Tiasha entered inside of her chamber. She was busy doing the last-minute preparations of Duryodhan and Yudhishthira's journey to Kalinga. Karna and Dushasan will accompany Duryodhan while Yudhishthira refused to bring any of his brothers with him. 

She gasped when she saw the Pandavas and Duryodhan along with Dushasan and Karna sitting in there not caring much about the other group. This has been a thing since they have returned from Northern Panchal. They often hang around in her chamber. Sometimes the Pandavas sometimes the Kauravas sometimes both sets of cousins without caring much about each other. 

At first, they used to fight but Tiasha has come up with a rule that her chamber will be a quarrel-free zone. No one can pick a fight when they are inside her chamber. Whoever starts the fight she will throw them out and ban the group for the next three days. A lot of protest arose from both sides but Tiasha stood rigid with her decision. Eventually, they agreed.

"My Goodness, you guys got to stop coming into my chamber unannounced, what is it? My chamber is a public property now?..." Although she enjoyed their company, she never stopped teasing them about violating her privacy.

The princes stood up from their places to greet Tiasha.

She continued hands set on her hips, "... What if, I was in here, and not decent?" Tiasha said joking.

Duryodhan and Tiasha could be the best of friends but the story with Dushasan was different. Shakuni couldn't turn Duryodhan against Tiasha but he kept injecting venom into Dushasan's heart against Tiasha. He suggested whenever Dushasan gets a chance to bring Tiasha down, he should use it to its fullest.

-"But, mamashree Jyesht Bhrata will be mad at me if I say something to her. Don't you remember how he shut up me  when I laughed at her during the planning of the Panchal war?"

-"My dear Dushasan, don't you want to see your brother have the throne?"

-"Of course Mama Shree."

-"We need to remove that sakhi of your brother's from our path. Your brother is too foolish to understand her plot. You will help me save your brother from her plot, right, Dear nephew?"

-"Yes Mama Shree."

-"Then don't worry about about your brother, and do as I say. I will talk to your brother if he ever misunderstands you."

Dushasan nodded firmly agreeing with his Mama. A crude smile played on Shakuni's lips.

Dushasan looked Tiasha up and down and remarked smirking, "That would have been a sight to behold. I know I would enjoy it, won't you Kumari?"

Tiasha's smile dropped her body went stiff. She swallowed hard, eyes looking down at her feet.

Karna and Yudhishthira along with the other Pandavas fumed in anger. The tip of Yudhishthira's ears turned red instantly, as if steam coming out of them. He clenched his dhoti hard and his knuckles turned white.

Every muscle in Karna's body went rigid as his breathing became hard. His face turned red, angry flames reaching the sky behind his Amber eyes. He clenched his fists ready to rip Dushasan's tongue off with his bare hands.

To everyone's surprise, a harsh slap landed on Dushasan's cheek before anyone else could say anything causing him to fall on the ground.

Dushasan looked up at his elder brother holding his cheek, "Jyesht..."

-"Shut up, I don't want to hear a word out of your mouth. If you were not my brother, I would have beheaded you this instant. How dare you say such foul words to her. She is as respectable as our mother. You beg for her forgiveness this moment or I will forget you are my brother!"

Dushasan looked at Duryodhan in shock. Karna composed himself a little but did not remove his blazing glare from Dushasan. If Karna had the power Dushasan would turn into ashes with just that look. The Pandavas looked at Duryodhan and Dushasan with wide eyes. It came to them as a bit of a shock. Duryodhan never said anything against his favourite brother before.

They were actually a bit relieved that Duryodhan stood up for Tiasha and surprised that he slapped Dushasan for his Sakhi.

Dushasan lowered his head. He was almost on the verge of crying. His brother, Jyesht has never raised his hands on any of his ninety-nine brothers ever, let alone Dushasan his favourite brother. He kept sitting there holding his face. Now he did, and that is only because of that fallen princess.

Duryodhan's voice boomed again, "Dushasan, didn't you hear what I said? Touch her feet and beg for her forgiveness."

Him, Rajkumar Duryodhan is telling his favourite brother to apologise to that fallen princess? He who was blind to his brother's fault, is making him say sorry to that girl and touch her feet.

Dushasan stood up and walked in front of Tiasha. He didn't want his brother to get any more mad at him. he was about to lower down in front of her but Tiasha backed away. She said still looking down, "No need..." Dushasan stood up looking at her as Tiasha continued,"...no need to touch my feet and ask for my forgiveness, just make sure you don't say anything like that to anyone else in the future. Not everyone is going to forgive you. And I don't think I can be around you, at least for some time."

Duryodhan gave Dushasan a cold look and in the same cold tone stated, "Leave, Dushasan."

Dushasan hurried out of Tiasha's chamber, rubbing his eyes. No one noticed his venomous glare directed towards Tiasha as he stepped out. Respect her as their mother, his foot. He will not forget this insult. She will have to pay for this.

Duryodhan approached Tiasha and folded his hands in front of her, "I am sorry, Sakhi. I beg for you to forgive me and him if you can."

Tiasha looked up taking his hands into hers and shaking her head.

-"You are not responsible for his words. Besides you stood up for me, that is enough. Him, I need some time before that." 

Duryadhan nodded.

She tried smiling at him, her bottom lip quivering. Eyes filled to the brim with tears.

The Pandavas looked at each other. They eyed each, thought it was best to leave Tiasha alone for a bit.

Yudhishthira cleared his throat, "We are really sorry for Dushasan's inappropriate behaviour, please forgive us, Kumari. We...umm... we will leave you alone. Duryodhan..." Tiasha nodded, staring straight at the wall.

Yudhishthira signalled Duryodhan to leave Tiasha alone for a bit. Duryodhan nodded, much to the Pandava's surprise, again. They thought he would show some resistance but he didn't.

Although Duryodhan hated agreeing with Yudhishthira, he also thought it was best to leave her alone for some time.

The Pandavas went out. Duryodhan was about to step out along with his other best friend when Tiasha stopped him.

-"Sakha wait!" Tiasha looked at him she rubbed the corner of her eyes with the side of her index finger.

Karna turned away to give the duo some privacy. He needed to punch something to let his anger out. If not Dushasan then at least the punching bag in the practice arena.

-"Thank you, Sakha"

-"This isn't right, you are saying thank you to your Sakha now? Are you?" Duryodhan smiled at Tiasha as he stood at her doorstep.

Tiasha looked at Duryodhan with hopeful eyes, she said, "Promise me Sakha, you will always remember what you did today, and you will do it again if needed."

-"I will always stand up for you no matter what."

-XX-

Hey there everyone, I hope you all are doing well. This is a short chapter. I promise I will do better in the next one. I had this chapter written for quite some time now but I didn't know where to place it. Finally, this is its place.

This chapter is maybe not be the best, but this chapter is important in a way. This shows the bonds between Tiasha and Duryodhan and also the villain origin story of Dushasan. Let me know your thoughts on the chapter guys. 

See you all soon. Take care, Adiós, my lovely readers ❤️.