Page 72

Story: Tainted Bride

When Avishka was coming down the stairs with Sandhya, her face was bowed. However, as soon as she heard Aashi reciting the poem, she looked ahead, smiling. However, when she saw Prakram smiling in front of her, she found herself mesmerized by his smile alone. She could not contain her gaze upon him; she simply continued to stare at him incessantly, as if he were undetectable.

Avishka is also smiling very softly, and by the time Aashi finishes her poem, she has come down. Prakram happily hugs her and immediately looks at Avishka, who had just looked at him a few moments before. She lowers her eyes, and when his eyes go to her, she is not looking at him, but seeing her in a red saree, it is as if suddenly Prakram's heartbeat increases. He has lifted her daughter into his lap and is showering kisses on her, but hiseyes are not taking off from Avishka at all. Sandhya and Avishka go out, and Digvijay stands up and says something to Prakram while adjusting his clothes.

"She is going with you; see her as much as you want.”

Prakram immediately looks towards his father, but Digvijay goes out without any delay. Armaan starts smiling after listening to him, and Prakram also looks at him while cocking up his one eyebrow. Armaan understands that staying here could put him in danger, which is why he has decided to join Digvijay. He doesn't understand much of what his father means because he doesn't want to understand, so he just goes out with Aashi and sits on the driving seat, holding Aashi in his lap, because sometimes Aashi likes to sit on the driving seat like this, and today he is very happy with her, so he himself sat with her without her insistence.

“Yeeppiiii… “

There is a car ahead of Prakram's car, which he quickly leaves first, then Prakram starts his car to move to follow the car, and behind that is another car filled with bodyguards, and behind them is Digvijay's car, and after that, another bodyguard's car. Sandhya had already made Avishka sit on the passenger seat of Prakram's car, due to which she is sitting silently and is smiling softly, seeing Aashi being so happy, especially since her eyes are falling on Prakram again and again. He is enjoying himself a lot while driving the car with Aashi.

"Aashi, I am scared; don’t drive the car so fast.”

"I will drive fast. Broooommmm..."

The conversation between father and daughter is also very interesting, and there is a continuous smile on her face.Prakram has often caught glimpses of this smile from the corner of his eye, as it was the first time he had seen her smiling so consistently. He is also noticing that when Aashi says something, her eyes inevitably look at her, and when he says something, her eyes inevitably look towards him with a smile, without any hesitation.

The journey to the deity's temple is approximately three hours away, and he informs Avishka that it is rare to have a proper prayer there due to the large crowd.

"It is not so easy to get visitation from the deity, and there is a lot of crowd, so take good care of yourself.”

As soon as he begins telling her this, Avishka closely examines his face and nods her head, prompting him to continue.

“Words are answered with words. When I am talking to you, I also want answers in words only.”

"Yes, I will...”

Following this brief response, Avishka immediately averts her gaze from the window, prompting Prakram to briefly close his eyes. He understands that Avishka's abrupt remark likely caused her some discomfort, and instead of relishing the moment, she now turns her gaze outside. He did not like all this, but he knows that he cannot do anything; it is all in his nature. He consistently expresses himself in this manner, which contributes to his perceived harshness and heartlessness. Without doing anything special, he immediately tells Avishka while driving like this with Aashi for some more time.

"Avishka, take Aashi to your side... Driving will have to be done even faster because this way there will be too much delay.”

Aashi also quickly comes to Avishka, and both of them start talking to each other slowly. Sometimes they are playing with each other, and sometimes they are rubbing each other's noses. Prakram is very concentrated and drives the car because his attention is going to both of them again and again because both of them are looking very good with each other and anyone would like to see these two together, and whenever Aashi is saying something like this, Avishka laughs. Her laughter carries a distinct sound, akin to a chime, which he is experiencing for the first time.

Everyone reaches the temple. Sandhya hands the worship plate to Avishka, and since there are a lot of stairs, Prakram takes Aashi in his arms. All of them keep climbing the stairs slowly with the crowd, and due to the crowd, they are often getting pushed a bit. Prakram suddenly grabs Avishka's arm, turns her in front of him, pulls her towards him, and holds her waist instantly. He begins walking while keeping Aashi safe, ensuring that both Aashi and Avishka are completely safe in his care.

Due to Prakram suddenly holding her like this and holding her waist, Avishka also puts her hand on his and holds the plate with one hand and looks at him, but he only signals her to move ahead. Even after doing this, she is not able to leave his hand because, due to the crowd, she is a little worried, but she knows that it is very common to find such a crowd in the temples of goddesses; here, neither anyone is small nor bigger; everyone gets the visitation like a commoner. To do this, one has to face such things. Both Digvijay and Sandhya are nearby. Digvijay has similarly positioned Sandhya before him, leading Prakram to gaze at his father and become engrossed in certain recollections.

PAST

Divya and Prakram have returned from visiting the temple after a lot of difficulties, and Divya is looking very tired due to such a crowd. She is looking at Prakram with a tied face, still assessing the crowd around her, but when he notices her troubled expression, he smiles at her.

"Papa's princess became upset at the slightest push.”

"Of course you held my hand; without it, I felt like I would lose my way in this crowd. Look at the crowd. I will never come here."

He laughs at her innocent response. Digvijay and Sandhya come there and smile, seeing both of them, and Digvijay immediately says to Prakram.

"How many times have I come here with Sandhya for visitation, and every time Sandhya and I get a proper view of our deity very easily because we both want to worship together with a clean heart? Every time I hold her in front of me and take her in my arms like that, Sandhya does not face any problems. Because I am here to take all the blow, and she is saved from it."

Digvijay immediately places Sandhya in front of him, holding her by the waist. As a result, Sandhya begins to make eye contact with him to scare him because he is showing them his cute moments, but both Prakram and Divya burst into laughter. Prakram glances at Divya, while Divya looks away, smiling as she understands what he is conveying through his gestures.

PRESENT

When Prakram feels the rapid splash of water on himself, he immediately starts looking forward. He is standing exactly in front of the idol of the goddess and can pray very comfortably. He has never had such a good view of the deity when he comes here with Divya. Avishka, holding the plate, approaches thepriest and glances at Prakram, who also needs to touch it. He immediately puts his hand on the plate and moves it towards the priest.

The push of the crowd is still felt, so Prakram has taken Aashi and Avishka in his arms very well. Avishka immediately takes Aashi in her arms and clings to her, and Prakram holds both of them tightly in his arms and starts worshiping with them with folded hands forward because Prakram is very close to them. Prakram is getting all the blows, but he is not letting Aishka and Aashi feel those blows at all.

Aashi immediately joins her hands and begins to worship the goddess, a sight that causes Prakram and Avishka to smile and begin their own worship. All three bow their heads together and pray for each other.