Indore:

Girl: I AM NOT GOING WITH YOU AND THAT IS FINAL! 

Woman 1: you are going with us! You have no choice.

Girl: I AM NOT LEAVING MY FAMILY  FOR YOUR STUPID ROYAL FAMILY!

Woman 2: don't you dare insult the royal family!

Woman 1: just come with us. The royal family of Pithampur is powerful, if needs to be they can harm those who you love like your adopted mother or these kids. 

The girl sighed. She loved her mother even though she wasn't her real mother and she loved the kids who were always there for her. She didn't want anything to happen to them so she went into the car, waving goodbye. A tear was shown on her cheek.

...

Mumbai's Palace:

A well muscular man sat on his bed, annoyed. His beard...not scruffy but not too clean shaved, it was perfect. His hair...black, black as night and it reached to his shoulders, straightened and the ponytail was in the middle. His eyes...black, not soulless nor lifeless. Instead they were like two pristine stones of onyx, that lit up with a purple flare when touched by candle light. 

Om: Mum, why do I need to go to Pithampur? I don't even like Pooja.

Jhanvi: Om, just go to Pithampur with us. Pooja is going to be of age tomorrow. You both can finally marry. It will make her happy to see you on her 18th birthday. 

Om: I don't feel comfortable meeting a girl I only met once and that too when I was 8! Can't Pooja marry someone else and I can marry when I want to? 

Jhanvi strictly: bilkul nahi! You will marry Pooja that is final.

Om looked at her angrily. Jhanvi sat next to Om and said calmly: look Om, you know how it is in a royal family. We can't have love marriages. Our marriage is decided when we are young and it stays that way. We don't have a choice. If you don't love Pooja then at least marry her for the sake of our kingdom. I know that right now you don't love her but once you marry her, you will start loving her. 

Om: did you start loving Dad only after marriage?

Jhanvi nodded smiling and she continued to talk: now please get ready, we have a long journey ahead of us in the evening. I need to check on Isha then on the servants. 

Om: fine, see you later Mum.

Jhanvi kissed the side of his head.

Jhanvi: see you beta.

With that said, she went. Om sighed and got up from his bed, going outside to his balcony. 

Om: to hell with this royal tradition. Why couldn't I be born as a normal person, one who gets to go out without stupid bodyguards or love whoever I want? Life is so unfair! 

He sighed. Sometimes life wasn't fair.

...

Pithampur Palace: 

A white Mercedes stopped outside a massive pearly white palace. Two women dressed in the same red sarees came out followed by a fair skinned girl who was wearing a baby blue kurta and was clutching her dark blue duapatta. You could see her long blackish brownish hair that reached up to her waist and was naturally wavy. Then you could see her baby pink lips. Then you could see her dove shaped eyes that were a hickory as rich as the earth's soil; stained with the colour of hot chocolate on a cold, winter night that wraps around you like a blanket and engulfs you in its warmth and makes you feel at home.

She looked at the palace and thought to herself: this palace looks so big, oh god...imagine how big it would look like on the inside. 

Woman 1: are you coming?

She nodded as she continued to follow those two women till she was inside the palace. She looked around, the hallway was filled with expensive things and she could tell that most of the things in the hallway was from other countries. If that was the case then was all the other rooms filled with expensive, foreign things? 

Her feet soon took her from the hallway to the throne room. She looked at three people on their thrones but one throne was empty. There was two males on the thrones and one female. One man was elder and she already figured that he was the king and there was a teenage boy so she figured out that he was the son. If they had another child then why did they need her? The female, the woman was dressed in a really expensive dark pink saree...she got off her throne and went towards the girl.

Woman: Gauri?

Yes the girl was Gauri. 

Gauri: that is me, Queen...

Woman: Ahana but you call me Maa. That is your father, Siddharthji and that is your younger brother Ranveer.

Gauri looked at her father and brother then at her mother. So this was the family she never knew about. 

Gauri: first of all, I am not calling you Maa. 

Ahana: why not?

Gauri: because you didn't raise me. Maa isn't the woman who gives birth to you. Maa is the woman who fights the world for her child. Maa is the woman who can sacrifice everything for her child. Maa is the woman who is willing to step on fire for her child. Maa is the woman who loves her child endlessly. You have no right to call yourself my Maa or a Maa at all.

Ranveer: excuse me! She is the world's best Mum.

Gauri: for you, she might be but for me, she isn't. I am not your daughter I am Gauri Kumari Sharma and for me, my real mother is Inayat Kumari Sharma! 

Siddharth: the woman who adopted you?

Gauri: yes my so called father, the woman who adopted me. I didn't even know I was adopted until today and these red sarees women couldn't spare me tomorrow so that I could celebrate my birthday with my Maa and my friends. They forced me to come here and that is not fair! I didn't have a choice! It's my birth right to have a choice.

Siddharth: shut up! All you do is talk, talk, talk, talk, TALK! Let Ahana explain please.

Gauri: fine besides I deserve an explanation. 

Ahana: Gauri, whether you like it or not you have my DNA in you and you have Siddharthji's DNA in you too. You can't do anything about that. You are Gauri Siddharth Singh Mittal. Rajkumari Gauri Siddharth Singh Mittal. When you was born, I had no choice but  to give you up.

Gauri: give me up? Nice to know. I'd love to know all about the past but I feel really overwhelmed and I don't need multiple truth bombs blown up all in one day. So just tell me why do you all of a sudden need me? 

Ahana: good question, how good are your acting skills?

Gauri: I am a better dancer but my acting skills are decent.

Ahana: okay so you have to act as Pooja. Pooja is my daughter and now that there is no Pooja, you have to be Pooja. You're lucky to have the same face as Pooja but...

Gauri: what flaw have you found in me?

Ahana: Pooja's eyes are hazel and yours are brown.

Gauri: so?

Ahana: also your hair seems to be naturally wavy but Pooja's hair is straight so we need your hair straightened and contacts.

Gauri: how do you straight hair and what are contacts?

Ahana: NATASHA!

Another woman came, she was also wearing a red saree. That was Natasha.

Natasha: yes Rani Ahana?

Ahana: Gauri, this is Ahana. She was the one who looked after Pooja when she was growing up. If there is anyone who knows Pooja better than her parents, it's Natasha. She will teach you everything about Pooja, how to act like her, how to look like her, our palace rules etc. 

Gauri: do I have to learn? 

Ahana and Siddharth: yes! 

Gauri: urgh fine! Come on Natasha mam, let's go and learn stuff. 

Natasha nodded as she went with Gauri. Once Gauri was out of sight, Siddharth spoke: I want my Pooja back, not Gauri!

Ahana turned to Siddharth: DON'T YOU THINK IF I COULD, I WOULD BRING POOJA BACK AND GAURI IS YOUR DAUGHTER!

Siddharth: how can she be my daughter? She doesn't act like my daughter.

Ahana: look we need the Oberois for our kingdom's betterment and Gauri is the our only option right now. Now you keep your mouth shut to our people and to the Oberois about what happened. Ranveer, if you talk about it to anyone, I will get mad!

Ranveer: yes mum.

Ahana: Siddharth?

Siddharth: fine. But let me tell you one thing Ahana, Gauri will never be able to take Pooja's place in my heart. Understand?

Ahana: I understand because Gauri can never take Pooja's place in my heart as well. 

...

Om and his family were now travelling to Pithampur in their private jet. Isha, who was sitting next to Om, excitedly exclaimed: I can't wait to meet Pooja after so long!

Om: why is everyone always singing Pooja's praises?

Isha: why are you so bitter? 

Om: want to know why I am being so bitter?

Isha: yes, I do. 

Om: fine because it's not fair that we never have a say in anything. Did Mum and Dad ever ask me if I wanted to be homeschooled? No! Did Mum and Dad ever ask me if I wanted to be engaged to Pooja and marry her? No. 

Isha: bhaiya, this is our life. We were born into this life where we have to listen to our parents for our kingdom's betterment. 

Om rolled his eyes and then closed his eyes to sleep because he figured that there was no point in continuing the conversation.

...

Natasha: Yuvraj Omkara has seen pictures and paintings of Pooja throughout the years after they were engaged and the most noticeable features has always been the eyes and her straight hair.

It had been an hour since Gauri had arrived at the palace and Natasha had been talking non stop about how Pooja is and what Pooja does etc. She was really getting tired of hearing the name 'Pooja' constantly. Couldn't she just be freed already? 

Natasha: at 9:15am, servants will come to your room to straight your hair and here are hazel contacts which you will wear everyday. You will be allowed to take then out when it is night and you are in your room. 

Gauri: accha. Is that all?

Natasha: two more things, breakfast is at 8:30am do not be late. If you are late, you get no breakfast. Also once Raja Siddharth starts eating then everyone else is allowed to eat. When he stops eating then you stop eating. This rule applies for lunch and dinner also. lunch is 12:15pm and dinner is 6:30pm.

Gauri: so what's the second thing?

Natasha: second thing is that the Oberois will be arriving at Pithampur at 10am. You will be expected to wear this ring.

She showed Gauri a ring and then kept it in Gauri's hand. 

Natasha: put it on the fourth finger on your left hand. Rajkumari Pooja was engaged to Yuvraj Omkara since she was 6. (Gauri looked shocked) both royal families have been waiting for Pooja's 18th birthday so they could finally marry Pooja and Yuvraj Omkara but unfortunately God played a game with us. You will now be marrying Yuvraj Omkara. 

Gauri: WHAT?!

With that yelled, the king and queen came running to where Natasha and Gauri was...alarmed.

Siddharth: what happened?

Gauri turned to face them and came towards them, saying: so not only do I have to live with you guys but I also have to marry a guy that I never met?!

Siddharth and Ahana: yes.

Gauri: this is not fair! You can't decide who I can marry. When I marry, I want to marry because I love that person. Marriage is a big commitment. You should love that person before taking the big commitment.

Ahana: maybe for others but not for us royals. We learn to love one another after marriage. When we are small, our marriage is arranged for us. Now please don't go saying this to Yuvraj Omkara. 

Gauri: fine. So are we done with learning about Pooja?

Natasha: yes.

Gauri: so where's my room?

Siddharth: REKHA?!

Rekha, a servant in a red saree, came where everyone was and said: yes Raja Siddharth?

Siddharth: take Gauri to her room. We have hundreds of rooms in the palace, give her any of those rooms but not Pooja's room.

Rekha: yes Raja Siddharth. 

She signalled Gauri to follow her. Soon she led Gauri in a fancy room filled with so many expensive things. She then went leaving Gauri alone in the room.

Gauri: in Indore, I was a chiraya but now...now this chiraya has been put into a cage.

.

.

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And that is it for the day. I know this is boring. I know that there is no Rikara yet but Gauri a.k.a Pooja and Om will be meeting in the next chapter. 

Questions of the day:

WHERE THE HELL IS POOJA?

Will Om finally be ready to marry?

Will Gauri fall for her?

Is there more to the past?

Target: 20+ votes and 9+ comments