Not so very long ago…in a
land far far away…
Beautiful ladies in fairy
tales are common as sand on a beach, starry-eyed princesses, and rosy-skinned
damsels in distress. In fact, counting the two eyes of each bright-eyed beauty
would result in a whole galaxy of twinkling stars.
But let's face it, in real
life women hardly ever match up to their fictional counterparts. They have
yellowing teeth or spotty skin. They have shadow of a mustache or dark circles
around their eyes.
Of course there are pretty
ones but they too have some imperfections; in short it's very rare, that a
woman actually outshines the sun or as poetically said 'Is so beautiful that
angels would weep with envy'.
Khushi Kumari Gupta had it
all, except perhaps the lark-like melody of voice, but she was beautiful and
not just beautiful but the kind of beautiful one would reads about in books.
She was the sort that would drive anyone crazy and do all sorts of stupid
things merely to give her a kiss. None of which could change the fact:
As of yesterday, she was
unmarriageable.
The disaster had to do with
kisses and what kisses are supposed to lead to, though it would be more
accurate to point the nature of men. The particular man in question was Shyam Manoher
Jha, the rich Lawyer in town.
He had wanted to kiss her,
not just that but had tried to do it publicly a lot many times. And had
vehemently declared his love for her, not to mention stalked her.
But the one thing he hadn't
done was to ask her hand in marriage.
"I'm afraid I can't marry
you" he had said, when the scandal broke the evening before. "It's a shame you
know… but I can't do anything about it… my father is uncompromising on the
subject…it's a misfortune but you must have heard about my 1st
marriage; that one was annulled because my dad decided Anjali Malik wasn't good
enough, and she was the daughter of Doctor Malik, the super rich surgeon."
Rich and poor have always
been discriminated, from the beginning of time, and no matter how beautiful you
are the difference never fades, at least not completely or forever. Its not
like she had flirted with him or had expected him to marry her but still, she
hadn't expected that either.
Khushi was not the daughter
of a rich surgeon, her father was a shop keeper and not a very-well established
on either. Not that she knew about the Lawyers 1st marriage,
everyone apparently had forgotten to tell her that. If she'd known she wouldn't
have let him even talk to her.
But when she had refused to
let him kiss her, he had fled off telling stories about her being pregnant with
his child and everyone had believed him, since he was rich and they about knew
his obsession with her. And well she hadn't exactly had been rude with him
ever.
"Is that how I raised you?"
her father had asked her.
"I'm not pregnant! How can
you even say that?"
"You tell me?" he yelled.
"I can't believe this is
coming out for nothing, I didn't even let him kiss me."
"Then why are they saying you
are carrying his child?"
"Maybe because he's a jerk
and they are too shallow" she had yelled back with equal force.
"Tell that to the world, no
one here will marry you."
"Then I don't wish to marry
anyone here." With that said she had sped off to her bedroom and cried curled
up on her bed. If only mom was alive to see this…
...
The Castle
Somewhere near India
Ancestral seat of the Kingdom of South East Asia
Arnav Singh Raizada, Yuvraj of 50 states, heir to the throne, the future Maharaja, was in a
considerable amount of pain. He had learned during the war to think about
discomfort – a darned, stupid kind of word for this sort of agony – was to give
it a power that he wasn't ready to admit. So he leaned on his cane, loosening
the pressure on his leg and stood silent pretending not to notice.
The injury during the war had
left him with a wound on his leg that pained and that made him irritable. But
maybe it wasn't that, maybe it was the fact that he was standing around wasting
his time with a bunch of idiots, his cousins.
"It wasn't my fault the horse
wasn't good enough" Aakash was saying.
"Oh shut up you don't know
how to play… I told you Bhai you should have never let him take your place."
Nandkishore (NK) interjected.
But before Arnav would say
something they would start again.
" … I didn't do it on
purpose"
"That's the lamest excuse
Aakash"
They wouldn't listen so
finally he snapped.
"Shut up both of you!" Arnav
yelled. "NK have Aman appoint someone else for today's polo match and Aakash,
you were horrible, end of discussion".
"But Bhai i…" Aakash began.
"Enough. I have other important things to do."
With that said Arnav strolled out with the help of his cane.
Finding his butler Aman in
the hallway who bowed at his sight then began walking behind him "Forgive me if
I may your highness…"
"Yes, yes you may, what?"
Aman was Arnav's age, and he – Arnav Always took him as a friend rather as a
servant. Though he never understood how Aman became a butler but then maybe he
was spy sent by his father, to keep an eye on him.
"Don't you think you were a
little hard on him?"
"Hard? Surely not, I told him
exactly what's the truth" Then he sighed "don't give me that look, He was
annoying me to death! Okay, yes, he's not that bad."
They had walked over towards
the library. "Your Father has written" Aman told him. "I took the liberty to
put it on your desk Sire."
"What does he have to say?
Surely you took the liberty to read it as well." He said turning around looking
at him.
"He expresses his interest in
your marital future" Aman said cheerfully. "The last letter you sent him, the
one listing your demands for a wife, did not deter him. Rather surprising I
must say."
"You read that one too you
pestilent bacteria?" Arnav asked.
"He's looking for a wife."
Aman continued, ignoring his question.
"For himself; I hope, though
he's waited too long I must say". Arnav said failing to summon any interest in
the news.
"Your father is not getting
married, he loved his wife." Aman said; there was something in his voice that
made Arnav glance up.
"You weren't joking?"
"It seems to me that he sees
you – your marriage – as a challenge, maybe you shouldn't have listed too many
demands, seems like it has fired up his resolve."
"The devil you say, he will
never be able to find anyone, I have a reputation you see."
"You're wealthier then your
reputation" Aman said "Additionally you're the only heir to the throne"
"You're probably right, darn
you." Arnav continued "but what about my injury…? Do you think a woman
would agree to marry a man – I mean of course a woman would agree to that
but...?"
"I doubt many young ladies
would see that as an insuperable problem" Aman said. "Now, your personality…"
"Shut up," Arnav said, but
without heat, as he entered his bedroom.
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Edited by Mariam.Ejaz - 11 years ago
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