The Village Girl

Chapter Twenty Eight - [Aaryan]

Hello! 

New update for you all! I wanted to let you know that I will be updating another chapter to add to this short one tomorrow as well!

Enjoy! And as always, don't forget to let me know what you think!

-luckycharms <3

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As seemed to happen quite often, Seetha was awoken by me getting ready to head out. We had slept late last night, mostly because I forced her to come down to get some food to eat since she had not eaten that evening. Because of that, she did not get much rest and I really tried to get dressed quietly. Of course, she always seemed to wake up when she knew I was leaving.

When she sat up, I felt my heart stop for a moment before I sighed. I had nearly forgotten what had happened yesterday... I was always in a strange state when I woke up in the mornings. 

She rubbed her eyes, but when she did she winced before looking up at me, noticing my stare. "What?"

The bruise on her cheek had darkened and had spread around her eye as well. She had a black eye, showing how hard my idiot brother had hit her. I felt a rush of satisfaction knowing that he would never do such a thing to anyone ever again.

I let out a breath before grabbing a hand mirror and walking over to her. I sat next to her on the bed and handed her the mirror.

When she held the mirror to her face, her eyes widened. "Oh..."

I tried not to get angry... I assumed I had done enough of that yesterday, especially seeing as I was told by a maid who dropped off my silks this morning that Aarun was still writhing in pain in his chambers. "You should stay back and rest–"

"It's just a bruise," she responded quickly.

I reached out and put a hand on her stomach. "I am not just worried about the bruise," I said. "Yesterday was a traumatic day and I want you to be able to relax and keep your mind clear.

She set down the mirror and sighed.

"Seetha..." I started. I thought of my words carefully... trying to make sure that I actually meant them before I said it. "Maybe you should go back to your family."

She looked at me with surprise. "I can't!" She said, a little too quickly. At first I was surprised to think that maybe she did not want to go home, but then I realized what she meant. "I can't let my family see me like this," she gestured at her face. "They'd be horrified!"

I hesitated.

"I can't let them find out..." She sighed.

I frowned, as I realized she assumed her family would never find out. "Seetha... your family is going to hear of this." 

She looked surprised.

I wished they would never hear of it as well. I felt like the fact that Seetha got hurt was proving that I was unable to keep the promise I had made to her father.

It felt disgraceful.

"Rumours spread from Aathikara like wildfire," I explained. "It's hard to keep secrets here, so I'm sure they'll be hearing about it very soon."

She let out a frustrated breath as she put a hand on her face.

I watched her for a moment before I spoke again. "I think you should consider writing to them. Telling them what happened. They should hear it from you," I said. "And then you should go to them. I think it would make them happy to see you okay... and it would be good for you as well."