Flouting Our Destiny

Chapter 22

Arjun's mind crisped, the infliction of his mental self which he had foreseen while driving recklessly to the culprit's den did not diminish his desire of confrontation and if the situation calls, some physical exaggeration too.

Draupadi, his Draupadi was kidnapped on the orders of none other than Samarth, one of the main characters from their past life.

Arjun had slyly, after being notified about Jairaj's arrest and statement walked out of his office cabin to only hit the road and greet his cousins who were apparently behind the whole show.
The third son of Pritha politely bribed the police to not let the news spread for if it came out, his lady would be again traumatised by the past.

Arjun clenched his jaw, a streak of rage within him as Samarth stood in front of him, confused about the sudden arrival of his cousin.

"Nice to see you, brother!" Samarth's salty voice displeased the other man, the culprit smirked unknown to the fact that his tiny secret was not a secret anymore.

The enraged man took a firm stance, irritation enveloping the bubbling anger, impetuous and impatient, his eyes burned with the fire of hatred.
"How dare you?" Arjun hollered, his fingers grabbing the other person's mandible and putting all the pressure.

The shrewdness filled within Samarth's brain almost immediately summarised the weirdest possibilities relating to the newly arrived man's acrimony,
Did Arjun come to know of the kidnapping?

Gayatri's firstborn gulped his saliva, his downcast eyes feared the roaring pupils of the other person, the kidnapping was a set up to mould the victim into assessing Karan as her saviour but Arjun became the knight in shining armour leaving a baffled Jairaj to run away instead of a fake tussle seeing a different man than the decided one.

"How dare you hurt my....my wife?" The last two words became the reason for deep introspection, he lightly pushed the flabbergasted man and felt himself drown again in the ocean of memories.

Arjun's eyes swilled, a healing wound inside his heart cracked open with pounds of blood oozing and paining his soul, his past, their past!

The strange bachelor walking beside the princess of Panchala smiled on the inside, his lips curving to give a glimpse of the internal happiness, he had been awarded, awarded with the world's most beautiful gift.
The garland around his neck was a mere symbol of his victory but the lady beside was the fruit of his good deeds.
Paarth promised himself to not let any man leer at the perfect princess for even a microsecond.

But alas! He had to let four other men stare at her and then silently watch all the contemptible men demand her...

"You...you know about our previous birth?" Samarth felt deceived by his own thoughts, why did his cousin address the lady as his wife?

The grief-stricken lover boy's head split into two, one focused on the harsh reality and the other on the terrible past.

"Obviously he knows!" A familiar face brought a sun-like radiance in the room.

Karan's hinged expressions calmed his friend, he pressed his lips together observing his long lost brother panic and then compose.

"I knew you would come here, baby brother! So I came to wish you all the way from Lucknow" thunderous laughter of the two friends irked the previously famed Gandivdhari.

"The two know everything and they are trying to harm her again."  Arjun's brain proclaimed after connecting all the dots.

Since the day he was felicitated for the first time in school, Arjun had been one of the confident kids, his self-assurance and phlegmatic approach was praised by all but today he felt sceptical of his own abilities.

" 'He is claiming my fame' these words of yours to the whole world in our previous birth, Karan!
Aren't you trying to claim my soul in this birth?"
Like a spring, the bold man returned to his bold self, accusing his undisclosed brother of manipulation and unethically staying close to Draupadi.

"Not only your soul, younger brother, but your heartbeats are also under my control" Karan shrugged his shoulders in indifference.

"You are not my brother" Arjun fisted his fingers, a silent hollowness seeping inside his heart.

Samarth clapped loudly, sarcastically applauding the response of his first cousin, his eyes cool and ears attentive to hear the two estranged siblings indulge in a verbal spat, "who was the Samragyi?" He vocalised, rhetorically.

"The lady who married the five Pandavas" Karan enthusiastically answered like children in school who have the answer to all of the teacher's questions.

The two best friends watched the third person's eyes squint but before he could speak, Karan again took over, " Was I not your eldest sibling? By that convention" He cleared his throat as if he was going to make an important announcement,
"Ms Draupadi Panchkul shall be my bride"

Every time Karan opened his mouth, Arjun got angrier, every word of the indecent man fueled the flames inside him, but now the patient warrior had reached the limits of his patience.

"Why are you doing this injustice, baby brother?" Karan pouted, his internals dancing to the tunes of the anger boiling within Arjun, " You let our other siblings relish the unparalleled beauty and now when I am asking my share, oh, sharing is caring"

The layer of gentlemanliness around Arjun, his subtle aura choked him rather than allowing him to
physically pour his frustrations.
Their sacrifice, their love was tarnished by the sniggering faces.

"You won't be spared" He hawked,

Samarth and Karan both felt a sudden adrenal uproar hearing the truculence, a famous memory of their past birth flicked their coward souls.

"You won't be spared" Lord Shiva danced on the Mahanayaka's tongue, his words heavy like Indra's thunder.
Duryodhana let a scornful chuckle from his mouth viewing the newly appointed servant disobey his master, "Your wife is now a servant too"

"Drupad has sought this alliance" Karan's whisperings challenged the last birth's fancy of Maharaj Drupad for Panduputra Arjun.

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Draupadi hazily observed her parents mutter sharply to each other, her eyes diverted towards her brother and sister in law who were sharing worried looks.

"Have I told you lately, Vidyut?" Draupadi twinkled with a hidden motive, " that you are the best brother in this whole world" she exaggerated, wanting him to tell her about the mysterious family meeting which her father had called them for.

Her twin sheepishly grinned before placing his fingers on his lips, leaving a dejected expression on his sister's face.

"Sarakshi will be coming after a few days with our little munchkin" Prashasti encouraged the curious souls of her children, she knew the reason for the discussion but decided to start on a lighter note.

Draupadi felt euphoric, her tiny niece, Kayra was the best stress buster for her to relieve from the tensions of the past.

"Errr.....we want you to get married" Drupad giggled melancholically, his eyes stopping at the beautiful daughter of his.

The youngest daughter of the Panchkul family first smiled and then looked around the room to spot any unmarried person whom her father was wishing for.

Her brain stuttered after being pointed at by her brother, her eyes motionlessly absorbed more light than usual, a shrill squeak of her heart was curtailed by the noisy quarrel between her parents.
It all felt like a nightmare to the wounded woman, her eyes fixed at her father's stature but couldn't see him because of the flashing of the past incidents inside her mind.