BATTLE OF LOVE (completed)

CHAPTER 18

Arjun's POV:

"So you won't agree with me," I asked Dharani.

"No"

"And I won't agree with you," I said.

"I know," she replied.

"So what in the world are we going to do?" I asked.

"How about voting?" she said, "Remember Acharya said we could take advice from others."

"Rocks and trees don't speak, you know," I said, "Whom the hell are we going to ask?"

"Deepak and Priya," she replied.

"Oh why just Deepak and Priya, let us ask the entire population of Mitra," I replied sarcastically. "I don't agree with this voting and all unless we have an equal proportion of people from both the kingdoms."

"Then we could ask the trainees," she said in excitement.

"That's not fair either, the trainees will obviously support you. You always save them from me," I opposed.

"But you said you wanted equal proportions and we have it. Now don't change your words," she said.

"Alright," I reluctantly replied and we had a meeting of all the trainees. We told them about the situation. We also told them about Mitra prisons and Anjan prisons and asked them to vote anonymously. As expected, 67% of them voted for Mitra and Dharani won.

I was pissed off. This is unfair. They would obviously support her and now those thieves are going to get lesser punishment than what they deserved.

"I won," Dharani said smiling.

"For time being," I added, "Enjoy your victory before you lose again. Remember how you lost the first round of battle because you were too kind? How bad is that?" I knew I sounded arrogant but I wasn't willing to step back.

"That was so arrogant," Dharani said and walked away. She was right. I was arrogant but she wasn't the angel that she assumes herself to be. She just let two criminals get away. Two criminals who could be a potential danger to society and what's all this walking away thing. Isn't that arrogant?

The next day:

Arjun's POV:

The first half of training was done. Dharani didn't talk to me much. Such an attitude and she calls me arrogant. Fine, let her keep quiet. Who wants to talk to her anyway. I went to the study room and tried focussing on something more important. Deepak was standing near the window staring outside. 

"What's wrong with you?" I asked him.

"No...nothing..." he replied hesitantly.

"Deepak just tell me," I ordered.

"I miss her," he said staring at the window.

"You miss the window?" 

"No, I miss my wife, Priya." What the hell? They were together a moment ago. Why does he miss her?

"In case you lost your memory Deepak," I said, "Let me remind you that Priya was with you a while ago."

"What is the use, sir?" Deepak said in a low voice, "We were just standing beside each other. We didn't even get a chance to talk. We were there as a part of our duty. That's it. In Mitra, we had so much time to talk, but now...." he paused, "You have such a tight schedule that we didn't even get a chance to look at each other let alone talk."

What the hell? What do they have to talk? I never had anything to talk to Dharani.  Anyway, I decided to do something about it.

"Let's go," I said, "I promise I'll make you meet your wife."

"Really, sir," Deepak said excitedly.

"Come before I change my mind," I said and Deepak followed me.

We reached Dharani's room and I knocked on her door.

"What is it?" Dharani asked as she opened the door.

"Deepak and Priya, Can you leave us alone. We need some privacy," I said with a straight face.

"Of course, sir," Deepak said as he happily took Priya out and closed the door from behind.

"What nonsense is this Arjun?" Dharani asked slightly frustrated.

"I am your husband," I said, "I have the right to enter your room and talk to you in private."

"Since when did this happen," she asked still frustrated.  She looked cute trying to keep her cool while she was literally mad at me. I wanted to continue but decided to stop.

"Deepak wanted to talk to Priya. They never got an opportunity today because of me. So I planned all this," I said.

"Oh," she exclaimed, "I am sorry. Why didn't you tell me before."

Cause you look cute while you are in frustration.

"Because I am your enemy," I replied.

"Back to the same old nonsense," she sighed.

"You room is pretty boring by the way," I said.

"Why is it so?" she asked slightly offended.

She had like flower paintings all over the walls.

"What is the use of these paintings," I said, "You should have like a row of swords. Different types of swords. Paintings won't protect you. Swords will."

"Stop it, Arjun," she said, "Is there anything else that you can talk about."

"Nothing I guess," I said folding my hands, "Do you have at least one sword? I have mine. We could duel."

"God, what sort of a person are you?" she said, "Is sword fighting the only thing that you could do." I was offended. 

"I'll be right back," I said as I walked out of the room. I came back with my painting equipment.

"You are joking," she said, "There is no way you could paint."

"Oh yeah," I said, "Give me fifteen minutes and don't mind me looking at you. I'll draw the most beautiful version of you."

(Hey guys. Thank you for making it till here. Please vote and comment. So the next chapter will be updated on 19 November 2018. So stay tuned. Thank you and love you all)