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Also, please read the note at the end.

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A bleary eyed Aarohi looked up to find light rays of the morning sun peeking through the dark clouds, indicating the arrival of dawn. The poor girl had tossed and turned in bed, not being able to sleep the whole night as a consequence of that wretched nightmare about her mother. And if that wasn't bad enough, the incidents that Vrikasura had caused were there to disturb her further.

She finally convinced herself to get out of bed and decided to wander around the palace to soothe her nerves. But after witnessing something that she'd never expected tonight she was now even more shaken up than before. Although it had nothing to do with her.

Aarohi anxiously fiddled with her pearl bracelet as she now walked back to her room, recalling what had happened. She had just stepped out of her room then and as she heard a quiet commotion from the other side, she had went to go check it and couldn't quite wrap her head around what she had witnessed there. There was rajmata Kunti, with all her luggage packed. She was leaving before the coronation.

Aarohi's mouth parted as a confused sound escaped her lips. Kunti caught a glimpse of the girl and they stared at each other as if communicating through their eyes. Aarohi's eyes had distinctly questioned the older woman her reason for leaving, while Kunti's tear stained ones answered that she had overstayed her welcome. And then... she left.

Hence, so did Aarohi.

She didn't know what to think of this. Kunti was the only elder from Hastinapur who was in attendance here as the others were busy in their obligations and couldn't come to Anga. Also, Karna's parents weren't attending either, so Aarohi felt happy with the fact that Kunti was. But now, she had left too.

Aarohi emerged into a hallway, dragging in a deep breath but halted as she spotted a familiar face.

"Aarohi...? Oh, what a pleasant surprise. I never knew you liked early morning walks." Karna greeted her cheerfully, which made her stomach churn with anxiety. Everytime Aarohi knew something the others did not, it became difficult to even look at the person without thinking straight. She had to remain so reserved when internally she wanted to tell them about it.

Alas, it was not her duty to do so.

"Not quite." Aarohi answered with a tone that sounded a bit colder than usual. She wanted to keep the conversation short and simple so she wouldn't accidentally blurt anything out.

'I feel my discoveries should be saved for later, lest it ruins his mood before coronation.' She thought.

Both stood there silent for a moment, not knowing what they should say next. Karna gazed over at Aarohi and noticed she was still in her thin night clothes, while he was dressed up already. Her eyes were tired yet her face appeared indifferent. There was a flicker of something underneath, but she was definitely good at hiding whatever it was.

"You look tensed. Is everything alright?" Karn questioned, but the only response to his words was silence. A strange expression of restlessness had settled on Aarohi's features, which made him worried, especially given how she had left their conversation a day before. She tried to slip past him, but he gently grasped her hand, forcing her to look at him. The girl looked awfully similar in the dim lights. But to who...?

"Aarohi, if there's something that has happened-"

"No, Karn it's nothing. Maybe you're imagining things. I'm fine."

"Somehow I find that hard to believe Aarohi- -"

"You should not hold people against their will, Angraj." Arjun suddenly intervened, looking annoyed as he noticed Karna's hand holding Aarohi's. He went up to them, abruptly breaking the contact off.

"If she wanted to tell you she would, maybe she just doesn't." He remarked, getting between them.

"Maybe you should mind your own business."

The men went on and on, throwing comments at each other, while Aarohi silently moved to a side, yawning. Her head was throbbing because of a headache and with every moment, she was getting more and more dizzy due to the lack of sleep. Suddenly, her vision darkened with black spots and she reached out to steady herself against the pilar behind. Her soft wince drew both men's attention towards her, leaving their argument pending.

"I- I just didn't sleep and..." She trailed off, gesturing she was fine, brushing them off before they could say anything.

"What!? How careless can you be?" Arjun moved to support her and Aarohi rolled her eyes.

"Why didn't you sleep at night...?" Karna asked.

"I just didn't want to sleep- -"

"You know what, leave the explanations, I'll just help you to your room." Karn reached out to assist but as expected was stopped by a firm movement of Arjun's arm.

"Actually, I'll be the one to do that. From what I remember, our rooms are in the same direction, Angraj. Besides you have to get ready for your coronation." Arjun smiled, as if trying to get on his nerves while Karna sighed, stepping back.

"Let's go Aarohi."

"Okay now, wait a minute Arjun. When did I give a hint that I was comfortable with either one of you? I'll walk myself, I have perfectly functional legs. So please, step back." She pushed the men aside and made her own way to her room, confused about why they were behaving like that today, while the two men watched on. They could never figure out what went on in her mind.

***

The bejewelled crown was adorned on Karna's head as he was formally crowned a king. He looked breathtaking in his attire as he payed his respects to the priests and then turned to address the ones in attendance.

Duryodhan was proudly seen clapping his friend on the back as he and his brothers, along with Shakuni, congratulated him first. But Karna's eyes were darting off into another direction following the sound of a beautiful laugh, trying to find her.

Aarohi.

She was away, standing in a quiet corner along with the Pandavas and Dushala, laughing at a joke someone had cracked. Suddenly Karna found himself wishing she was standing closer to him instead of Arjun.

Without warning, their eyes met across the room. Aarohi saw a flicker of something in his honey coloured orbs as they met her dark ones. It was so elusive... barely even there but, enough to start a fire within the always unmoved Arjun.

A strange hardness gleamed in Arjun's eyes as he notices Karna staring. He purposely moves in front of Aarohi, breaking the eye contact and blocking Karna's view of Aarohi. He did not want him to look at her. As he looked over to the princess who had quickly looked away, now involved in discussing and quipping over the outfits of the other royals with Dushala and Nakul, he felt a strange flutter of feelings, raging a storm inside his heart. In a mere matter of days, the rude princess had gotten so close to his family. The way his brothers treated her, as if she belonged here since the beginning... it was safe to say it warmed his heart.

As Aarohi once again giggled as Nakul pointed at a bulky and overly dressed prince, on the other side of the room, thanks to Arjun, Karna struggled to get a visual of what she was laughing about. He felt irked with how close Arjun stood to her.

"You're one of our close ones forever now- -" Dushasan began as he moved forward to hug the newly crowned king.

'Ugh- Dushasan- - move aside-' Karna thought as he blocked his remaining line of sight too. Karn glared at Arjun's back, all the pleasantries and small talk seemed to be forgotten. He only had eyes for Aarohi... and Arjun who unexpectedly turned around, giving him a smirk.

The silent fight for control and attention went on and on, but it unfortunately went completely unnoticed by Aarohi. God knows what she would do if she had noticed given she was quite unpredictable. Arjun and Karna gave each other one last seething look, filled with displeasure, scrutinising each other as they turned back into their respective conversations.

"Oh no, my poor eyes... look at that colour combination of bright green and purple!" Nakul commented shaking his head.

"And not to mention the red rubies. They don't even match!" Dushala added, agreeing with Nakul.

"Oh well... it's definitely a daring choice... but personally I wouldn't be caught dead wearing that." Aarohi too remarked, agreeing. All of a sudden she felt a hot breath near her neck. "Well you don't have to worry about that Aarohi, you look beautiful..." Arjun whispered in her ear, giving in to his temptation even though he knew he was stepping into a dangerous domain, trying to be discreet as his brothers were right there.

Aarohi narrowed her eyes at him, not understanding why he said that and it made Arjun laugh at his own self for following his impulse. Before any of them could throw any snarky comments at each other, Bheem piped in.

"Will you all stop looking at the outfits? The coronation is over and there are some delicious delicacies waiting for me!"

"Yes, yes bhrata Bheem, we are coming. You go I swear we'll be right behind." Sahadev assured as Yudhishthir, Arjun and Bheem went on.

"I know I've said this before, but Dushala deserves to know too..." Nakul continued telling his story about the time when Bheem tried to dip bitter gourd into sweet syrup, dragging Dushala with him.

Aarohi and Sahadev followed behind, sharing a laugh at Nakul's antics.

But Aarohi stopped as her gaze fell on Krishna, who stood nearby, smiling to himself. She couldn't help but stray away from her group to him to find out what could be the reason.

"Ah. Sister! Enjoying the grand event?" Krishna quizzed as she came closer.

"More like feeling suffocated with the sheer amount of people here." She sassed and got a laugh from Kahna.

"You'll learn how to bear with these things soon enough."

"Yeah... I don't think that's happening anytime soon. Anyways... what were you smiling about?" Aarohi asked and Krishna grinned, his mischievous eyes pointed to two certain someones.

"Be more observant and it won't take long to find out my dear." He gently patted her back and went off to another direction.

Baffled by his answer, Aarohi followed the path of his sight with her own eyes, looking around. The clueless girl finally noticed Arjun and Karn giving each other weird glances across the room. Both men appeared quite irritated. Abruptly, her heart thumped in her chest, threatening to come out. It was as if her heart knew exactly what was going on, but her brain resolutely refused to register it, trying to put up all the walls she had to protect herself.

The atmosphere in the room felt awfully heavy. A blend of fear and draining sensations washed over her. Aarohi felt an instinctual pull to lean into her emotions to figure out the whole situation, but she pushed it off and instead silently slipped out of the back of the room, resisting the urge to look over her shoulder not wanting to confirm if her eyes had mistaken the whole scene. She touched the tattoo on her neck that reminded of her mother, as if trying to find some warmth just as the cold air of the evening hit her.

She walked and walked, until she reached a place that felt welcoming enough. Like an oasis in a desert. At long last she was alone.

"Okay. Deep breath in... out... in... out... Everything's going to be fine. Just forget about it and act normal Aarohi." She glanced at her reflection in a fountain, as if really trying hard to believe the words she was saying.

Sighing, she looked over to a mesmerising flower fallen on the ground nearby and reached out to stoke it's already drying petals. Every time she saw a cut flower, she knew how it felt. The flower had no roots, nothing to anchor it to this world at all, yet still it was still expected to give its beauty, to thrive and warm the hearts of others. But no one could see it's vulnerability. No one could see the support it lacked.

Aarohi felt like one of these fallen flowers.

She shrugged, frowning and suddenly scoffed at nothingness. She had spent her whole life hiding behind that frown, learning to keep all the hurt inside after her parents died. That hurt lodged into that sweet heart of hers like a slow acting poison, making it visible through her words, actions and attitude. She missed them a lot these days, especially seeing the happy families of the people here.

Aarohi wished she could change herself, but she felt unprotected without her anger, as if by controlling it, she would be left to fend for herself. It was her survival mode. Cold and indifferent to everything else.

A gentle breeze flowed, picking up some of the fallen flowers, it seemed like she wasn't going to sleep tonight either.

***

IMPORTANT NOTE:-

You know guys, the worst thing happened to my cousin. She and my cousin brother came here to my house to surprise me and cheer me up before my college day. I called her on Friday and I think I sounded kinda anxious. But she actually didn't know that she caught fever. I'm hoping it's not dengue as it's going around these days. So now she has high fever and that's the reason I couldn't post the chapter earlier. It's all a part of life and this unexpected stuff happens. So I just wanted to thank you all for being patient and sticking around, when your author was late. I love you all.

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Okay everyone, I hope that was a good chapter. I'll update soon, please do complete the Vote Target and leave your comments, they make my day.💕

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