HOLI BONUS FOR ALL MY READERS!
🔴🟠🟡🟢HAPPY HOLI🟢🟡🟠🔴

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The morning of Holi brought back more memories of my childhood than any could, after all, one doesn't simply let go of their favourite memories. From drenching the body in oil for easy removal of colours, to being completely undifferentiated from the crowd because of your pink, blue or red face, it's one of the things that hit close to home.

Which is why, the morning of Holi is one of the most peaceful times before the night draws in to close the day.

I looked over to see a slumbering Yudhishthir, who was completely out after last night, exhausted and full. Poor dear had to keep his cool to such an extent while teaching AJ.

With that in mind, I stood in the balcony, the freshness in the air which would be decorated with the fumes of gulal, sweets and water.

As I closedy eyes to feel the fresh air, I felt two sneaky arms around my waist.

" Happy Holi dear wife. Why you left me to, sleep for so long? "

"Happy Holi Yudhishthir. You looked tired, I wanted you to rest before I could drench you in colours. "

"But you've already done that. " He said, putting his head on my shoulder.

"How so? "

"You've drowned me in your colours of love. What other colour do I need to feel whole? "

"Oh I don't know... Maybe Arjun, Bheem, Nakul and Sahdev want to -"

"Here I'm trying to talk to you about my love for you and you've begun your speech about how I'm supposed to -"

His tirade was interrupted with a wild laughter from behind us, outside the balcony, where we saw.

" Bhratashree, if you truly think you'd escape us so, you'd be wrong. Neither mata, nor pitashree could ever stop us from colouring you... Bhabhishree is just as eager to play Holi with you.... Till where will you run? " Bheem laughed, as the other three crept up behind him.

"You don't play Holi? " I asked, but before I could hear an answer, my husband had run away.

If it's true and he doesn't play Holi, then fine, but I will still play. Holi is my favourite festival and no one spoils it for me.

"Nahi bhabhishree, Jyeshth does play, in rather the worst ways possible. "

"How so? " I distinctly remember there being no pakka colours in this time.

" He's the sneakiest person on Holi. Even then, you would never catch him lying. Till date, no one has been able to colour him, if he himself doesn't let you and definitely if he doesn't want you to. " Nakul said.

" Mera pati to chupa rustam nikla. " I must have said it out loud because four faces stared at me with confusion.

" No, no. I mean. He's a hidden piece. I didn't expect the calm and sombre 'I am Yudhishthir. Always sthir ' to play Holi with such joy and enthusiasm. "

"Then bhabhishree,you're just waiting to be blown away. Jyeshth will give you a Holi you can never forget. "

" We'll see about that. Patni se kahan tak bhagenge. " (Till when will he run from his wife. )

When the customary colour was shared between me and my dear brothers, I chose to look for my partner in crime.

Who I did not expect to find with someone else.

There stood, AJ and Devika, facing each other. Soft smiles on both their faces as they raised hands to colour each other in their love, even though they didn't know it yet.

" Ahem. May I talk to my brother Kumari? " I asked, smirking as they jumped three feet away from each other.

"Y-yes . Yes of course. " She said, smiling and running away shyly.

" Bas mohe rang do laal bajana bacha tha... Wo bhi kar doon? Ya dusra wala.... Apne hi rang mein, mujhko rang de wala.... Chala doon? "

(Only playing the song, 'mohe rang do laal was left..Should I play that too? Or the other one, 'apne hi rang mein, mujhko rang de one ?) I asked, as AJ looked at me with more hate than he did when I spilled coffee on his project that he'd spent a whole night making....

" Shut up. What do you need? "

"A plan. My husband is an expert at the game. I want to beat him at it. He won't lie, so we need to be careful. "

"Shouldn't you be careful of the one that do? "

" Not in this case. "

"So? What should I do? "

" Well, you look like him. You must think like him... You even have the same name.. Well not the same one. "

" Saag. I think you have short term memory loss. " He said, putting jis hand on my shoulder.

"Why? "

" Just because we look the same doesn't mean he has my cool personality-! "

"Yes yes. I get it. Still help. "

"HOW? "

"HOW WOULD I KNOW! YOU'VE PLAYED MORE HOLI THAN ME! "

"WE'RE THE SAME AGE! "

"I wear it better though. "

" Please, now with short term memory loss, I think you're delirious too. "

"You -"

"Ajatshatru. Putr, I wish to talk to my daughter. May I? " Mata asked, coming into the room.

" Panipat mata. Shubh Holi. " I said, snatching the packet of red from him to apply some at her feet as I took her blessings. "

" Akhand saubhagyavati bhav putri. " She said, applying some colour on my forehead as a teeka and then on my cheeks.

" Mata... Have you-"

"If you want to know where Yudhishthir is, you must search the place where he finds his favourite food. " She said as she walked away, smiling.

"Now what.... He is going to put me on a chase to find him? That too on Holi!" I sighed, sitting down.

AJ on the other hand kept holding his cheek.

"Abe! Aashiqi ho gahi ho, to dhoondhna shuru karein? "

(If you're done with your love, may begin searching?)

"He's your husband. Work for it. For now, shubh Holi bahana. " He said, smearing blue gulal all over my face.

" I swear. AJ! " I said, emptying the tray of pink all over him.

" Bhabhishree! " I heard four voices, with their own versions of pichkaris made from metals, splashing their water on me.

" Do you all know where your brother is? "

" Nahi bhabhishree! " They yelled, dumping a pile of green colour on me.

No one wants to help me..... Fine. I'll help myself.

The only place one could find their favourite food is in the kitchens...

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Walking into the kitchen, I saw the cooks all happily cooking the kheer and other dishes for the day.

"Who coloured you all? " I asked, applying colour to the head chef, Maharaj Bharat.

"Yubraj Yudhishthir did Yuvrani. " He answered.

So he did come here and then vanished? Truly he'll not let me be at peace today.

"Has he left a message for me? "

"Ji Yuvrani. He said to come to the point where you shared your first bowl of kheer. "

That would be the watch tower in Hastinapur. I had sneeked some kheer for him the day after our marriage.

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Even at the watch tower, I found no sighs of my husband when I heard the sharp hiss of someone behind me.

"Angraj? "

" Ji Yuvrani. Shubh Holi. " He said, applying some colour on my hands.

" Shubh Holi Angraj. What are you doing here? "

"To be honest, I was waiting for you. "

"For me? "

"Yes Yuvrani. Your husband told me you'd come here. He advised me to mend our ties, related as we are, even though mata Kunti chose the most unusual of moments to reveal the truth to me. So I choose this moment to talk to you. "

"Today is Holi Angraj, I don't want to spoil either of our moods-"

"Yuvrani. Just give me a few minutes. Please? "

I resigned to listen to him. What could go wrong?

" Speak Angraj. I have to look for my husband. "

" Kumari, I am truly sorry for what happened to you. I never wished for that to happen. The day he sent me to teach you, I truly thought he was speaking in your best interests. I will go talk to Kumar Duryodhan tomorrow and I promise, if he doesn't agree to letting go of his mindless hate against you all, I'll forget about my friendship with him. I'm not doing this for anyone else but my own peace. I hope now you don't think that I am confused. " He said, while I thought over it.

" I accept your apologies Jyeshth. May we be able to establish a better bond from today onwards. My husband seems to respect you, as fo my other brothers in law. I hope you and I can respect each other too. "

"Thank you Kumari. Your husband is at the place where he first told you about something the day after your brother came here. " He said as he smiled a warm smile at me.

" Thank you Jyeshth. Pranipat. " I said, running away to the garden acloves.

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"Yudhishthir! Yudhishthir! How far will you make me run? I've been incredibly patient with you. Please don't tease me further. I want to meet you. I promise I won't colour you without asking. " I called, sitting on the bench.

I heard no response, all I could see was my own face in the pond, drenched in colours, but the one that mattered most wasn't there.

"Fine. I'll be in the grounds playing with the others if you ever want to meet me. " I said, silently wiping the tears that cascaded down on my face.

If he didn't want to play Holi with me, why not just tell me in the morning itself ? I wouldn't have had hopes.

As I began leaving the aclove, I was yanked back by a hand on my wrist, colliding against someone's chest.

" Are you really going to give up so soon? I didn't expect my priye to do so. " I heard someone whisper, as I opened my eyes to see a completely clean Yudhishthir.

He looked so beautiful, even devoid of the colours that would decorate his golden skin.

" Leave me. I don't want to talk to you. "

" But why? I've come here haven't I? "

"No! You've troubled me the whole day! "

" But wait! Wait. Atleast hear me out."

"Fine." I said, pulling myself out of his grip when I was pulled back.

"Not yet. " He whispered, pecking my cheeks.

"You'll get colour in your mouth. "

" No I won't. "

" Speak. We don't have all day. "

" Look, I sent you on this chase to show you something. I wanted you to colour me woth the colour of your love.... And then colour you in mine. You know why? " He asked, closing the gap between us.

"No. Why? " I questioned, breath hit hing at the way he looked at me. As if I was an apsara herself, the greatest of them.

" Because my dear, your colour is the only one I ever need on me and mine is the one that will shine the brightest on yours. " He whispered.

I couldn't speak, my mind was in a tizzy. Such words he spoke. Who could say that he was Dharmraj Yudhishthir.

As of now, he was only my love.

He took some colour in his hands, giving it to me.

I took it and raised my hand, as if to apply it on him, but put it on my own.

If you can be romantic my dear husband, so can I. You're talking to the girl who's seen all versions of love yet the one she is in is the purest of them all for her.

I moved closer to him, putting my own cheeks against his. Both sides, gently.

"Look, I put colour on you. " I said, bated breath to see if he agreed.

"That you did. You coloured me in your own love. Now I am satisfied. " He said, smiling as he took the same colour and put it on me.

" Shubh Holi Sagarika. "

"Shubh Holi. Yudhishthir, Arya, my dear heart. "

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We walked out into the grounds, where we were immediately drenched in colours and water. The way everyone rejoiced seeing their Yuvraj and Yuvrani in the grounds.

In the midst of the playing, I felt someone's hand on my shoulder, assuming it to be an accident, I brushed it off.

When the hand did not move, I felt my stomach drop in worry.

Calming myself, I raised my head to look look for any of my family, mostly my husband, when I felt the same hand move from the shoulder to mark a line across my waist.

I flipped my head to see someone, blending into the crowd wearing a red and blue dupatta.

This was not the time to be scared. I attempted my best to overcome my panic, pushing through the crowd to find him.

" Sagarika? What happened? " He asked as I grabbed his hand, my worry must have been transparent through my eyes as his smile dropped.

" Come to the rooms. Please! " I tried, pulling him to the rooms.

The moment we entered the room, I heard myself scream like never before.....

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Soooo... How was everyone's Holi?

Tell me how it was in the comments.

Who's the idiot... Is it the same person who was spying on them earlier or someone else?

Tell me what you think.. And do vote if you liked

Much love

Radhekrishn ♥