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Abhinandan POV

She ran away.

How could she run away? I ran out of the door behind her. We needed to talk. How could she just run away leaving everything behind?

Moreover, she was riding an unsaddled horse. One fall and she would die.

No! No! No!

I rose to my feet, over the horse to make him feel less burden on his back and increase his speed. But, he could not match Megharaj's speed.

She was riding my horse.

My Horse!

Shit!

I could feel the heavy rain slapping on my skin. My heavy attire with jewellery was biting my skin. It made me feel even heavier. And, the rings—they were killing me.

I wanted to yell at her badly.

Though, this was not the time.

I was angry, I was mad, I was worried and I did not know what happened to her all of a sudden.

"Faster, baby, faster!" I muttered under my breath and watched her run down the hills and enter the forest.

First, it was dark, and it was night, and she was running away.

"Trisha, please for God's sake, stop. I cannot even see you," I screamed at the top of my lungs, and I couldn't help but feel the coldness of water running down my chest. I could not help but feel slightly dizzy.

Rain and I were not friends.

I did not hate it but she hated me.

I could not help but trust my horse's instincts in following her. And, suddenly I banged my head into a tree's stem. I could not see it. My hand immediately went to my forehead to caress it. And, in the darkness, I did not know if I bled. But, it stung.

However, nothing stung harder than her running away.

I continued running after her in the forest. Thank God it was raining as it would be keeping the wild animals in their dens.

"Trisha," I called her out at the top of my lungs yet again, and she did nothing about her.

The fear of losing her was instilled in me. But, now stronger than ever.

Seeing her running away, I could not help but remember the day of our marriage. I did not even know why I made her do that.

Now, it seems it would have been better if I had not married her. At least, one of us would be better.

I thought I might die without her. But, now I might die with her, too.

The tears running down my cheeks were mixing in the fresh rainwater, unable to tell anyone that I was crying.

I did not want her to be with me if she did not want to. But, at least she should be safe.

"Trisha, please stop," I called in a high voice. My throat had begun to burn. A lump was always present in it, unable to slip down or come out.

"Please, stop," I inhaled deeply and held the reins of my horse harder. She was not doing anything but test my patience.

No matter what her condition or state was she did not have any right to ruin Mahabaleshgarh's image like that.

We were already way too wrong in the people's eyes and this act of hers had just ruined it all.

I increased the speed and covered the forest after her in no time.

As the lighting hit the thundering clouds, a silver light spread all over the forest for a tiny moment. And, in that moment I managed to see a flicker of her.

Her hair was open, her head bare, and she was wet. I inhaled sharply and my lower lip curled under my teeth.

I did not know but this was not expected from her. She could have behaved more sensibly. It was not her.

Riding past the forest, she took a turn towards a place and that was when I realised that she was riding back to her home. I tried to increase the horse's speed, but since it was raining and dark, everything was at risk.

"Trisha," I called out finding her stopping near the backyard of her cottage.

And, just then I pulled the reins of my horse, and I found her fall down.

"Trisha!" I quickly ran towards her to help her out.

But, she tried to stand up by herself. That was when my anger peaked and I grabbed her arm and pulled her up.

"What do you think you are doing?" I could not stop myself, and my voice came out louder than I expected.

Her lips trembled with the coldness and she shook her head.

"You all are forcing me to be someone I am not. People are laughing at me," she said, breaking into cries and pulling her hand back from my hand with a strong jerk.

"Trisha!" I called, following her into the cottage.

She slipped on the stairs again and I closed my eyes for a moment.

But, she quickly got up and hurried to walk inside. I followed her but before I could follow to step inside, she tried to close the door on my face.

My jaw clenched and I immediately placed my hands on the door.

"Trisha, we need to talk," I said, and she tried to push it harder against me, from inside and said.

"No, I am not good for anything," she cried out and I pushed the door harder and stepped inside. She moved back with quick steps.

"You should be at your kingdom, not here," she said breaking into the cries, and I closed the door behind me, inhaling a deep breath to calm myself down.

"No, I am where I should be," I said and stepped closer to her. The cottage felt way too warm and silent after the noisy and cold ride under the rain.

The water dripped down our clothes wetting the dried mud and chaff floor. I could hear our racing breaths.

"Seriously, Trisha?" I asked, closing my eyes for a moment, and stepped closer to her. "You rode an unsaddled horse. One slip and you would have fallen and broken your neck or something else in your body. What the hell were you even thinking?" my voice rose by the time I finished my question.

She shook her head, whimpering and muttered. "They were laughing at me. They think I am a fool," she said, and I rolled my eyes.

"So what?" I asked.

"They were laughing at me when I fell. I was looking for you," she sobbed, breaking into cries and stepping closer to her.

"I was right there," I said, and she shook her head.

"No one is there for me, always. I was born alone, raised alone, and now even after my marriage, I walked alone," she said, and my jaw tightened a little, stepping closer to her.

She pushed my hand away. "You did not need me to be there. It was your moment. It was your time to shine," I tried to explain my absence when she walked down the entrance of the celebration hall.

"Shine? I did not choose to shine. I did not want and I do not want any of this. This is not what we agreed to do with each other after the wedding. This is what we agreed upon. I did not ask to become a Princess or have a celebration in my honour. How long will it take for all of you to understand that I am not made for this," she broke into even more cries and I stepped closer and tried to put her protesting hands down and hug her.

"I am sorry. I am so sorry," I breathed in deeply and pulled her closer into a hug. She tried to push me away, "I am sorry, I am. I should have known better," I tried to say, and when she decreased her struggles of fighting me, I tightened the hug.

She hiccuped.

Elder people are stronger. It is the myth that broke before me that day. I always thought that since she was older, she was way too strong than me, emotionally, but now I understood that even if she was stronger that did not mean she did not need me.

I realised that she needed me as much as I needed her.

"You know, they laughed at you because they knew they could only do that. None of those girls got the opportunity to be in the place where you are. They are jealous," I tried to say, and she pulled back.

"To be in the place I am— being your wife?" she asked, and I shook my head.

"Being Mahabaleshgarh's jewel. You are not only my wife, the daughter-in-law of my parents or the bride of the Kingdom, you are the representative of the motherhood in the Kingdom, its villages, the Queen of Mahabalesgarh's Princely states. And, they are not laughing at you. They are laughing because their daughter could not make it," I tried to say and cupped her cheek to make her look at me.

Our eyes met each other amid the darkness. The fresh warm trail of tears rolled down her cheeks and brushed against my fingers. I could not stop myself from wiping them away.

"I am not what you think I am," she said, and I inhaled deeply and pressed my forehead against her leaning into her height.

Her lips trembled, as I asked. "Then who are you?"

She inhaled deeply and pushed me away before walking away from there. "I do not know," she replied, and I could not help but hold her hand to pull her back.

But, with a sudden force, her chest collided with mine, and she looked up at me.

"We are talking," I declared, and she just blinked silently.

"Who are you?" I asked again, and she gulped, shaking her head slowly.

"I told you, I do not know," she muttered again, and I licked on my lower lip, trying to control my emotions and slipped my hand around her waist. My arm felt her hair slicking against it, and I placed my other hand on her chin to make her look up.

"If you do not know who you are, then how can you be so sure that you are not that," I asked, and she stared blankly into my eyes, "Just because you fell once?" I added and she lowered her gaze.

I immediately lifted her chin slightly more up to have her attention back.

"Do you know Trisha, people can afford to fall physically, it is normal. Even the royals fall if they trip over something and I used to fall down the bed, horse, and many things in my childhood and even now. But, what you cannot afford is falling in your own eyes. It's okay if you fall. You got up and walked. If you will run away at this moment, you will fall in your eyes. You would think about it over and over again until it will eat you. There is nothing wrong with falling. Do you know what my Daadisa, Maasa or Nandani have done if they fell in your place? They would have gotten up and laughed with all those people. Because we are human beings too, we can fall too," I muttered and wiped another fresh tear off her cheek.

"Being a royal is not about walking straight and serious. It's not about physical appearance either. Being a royal is all about decision-making and being there for your people. That's it," I tried to explain and she inhaled deeply.

"All this," she hiccuped, "Jewellery, dresses and getting ready is not making me feel good. I am surrounded by other women all the time. They see me changing, dressing up, an... and I cannot even tell you," she said, and I knit my brows with confusion.

"Cannot tell me what?" I asked, and she looked away inhaling deeply.

"Nothing. I just do not need to go back there," she finished and sneezed all of a sudden.

I closed my eyes for a moment and nodded. "Alright, we can stay here. But, first, we should get rid of these wet clothes or we both will be found dead tomorrow," I said, and she turned back to look at me and said in a slow voice.

"I am sorry. I... I just did not feel like being there. I know, it caused you a lot of problems. And, Maasa, Daadisa, Baapusa, and everyone would be talking about me. I mean, I caused them so much problem," she said, and I shook my head slowly.

She had no idea what kind of problem she caused to me and everyone. The whole Kingdom, Princely states and our friendly Kingdom's people were there for us. For us. And, we both ran away from there. It was not just our disrespect but many of them would consider it their disrespect as well.

It was a moment to start afresh for all of us after Nandani's wedding.

But, now it was ruined as well.

"It's okay. They would not say anything, I promise," I muttered and she looked away nervously before walking towards the trunk and suddenly looked back.

"I do not think that there is anything for you to wear. Baapusa is visiting some Kingdom and he would take his clothes with him," she said, and I looked away closing my eyes.

After everything, that remains to be happened.

Inhaling deeply I nodded and said. "That's okay, I can manage for the night," I said and walked towards the door to walk a little on the balcony.

"Abhi," but, she stopped me and I looked back at her.

"I am sorry. I should have thought about you at least. I mean you have a problem with rain and because of me you rode in the rain," she said in a weak voice and I noticed a dupatta in her hand.

"You can... take your clothes off, and wrap this around. No one will come to see you here," she said, and I tightened my jaw.

I did not know what was happening in the Kingdom. Everything went wrong.

But, I knew it was my mistake that I let this celebration happen so soon. She should be given at least three months to adjust before making any public appearance. But, just like me everyone would have thought that she was sensible and courageous, she would manage.

I did not have any problem with her feeling insecure, nervous or wrong. But, instead of running away, we could have talked. She could have told me.

Or I could have walked beside her. I should have known better.

I thought she was older than me, sensible than me, so she did not need me.

But, she needed me too.

I nodded, looking and walked to her to take that dupatta.

"I should go behind the partition," she said, standing up to her feet again, and I nodded. Once she walked behind it, I stayed on this side and began to take all my jewellery off as well.

Honestly, I was not a fan of dressing up too. But, I liked things to go smoothly. And, in my life, nothing was ever as smooth as butter.

Everything had brought an earthquake in my life.

But, I closed my eyes promising myself to deal with this earthquake better. It was not about forcing her to be my wife now. It was about making her feel that she was my wife now. I could understand what she had been going through. And, I understood that I needed to be by her side in this changing era of hers.

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