Chapter 15

Marybarton

@Marybarton

Part 14:

Aditya flipped the page on the picture and started reading...

The new princess of Mewar is no lightweight in the face of Aryan Singh Rathore's business empire. She is a state topper and newly-minted magistrate who was valedictorian of City College only last year. Prince Aryan Singh Rathore, went to boarding school in the UK and completed his PPE and MBA degrees at Oxford University. Thereafter, he was a Gladrags model runner-up while mentoring under his late brother-in-law, Arvind Pratap, who had taken over the management of Rathore Industries from the late Prince Arjuna, Prince Aryan's father, while Prince Aryan came of age. All of us are aware, how poor Arvind Pratap became a victim of mob violence in the hands of his own factory workers (Aditya took a startled look again at the name and remembered Arvind Pratap). Prince Aryan has since managed the companies all on his own and has taken his father and brother-in-law's work to new heights. He had been on the 30 under 30 list more than four times before finally giving over the title - only because he turned over 30.

The pair have a beautiful engagement story that we were surprised to hear. The 12 carat 1930's art deco, emerald cut diamond ring that Prince Aryan gave to his new bride once belonged to the late Rani Damini. Rani Damini was the first commoner, of course, to marry into this historic family. A force of nature, who worked in decoding cryptography at Bletchley Park while the then Raja of Mewar served in Italy during World War II, Rani Damini was a classmate of her husband's at Oxford University before they married in the 1930's. She was the daughter of an Irish farmer and a mathematical genius, yet, she could not find immediate acceptance into the Mewar royal family when they first started dating. Things changed when she later served in the British secret service during WWII. Prince Aryan says he sees a lot of commonalities between his late great-grandmother and present bride which is what made him choose Rani Damini's ring for Princess Imlie. One can only assume he means the firebrand nature of the lady, not the mere common background. Look at the future Queen of Mewar looking resplendent in the bespoke couture bridal wear and take inspiration, she is more than glitter and gold, there is spirit and brains behind all her beauty.

We learned that the prince whisked off his new bride to Mewar right after the ceremony to show her his ancestral home. The palace of Mewar functions as a hotel for the family along with a conglomerate of other five-star hotels, so the guests are in for a royal surprise!

Aditya cast the magazine to one side.

Imlie stood back and some tourists approached Aryan to make small-talk with starstruck eyes. How odd it was to have a title suddenly, Imlie thought. She was born without a last name and suffered for it. Then she became Imlie Aditya Kumar Tripathi, only to have it snatched away. Then, Daddah had given her his name. Then, she had added magistrate with a comma after it. And now Aryan had given her a long name and something at the beginning. It was a lot to take in...

Someone pulled her aanchal from below.

Imlie turned and looked down. It was a little blonde-haired girl, barely more than a toddler. Imlie looked around and saw her mom a little distance away, beaming. The girl called her down. Imlie stooped down and smiled at her.

Little girl: Are you really...are you...a pwincess?

Imlie didn't know how to answer her. She kind of was, but she didn't really feel like it.

Imlie took the little girl's hand: Do you like princesses?

The little girl nodded: Where is your c-own?

Imlie thought of the diadem she mistook for a necklace: Well...I kind of left it back home.

That was apparently a good enough answer because the little girl put her arms around Imlie's neck and hugged her. Imlie felt really glad to be able to make someone happy. The girl's mother requested a picture of them together. Imlie obliged. Then, they went back to their table, but the little girl kept looking back at Imlie with big, happy eyes.

Aryan came up behind Imlie: Chale?

Imlie turned: Y-yes.

They were led to a private terrace overlooking the lake and then, the rest of Mewar glittering in the night.

Imlie: Oh! I had no idea we were this high up!

Aryan: Pretty good view, I must admit. But all forts are built on high-ground.

Imlie: Can you not be so blase about everything?

Aryan: What did I do now? It's the truth.

Imlie: Well, it's really special. Don't make it sound so basic.

Aryan shrugged.

Imlie: Why are you so over this place? It's so beautiful.

Aryan: Because it rejected my mother. Isn't it obvious?

Imlie's smile dropped: It's not obvious...why was she rejected?

Aryan: Don't you see how my mother cannot speak English like my fancy relatives, including Rajasa? It's because she came from that end of the city and my father came from this end. They were kicked out by my grandfather with only my father's inheritance, and my dad made the best of it by becoming a very successful businessman. Now this place is looking at ruin without an heir and my uncle wants me to come prop it up.

Imlie: I think he wants you to take over because he has no heirs. He doesn't sound mean, not to your mother.

Aryan: I will give him that, it wasn't his doing. He's the one who facilitated our return when I was five. But my grandfather still didn't accept my mom. He was a real hypocrite considering he was the son of Rani Damini, who was a commoner herself.

Imlie: I saw her picture in the hall. I think your grandfather was okay with her being accomplished and English.

Aryan: She was an Irish farmer's daughter. But yes, he was a great big racist too. You could be an Irish farmer's daughter, but not a Rajasthani commoner's daughter. My great-grandmother was kind though. She was very hurt by all this, she tried her best to bring the family together.

Imlie: Is that why you gave me this ring? Cause, I am a farmer's daughter too?

Aryan glared at her: Is that all you got out of this? I am telling you that these people are snobs and you turn around and accuse me of being one? I gave that to you because Rani Damini was self-made and very accomplished, like you. And you accuse me of (they were interrupted as the waiters brought in plates of food).

They thanked the waiters as they left.

Aryan: This was supposed to be a nice, candlelight dinner on the terrace for us, but now it's ruined.

Imlie looked at him pleadingly: I was only asking...

Aryan took a deep breath: I am not like them.

Imlie: I know that. I was just thinking your family might not approve of me either, even if they came to the wedding and everything. I am also not high-born, just like your mom.

Aryan snapped: I don't care what they think!

Imlie: Okay...I got it. I don't think Rajasa is like that though. He was very nice to me.

Aryan: So then, I am the bad guy again for holding any of this against him.

Imlie: You just said he tried to get you guys back in the family.

Aryan sighed: I guess he did. Maybe he always knew he was going to be without heirs.

Imlie: Or maybe he just loved his brother.

Aryan shrugged: I suppose.

Imlie: Did he marry?

Aryan smirked now: No.

Imlie: What's so funny?

Aryan: I was just thinking how shocked you will be when you know why.

Imlie: What's so shocking about it?

Aryan: He has a friend in London, he thinks I don't know about it.

Imlie: He's gay.

Aryan was the one shocked: How did you guess?

Imlie: Just a hunch. So sad that he had to keep his life a secret. It makes me sympathize with him more.

Aryan: You have already lobbied on his behalf enough. You are not shocked?

Imlie: Why would I be shocked?

Aryan shrugged: Okay, well... You just seem a bit young to know about all these things.

Imlie: I am nearly 23!

Aryan: And I am 32. I have ten years on you.

Imlie, annoyed: It's not a competition!

Aryan smiled: I would beat you by ten years if it was.

Imlie: Just eat, alright? Food's getting cold.

Aryan: Don't let them hear you ordering me around.

Malini burst into Aditya's home office that same evening...

Malini: Aditya, I think we should go away for a few days. Take a break.

Aditya turned his hair around: Why would we do that?

Malini: It will divert the baby for a little while. I think we should show him around the country. How about we take a trip to Rajasthan? Just the three of us.

Aditya smiled slowly: Where could we possibly go on this impromptu trip? Mewar?

Malini's fake excitement turned to anger: I only meant...

Aditya: You only meant, let's go flaunt our fake rishta to Imlie and make her miserable. No Malini. We are not going to do that. Because, while she might not know that our non-existent relationship is a show, her real happiness will hurt me to watch. And you will not be going anywhere alone either. I am tired of your petty games. You wanted me at any cost, you got it. You have a child out of this relationship, it is better if you focus on that child than compete with your half-sister. You lost to her. You will stop trying to make her life a living hell. She left you in the dust, just deal with it.

Malini, angrily: She left you also, I don't understand why you are so benevolent towards her all of a sudden.

Aditya didn't say anything. But he thought instead of Arvind Pratap. Was this the reason Aryan Singh Rathore had hated him so much? Did he know that Aditya was there that day? Aditya's guilt softened his hatred toward Aryan and his family. He had always wondered what Arvind Pratap's family had suffered as a result of that disaster. Imlie had left him, yes, but if she lit up that poor family's life a little, Aditya couldn't begrudge them that. Royalty or not, the pain of losing a family-member in a live fire was unbearable pain. Aditya had witnessed enough of it to know.

Aryan's mood improved as the dinner went on...

Imlie: I can't believe that little girl thought I was a princess. She was so cute. She said "pwincess."

Aryan smiled: Well, you are now.

Imlie looked a little taken aback: It's very strange. On the one hand, you say it means nothing. On the other hand, it brings a smile to people's faces. And all these magazines want to cover you.

Aryan: Little girls only identify it with Disney. That's sweet. And the magazines want the glitz and glamour. There's no real power in it. As you see here, it's just a hotel. There are some others scattered around. It runs like a business. We have a share. The title Rajasa has just adds a little charm, and helps with the upkeep of the palace. It would otherwise be in ruins.

Imlie: You were born to it, so you don't see how the heritage casts a shadow on us normal people.

Aryan: Oh dear, will you now hold that against me too?

Imlie: I don't hold anything against you, why do you keep thinking that?

Aryan: Because you were the one screaming "Why, why!" when Didi and I first told you. It was like something horrible had befallen you. I didn't choose to be born to my family. I don't identify with them either.

Imlie scoffed: You are more like them than you know.

Aryan, grimly: No, I am not.

Imlie: We will not argue about this.

Aryan squinted at her: Since when did you turn down an opportunity to fight with me?

Imlie: Since this evening. I just want to enjoy this romantic dinner, on a terrace overlooking an ancient city, with my husband on our first dinner as a married couple. Is that too much to ask?

Aryan's heart leapt. Did she just call him her "husband?" And a "romantic dinner!?" Was Imlie finally seeing him as something more than a friend? She had said her heart was turning toward him. But he hadn't hoped...it's not like she loved him or anything.

Aryan was looking down again. The candlelight cast long, little shadows of his eyelashes on to his cheeks.

Imlie touched the side of his face lightly. Aryan jumped.

Imlie: Did I startle you?

Aryan didn't move away from her touch: Ah, no. No.

Imlie smiled: You have the most beautiful lashes, you know that?

Aryan: What lashes?

Imlie rolled her eyes: Eye-lashes, silly. They are even longer than the fake ones we ladies wear on special occasions.

Aryan: Oh, right. When I was small, Didi used to practice her mascara skills on me. It saved her from poking herself in the eye, she used to say.

Imlie burst into peals of laughter: I can just see you, the Aryan Singh Rathore, with done up eyes.

Aryan smiled despite himself: She was only a teenager. She learned how to use makeup by applying it all on me.

Imlie: That's so cute!

Aryan lost his smile suddenly: She used to be very fun loving and we used to play-fight all the way into adulthood. Of course everything changed after...

Imlie came up from her chair and hugged him tight: I know.

Aryan placed Imlie on his lap as she stroked his head: Thank you for trying to bring her back to the land of the living. I have seen you try these past few years.

Imlie: I will try harder when I get back. She made me a promise that she has to keep.

Aryan hugged her again: Thank you.

Imlie: How did you get this cut in your brow?

Aryan: Fencing accident.

Imlie: You used to put up fences? Like for a summer job?

Aryan: Fences? (He finally got it and laughed) Fencing matlab (meaning), sword fighting.

Imlie, surprised: Why did you sword fight?

Aryan: It was just a sport.

Imlie mimicked: "I don't identify with my family, Imlie." You know what kind of people still sword fight for sport?

They were at dinner chatting until the restaurant was closing down.

Aryan took Imlie by the hand and led her back to the private wing of the palace.

Imlie was getting more and more nervous as they got closer to their bedroom. This was it, wasn't it? D-Day. The day he made her his...was she ready even!? What was going to happen? She had been way closer in proximity to Aryan than she had ever been with Babusaheb, that is true, but she had never thought of being with Aryan like this...Oh God.

Imlie was nervous as Aryan closed the door behind them.

Aryan: I can't believe how late it is.

Imlie nervously laughed a little: Yes, so late.

Aryan: Let's go to bed.

Imlie in a high-pitched voice: I was thinking of taking a shower and watching a little TV.

Aryan: Okay...sure.

Imlie, in his white shirt, kept scanning Netflix for something appropriate to watch for 30 minutes as they sat on the sofa.

Imlie: How about a murder mystery?

Aryan: Not in the mood.

Imlie: Missing persons?

Aryan made a face: How dire.

Imlie: Hoarders then?

Aryan: How about something more positive?

Imlie: Baking show?

Aryan: No food, please. I am too stuffed.

Imlie nervously: Action?

Aryan caught on now: I think you touched on every genre, except one.

Imlie smiled brightly: Yes, documentary.

Aryan teased: No, not that one.

Imlie, shyly: Uhh...superhero movies?

Aryan smiled: No...

Imlie: Makeover shows. Prison drama. Sci Fi.

Aryan: Okay, stop naming everything under the sun. It's a very obvious one that you are avoiding intentionally.

Imlie blushed, thankfully in the dark: I don't know what you mean.

Aryan: I am sure you don't, let's go to bed Imlie. And don't worry, I will never push you until you tell me you are ready.

Imlie lay awake in bed thinking as Aryan slept next to her.

What was she waiting for? This was her man. The one who stood by her at her worst time in life and during her best times. He was the real one who had been like a partner to her, not Aditya Kumar Tripathi. Aryan had only been a mentor, friend, and the man who loved her silently from the sidelines as she went through all her convoluted emotions about Babusaheb. She had started to explore her own feelings toward this man. Why not explore it further?

Imlie: Are you still awake?

He was. He was thinking what a fool he had been to think of getting a wedding night, from the girl who didn't even know if she loved him. He was beating himself up about bringing the topic up in the first place. He made her more uncomfortable in an effort to address the elephant in the room.

Imlie: Aryan?

Aryan: Hm?

Imlie pulled at his shoulder until he turned around.

Aryan didn't dare say anything. He had already put his foot in his mouth once this evening and that was enough. The collar of Imlie's shirt was open a bit wide as she lay there in the moonlight streaming in from the balcony. He focused on her face as Imlie looked soulfully at him. His pulse was picking up. He moved a bit further back.

Imlie bit her bottom lip: Umm...I don't know what to do.

Aryan: About what?

Imlie closed her eyes: You know...

Aryan: I am not sure what you are talking about.

Imlie, annoyed: You must have had plenty of girlfriends! Don't be daft.

Aryan was taken aback: Where is this coming from?

Imlie: You said you were a model and everything.

Aryan, gravely: So that led you to think I was a player too?

Imlie: I don't know!

Aryan sighed: What do you want to know? How many girlfriends have I had?

Imlie felt a tinge of jealousy: How many?

Aryan: None. I was actually a nerdy student and cared more about video games. I had crushes, yes. But no one cared for gamer boys. Di entered me in that model competition as a joke when I came back to India, otherwise I would not make such an exhibit of myself. Then...Arvind jiju passed away and there was no time.

Imlie, awed: So...you have never been in love?

Aryan: Of course I have been in love. I have been in love for years.

Imlie blushed: With me?

Aryan didn't say anything.

Imlie, doubtfully: Someone else then?

Aryan messed up her hair: Just you.

Imlie pouted: So, you don't know either?

Aryan: Know what?

Imlie: How to...

Aryan's eyes went wide: Of course, I know that. What nonsense! Everyone knows.

Imlie: Well, I don't. I read the basics in biology but...

Aryan scoffed: You have been married, Imlie!

Imlie: So? I told you I never crossed the line with him. Why...do you look so shocked?

Aryan: You were married a whole year! Are you telling me...

Imlie: I only kissed him on the cheek once. And he kissed me on my shoulder.

Aryan's sharp intake of breath made her stop. Had she said something wrong?

He turned and looked up at the bed's canopy for a while.

Aryan: I think I am a caveman after all.

Imlie: What's that supposed to mean?

Aryan grinned up at the canopy: Regressive. I am just like any other territorial caveman, Imlie.

He turned towards her and pulled her over him. Imlie could hear his heart racing under her.

Aryan: I am deliriously happy that you have never been with him. Isn't that awful?

Imlie's eye glistened as she leaned in to kiss him: No. You get to be selfish when it comes to your wife.

Aryan eyes were cloudy: I loved you before knowing this too, you know that, don't you?

Imlie wiped a tear: Yes.

Aryan: Could you like me...in time?

Imlie laughed, but shed more tears on him: I like you a lot already. I love you, Aryan Singh Rathore.

It was Aryan who was in tears now.

Aryan: You do?

Imlie nodded vigorously.

Aryan, disbelieving: You are not just saying that to please me?

Imlie: No. It took me a long time to see it, but I have loved you all along, I think. (She wiped his tears from both sides of his face). Let me prove it to you.

Before he could say anything else. She sat back and started undoing the buttons of his shirt on her. Aryan stopped her.

Aryan: You don't have to do that.

Imlie: You don't want to?

Aryan scoffed: God, do I want to...but I can wait, until you are ready.

Imlie smiled softly: Well then.

She restarted undoing the buttons of his shirt as he stared transfixed in the moonlight.

Imlie wiggled out of the shirt: I saw this in a movie.

Aryan laughed despite the tension he felt all over his body.

Aryan sat up against the headboard and undid his shirt: You are beautiful.

Imlie crept closer, her long hair cascading over her shoulders: So are you.

Aryan didn't realize he was holding his breath until she placed her hand against his heart.

Imlie: I am sorry about this.