Exiled Hearts

19: Shattering the Ice

Sumedh

Why in the world would she shout "Rajkumar" loud enough for the whole market to hear?!?! I made my way over to her, trying hard to ignore the gasps of wonder and surprise. Her face read exactly what I expected: guilt and panic.

Before I could take her away, the shopkeeper added on to the embarrassment: "Rajkumar?! What are you saying, young lady?!"

"Um-Wh-I meant-er." As she stuttered out incomprehensible words, I mentally face-palmed. Every single time, I have to save the situation...

"No no Sir, you understood it all wrong! What she meant to say was..." The next words were highly embarrassing but I had no other excuse. "She meant to say that I-I'm...I'm the Rajkumar of her heart!"

Beside me, she blushed furiously while I tried to maintain my composure. At least the crowd around us seemed to have settled back to normal.

"Couldn't you think of anything else?!" she muttered under her breath.

"Well I'd like to see you try!" I replied back in a harsh whisper. Before she could throw out her counter, the shopkeeper interrupted - yet again.

"Ohho! Wah wah! My eyes are blessed today seeing the beautiful bond between you two. It's so rare these days to find a couple like you. Thank you for this blessing! Thank you thank you!"

This man is taking it way too far...way too far. To prevent any more awkwardness, we quickly took the matki (which he ended up giving for free) and turned around to sprint away. But before we could, this man stuck to us AGAIN. I let out a groan, just loud enough for her to hear. My fists unclenched as I took a deep breath out.

"By the way, where are your children? It would be a blessing, straight from that God, to meet the children of such idols in this world."

I looked at Mallika, who continued to turn a deeper shade of red, with her eyes tightly shut. This time, I joined her. We turned around to look at the shopkeeper, trying desperately to think of an excuse. "Umm...uhhh..it's that..we -" I started, trying to make an excuse.

"It's that we haven't been married that long," Rajkumari finished for me. I let out a sigh of relief.

"Oh so how long have you been married?" the shopkeeper continued. I swear this person has no personal life or what?! One more question and I'm going to lose it.

"Uhh 6 months," I blurted out.

"1 year," the Rajkumari said, at the same time.

We looked at each other, eyes wide. One more thing to cover. Great...

"1 year," I quickly covered up.

"6 months," she tried to cover up.

Another fail.

The shopkeeper narrowed his eyes between the two of us, growing suspicious.

The Rajkumari laughed nervously. I could tell that she was searching for another excuse. "What we mean, Sir, is that we have been married for 1 year, but it feels like only 6 months," she said at last, letting out a breath of satisfaction.

"Yeah," I mumbled in agreement.

"See! These words you're saying is making my admiration for you two rise even more! Your bond and--"

But before he could ramble on about some fake love-life, I quickly intervened. "Sorry to ruin your excitement Sir, but we need to go home soon."

And before I could even hear what he had to say, I grabbed her hand and scrambled off.

___________________________________________

Mallika

After that awkward encounter at the market, the rest of the day was spent by me trying to break the ice and him freezing it right back up. Sooner than I expected, the sun was about to set. I walked out, to see that the Rajkumar was preparing to sleep - outside. One last try for the day.

"It's pretty cold out here..and dark. I don't mind if you start sleeping inside the hut."

Without even turning around to face me, he gave a cold reply. "You don't mind. But I do."

I rolled my eyes at his stubbornness. He is actually impossible. Taking a big sigh, I walked closer, taking a seat on the ground under the tree. He stopped what he was doing, watching me carefully through the corner of his eyes.

"I know you won't even close your eyes without me leaving. I promise I'm only staying here for a little bit."

He looked at me a second longer, before finally taking a seat beside me (meaning a good 4 feet apart).

"Go ahead Rajkumari," he finally said, expecting me to do something.

"Mallika."

"Huh?"

"Call me Mallika."

"I d-don't think I can."

"Why? Are you still caught up in maintaining your image?"

"W-what?" One look at his face was enough for me to understand that he was taken aback.

"I'm asking...why don't you show me who you are on the inside? If you're trying to show me this tough, egoistic version of a Rajkumar, it's not really working. Because beyond all this: I see a hesitant and simple human...who is scared of something which I can't quite figure out."

He jerked his head up to meet my eyes. Even in this silence, a thousand things could be understood. He was hit hard by how clearly I read his mind, but he still didn't know how clearly I knew what he feared. 

"Society has taken over you." I continued. "Taken over your personality, your mind, your heart. Perhaps, you're doing this to be acceptable to others - not yourself. And in this whole process: you lost happiness...and love."

I got up and walked inside the hut, without even taking one glance back. Because I knew that my words broke right through his ice.

________________________________________

Sumedh

I couldn't sleep the whole night. Instead, my eyes were fixed on the dark canvas of white speckles above me. "Hesitant, simple, scared,"... "And in this whole process: you lost happiness and love,"... "You lost,".... "Love,"....

Just how did she know?...How could she clearly read me like a book?... The echoes of her words finally engulfed me into a miserable sleep.

The next time I opened my eyes, they met with a perplexing scene. She was standing a couple feet away from me, outside of the hut, hauling a pot of water on her hip. However, the sight that stole my eyes was not her. It was the colorless thread of flowers, wrapped around her hair. The same flowers I gave her a while back. And for some strange reason, even though the flowers were long dead, the radiance they emitted felt 10 times stronger. 

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