Sojourn : mahabharata's era

Chapter 27 : Morning

After his arrival in the ashram, wearing a content smile on his face, Duryodhan was on his way to his shared bedroom with his brothers before colliding into someone coming in his direction in a rapid pace that he almost didn't see them, as he himself had been quiet lost in recollecting memories looking around the ashram.

“Ah!” A shrill feminine shriek reached his ears but before he knew, he was falling backwards along with a weight upon him. His back met the ground with a thud while his view was blocked by a cloud of dark brown hair cascading over his face coolly making his breath hitch as a sudden waft of a familiar fragrance hidden in them, filled his senses.

His heart rumbled for some reasons, he recognised that fragrance which resembled white lotuses but before he could try conjecturing the source of that ambrosial scent, he felt the weight upon him shift suddenly and the those thick brown curtains lifted up from his face allowing him to finally breath but just as soon as his gaze locked with the pair of hazel eyes, his breath was snatched away once again.

There he was, captivated under that gaze yet lost in it.

He stared up in those eyes, while a couple of curls dangling from that breathtaking face, caressed his own in a teasing manner as he could now clearly hear his heart drum in his ears as he blinked not knowing what was even happening to him. He was pulled out of his daze with a soft whispery voice that fanned over his face coolly, “Duryodhan?”

That voice was enough to erode a box full of memories, he had treasured and kept away in his heart for the past two years until now as it unleashed a series of memories flooding his mind overwhelmingly. He felt like all his words had died down under that strong, binding gaze yet he found himself daring to take her name for the first time ever since he left the ashram, “Devrpiya..”

During his time at Dwarka, he had often heard Nihira talk about her sister and that was what she was to him, ‘Nihira’s sister’ he didn't know why but he always found himself avoiding speaking of her until now that he had realized why. He always avoided talking about her because he feared a part of him was on the verge of stepping out from the boundary he wanted to keep between them.

But suddenly the wall of his restrained will was toppled turning into ruins, like he laid under her right now.

What felt like a whole eternity was just the course of a few moments as the two stared into each other’s eyes, unblinking and unbulging. It was Devpriya who had realized what was happening and slowly started getting up, causing Duryodhan to fall still as she drifted away her weight from him and he stood up after her.

He watched how she pretended to dust her clothes in a failed attempt to hide how flustered she was. While he didn't fail to notice how much she had changed over the course of three years, everything about her grew to be even more beguiling than it already was three years ago. Something about her was so blatantly attractive that it almost made him want to drift back into the daze he had just egressed from.

She must have sensed his gaze upon her as she halted abruptly to look back at him and a faint astonishment clouded her wide doe eyes while the color on her cheeks deepened as she timidly casted her eyes down, unable to hold his gaze which was constantly making her heart flutter.

“Sorry, I was in a rush.” She murmured softly without looking at him while he could almost feel the ends of his lips tug upwards softly as he replied, “Its alright, Devpriya.”

The short silence that fell was filled of just too many things that neither of them could discern, so Duryodhan attempted to break it in a polite tone, “How have you been?”

“Good and you?” She asked quietly, stealing yet another glance at him before looking away. Her coyness was charmingly evident, making him fall back to his thoughts which almost made him arrive to a shocking conclusion. He almost thought aloud that he missed her and maybe he did but that might be the old Devpriya he last saw in the ashram two years ago.