Chapter 4

Obsession : Interests

Udayveer swirled the amber liquid within his glass, admiring its finish within the hand-blown scotch vessel.  He had spent the first introductory moments within Brijraj-Uncle's reading room discussing the outlandish behavior of the guards, aptly arguing that the fault lied within them; and not Manyata's and Jai's own selfish intentions.  What a pair the sister act were, they truly were alike and yet had no inkling.  Slowly as the Maha Raj's disgust and complaints of the inept staff withered by the lulling effects of the well-crafted scotch, his father took the opportunity to steer the conversation towards Manyata and her father issues.  From the past few sittings and discussion with him, Udayveer understood that Griraj was trying to manipulate the current relationship between the King and his wayward daughter into a more favorable direction.  Essentially, his father was hoping to cut some of the offending shrubbery tangling him from making a proper connection to his future, a connection to a girl who had not yet made steps into assuming her true identity.

 

Really, the aptitude by which his father maneuvered within the most heightened power game of royalty was amazing.  Never slipping from his own tight rope, he managed to keep his own possessions at peace while taking what was offered in the crumbling grasps of his fellow royals.  Maybe the investment of his son was what caused the Maha Raj of Jaigarh to stay in a currently unfruitful alliance, even helping to mend the loosened family bonds of Devgarh, just to reach destiny.

"Brijraj, you are my favorite opponent!  You never give up!"

"But my dear friend, you saw me; I have lowered myself into listening to 'Manyata's... uncultured words.  Words that have never been spoken under this roof, I have compromised myself but for what?"

"Brijraj! Brijraj!  Listen, your specialty in any game, whether it be chess or hunting, is to lull your target into a state of comfort, and then you strike!  You can do it; after all, Murari will just become a forgotten memory in time!"

As the two friends continued their conversation, Udayveer gave an imperceptible nod towards his father as he lowered the tumbler onto the table, mindful to not let the chink of the heavy glass bottom against the table direct attention back to him.  It was time to leave and give the two kings privacy and space to ruminate over their children, over the future of their respective kingdoms, and over the destiny of them ever uniting.  "Brijraj-Uncle, Dad, I will go and speak to Dadisa and see if I can help alleviate any of her stress.  Today was quite overwhelming for her."

Brijraj released a dry chuckle, "Of course!  Ever since Manyata has come back nothing is peaceful or makes sense anymore!"

"Brijraj!"  Udayveer taking that one cue from his father, respectfully bowed, and exited the reading room.  Meandering down the hallways, he smirked thinking about how many things had to be carefully chosen, carefully crafted, and then integrated within one's life.  Their use once experienced, becoming habit.  Royalty and its complexities were like a nicely finished scotch ' it required carefully chosen attributes and thought, crafting, and finally vital use.  After all, such labor of effort and hopes should not be wasted.  If Manyata was akin to his favored scotch than the stage at which she was in now had yet to go through maturation.  Much like the oak casks which helped the burning liquid undergo a process in which its potential could be obtained, Manyata had to do more than accept her identity, she needed to assimilate into it.  Finally, her "finishing" into a finely crafted beverage, would be her taking his guidance along with Dadisa's, and thus becoming fully aromatic.

Nearing Dadisa's study, he smiled softly, realizing that he already loved taking sips of Manyata's spirit.  She filled him with a different sense of burning, and unlike the knowledgeable tasting of alcohol, the refined sniff of flavor and the sipping of character; he wanted to be fully drunk off of her persona.  Mere proximity intoxicated him, and like a young boy barely in control of his hormones, he just wanted to lose himself in her and their promise.  Softly turning the handle, he entered the study facing the two women of Devgarh.

Sharing a winning smile to Dadisa and Komal-Auntie, Udayveer sat in a seat adjacent to the Maha Rani, and across the mahogany desk facing the Raj Mata.  "Good thing you came, beta, I need to know what you think'"

Sitting a little straighter, glancing at both women, Udayveer concentrated on Dadisa's contemplative visage.  "Of course, Dadisa'If I can be of any help to you and Komal-Auntie than please let me know."  He lightly squeezed the hand Komal-Auntie softly and gratefully placed on his arm, feeling her appreciative smile upon him.

"Udayveer, beta, I had told Doctor Saab that I think Jai Nandini had a hand in Manyata's excursions today, but he had told me otherwise.  He conversed with the guards, conscious of this probability, but was informed that Jai had been very supportive in their search."

Komal-auntie added, "Yes, and they said that before the disappearance Jai had gone through much trouble helping Manyata pick and chose outfits.  After realizing Manyata was not in the fitting room, Jai became very upset, sending them in all different directions to search."  Udayveer's eyes further narrowed as Dadisa continued.

"Yes, but the questions arises' why would Jai wait so long before telling us that Manyata was missing?  How Manyata, the lost Rajkumari, was not noticed wandering around in the mall?  And if Jai Nandini had left the mall earlier than she indicated, leaving Manyata all alone, than why?  How did Manyata manage to make it safely back without any guards?"

"Ma Sahib, I do not wish to think Jai purposefully left Manyata but their differences are still present.  Menaka had mentioned that their compromise is merely a calm before an erupting storm.  Manyata returned, but what if the intention was to not have her return, to give her reason to run away again?"  Udayveer collected all the puzzles presented to him from the first call of distress concerning the Princess' disappearance, and began to piece it together.  If he was understanding Dadisa and Komal-Auntie properly than they are more than suspicious of Jai, but confused as to what led Manyata to make her own unsupervised fieldtrip.  Who could it have been that she was compelled to meet now?  Maybe another chawl-born and adopted family member?

Tuning back into the conversation, Komal-Auntie's words struck a chord and deeply resonated within him, "Ma Sahib, I want Manyata to also see me as someone to give love to'someone that is her own.  She may not accept me as her mother yet, but am I not pitiful either?  She can accept all strangers as a piece of her life, but for me, there is no room."

"Komal, you shouldn't lose faith.  Even I have eagerly waited to see my child, but that glass image was shattered with her behavior.   Her kicks of anguish were nothing compared to her words, but we must not give up!  She has unconsciously been brainwashed for sixteen years, we cannot expect her to believe what her eyes cannot see so soon."

The buzzing within his back pocket alluded to an incoming call, and in his decision of whether to answer, Udayveer checked the caller's name.  Reading it, his lips quirked up slightly in sheer amusement, ready to address the caller.  Although, as the seconds gathered, realization dawned upon him and he glanced towards the raw emotions being shared between grandmother and mother.  Setting his jaw, Udayveer stayed silent during the phone conversation, and made a gesture to be excused.

As those seconds pooled into minutes, his body was aflame with each word uttered and each giggle elicited.  When he heard all that he could, he stored his phone back into his pocket, and stopped outside Manyata's door.  Jai was out with Vijay-bhai to alleviate her extreme "stress" concerning the mall incident, which left his to-be wife in her room.  She was not alone though, and he would make sure that by the end of his visit to her, she would definitely be left to sit in her own company.

Rapping the door with the back of his knuckles, he took the liberty of entering the room with a teasing smile in place.  "Oh, Princess!"  The fright at which she swiveled from the window confirmed his doubts, and the lone mobile lying where she had once been sitting revealed her culprit. 

"Kutta!  What are you doing here?  Have you no shame?"  He merely tilted his head towards her, his playful mood ebbing away to show his true displeasure.  "Kasma nu khane!  Leave me alone, Udayveer!"

Straightening, he merely raised his eyebrows asking, "Finished?"

"Does something so simple not make it into your head, Rajkumariji?" 

"Now, I believe you're done 'Ha nahin toh.  Rajkumari Manyata," he took a purposeful stride towards her, "I have been a huge fan of your free thought.  Have I ever made an indication of wanting to stop that?"  He stood in front of her, daring her eyes to bow away.  Using the pregnant pause to his advantage he continued before she could lash out.  "No, in fact, my day is not complete without one or two of your loving phrases'Manyata, no one wants to change you.  They want you to recognize your potential!"

"Kutta!  If being a royal means being like you ' than I refuse it!"  She made motions to spit but he grabbed her arms, glaring her to submission. 

"Shh, Manyata!  Forget Rajkumaris, women do not act the way you do.  You want to be accepted by someone?  Then your words and actions need to mature, no one wants a girl who cannot hold a conversation without crying or whining or making herself a victim.  You think you're in a golden cage?  That everyone here is horrible?  Then let me tell you something, a clear truth."

He stilled her struggles, pulling her close to him, anticipating that proximity would cause her fear to outweigh her anger ' after all, these emotions were projections of a weak resolve.  "I told you Manyata, I may be a remote trying to only watch my favorite channel but I will not let you change this conversation so easily.  Today I will talk to you as your Rajkumar and you will have to listen'for your own good."

He eyes kept on widening, and he could feel her body heat surrounding him.  The quick breathes of confusion were parallel to an animal appropriately cornered, and the creaking of the elements outside did not deter him.  "You think everyone is trying to control you, suffocate you, but you are no different.  You take what you want, use it to your benefit, and then discard it like a childish princess.  Really, you and Jai are no different.  Your pure intentions are perfect for a future Maha Rani, but your selfishness is a match to Jai's.  One would think that your greatest loss lies in losing Murari, your Baba, but instead your eyes only search for that Majnu.  Your only fight lies for your chawl lover who does not have the strength to address Dadisa in person."

She broke his grasp, eyes welling with tears.  Looking around frantically, she chose to turn her back to him.  He took a strong step forward, swinging her around with a tug of her arm, "Not fair, Princess.  Conversation will not finish until I say it is, today.  Enough is enough!"  Udayveer could see her trying to breathe, hoping the tears would not fall, but like the child she was they flowed softly down her cheeks.  He thought to wipe them, but refrained.  Today, she needed to hear what he had to say.

"Manyata, you easily put your father to the side but do not care about a family which has never let your memory fade.  A family who spent years searching for you, protecting your future, and keeping hope that you will return to what is rightfully yours.  If today Brijraj-uncle is trying to make an effort to connect with someone so far removed from him, than it is his austerity!  He is the mast for his family, forced to make decisions based on reality and not emotion.  While allowing his wife, your mother, to hope'he had to strengthen his heart into accepting that you might be gone from this world.  His own flesh and blood was stolen, and probably dead.  If Brijraj-uncle is making effort in understanding you, the emptiness buried somewhere deep inside reveals how much he had missed you.  He was cut from you and after years of taking the hard task in accepting eventual probability 'you are back and extinguishing the little hope he had in finally gaining his daughter back."

"Stop, Udayveer!"

"Okay, let's stop with him and move on to your mother and even your grandmother...I get it, the role of father was taken by Murari, but you must have missed your mother?  Someone who would see your point of view?"  He merely scoffed at her stubborn expression, hissing, "Do not lie to me, Princess!  I can say this without any doubts because I know I miss my own mother, that Chutki also feels a certain gap without her.  The greatest strength is the one provided by a mother, and you have two mothers' love which you cannot recognize.  In fact, you are committing a big injustice by throwing it away like yesterday's leftovers.  Look Manyata, I will not coat my words ' I am speaking directly to you because you need it.  You are an elder sibling to someone, and knowing this duty, I can tell you that your acts are even more childish than Jai's!"

"Kut-"

"Shhh!  Not one word!"  His nostrils were flaring; he could not believe that she was trying to defend herself.  "Okay, so you do not like Jai and do not want to take on the responsibility of being her elder sibling, but I will not cease from calling you her true sister.  Only someone like the both of you would use someone as understanding as Chutki to your own benefit.  What did she ever do to you Manyata?  Tell me?  You use her as an excuse to leave ' not even thinking that Unnati would help you if she could, and then proceed to break everyone's trust.  What upbringing did that Baba give you?"

Laughing at her sobs of protest, his steely voice continued, "You are a reflection of your upbringing ' what great injustice you are doing to him.  In all your excursions, not once did you think of yourself getting hurt or hurting another person.  Instead, you insult and humble everyone else around you ' and that's not the type of Rajkumari you can be 'you can be much better."  Udayveer felt as if he voiced a small vulnerability out loud, his desire to see her blossom, his desire to see his childhood companion once again.

The silence that followed was broken with her sniffling and hiccups, while the sounds outside her window added an intermittent presence of mild thuds.  He made to slightly embrace her, running his hands along her shoulder and along her back to calm her shaking body.  He was far from being regretful, as he ran his hand up along her spine and kneaded the skin of her neck.  He buried his fingers into her hairline, while keeping his palm as an anchor behind her neck as he tilted her head back.  Leaning over her, Udayveer searched her face.

He slowly lowered his face down to hers, their noses barely meeting as he stared deep into her eyes bringing the last of his message to her, "You say that your thoughts are like a bird, forever in the skies.  But, your sky is merely an image of a different cage, one that you've built yourself."

Kissing her cheek, the Rajkumar lingered over her face for a moment.  Manyata's glassy eyes, and reddened nose was testament to the amount of pain he surely caused her today.  Sighing, her small face-framing hairs fanned away in that puff of warm air, and he moved away from her.  Extremely exhausted from his impromptu tackling of her stubbornness and childishness, he felt like leaving.  For the first time he turned his back to her, wanting to be away from her company, and said clearly in the still air, "Today I brought you to tears, but every day for sixteen years till now ' you are only giving those around you a sense of sadness, of emptiness.  Think of them in the future before you act so recklessly with yourself and their emotions."

Leaving her room, he could barely make out the muffled denial of Aakash to Manyata's wish for him to stay.  Hopefully, his stony words had resounded within the two birds he had aimed for.

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FIN

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Well, how did  you like it?  I know I did not make it anywhere as close to romantic like my previous OS, but I wanted to channel some of our frustrations & UVeer's hottness 

Please please please, let me know what you think through the  like or comment features