BATTLE OF LOVE (completed)

CHAPTER 13

In the training grounds:

Dharani's POV:

Arjun was rather peaceful today, at least for the time being, so I didn't have much work to do. Hence I decided to practice some archery. I paced myself at a distance from the target board and started practicing. I noticed Arjun walking towards me.

"Shall we have a competition to see who is better?" he asked. his hand is already hurt and he wanted to have a competition and torture himself further?

"Sorry I am not interested," I said.

"You are afraid of losing cause I am better, is it?" he asked again.

"If that assumption works, yes I am afraid," I said as I fired my arrow. It hit the target precisely.

"Doesn't look like that though," he said raising his eyebrows, "you are good at this. Why don't you want to compete?"

"Why do you want to compete?" I questioned. "War, enemy, criminals, fight, kill, punish. Why do you always think of just these? There is a whole world out there, a rather beautiful one."

"Don't fool yourself Dharani. The world is not beautiful," he said in a low voice. I found pain in his eyes. "It is just good at giving you the illusion that it is beautiful. It is filled with enemies, wars, and killings and there should be someone who would accept the reality and think about these. Someone who comes out of the illusion and punish people who deserve to be punished. A criminal spared might come back as your worst nightmare and do something that would make you regret for life."

"Arjun are you okay? " I asked him looking straight into his eyes. I didn't notice when but my eyes were moist as well. I just couldn't see him in pain. He shook his head.

"Forget it," he said, "Give me an honest answer. Why do you not want to compete?"

"You hand. It might hurt," I said careful not to offend him.

He looked at me. The pain in his eyes was still there. He snatched the bow from my hand and pulled out my bag with arrows. He then started firing the arrows continuously on the target. He wasn't aiming at anything, the arrows were going in all directions and he was just firing them. I noticed that he purposefully held is hand firmly so that it would hurt more. It was like he was kind of hurting himself physically so that his brain wouldn't notice his mental struggle.

"Stop it, Arjun," I said as I snatched the bow from his hand, "Hurting yourself physically is not going to give you a solution to your mental trauma. It is just going to divert your mind for a while and then the mental pain will be back again. Fight with your struggle, not with yourself."

"The struggle lives in me," he said in a voice reflecting his emotions.

"Bring it out then," I said lightly holding his hand. "Share it."

"I won't. I want it to live in me so that I don't repeat my mistake," he said holding my hand tighter. It was as if he wanted my support.  This went on for about five minutes, after which he let my hand loose. He immediately apologized and went back to training leaving me surprised. I wanted to know what is it that is bothering him. I wanted him to fight and be strong just like how he wanted me. 

(Later on the same day)

Dharani's POV:

We were asked to start for Anjan. Our marriage is supposed to take place tomorrow morning in Anjan. Dev, Arjun and I will be reaching tonight. My parents, Acharya and some of our close relatives had already reached Anjan. The marriage will take place in a simple way. No crowd, no people, nothing. A simple marriage with just a few people who know that the marriage is a deal. Tomorrow by this time, I will be Arjun's wife. However, something I am more excited about is meeting Arjun's mother. Mom met her and according to what she had said, she is a really sweet person and shares a great bond with Arjun. However, she always looked lost and doesn't seem to have much interest in meeting people or participating in the discussions about marriage. Mom also doubts that she might have no idea about the marriage being a mere deal. Hence I needed to be careful while meeting her. The last thing I wanted to do is to upset her on my first meeting with her.

(Hey guys, thank you for reading my novel. Please vote and comment. Also, the next chapter will be published on 09 November 2018. Thank you. Love you all. Sorry for not putting any image. I tried hard but there is no image that would match this chapter.)