The all night ride has been never ending and with Arjuna sticking right behind her it was more than annoying. He would deliberately rest his hands near her waist while holding the belt of the horse, look at the nerve of this man. Even though she had an extreme range of rage for him, her heart fluttered noticing the certainty of his hands. He would tease her by his light touches and that was all, but he never bothered to overstep the boundaries and take advantage of the situation. Once again her heart had started to resent and mock Chitra telling her that her husband was innocent.

Victoriously they have crossed the kingdom's border attracting no attention from any commoners. Her hair got greasy sticking to her forehead and her face was a whole new story to describe.

Slow-moving, milky fog blocked their further view of the route forcing Vikram to stop his horse and Arjuna did the same, he bent forward clutching the belt tight in his grip pulling it backwards to halt its run and Chetak; the horse felt the backwards pull on his rein coming to an abrupt halt.

The loud clip-clop sounds of the horses came to a halt and Rajan got down from his horse, walking around to observe the area.

“Can we also step down?” Chitra’s muscles ached with raw pain, sitting straight on a horse for all night is no joke and on top of it, some extra weight in the form of Arjuna was put on her back.

After much hesitation Arjuna got down and extended his hand to help, Chitra slowly turned to his side and took his hand and jumped a little as he caught her by her waist and when he let her go, her mangalsutra got struck with his pearled golden chain.

Of course, a new day, a new embarrassment.

Chitra vigorously moved her fingers trying to detangle her chain, but no avail. Arjuna stifled a laugh and bent closer as he started to give his side of try. Intentionally he leaned so close that their foreheads were touching, he was being a tease, once again.

“Your majesty, we found a pond-” Rajan’s words came to an abrupt halt as he saw his king and queen deeply busy, “Ehem I-i apologize, your majesty! Forgive me for interrupting your private moment.”

It was not a private moment! It was just, just detangling of a chain! Chitra wanted to scream her lungs off but instead she just rolled her eyes.

“You are dismissed.” Arjuna's response was completely unbothered as he was solely focused on the chain.

After a millennium, they were free as they made their way to the pond which Rajan was talking about. Chitra felt an adrenaline rush through her veins as she saw an unbelievable realistic view in front of her, tall alpine mountains densely covered with trees and just with few steps ahead them was a pond. It was oval in shape with icey clear water, and the dense fog here and there just made this picturesque scenery heavenly.

Vikram and Rajan looked fresh and all cleaned up in a new pair of clothes, so they left the area saying that they were going to find some fresh grass to feed the horses.

It was like all the evil forces in the world were pushing her towards him, close towards him, but the question was what if they were the angelic forces?

“You can clean up first,” Chita’s voice came out strong despite her nervous heart’s loud drums, “I will wait.”

“You don’t want to step inside the pond? The water looks clean.” Arjuna said, removing his cotton kurtha over his head revealing his almost naked-self.

And Chitra’s cheeks burned with awkwardness as she turned her head away towards the pond, trying to distract her brain. She had never stepped in a pond, all her life she remained caged inside the palace dealing with the taunts and ill tempers of her step-mother, but now she was free from those. She was just a step away from feeling mother nature.

Chitra slowly turned her head only to find Arjuna deep inside the waters with only his shoulder being visible, she breathed in relief. Thank god!

“I give you my word, I won't try anything funny so step inside.” The seriousness and sincerity in his voice convinced her always conflicting brain and heart.

What if he is naked under the waters? Her traitorous intelligent brain raised up a question.

Praying to the gods to let him have some clothes on she slowly stepped inside and Arjuna helped her.

All at once water was splashed on her face and then she took her revenge by splashing back at Arjuna, a water war has begun and Chitra was enjoying to her fullest.

His rich laughs and her tunic giggels echoed through the empty forest as they kept playing, Arjuna pulled Chitra close as his laugh was still resonating passing vibrations through her.

His beautiful brown eyes were staring at her hers, so deep that Chitra could see her whole world in them, this is the man she fell in love with. Her love for him was so strong that all this while without him she had become vulnerable, his smile was just enough to stay chained to him for an eternity but fate had other plans.

She slowly ran her finger tips over his right eyebrow which held a beautiful scar which always caught her attention as he leaned onto her palm, pressing his cheek to her soft hand,

“My nose looks more stunning than that stupid scar you adore.” Arjuna’s humor filled voice vibrated.

Chitra giggled as she pinched his nose lovingly, “Your nose is nothing but stupid and how did you get this scar?”

Arjuna scoffed before he replied, “I was chased by a bull once, while running away I fell to the ground-”

Chitra’s spellbinding laughter filled his ears, her eyes remain closed as she laughed wholeheartedly, making fun of him. But nothing matters, except her happiness, how many days had it been since he had seen her like this?

Her laugh was so contagious that he started chuckling at his own self, pulling her closer to him by her waist. So close that he could feel her pleasant heartbeat.

Chitra smiled happily seeing her husband's eyes shining with adoreness and mirth.

But her eyes peeled open when she felt his legs tangling her underwater, even with a thin layer of clothes on she could feel his nakedness. She screamed in embarrassment pushing him away and ran outside, towards the trees to change her clothes.

Told you so, mocked her brain while her heart was somewhere lost in a dreamland imagining her naked husband.

Arjuna slowly walked out of the pond, smiling to himself. Just before the war when he realised he loved Chitra, he believed that their love was true and after their great loss he was worried that Chitra no more loved him.

But this morning made him realise that Chitra still loves him, as dearly and heart-breakingly as he does. Perhaps, her way of coping grief was anger but his way of dealing sorrow was to share the pain.

Their love was pure and pious and he won't let those walls of pain break their future of an eternity. For walls are meant to be broken.

And he will break them, come what may, he will get his wife back so that his every morning can be as dazzling as her beautiful smile.

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And also I have added my Insta handle to my bio, you can check it out! I write lite short tales there❤️