Flouting Our Destiny

Chapter 20

Her eyes felt heavy in their socket, her head jouncing widely from left to right with each eager step of hers on the ground, tears blinding her as she galloped away from the modernisation of her past,
Draupadi's throat dried up, her mouth scrunching with thirst.

The lady who was seen running madly in the streets of a shabby slum quickened to take a last glimpse of the scenario behind her, faces laughing at her unexpected condition, some looking confused while others struggling to be oblivious to a woman with spring in her feet and a panting heart.

Draupadi felt a sudden burst of relief inside her after calculating the distance she travelled from the messy room.
She chose a stable spot under a tree to catch up with her wavering breath, her clothes were spiked by the unhealthy environment of Jairaj's nest,

She let a long inhale before acknowledging her surroundings, a small road with thick vegetation on either side, houses seen from far behind the trees.

The concrete-lined perfectly between the long and slender trees seemed to get swallowed by the earth's surface as a thin layer of hazy light overlaid her vision, the exhaustion of hers diminished her brain's power of focusing on the present, letting the past overtake.
A whirring struck her head as she observed a man, his eyes seemed drugged and his face similar to that of an obnoxious king racing behind a pretty woman.

A woman running and screaming for help, behind her an aged yet mighty man dressed as a king.

Jairaj laughed scornfully,
"Do you plan to escape, don't you?" He shouted, trying to catch up with her, who was tripping over small stones on the road.

She imagined the same fear gulping her slowly, the colour drained from her face, adrenaline jiggled in her veins,
Draupadi's pupils dilated hearing the continuous honking of a black car, apparently, she had been walking on the road while hallucinating and zooming away from the present.

"Don't you touch her!" A voice beamed powerful rays inside her ears, was that Arjun? 

Jairaj alerted himself, remembering something he was told by the man who hired him to kidnap Prashasti's younger daughter, he immediately jumped on his motorbike's back and fled.

"Draupadi!" Arjun's voice thundered as his lady love's tired body started to tumble on the ground.

A smile eternally stained on Arjun's lips as he clasped his arms around the half-conscious woman's back, supporting her neck, he picked her up.

The reason for his happiness, his joy, his laughter was peaceful in his arms.

"Arjun" Draupadi mumbled, her fingers tracing silent tears on his face, "Is that really you?" Her words showcased feelings of both happiness and melancholy.

"Perhaps we need to get your eyes checked" Arjun uttered with a stream of giggles, his eyes could not move away from her face,
though the sky was dim and she looked bushed, the radiance of her face satisfied the man, he hadn't seen her since months and today she was here, in his arms!

Draupadi clenched his arm for support, gaining strength in herself, she bounced back on her feet,

"Excuse me..." her heart pounding with heaviness, she distanced herself from him.

"Excused?" Arjun responded, confusion around him, "where are you going?" He asked as the fragile body increased the distance between them.

"Away...away from you" Draupadi's voice faintly reached him, with a sudden thunder roaring in the dim sky, the lady's body shivered giving up on her might,

"Arjun!" Draupadi screamed before falling uncontrollably unconscious in his arms.
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"Nakul, could you please pass the phone to Sahdev because this is an emergency and I don't think you ever studied seriously" Arjun's whispered harshly to the recipient of his phone call,
his eyes ogling at the tired body lying on the bed with hands on her head.

"Energy drink and an antidepressant," Nakul told, "don't worry I am a good MBBS student, she will recover"

Arjun hurled his phone on a side table after ordering for antidepressants,
the sky had become darker, the police were informed about Jairaj, Lakshana was on the way to the recreational bungalow of the Kuruvanshi family,
55 kilometres away from Delhi where Arjun was with Draupadi.

His fingers fondled over her forehead, lightly, she stared at him questioning,
"What happened?" He purred, now massaging her aching head.
A slow yet contended smile wiped away her face's sickness.
Her fingers intertwined with his,
"I know why you didn't take me to your house," she said, eager as a child.

"Why? Because I found you at a place far from there"  his cheeks now coloured slightly, something which he was hiding revealed itself from the colour of his blush.

"Because.." her voice weaved with sleepiness, her arms went around his neck,
sheepishly smiling the two looked at each other until he distracted his gaze from the pretty face of hers.

Both knew the reason, he did not want her to relive any memory of the past when in front of his family.

Nature's voice knocked at the villa's door, there was a mutter of thunder from the blackened sky, a sudden downpour embraced the swirling wind currents, Draupadi stretched her legs to capture the beauty of his eyes while he drenched in the rain carelessly.
She stealthily closed the verandah door behind her, her man was there, his eyes reddish with both pain and joy.
The droplets enormous and many followed the tune of the earth's gravity as children followed the tune of the pied piper.

Rain, as they say, falls to wash away a person's rigid senses to prevail the heart's democracy.
Unaware of her own brain's pleas of refraining from hurting itself once again, she listened to her heart who dominated that very moment, her hands slightly touched his shoulders and chest while her head on his back.

Arjun kissed her knuckles, a fear deep inside his heart, Why can't the world halt for them?
His dole is his enemy, laughing at his present conditions.

Arjun now faced the dark eyes having a characteristic spark, the spark of love.

His arms tried to gather as much of her as they could, the night sky's pride, the moon and the crazy water droplets polished their hearts, as he leaned closer to her to hear her steaming inhales along with the pitter-patter of the chaotic atmosphere, he heard his own heart's unusual throbbing, gentle yet powerful.
Draupadi's mind melted to unite with the hot blood of her veins, his hands were behind her back and hers were on his flushed cheeks, extreme and consuming, his eyes burned to soothe the burns of her soul.

She kissed the droplets from his lips, her lips smiling against his, Arjun brought her closer to himself in the spur of moment, exaggerating the intense conversation between them, his eyes not wavering away from her orbs, a sudden cry emerged from inside him as he differentiated between the water drops on her face and the salty tears of her eyes.

I love you.
Both of them said to each other in their own minds.
Is it important for the Sun to rise again? Can't we stop time?