lives." he shouted as he stormed out of the room.

Probably the only time in my life I guess, I agreed with him. Both of us made the dumbest decisions of our life. I had a promise to fulfill but what could be his reason?

Arjun's POV (after walking out of the room):

This girl is mad. What reason could she possibly have for marrying me? I am sure nobody would force her? Neither does she take emotional decisions like me? What could be the reason then? Was I aggressive at her? How the hell does she manage to remain calm all the time?  That makes me feel guilty every time I was mean to her.  Wait....did father tell her about my promise and did she marry me to change me? yes, that could be the reason. This girl agreed to marry me and ruin both our lives just because she is so proud of herself and thought that she could change me. Ms. Kind, this would possibly be the worst decision of yours. Welcome to the war zone. We would never be able to stop fighting each other, even if we desperately wanted to. I don't want to fight you but now it's inevitable. Every time a problem comes, it would bring an invitation to battle along with it.

(Hey everyone. Thank you for reading my novel. So the next chapter will be published on 28 October 2018, which is also my birthday. Thank you. Love you all.)