✔️Tale as Old as Time (Kunwar Pratap/Ajabde [Praja])

21//~the bet~

Sometimes people are beautiful.Not in the way they look.
Not in the way they say.
Just in the way they are.

I changed into a beautiful ghagra that I absolutely loved. It was multicolored and some of the embroidery on the dupatta and the lehenga were done by Ranima and me. This was the dupatta on which Ranima had taught me all of my first stitches and if you looked closely, you could see my several attempts before I was able to get it right. And the asymmetrical part of the lehenga was my favorite part.

I paired it with oxidized jewelry and did my hair into properly formed waves.

*knock knock*

"Ji? Kaun hain?" I asked because Heer and Ganga never knocked before coming in. I turned around to see Kunwar Pratap standing there and aimlessly staring in my direction. I looked into the mirror to make sure I didn't look like a complete idiot.

"Ji? Aapko koi kaam tha?" I asked. We were supposed to leave for Chittor in a few minutes. I loved Bijolia but it was time to go back and besides Ranima had specifically said that we had to be there for Ganghaur pooja.

"Hain woh humara yeh hath ka abhushan tut gaya," he said holding up his broken bracelet and loose pearls with two hands.

"Hum palki mein baithe baithe achhe se see denge," I said taking them and putting them on a plate with the rest of my sewing and embroidery things.

"Yeh humara bohoth hi priya abhushan hain anyatha hum aapko kusht nahin dete," he added.

"Gyat hain hume. Aapko Ranaji ne uphaar me diya tha aur iss me kusht ki koi baat nahi hain. Aap jaldi jaiye anyatha hume vilam ho jaiyega,"

"Hum abhi sara saman bandh dete hain," he said.

"Kunwar Pratap aapne aaj pran liya hain ki samay se to nahi niklenge chahe kuch bhi ho jaiye?" I asked. "Abhi tak saman nahi bandhvaiya hain aapne. Kab pohchenge Chittor?"

"Aapse pehle to hum dwar par milenge," he replied arrogantly.

"Aisa bhi ho sakta hain?" I asked.

"Laggi shurt?" he asked. I deliberated for a moment but after seeing his smug face I quickly decided on it.

"Thik hain," I said. "Lagi shurt,"

"Yadhi hum jeete to pure din aapko humari baat manni hogi bina kisi tark vitark aur yadhi aap jeeti to pure din hum aapki baat manenge," he said.

I smiled at the hole he was digging for himself. I was nearly ready, I just had a few finishing touches and he had to pack all of his things. Even if the dasis helped him, I would easily beat him.

:~:~:~:

I hurried out of my room. I was going to be late. I was nearly ready when my kajal smudged so then I had to wash my face and reapply kajal and then the necklace felt really heavy and even Heer thought so too so I changed out of it into a lighter choker and lighter earrings which felt much better.

I was fast-walking down the hall when I saw Kunwar Pratap walking in front of me. Naturally, I took the call and sprinted past him to make sure I would win. I looked back to see he was no longer there. I hurried down the stairs and walked to the front door when the worst thing that could ever happen to me, happened to me.

In front of my very own eyes, and the eyes of everyone else- I saw this grown-man-child jump from the second-floor window to the front entrance. Just to make it out the front door before me. Just to win a bet.

He looked at me from his superman pose with a smirk and then got up and cleaned his hands off.

"Kya earth tha iska?" I asked him in an irritated tone of voice.

"Aapse pehle pohoch gaye hum mahal ke dwar ke bahar," he said smugly.

"Samaniya budhi kya kum hain?" I asked him. "Kya earth tha yeh karne ka. Yadhi aapko lag jati to? Voh bhi ek shurt jeetne?"

"Hum jeet gaye aur aaj ke pure din aapko humari har baat manni hogi," he said. "Humara pehla adesh. Aap hume humare shurt jeetne ke tarike pe daat nahi sakti,"

I fumed at him. "Bhad mein gayi shurt. Hum aapki koi baat nahi manenge aur Chittor phoch te hi Ranima se kehke aapko dand dilvake hi manenge," I said walking closer to him (but not walking down the stairs because I was trying to be mad at him and it was a lot harder to do that when you had to look up).

He tsked at me while shaking his hand. "Kya ek rajputani ko apne shabdo se pichhe hut na you sobha deta hain? Bade kache nikle aapke shabd Ajabde," he said grinning.

How was it so hard to stay mad at such an annoying person?

"Ab hum zor zabardasti to kar nahi sakte," he said walking up the steps to stand beside me officially making my attempt to feel taller, worhtless. "Aap yadhi na maan na chahe to ye aapki ichha hain,"

While I was mad at him, he had a point. I couldn't turn away from a bet, especially because if I had won, I would have had proper fun by making him listen to everything I said.

"Thik hain," I said grudgingly. "Nahi aapse kahenge kuch."

"Aur Ranima se bhi nahi," he said.

"Ranima se bhi nahi kahenge," I said. That's when Kunwar Shakti, Heer, Saubhagyavati, and Chakrapani came out along with Hansabaiji and Rao Mamrathji. I was glad for their timing because right now, it was becoming harder and harder for me to stand this smug-faced Kunwar Pratap.

We bid our goodbyes and left for Chittor.

:~:~:~:

"Aapka moo kyun utra utra hua hain?" Heer asked me. I was sitting in a palki with her and Saubhagyavati carefully working on fixing Kunwar Pratap's bracelet because while I was still mad at him, I couldn't focus on finishing my dupatta.

"Kuch nahi Heer," I replied.

"Heer Kanwar, Saubhagyavati, Bhai Shakti aur Chakrapani, hum aap sab ko ek kahani sunate hain," Kunwar Pratap said. I threw the curtains of our palki open and saw Kunwar Pratap and Kuwnar Shakti right beside us on their horses .

"Kya aapko humari baatein sunne ke alawa aur koi kariye nahi hain?" I asked him.

"Ajabde, aap to humaare sang baat kar nahi rahi hain to Kunwar Pratap hume kahani sunana chahte hain to sunane dijiye na," Heer said to me. Then, she turned to Kunwar Pratap. "Aap Ajabde ki baato par dhyan na de. Hume sunaiye kahani,"

"Achha thik hain," Kunwar Pratap said.

"Yeh kahani hain ek kachhue aur ek khargosh ki," Kunwar Pratap said smirking toward me. I obviously knew that he was about to taunt me for losing the bet. The story of how the over-confident rabbit lost even though he was ahead and the turtle won.

"Yeh kahani to sab ne sunni hui hain. Hum ek achhi wali kahani sunate hain. Ek baar ek ladka tha jo adhik hi sahasi tha. Jab bhagwan samaniya budhi baat rahe the tab woh ladka pata hain kya kar raha tha? Uchi uchi manzilo se vannar ki bhati chalang laga raha tha," I said in a passive aggressive tone of voice.

"Yeh to bohoth hi bhuri kahani thi. Hume kachhue aur khargosh ki kahani sunni hain," Heer said. "Humne kabhi nahi suni,"

I fumed causing Kunwar Pratap to smile even more. I regretted the satisfaction I was giving him but he was just so annoying! He regularly did things that were stupid and annoying. At first, he was the sweetest and then he started being mean to me. Like dunking me into the water or showering me with color and then he started being nice by not showering me in color when I pranked him and now he was back to being annoying. God. Couldn't he stick to one personality so I could make up my mind about him?!