The Apple of his eyes

Chapter 4

Surrounded by thousands of trees, the small krishna temple was located in the middle of the forest. There was no people as they were restricted to enter the temple premises until the royal family members returns back.
Sounds of peacock can be heard. A cool breeze hit Vedhavalli when she stepped down from her palanquin. Sounds of her anklets echoed along. The four of them along with Amar's right hand man entered the temple.
Panditji was already preparing for the pooja after hearing of their arrival.
After exchanging greetings with the Panditji, Bharath stepped forward to talk to him.
"Panditji, this pooja is especially for my sister, Rajkumari Vedhavalli. Our royal astrologer wanted her to visit this temple on this auspicious day. We are here to pray for her future."
Panditji had a pleasant smile on his face and answered. "When one seeks the Bhagavan's blessings, all the worries will be gone." He then looked at Vedhavalli and said "Rajkumari, can you swim?"
"Yes Panditji. I can." Vedhavalli replied to him politely.
"Good. There is a temple pond in the right side of the temple. You have to walk for a while. It is said that the pond was created by lord Krishna himself with holy water. If one bathes in the pond, they'll make the bhagavan happy. You should also promise the waters in the pond that you'll visit again if all your prayers come true."
"I'll then make my way towards the pond after the pooja Panditji." Vedhavalli said.
The aarti was completed peacefully. Vedhavalli, asusual asked for nothing. She always thought that her lord krishna knows what to give and what not to give.

It was time for her visit the pond. So Maha left to bring Vedhavalli's clothes. While Bharath decided to look around the temple garden. And Amar's eye followed Maha unknown to her.

Vedhavalli was removing her ornaments one by one to step down into the pond. There was nearly 15 steps down to reach the pond. She removed her outer garments and now she was in her white sleeveless blouse and white skirt. She walked down the steps one by one.
Suddenly she heard a noise nearby and looked around which made her lose balance and slip into the pond. While falling into the pond, her eyes met a strange man sitting on a mango tree nearby.

Her sudden fall didn't help her to swim. She felt herself drowning. "Hel...    Help." She shouted when two arms picked her up in bridal style and carried her up.
She took a long breath and opened her eyes and looked at her savior.

Her breath hitched. Her eyes were wide open. Heartbeats echoed among the trees  while those two pairs of eyes disagreed to look away. The world stopped. Atleast for the both of them.
A sudden realization hit Vedhavalli as she struggled to get free from his arms.

"Umm.. Well.. Do you mind letting me down?" Only god knows how much she struggled to form a sentence. She has never been this nervous in her life. Not even when her Guru ji tested her skills infront of the whole palace.

The man holding her came out of his dreamland and gently put her down. Both were standing opposite to each other. 'Start a conversation you idiot. Now or never.' The man scolded himself in his mind. He looked down to the ground thinking of initiating a conversation that would never end in this life time. That's when he noticed her clothes. She was fully wet. Which made her even more alluring. There was little droplets all over her body. His cheeks turned pink. He cleared his throats and turned around.

"Do you have any other clothes with you, princess?" He asked her.

Vedhavalli was dumbfounded. She felt ashamed that she didn't notice the way she looked now. She quickly covered herself with her dupatta which she removed earlier.

"You can turn around now." She said.
Both looked straight into each others eyes. "I didn't know that the british men had such good manners. I thought they..."

"Not all of us like what's happening around us princess." The man replied to her by stopping her further assumption on him. He didn't want her think him as a bad man.