KALANK

Four| Head over heels

The next morning Kunti with Nakul,
Arjun, and Sahadev headed towards Panchal. Arjun was extremely excited and a bit nervous at the same time,as he was going to meet Draupadi soon, the princess, who took over his heart. He was immersed in different emotions, while he was sitting in his chariot.

After a few hours, they all arrived in Panchal.The sound of the drums rumbled straight throughout the skies as the musician plucked their qin. Arjun lifted his eyes and landed on all the persons standing for their arrival. He searched hopelessly for her but to his bad luck, she wasn't there. Several more seconds passed like this, and he was growing a bit uncomfortable by the fact of her absence.

His face fell. It was in that moment he realized just how much he wanted to see her.

Mahima saw his face and asked," Is everything okay?" With genuine concern.

He guessed that his face had conveyed more emotion than he originally suspected.

"Yes,I'm perfectly fine. Thankyou for inivting us." he came out smoother.

"We're so gald you came tonight," Mahima added, with a soft laugh.

Maharaj Draupad with Mahima greeted them, welcomed each one nicely and they all went inside.

"Welcome to Panchal," Draupad's deep voice rumbled powerfully.

"Thankyou, Maharaj Draupad," Arjun said humbly, bowing his head respectfully.

His heart ached, he shuddered already wishing to find her inside.

*****

Arjun's eyes were consistently looking for Draupadi, he was sitting there alone in the living area, as Kunti went with Mahima and Draupad for some discussions. Nakul and Sahadev were too young for all those matters so they went to the royal garden, as they found it very fascinating. Likewise, Arjun also stayed back.

Some servants came to Arjun and served him fruits, drinks and sweets. He wanted nothing as his eyes were only searching for Draupadi.

Before he could ask the maid-servant about her.Two female voices scraped the silence and suddenly, Arjun heard some similar voice, his heart started beating so fastly in rhythmic motions, as the steps came nearer to him. He immediately stood up and the voice was getting clearer. He looked around and saw from where the voice was coming. His eyes instantly turned towards the staircase where he saw Draupadi was running behind Urvi, they were chasing each other just like five five-year-old kids. He saw in her beautiful red dress, and her hair was flickering over her shoulder, still wearing a pretty, mindless smile on her mouth. He just stood and looked at her, he hypnotized again in the same way, he saw her the first time. He was staring fixedly at her but on the spur of the moment, Urvi saw Arjun, she stood and looked at Arjun as he was staring at her direction and assumed it as he was gazing at her.She was unsure what to do next, whether to stay or go close to him.

"I caught you! I caught you!" Draupadi said while hugging Urvi from front and her back was at Arjun.

"Rajkumar Arjun!" Urvi said while trying to break the hug.

"Rajkumar Arjun ! He is not here! Just shut up! I caught you, that's the truth and you're out." Draupadi said while slapping Urvi's back lightly.

She narrows her eyes before breaking the hug and turns around effectively drawing her attention back to his seething, hazel eyes.

"I can't believe it!" Draupadi's voice was shrill. Urvi, Urvi! Rajkumar Arjun is here woman, you know that?"

"I know, Draupadi!" Urvi whispered to calm her down.

"She's been looking for you." Draupadi said without thinking.