Rajeshwari tried to control the mushrooming panic as the car smoothly made its way

closer and closer towards Shamli.

When she had set out, she had fully intended to have a long conversation with her cousin, to remind him of the days when he had been more of a caring, protective brother to her than her own sibling, though she had destroyed their relationship with her own weakness and cowardice.

But now all those resolutions had vanished into thin air, and the old plan had been shredded into bits.

The new plan was that she would just see him from afar, take a picture of him on her phone, and then rush back home to the palace. The idea helped alleviate the tension to some extent and she tried to relax and take in the engrossing views of passing towns and villages. In a few of the markets, she saw stalls with plates that were piled high with coloured powder and large water pistons. It bewildered her for a second before she remembered that it was Holi the day after tomorrow. The festival of colours.

Once upon a time, it had been celebrated on a grand scale in the palace….but now it only meant yet another occasion for debauchery and drunken carousing ….

She leaned back in the seat and tried to fight the looming signs of depression…

******************************

Nandini stared angrily at the smitten girl. "Have you gone deaf? He asked you if he could help with the play!"

The furious words broke Daya's stupor, and she temporarily didn't seem to be able to decide whether she should be embarrassed at her answer or shocked by Nandini's hitherto unseen temper.

"Oh!! I'm so sorry! I mean – yes, of course!" she garbled, "Now I have to go and check out the marriage hall – I mean – the stage!" she modified weakly, and scuttled off to save her remaining dignity.

Nandini swivelled to face her nemesis.

 "Are you happy now that you've ruined my mood?" she snapped.

Prithvi looked back without any trace of remorse. "What are you yelling at me for? She was the one who misheard," he retorted smoothly. "And to think….I'm doing all this just for you," he sighed.

It made her pause in the tirade. That was a very unlikely statement from him….admitting that he had actually contrived his way into the drama just so that he could be with her….

She feebly asked, "For me?"

"You wanted me to be nice with someone as a birthday gift, so I was very nice with that freak there," he nodded disdainfully in Daya's direction, who did look a little demented at the moment, shrieking hysterically at the arrangement of the props and the absence of any order.

******************************

Rajeshwari stood uncertainly at the entrance to the auditorium and looked around nervously. And then she tensed with a wonderful thrill of excitement.

It was him! Prithvi…..her cousin brother! There could be no mistake about it!! She had seen his photos, though they had not done full justice to his good looks and personality.

And he was talking to Nandini!  There couldn't be a better coincidence than this….

But it didn't look like a friendly conversation, she realized slowly with growing desolation.

When she had arrived at the college, she had been confused about the way to proceed when the sight of two familiar faces had stopped her short. It took her some time to place them, and then she'd remembered with a welcome jolt that the two girls had been with Nandini in the canteen when she had come here the first time. Delighted at the idea that they would know Nandini's whereabouts, she had hesitantly tried to approach them, and had been right behind them when she realised they were already discussing the person she was looking for.

And she had heard two words.

The drama club...the auditorium...

Newly energized, she had somehow managed to figure out the way to the auditorium, though now she wasn't sure if it was a good thing.

******************************

The dashing of her hopes brought back the temper Nandini had momentarily subdued.

"You weren't being nice! You manipulated her into becoming a part of this!" she hissed.

"It didn't take much work to be honest," he confessed modestly. 

"I'm not giving you a compliment!" she fumed. "And I don't think you are going to wait long before asking her the other question too. You must be thinking about it already!"

"That's enough….I can understand the jealousy," he said generously, "but you're being childish now."

"What is he doing here?" an appalled voice asked.

Nandini flinched at the abuse muttered by her companion as they both turned and witnessed an absolutely shocked and horror-struck Suvek.

"Just wanted to see you make a bigger ass of yourself than usual," Prithvi replied optimistically.

Nandini spared a moment to glare at the man standing next to her before turning to Suvek with a stiff smile. "He's going to help Daya with the play."

Absolutely dismayed, Suvek inched closer to Nandini, and pleadingly asked, "You don't want him here, do you?"

Flustered but annoyed, Nandini had stubbornly started to answer in the negative, when Prithvi suddenly moved so that he was now standing in between Suvek and her.

"Unless you plan to stop me from a hospital bed, don't come within a feet of her again," Prithvi said with a soft viciousness.

Suvek's skin became slightly colourless, but he held his ground and hoarsely muttered, "Stop threatening me!"

Prithvi only smiled ruthlessly. "Then I'll tell you the truth. The only reason I joined this circus is because I'm looking for a chance to break your skinny neck. So always watch out for yourself. Or you'll never even see it coming."

Suvek managed to repress the shudder that travelled through his bone marrow, and turned to Nandini with as much dignity as he could muster.

 "I know he is trying to provoke me, but I'll not make a scene….just for you," Suvek said softly, with just enough emotional intonation to make his feelings clear.

On that lofty note, he swivelled away nobly, preferring to overlook the mild revulsion on Nandini's beautiful features. He was happy with the way that scene had concluded, and was congratulating himself when all of a sudden the world turned upside down.

One minute, the path ahead of him had been clear. The next minute, a chair suddenly skidded to a halt in front of him.

Unable to step aside in time, he stumbled over it, and abruptly found himself doing a bizarre cartwheel in the air, before landing hard on his face with a loud thump.

"You should watch where you're going," Prithvi advised wisely, icy amusement glinting in his eyes.

Stunned, Nandini hurried forward mechanically to help Suvek rise to his feet, but a hand closed tightly around her wrist, preventing her from budging an inch.

 "Leave my hand!" she whispered angrily, yanking ineffectually at Prithvi's hard grip.

"Not until that buffoon gets up by himself," he said calmly.

Suvek tried to control the spinning in his head as he stumbled up to his feet. When the room stopped rotating, he became aware that several heads were turned towards him, and the sound of laughter had filled the auditorium

He compelled himself to grin goofily at them, and then turned to give a hateful glance towards an unremorseful Prithvi.

Nandini looked at him helplessly and raised her left hand partially in a gesture of sympathy. He smiled understandingly at her before spinning away and walking towards his dressing room, boiling with fury.

That bas***d was holding her right hand…..

Prithvi may have had the last laugh now, but soon…..

The day after tomorrow was Holi, and he fully intended to celebrate it with Nandini. The guys in the hostel had grandiose plans on the manner of revelry, with colours, water and alcohol. That was his favourite combination too, but this year, he wanted to celebrate it with the girl he loved….he wanted to be the first person to lovingly smear colour on her soft cheeks….it was difficult, but not impossible, he thought, doggedly pushing away the nagging voices that told him it was a bad idea….a very bad idea…

Nandini waited till Suvek was out of earshot, and then turned on Prithvi with unconcealed hostility. "Why did you do that?"

"I really really wanted to," he answered sincerely.

Furious with his lack of repentance, she turned around furiously, and sure enough, she saw a small gaggle of girls looking at him excitedly.

"Oh look! Your fan club is here! You only need to bend your finger and all those females will come running! So choose one of them and leave me alone!"

"If it's that easy, why doesn't it work on you?" he asked with quiet frustration.

*****************************

Rajeshwari was feeling increasingly desolate.

Prithvi and Nandini were engrossed in a fight. Nandini was genuinely angry and it was a serious conflict. Then another boy had come to talk to them, and she'd seen tensions rise between the three people until her cousin had actually kicked a chair into the other guy's path, making him fall flat!! 

So it seemed like her cousin brother was attracted to Nandini, but evidently she didn't reciprocate his feelings and liked someone else. Her memories of Prithvi revolved around a very sweet and loving little brother. She knew almost nothing about the man he had become.

And the cold anger and arrogance she saw on Prithvi's face reminded her of the dangerous men in her own family….and she felt more convinced than ever she would be a fool to approach him when he was in such a mood. It would be best to leave right away, and leave the reconciliation attempt for another day.

When the phone vibrated, her blood ran cold. Only person bothered to call her on the rare occasions that she had ventured out of the palace, and every time, there was only one reason for the calls.

"Your highness, you have to come back immediately," Kadambari's terrified whisper came down the line. "Your grandfather has returned and he is furious with you!"

*************************

Nandini stared at Prithvi with complete incomprehension, unable to decide how to respond. How was she to explain to him that he didn't need any tactic to twist her around his little finger….all she needed was an assurance that he was in love with her….

Not affection, not fondness, not attraction….

Only love….and respect…..

And they were the only things he continued to deny her.

She briefly wanted to lash out, but then reined in the desire and angrily walked out of the auditorium.

****************************

Sankatmochan stared at the medium-sized, gold-framed photograph in his hands of the close-up of a breathtakingly gorgeous young girl looking into the camera with a reluctant smile.

"I had almost forgotten how beautiful she was," he said finally, when the flood of childhood memories had subsided.

He looked at Prithvi who was lying lazily on the couch, hands behind his head. There was an empty coffee cup on the floor next to the sofa.

"I hadn't," Prithvi said simply, "She looks happy, doesn't she?" he muttered, staring at the ceiling with an intensity that told Sankatmochan he was seeing the face of a mother with eyes full of pain.

"Hmm…how old was she when this was taken?"

"17….just three years before the great Adityaraj decided to destroy her life," Prithvi said quietly, and Sankatmochan cringed at the black rage that resonated in the words.

He had to change the topic of conversation….

"How did he manage to convince her to pose? I remember she hated being photographed!" Sankatmochan chuckled.

Prithvi grinned. "The photographer said he was almost reduced to tears because of her refusal to pose because it was his first big job and he needed to succeed. She relented only when she saw that he was about to cry," he said, sitting up with a small wince because of the pain in his arm.

"Is your arm hurting still?"

"Slightly," Prithvi conceded.   

"Tell me honestly…..how did you get hurt? And don't give me that nonsense about an accident. You've been driving rashly for years and haven't had one yet," Sankatmochan said confidently.

Prithvi wavered for a moment, then tersely said, "We ran into old friends at the photographer's guest house."

Sankatmochan felt a trickle of dread, and uneasily asked, "Whom?"

"Vikrant and his wife...and a few sickly bodyguards," Prithvi replied indifferently

"What was he doing there?" Sankatmochan asked, stunned at the unexpected mention of Priyamvada's fiance.

"Trying to convince the photographer to create a series of portraits of his ugly family," Prithvi snorted.

Sankatmochan sniggered. "So how did the fight start?"

"When he saw us, he suddenly decided he wanted mother's photograph for himself to keep alive the memories of his first love."

Bristling with anger, Sankatmochan snapped, "How dare he? And he asked for it in front of his wife? How idiotic!"

"He didn't ignore common sense for long," Prithvi grinned. "Somewhere in between watching his bodyguards lying on the floor, and landing there himself with his wig flying off, he decided he could live without the photograph.

"I wish I had been there instead of Sumer Singh. He tried to stop you, no doubt?!" Sankatmochan sneered.

"He helped me actually, but the hectic journey and then the fight became a little too much for him and his back got a little jarred.

"Oh….He's at his friend's place now?"

Prithvi nodded. "He'll be there for a few days until he recovers."

"That's good. Now we can enjoy our lives and you'll be able to enjoy the taste of my cooking for a while," Sankatmochan preened. "Don't you agree that the breakfast I prepared was delicious?"

"I don't know. I didn't wait for long enough after giving it to the dogs to see their reaction."

****************************

Sarojini stopped in the middle of chopping the potatoes, and took the empty bowl of baby food from her daughter. She watched fondly as Nandini gathered up the sleepy toddler from the sofa and cuddled him, gently rubbing his back.

Arjun's mother had fallen ill, and Manju had requested Sarojini to take care of the baby for a few hours, especially because Nandini was the only person in the locality whom the little tot had really grown attached to.

Nandini on her part had been ecstatic on seeing the baby in the house when she returned from college.

He had happily scrambled towards her the instant she had stepped into the house after college and she hadn't kept the baby down since then. Only to feed him the baby formulae had she kept him on the sofa, and then imitated the sounds and characteristics of every possible animated figure to make him finish his food.

Now he was back in her arms and she soundly kissed his chubby face. His cheeks were so plump, round and pink that it was difficult to stop showering them with kisses. The rosebud of his mouth opened up in a sweet yawn.

Nandini continued to pat his back and tried to tenderly coax him into keeping his head on her shoulder and going to sleep. But the toddler stubbornly fought against his drooping eyelids and looked around the room until something caught his attention.

"Nini!" he squeaked urgently, which she had delightedly realised was his version of her name, and pointed tiny fingers towards the table.

Nandini followed his interest and looked at the large water piston her brother had kept on the table.

"Keep that boy away from my water piston!" Prakash said loudly, tucking his shirt into the waistband of his trousers.

"Pikku, he doesn't even know what it is," Nandini said exasperatedly. "He's just pointing at it because it looks colourful."

"I don't care! But I don't want him touching my stuff," Prakash said adamantly,

scowling at Arjun, before slamming the door shut on his way out to meet his friends and discuss their plans for Holi.

The doorbell rang loudly and Nandini peered to a side to look outside through the window. The postman was at the gate. Since Sarojini's hands were full, she gently placed Arjun next to her mother on the sofa, put some cushions around him for fortification, and drew away discreetly. She had to return soon before Arjun became restless.

She received the letter from the postman at the gate, and had swung to run back to the baby, when the noisy sound of a bike made her halt.

She stood still for a minute and pretended to be studying the Tulsi in the courtyard, and then began walking back to the door only once she had heard Prithvi open Ayodhya's gate. 

"You're not still sulking about today morning, are you?" an ironical male voice asked.

Nandini turned to face an amused looking Prithvi, and felt her temper rise automatically.

"I don't sulk, and anyways, you don't have to worry. I don't care if you enjoy yourself with all the girls in the college."

"That's not my style," he said sombrely, "I prefer to handle one woman at a time."

"Nandini, he escaped and is coming in search of you!" Sarojini's laugh cut into the rapidly freezing atmosphere.

"He? Who he?" Prithvi demanded with a frown.

"Nini!" the indignant squawk resounded in the air.

Nandini turned and hurried to the door to pick up the infant who seemed all set to crawl down the steps to reach her.

 "Couldn't you wait for a minute?" she chuckled as she rubbed her nose lovingly against a very soft, plump cheek.

"Where did this football come from?" Prithvi asked, bewildered.

Nandini stiffened. "His name is Arjun, and he's Manju aunty's grandson."

"Yeah Ok, but I think you should keep him inside, or the kids here might use him for a match," he said with a grin.

As if deducing that he was being made fun of, the baby pouted crossly at Prithvi, and then waved a tubby arm to grab the envelope clutched in Nandini's hand and promptly began chewing on one corner.

"Don't do that!" Nandini laughed, gently tugging the letter away despite the baby's vigorous protests.

Deprived of his toy, Arjun turned his attention back to Prithvi and looked at him with great curiosity.

Nandini smiled at his concentration and said, "Look at him carefully! This is the nastiest person you'll ever meet. Now tell him bye!" She tenderly caught his chubby arm and waved it lightly.

 "Nandini, why are you saying such things?"

Sarojini's appearance and reprimand cut short Prithvi's irritable retort, and he instantly took on a suitably subdued expression.

Nandini winced and turned around to see her mother on the doorstep, looking back at her reprovingly.

"I was just joking," she muttered, and to change the topic, chirpily added, "There's a letter from mausi for you!"

"Hmmm….must be another of her reminders," Sarojini said, taking the letter that Nandini had held out. "Prithvi, come home for a while. You haven't stepped in here for ages."

Prithvi nodded with a diffident smile that turned into a grin the instant her mother re-entered the house.

Nandini's eyes flashed as she stood in his path. "I'm sure you would rather go back home and dream about your innumerable girlfriends," she said waspishly, and then swung around and began walking back into the house.

In a few quick strides, Prithvi reached right behind her. "Actually I'd rather stalk the nearest one," he murmured, and his fingers roguishly scooped up a lock of her silky hair and tugged her very lightly towards himself.

As pink blossomed on her cheeks, Nandini tried to draw away from him, and Arjun yelled to protest at her sharp movement. 

"This thing is very grumpy," Prithvi said thoughtfully.

Pausing for a second on the steps, Nandini freed her hair firmly and tartly said, "He has a name! And he's just sleepy. He's usually very cheerful, unlike some other people."

"Why are you holding your hair?" Sarojini asked quizzically as she tried to open the letter carefully without tearing it at the sides, startling her daughter as she stepped back into the house.

"Oh...nothing! I – I was just wondering if I should have a hair cut!" Nandini said vibrantly, simultaneously cajoling the infant in her arms to go to sleep on her shoulder and swaying slightly to aid the objective.

It wasn't really an excuse. Her hair had grown past her waist and was starting to inch past her hips now. Though it was true that she hadn't thought about having it chopped until now….because she knew it would make Prithvi furious.

"What?" a voice behind her snarled in a very low tone.

"But you have such lovely hair," Sarojini protested, momentarily forgetting her rule regarding being cautious about flattering her children.

"It's grown too long," Nandini said uncomfortably.

"You know your grandfather won't like it. And neither will I."

"Add me to the list. You better not be serious about this," the male voice behind her threatened quietly.

The warning riled her, and she felt more adamant than before to chop off her hair.

"I'm not talking about sawing off the whole length. Just a few inches!" she pleaded with her mother, ignoring the rising frostiness in the air.

"I don't know….I'll think about it. That's all I can say for now," Sarojini said reluctantly, finally opening the letter. She quickly ran through the contents.

"I was right. She has just written again to insist that all of us should be there for the house warming ceremony. Prithvi, sit down. I'll get some hot tea and snacks for you," she said warmly, unaware of the swift thickness of the silence that fell in the room.

Nandini's face began burning as she sensed a questioning gaze on herself, and she

pretended to be concentrating on patting the back of the already slumbering baby.

"Where are you going….and when?" Prithvi asked in confusion, with an

uncharacteristic tension in his tone.

Feeling guilty, she began to answer, and then she remembered a day when she had been just as desperate to know the details of his journey, and the callous way in which she'd been snubbed.

"You don't need to know," she said in desperate defiance. She was staring at the calendar in front of her and yet she could see the silent hurt in his eyes that was deepening with every word she spoke.

For a moment, he didn't respond, and she wished she hadn't spoken at all. Then he quietly asked, "Where does your aunt stay?"

"Far enough," she whispered rebelliously, determined not to give into her emotional side.

She wanted to become tough, wanted to be as immune to his feelings as he was to hers. And that would not be possible until she got used to putting her foot down whenever possible. She could do it…as long as she did not look at him….because that always had….and always could make her break every resolution, big or small.

She didn't hear him leave, and though the door was shut very softly, its sound was ear-splitting. Uninvited tears swarmed her eyes and she tightly hugged the sleeping infant in her arms for comfort.

*******************************