I felt the crimson heat rush up my cheeks. In that moment, all I could think was, thankfully, Rani-maa wasn’t there. She had gone to put the babies to sleep.
“I can tell you, Bhabhi-sa,” Nandani teased, wagging her brows.“She’s probably planning to use her tongue.”
My eyes widened in flustered shock, and a wave of laughter erupted in the room.
But Daadi-sa voiced her confusion.
“Tongue?” she frowned.“For what, Nandani?”
“Talking, Daadi-sa,” Nandani exclaimed quickly.“T for talking, T for tongue for talking,” she smiled sheepishly.
Everyone laughed except me. They kept pulling my leg until midnight, until finally I escaped them, using sleep as an excuse.
Nandani was happy. After so long, I had seen her laughing, really. She had stopped smiling after her father’s demise. And that was why they took a three-year break before having their first baby.
But, after Princess Rudraja was born, she believed it was her father who had come back to her in their baby’s form.
When I returned to my chamber, I noticed a few attendants still awake.
“You didn’t have to stay up. You all can rest now.” I said, retiring them for the day.
I plopped onto the bed and stretched my arms. It had been a long, eventful day.
As I got busy taking off my bangles, I suddenly heard the heavy sound of anklets.
My brows creased. I had asked all the attendants to leave, so who was it at such a late hour?
Lifting my gaze, I looked at a very tall… bulgy lady stepping in. She had her face covered with the veil, and her walk was oddly… manly.
I frowned, tilting my head, observing the strangely familiar figure.
My eyes widened in shock.
Kunwar-sa!!!
As he stepped closer, I noticed the red skirt he had worn low on his hips. The dupatta hung awkwardly around his neck, covering him to the chest but open at the back. And as he lifted the veil off, my mouth opened wide.
“Do you want anything, Princess?” he said, feigning a high-pitched girlish voice, kneeling before me.
His eyes were unusually large, rimmed with thick strokes of kohl. His hair fell messily over his forehead. A bold dot of red vermilion sat between his brows; big jhumkas dangled from his ears, and the way he‘tried’to blush, fluttering his lashes, left me torn between sheer amusement and dying embarrassment.
“What?” That was the only word I could utter after several failed attempts to open and close my mouth.
My eyes dropped south to his blouse, which was barely holding on, ready to rip at any moment. His buff chest and half of his nipples were visible.
I stood up from the bed and walked behind him to see his back. And…
I instantly burst into loud fits of laughter.
“Oh my God, Kunwar-sa!!!”
“Shhh…” he immediately hushed me, and I pursed my lips.
He then stood up and walked toward the table with exaggerated grace.
I couldn’t control my laughter as his back came into my view again. I bit my inner cheek, seeing his blouse’s strings tangled here and there, tied only at the end.
Picking the fruit bowl, he returned to the bed and placed it on the mattress.
