CHAPTER-5

From which world these people are?

I was really scared. I couldn't fathom if I should be relieved or worried. This information about the 'Royal kings' was too much.

"Wh...Do you mean it was their doing? They have done that....gruesome murder?" I asked to stutter. They are cruel.

She nodded her head. "I am not sure if they have done it or not but I am damn sure the reason behind his death was definitely 'them'. I meant to say, who knows if it was done by the subjects of their monarch after all the kings are portrayed as ideal, powerful and benevolent for them. The city, the area or territory in which they reside, called 'kings city', is under their direct control. Any mishappening or wrongdoing happens there, personally dealt by them." She stated in a monotone voice.

I licked my lips before swallowing. Will I also be found dead in my living room? But I don't even have an open living room and chair in there. I live in a very small apartment in an old building. I'm too young to die.

'You don't need a living room and chair to die, woman.' (IS) commented.

No no. I don't wanna die yet..it's been six months since I came here. I don't want to die in a foreign country. Who knows if they would transport my body to my family or not.

Nooo, it can't be...

"Archery, swordsmanship, jousting, and whatnot. What doesn't he know? He is just fucking aww-some. You know, I also heard somewhere that he has a connection with some 'mafias' too but I don't think so...could it be?" She whispered the last part...

What!!

Ma..mafia...adrenaline shot through me at the thought of being killed by some mafia..... ab to pakka gyi tu mano! (Now you are surely gone, Mano!)

I took a shaky breath and licked my lips and then looked at Amy who was observing me keenly.

"Why?...Aww..my boli Bali babe. Don't worry, if they ever tried to hurt you in any way, I will myself numb their royal jewels for a lifetime so that they won't be able to produce their next heir. your lioness is here, babes! Don't underestimate the power of great Amanda Rutz." She said to me as usual dramatically.

Listening to her, I laughed a bit. She is indeed a unique piece, spicy gal, always makes me calm, smile and soothe. And she always pronounces it wrongly.

"I know, my lady love. and its bholi bhali.....next time don't even try to say it as it produces another meaning if you pronounce it in your way." I told her.

(Bholi bhali= naive girl)

She pouted. "Okay! But it's fun. Imma learns more new Hindi words. And teach me some abusive words in Hindi, I want to experiment on some assholes around." She asked, smiling.

I widened my eyes, I surely knew to whom and shook my head. Crazy girl.

"Hey wait! Then who was he? The one who introduced himself as 'kings'. Tristan kings?" I asked curiously.

Amy frowned, probably thinking about another royal and then replied, "Ahh yes! He must be his cousin as DRK is the only son. I have heard about him too in some articles but didn't notice that much....hmmm...." 

I nodded. I thought he was the king.

Anyways. just leave them. I don't want to think about them or Him.

Mafia.......god.....thank god I survived this time.

But what if he came again to get his revenge or his men as he is the proud king. He seemed to have huge fan followings and subjects.

I tensed and shook my head.

Even if you ever come across him, just ignore him or disregard him. yes....its the plan..never open your curious mouth in his presence. 

"Okay then. I gotta go...I am getting late. see you tomorrow. Love ya." I waved to her.

"Love ya too babes! See you. Take care." she said, kissing me cheek.

Ughhh...I hate kisses except for kids but it's okay..she is my Amy.

After changing into my previous dress, I started to walk out when I heard Amy saying, "Say Hi to my kookie." 

"Sure. Bye." I said and walked out but again I heard her say, "And Don't forget to dream about the dazzling kings tonight." she screeched.

Unbelievable! First of all this girl scared the hell out of me singing some horrifying and distressing incidents of them, then dared to tell me to dream about that dreading Royals.

I shook my head and headed towards the bus stop which is just a few steps away from our cafe. My usual bus was already there, passengers were boarding the bus, I also hurriedly boarded and took the window seat. It will take around twenty minutes for me to reach my next destination. Looking out of the bus window, I got immersed in my thoughts.

▪Some flashbacks from the past ahead:

______________________________________

I still remember that day, when a week after my birthday, my paternal aunt came to me with a marriage proposal which was damn perfect for me according to her as she said,

"Your to be husband is handsome, well educated and plays in millions, girl. You will always be happy after marriage. Moreover, he lives in New York City. You are so lucky..you are going abroad and have a lavish life."

These desi Indian aunties, am telling you, don't have any business except making the pairs. where ever you go, either any occasion or places, you will find them staring at you like doing some physical x-ray of yours. It's frustrating!

Tukur tukur dekhti hai Mari huyi buffalo ki Tarah...

(They stared non stop like a dead buffalo with opened eyes.)

She told every information about them to my family. They asked everything which is required for the parents to know when they are going to give their daughter to someone. My family is considered cultist, religious and conservative and holding good values. They taught us to be always righteous, respectful, kind and forgiving but never let your guard down and let anyone take advantage of your goodness. Most importantly, never hurt anyone, physically or emotionally.

We are the only two daughters of our parents. My di (big sis) was already married and got one cute baby boy. She is leading a happy life with her hubby and in-laws.

So the date of my marriage was fixed within a week. I met my future husband, Ranish Jaiswal, two times before marriage. He seemed reserved, a smug and weird type of guy to me but I was not complaining as everyone has their nature.

In my case, all I want LTR- love, trust and respect. But loyalty is a major required part of all marriages. As long as he can give me that, I would be content. Support, protection and other things come after them...but as we can get everything in our lives so it's ok for me.

Moreover, he made it easy for me in both the meetings so that we could get along with each other, through joking, sharing some habits and the expectations from this marriage, likes and dislikes etc.

Soon the day came when I got married to Ranish. I am a family girl who cried like there was no tomorrow. My parents are my world, my mum is an emotional kinda lady so it was hard for her especially. They had already bid farewell to one of their daughters, now it was my turn. After bidding goodbye to them, we went away from there as our flight to America was after a week so we have got a lot of arrangements to do.

Being very nervous at that time thinking about our first night, I asked for some time to adjust to Ranish. I didn't want to take this marriage one step ahead without proper faith and understanding between us. So he also agreed with this. I got really happy that time, feeling he is an ideal husband for me who understood my point without any argument.

But on the same night, when Ranish was in the washroom and I was sitting on the bed taking off all my jewels, his phone pinged near me. I saw a message on his phone screen from 'Sarika' named girl stating "you didn't understand the need to t......" I couldn't read it afterwards.

I thought she could be his friend as he is the only child of his parents. And I didn't hear about any Sarika named girl being his cousin. When I confronted him about her, first he got little

angry about invading his privacy but I told him it was unintentional that I got to see it. He disregarded me saying that she is only his friend in New York, congratulating him being married. I left that conversation keeping in mind that she is only a friend and I shouldn't mistrust him like that. Our life has just started and we both need to do our part to keep this marriage in work.

So we decided to lead our married life step by step starting from being friends. My in-laws were also good and affectionate towards me.

After landing in New York City, I got busy with my married life, doing household chores and all personal work for my husband like cooking, ironing, washing and cleaning the items and taking care of him. He told me not to do these things, maids can be arranged but I was happy to do all that. I am full-on 'desi girl' carrying some dreams with me inside. I wanted to be a good and ideal wife for him. Moreover, despite having a degree, I didn't have any kinda job to do then but I intended to do once I got comfortable with my new surroundings and people there.

He introduced some of his close friends to me and other relatives. Most of them are arrogant, egocentric and unwelcoming but his one friend sammie and his Girlfriend were nice to me. We even exchanged our numbers. And his friend Sarika, she was very mean to me, every time whenever we talked she either threw spiteful words at me or glared at me with those hateful eyes and Ranish never cared about it. As if it was usual for him seeing her like this daily.

Days passed, but I couldn't feel the connection between us which a married couple should usually have but in my heart somewhere, I knew that he is not the one who is showing himself. Although every conversation or talk started from my side, he never took part in any of them interestingly. He used to go to work at 8 in the morning and returned at 6 in the evening. He never called me in his working hours.

Gradually, I came to know about his other habits which he kept hidden from me, after coming here. He is non-vegetarian and drinks often used to do parties and clubs with friends and even girlfriends including that Sarika. She sometimes came to our home and used to behave in ways like she is queen. I thought she was his best friend, that's why. I didn't want to come in between their friendship but she needed to realise her place a,s after one's marriage, changes happened frequently between the friendship of a girl and boy.

I asked him to quit all those habits, but he never listened. I started feeling depressed as he returned late at night and sometimes started to get intimate with me in his drunken state but I used to stop him. I dunno why I started feeling disgusted with him. We never even had a proper kiss. Only cuddlings, snuggling and some cheek kisses.

One day we got into a big argument about him coming late and having girlfriends who called and messaged him knowing that he is married now. He promised me that he will try to change himself. After that, I gave him a chance to rectify himself as I wanted this marriage to work. I never told anything about this to my parents in detail as I know they would be miserable knowing their daughter is suffering all of this alone in another country.

One day on his weekend holiday, we were talking about doing grocery items and my stuff as he was keeping his promise. We were flourishing day by day. Later, he told me that he has to prepare some important project, whose submission date has been preponed which he came to know a few minutes ago. I told him, nothing to worry about. I Will go alone...

I went to the general store first, to purchase some personal stuff, as I knew my periods were coming in 3-4 days. I was putting some other required goods in my trolley, when I saw a little girl around 4-5 years old was pulling something from the shelf while lifting her heels. Such a cute little girl! 'Would our baby be this cute?'

I walked towards her to see what she was grabbing. It was a big KitKat box and was shaking by her little force which in turn disturbed the other KitKat boxes besides, resulting in their falling.

With widening eyes, I hurriedly pulled her towards my side before they fell on her. I sat down on my knees to her height.

"Hey baby, are you alright? You didn't get hurt right?" I asked her, checking her thoroughly if she was hurt. 

She blinked her eye and looked at me with astonished cute expressions.

Awww!!!

A woman came running to our side. She looked at the scattering KitKat boxes on the floor, then held the Lil girl and kissed her cheeks.

"My baby boo, are you ok, my love?" She worriedly asked her, kissing again and again. I stood up.

"Mommy! Oh yes, sobbry angel saved me. I am ok." the cute girl said excitedly. Her mother then looked at me, more like at my shirt and smiled.

I frowned and looked at my shirt and.....ah! I was wearing a 'strawberry angel' t-shirt.

I smiled in return at her daughter who was watching me like she got her favourite porcelain doll.

"Thank you so much, dear, it was really sweet of you. You see, this Little monster is a troublemaker. Always brings trouble around. I need to teach her a lot". She said to me in gratitude and the last part to her daughter in Little stern tone.

Her daughter gave a toothy smile to her mother. This child has acquired intolerably cute mannerisms.

"It's alright, we used to do the same things in our childhood ..right," I said to her and smiled. She nodded her head and smiled at her daughter who also gave a shy smile.

"Aww, you are such a cute princess," I told her, cupping her chubby cheeks. She widened her eyes and smiled ear to ear.

"Mommy! Look sobbry angel also called me 'pincess'. uncle Ree also called me a pincess." She giggled and held my cheeks too in return.

"You are also a pretty sobbry angel. I love angels. Thank you for saving me." She said in her cutest baby voice. I smiled at her amusingly. Her mother held her hand.

"It's very pleasurable to meet you dear, but we have to go now, as we are already getting late." She said, apologetically.

"Yes. I understand. It's nice meeting you too." I said to her. Grabbing one KitKat box and bidding bye to me both of them went away.

Such a cute baby!

While walking I felt cramps in my lower stomach. So I dropped the idea of further purchasing and headed to my home with some purchased items.

While walking into the living room, I heard some noises. As I walked near, I heard of someone moaning and grunting. I stilled and blinked my eyes. what is this?

'No...it can't be. Is it what I'm thinking of? Ranish can't do that..nooo. he can't cheat on me. We decided to take it slowly. How could he? No! He is anything but a cheater. No way. Bu....but....it seemed to be his moans. W..what should I do? Should I check who is inside with whom?'

Tears started forming in my eyes. This couldn't happen as he never gave me any chance to doubt him on this matter. But what is this?

After pondering on my thoughts, I decided to solve my dilemma.