For the first time, Chitra thought. It was the first time Chitra ever stepped out of the palace but of course, Meenamma was with her. It was a miracle that she was even allowed to step outside the palace. According to the royal priest, Chitra's horoscope for the next few months was going to be bad and if she was married during this period, her bad luck would affect her In-laws. So she is required to get a specific ritual done. And as the queen was hell-bent on kicking her out, she immediately agreed with any remedy to get rid of that bad luck which would hold Chitra back in the palace.

Yesterday evening when Chitra returned from the royal garden and got to know about this, she was shocked to find out that she was being allowed to leave the palace and all night she couldn't sleep with the excitement of going to a temple after years. 

The morning was nothing like she imagined, the morning sky was dark with rain-filled clouds with the cool breeze making her hold her headscarf tight. The village was not small, it had huge stores with people already too busy with their day. She stopped for a second wondering why mornings were never this exciting in the palace. Was the wind different? Do the palace walls have the power to stop the wind? She hit her forehead lightly for thinking such nonsense.

It was still a mystery about how Meenamma convinced her cruel step-mother to let her go outside the palace.

"Tell me!" Chitra asked, twirling around enjoying the weather.

"Huh?'' Meenamma asked, panting. She was tired of walking this long way from the palace. Though her step-mother allowed her to go to the temple she didn't provide them with any sort of security or transport outside the palace. 

Chitra's face broke out into a beautiful grin seeing the beautiful sky, "How did you do this magic, my old lady?"

"First of all I am not an old lady and....and-" Meenamma couldn't complete her sentence, she was panting as if she had run around a forest. 

Chitra laughed and said, " You are old, come on see yourself." She made Meenamma sit on a huge stone beside a food stall to rest.

While Meenamma was trying to catch her breath, she looked around and saw a cloth store. The store was more than colourful with beautiful materials hanging around.

She was mesmerized to see such stuff, she always heard about different types of clothes but all she ever owned was silk dresses. 

"Meenamma, I got an idea." 

"Don't you dare Lady-"

"Uh! You just sit and relax! And I will be back in no time."

"BUT-"

"Please Meenamma! Once! Just once! Let me see what's inside and then we will go wherever you were planning to take me."

"But-" 

"Please!"

"Alright! I will be right here and you should be quick!"

"YES!! Thank you so much and I promise I will be back soon!" Chitra squealed in excitement running towards the store.

The materials were magnificent, she never thought that cotton could be this beautiful and smooth to touch. How she wished she could buy one, she could ask meenamma but it seemed wrong to ask money from her, Meenamma once said that she was saving up her wages to treat her sick husband. 

When she walked out of the clothes store she found an ornaments store on the opposite lane. A little look at the stuff won't harm her she thought. 

And the moment she stepped out of the store, she saw people running around in panic and before she could understand what was happening she saw people fighting with huge sticks and glass bottles. It was a riot.

Frightened, she turned around to run back to Meenamma but her way was blocked by people, everyone was running in different directions making it impossible for her to even take a step forward and in that chaos, she was pushed to the side and was about to fall when someone caught her arm and pulled her up. 

Before she could breathe in relief, she realised that the face was somewhat familiar to her and the moment she realised who it was, her eyes went wide and her mouth was partially hanging open very unlady-like. It was king Arjuna, what was he doing here? And his costume looked similar to that of a commoner. Was he here to look around the village?

"I think we should hide somewhere before these people break our heads." Saying so, he dragged her inside a store and made her sit down and pulled a huge mat trying to cover them up. 

"You should leave immediately." He whispered in his rough voice, "The situation here looks worse." He said keeping an eye out peeping through a hole in the mat. And all the while he was busy keeping a watch, Chitra kept noticing how his thick eyebrows moved when he frowned, how he has a unique shade of brown eyes and wondering how he has got that small cut on his right eyebrow. 

"And how did you even come out of the palace princess?"

Maybe he got that cut in a war? Kings usually go for wars right? She thought.

"Down to earth Princess!" He said, waving his hand in front of her eyes and when she snapped back to reality. She was more than embarrassed, did he notice her staring at him? 

"I was just thinking-" She dragged her words, not getting an excuse to come up with.

And then it struck her. Meenamma! She moved back, trying to get up, Scolding herself about how irresponsible she was but instead, her clumsy self made her trip and fall on Arjuna.

He immediately caught her and the tiny place they were hiding got more closed off as all the mats fell on them making it a tough task to move.

"Well, we are stuck." He said looking into her eyes.

This position was more than awkward for both of them, his rough warm hands were circled her bare waist and her long her tickling his face and their faces were dangerously close, so close that Chitra could feel his warm breath her cheeks.

"Sorry." She said slowly, trying to create a distance between them, "I was just trying to get up and find Meenamma." 

He huffed slowly before he answered. " You could have just asked me, you know."

When she didn't reply, he smiled a little. "She is safe with Vikram so don't worry." Saying so, he gently put a few strands of her hair behind her ear.

His long fingers brushing behind her ear woke up some deep sense of fluttering down her stomach and a long shiver passed through her spine from his touch.

That minute when she looked in his eyes, her heart started making loud sounds as if it got back to life and she knew it just like that, the more she would look into his eyes the more she would lose herself to him. 

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