Flouting Our Destiny

Chapter 25

A soft knock on the car's window dusted off the swirling whirlwind within his mind, he opened his eyes, slowly, rubbing them sharply, his tired orbs scanned the little girl who was separated from him because of the car's heavy glass window.
His fingers hurried to fidget with the button on the door and slide down the glass,
"One for ten rupees only!" The girl hoped enthusiastically, her small eyes filled with joy dreaming about how the man sitting in a big black car will buy a rose from her.

"Thank you." Arjun politely mentioned, wanting to be wished luck by the kid for the task he was going for.
As the wheels geared up to move forward, the girl blinked her eyes as if wishing him a bit of good luck and then ran towards the sideway when the honking of cars gloomed the silent atmosphere.

"This rose is for that rosy lady who is the reason that brings me here, all the way from Delhi to Lucknow" Arjun mumbled uncomfortably, observing the chauffeur drive at a very slow speed.

"Ouch..." he cursed himself for touching the lone tiny thorn bulging out from the stem of the shiny red flower, his lungs contracted and expanded two times with a roaring pain, Arjun fisted his anger recalling the unanticipated call from Lakshana which compelled him to finally give in to his heart and come to rescue the love of his life from a man from the past and propose her to unite with him and only him in this birth.

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"Where are you? When will you reach? I just can't believe that you are running so late..." Lakshana exaggerated her unending efforts of uniting two of the very important people of her life.

"Are we expecting a visitor?" Draupadi smiled, occasionally chewing the pen cap and scribbling some numbers on a paper.
It had been almost two weeks since Drupad kept his wish and expected his daughter to fulfil the dream he visualised for her.
Karan was persistent, the past few weeks had been too exhausting for him, building a friendship from enmity in two weeks was quite a difficult task for him as the lady in front of him was a stubborn one.

"Well, not as such" Lakshana said, her fingers caressing the silk fabric of her new shopping,
"what are you doing though?" She questioned, placing the new clothes in the wardrobe.

"I don't know!" Draupadi giggled, "I don't know, Karan told me to choose a number under 100"

"Drau.." Lakshana gulped a foreseen fear down her throat, "seriously?" Her folded arms offended her best friend.

"He's just a friend and I am not going to say yes to him, obviously" Draupadi bit her lower lip, stretching her arms, she yawned loudly.

Vidyut's wife let a silent prayer escalate her lips, her heart was turning bluer with each passing day seeing how her naive sister in law was falling into Karan's trap.

A faint sound of the doorbell ringing was unheard by the two ladies, a servant knocked loudly at the door of the bedroom, his eyes showcasing his disbelief of the deaf ears of the two ladies who were gossiping and couldn't even hear the audible bell ring.

"Is it?" Laks anxiously peeped at the lady beside realising that her excitement about Arjun coming over could have ruined everything then and there.
"Who has come?" She sternly asked like a master lady.

"Karan sir has come" the servant passed a sheepish smile, after sensing Lakshana's hatred for the man by her sudden change of expressions.

"My call!" Draupadi exclaimed, hurriedly rushing out.

The last two weeks were mentally excruciating for the woman who was struggling with the past, her heart which was already pierced by a dagger named past was being targeted by Karan, who somehow proved victorious, claiming to have changed, he had very slyly befriended the emotionally broke lady.

"1-100, what is it?" Karan questioned, pointing finger at the woman who didn't even climb down the last step of the mighty staircase.

"100!" Draupadi smiled, chuckling at the senseless game.

"Here you go then!" Karan winked subtly, handing her a bouquet of 100 yellow roses.

She stared at him and the bouquet with utter astonishment, as if he was presenting her with lizards which she despised the most, her brain was unable to connect the dots, how did he know about the number she chose? Was he trying to trick her? Has he really changed?

"How did you know?" The defensiveness in her tone jerked the man, he cleverly interpreted her thoughts.

"Because..." he grinned, "you will never settle for a lesser number and 100 was the greatest of all!" He smirked, mentally patting himself for making up a theory.

His words sounded perfect to the woman, she giggled before accepting the flowers.
Both of them comforted themselves on the velvet sofa and conversed about the new assignment given to Karan by Drupad.

"Drau!" Laks popped out of nowhere, her simpering face confused the other lady, she flickered her eyelashes as Karan halted his sugary wordings.

"We have a visitor!" Laks played with her fingers and cursed her already implemented plan of bringing Arjun inside the house from the back door.

"Okay?" Draupadi felt at a loss of words, not able to comprehend her words.

"Drau..." Arjun's voice spilt water on Karan's lessons of manipulating Draupadi.

The world fell silent,
was her past taking over her again?
Draupadi could hear herself breathing, she swiftly pinched her cheek citing the voice to be a hallucination, her fears grew as she observed Karan stand dumbfounded and Lakshana smiling peacefully.

The tape of misery and sorrow which had stopped playing in Draupadi's mind automatically initiated again, her eyes were not ready to swallow the sight of him standing there, not in dreams, but for real. He was physically present, the arrival of Arjun reeled her brain, like a basket of differently decorated Easter eggs, her heart was also attending to different emotions at one time, happiness, melancholy, shock, pain and satisfaction.

She turned, slower than ever to view him, after quickly strengthening her internal organs. Her words couldn't leave her mouth as if they were scared of the unexpected events.

"What are you doing here?" Karan popped up like an overly heated corn. His egoistic self couldn't handle more hurt. Everything was under his control but now he sensed danger.

"No one needs you here!" A feminine voice quivered.