MIRAGE OF HEARTSTRINGS

HIT OF NERVE

"ughh"

Rubbing his face lightly with a yawn, nakula grabbed the blanket that his covering him as he rub his face in the pillow...........this might be the best sleep he has ever gotten, actually he always thought that after every sleep, nothing new..........................

But there is something new, realising where he is sleeping nakula turned his face towards duryodhana's bed side, finding him sitting on the bed while reading a book which he has found in the library while wandering in the palace more as his back his leaning against the headboard with hair still untied.

Throwing sheepishly smile towards duryodhana which he knows duryodhana isn't even looking yet he knows duryodhana know that he is awake as he sit up on the bed only to get a glance of bowl filled with cold on the night stand making him mutter out "we ate your hand made food yesterday", only to hear "I don't poison people"

Abruptly turning around after getting up from the bed nakula started "but you did in childhood-" only to have all the words turn ashes on his tongue when he suddenly got a flashback of Anga about Gandhar Raj poisoning the food not duryodhana, he didn't even knew about the poison but.................

His face might be normal but the fire in those glaring eyes and the way fingers tightened around the book tells duryodhana's anger yet the helplessness that he can't counter back...............Would duryodhana if he get to know about the truth? Either way Nakula knows he has to accept that it was not duryodhana from starting and by the seeing how he hit the nerve of something sensitive, so carelessly, nakula went outside silently feeling glare all the way out the door until he left the room.

AT NIGHT

The footsteps in the corridor were too noisy for the silence in it as the Maharaj of Indraprastha walk towards the room opposite to his own room after getting to know about the incident of nakula with duryodhana which brought out the bhima's one too but it doesn't seem, he has any regret as he nodded when yudhishtir told he is going to duryodhana's room.

Reaching to the door, his steps halted when he hear cough sounds coming from inside the room before they stopped making him enter the room, seeing the scene of duryodhana rubbing his chest, must be trying to soothe the pain as he look towards the open door.

The dimmed look in his eyes is something yudhishtir has never saw in duryodhana's eyes..........not only duryodhana but in any kauravas eyes from childhood but he knows why this look is inside duryodhana's eyes. He knows karna is here because he cares about duryodhana and duryodhana is here because he care about karna too, though how would they say that they also came here because of karna?

As much as they wanted to ignore it by the fact that, from starting they are five brothers only, then what is the problem if karna is with kauravas? Either way he is happy and it should not matter to them but hearing about his sudden absence, the departure to suhc a dangerous place and the pain in their mother's eyes, all the things were too much that they decided to step up to find karna but instead got stuck here where the rain does not stop even for a moment.

"what?"

Coming out of trance yudhishtir see duryodhana raising an eyebrow, confused yet annoyed expression on his face must be because of yudhishtir's absence of senses right now as he went forward to sit on the edge of bed, turning his body lightly to face duryodhana who is watching his every move carefully and it feels like needle to know that duryodhana never trusted any of them yet the one he trusted from childhood betrayed him from starting.

Yudhishtir watch duryodhana for a while who also look at him straightly until he sighs turning his head only to back off when yudhishtir suddenly reached out to his face.

"what are you doing?" Duryodhana asked but it came more like snarl as he glares at Eldest kaunteya who is nonchalant about duryodhana's behaviour before he again reached out, touching duryodhana's hair, finding it dry making him nod to himself while duryodhana confuse more.

Duryodhana opened his mouth to say something but yudhishtir beat him by starting "in the morning when you didn't came down, I came to your room to find you unmoved and squirming as I checked your body only to find you sick so I decided to call everyone up here. Arjuna lit up the fire in fireplace after bringing dry woods from kitchen while nakula and sahadeva changed your forehead towel from time to time as I went with bhima to cook something for all of us-" glancing at the untouched bowl of food he continues "-and yours before we all decided to take turn in taking care of you, I think nakula slept in between. I apologise for whatever happened with my brothers during daytime"

Duryodhana just look at yudhishtir blankly all the way till the end finding yudhishtir's fingers still brushing his hair until his eyes widen when he notice his bracelet sparkling with the one in yudhishtir's arm.

Standing up from the bed, duryodhana stepped back finding both the sparkling bracelet stop sparkling until he again came closer to yudhishtir to find it sparkling again making him look at yudhishtir who is also standing as he asks.

"what's with this bracelet?"

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