Warrior Princess; Her Quest to the throne

0Though Vandit had spoken softly, Abhirath heard him loud enough to level a glare at him.     0

"Are you both talking about Mriga here, per chance?" Nirbhay asked lazily.     

Both the boys looked at him with wide eyes.     

"Haa… what's with that expression. It wasn't that tough to figure it out. The first time that brother Shaurya came to the Gurukul in the guise of a goon, Abhirath had been the first one to go and stand in front of her, protectively. None of us knew each other then. But he hadn't hesitated for even one second before doing so. On our first day at brother Shaurya's shop, he had lost his cool at her for interacting with a stranger. Though he had tried to spin it giving it some vague reason but it was apparent enough for anyone who had eyes and a little common sense, to see through the flimsy excuse. Lastly, he resented you the most for sharing a cosy relationship with her. Again, he tried to hide it under the garb of your under performance but I knew better," he summed it up, looking at Vandit.     

Abhirath got incensed and said, "What utter nonsense is this? Have you all lost your mind? Who said that I was talking about her? Nirbhay, you really should apply for a writer's workshop. You are good at making up stories out of thin air. Stop assuming things… I am warning all of you."     

Chiranjeev ignored the outburst completely and asked Vandit, "Hmm… so is that why he has chosen her as his co-instructor for the archery competition?"     

The boys continued ribbing Abhirath mercilessly, disregarding his angry denials.     

Finally, Nirbhay said, "So, do you think we should help him out? If left to his own devices, he would not be able to achieve his target in the remaining two years of our Gurukul life. What if someone else snares our girl by then?"     

"Actually, I think it may already be too late already," Chiranjeev said slowly.     

"What do you mean by that?" Nirbhay asked curiously.     

"Do you know that batchmate of ours from the accounting department who always comes first in the relay races… I can't recall his name at the moment. I think he is pretty 'friendly' with our little Mriga. I have seen them often hanging together around the library and have run into him a couple of times outside the Arts girls' dorm," Chiranjeev said.     

Now all eyes were on him.     

"Uh, I had gone to the girls' dorm to, ahem, hand over a package to someone who belongs to the same zilla as me. Stop looking at me like that. Anyways, focus on our buddy's problem here for now. That's more important," he said hastily.     

This time round, even Abhirath didn't try to argue or deny the claim. He had seen her come with that guy on the first day of their mentoring the juniors. But his heart had refused to believe that there was anything going on between the two of them. Wasn't that guy some big official's son? Why would he be interested in a girl with a normal background?     

His heart answered back morosely – "because she isn't a normal girl. She is a bright little star who spreads sunshine all around her!! And you are an idiot for not recognising it in the past two years."     

Vandit stole a peek at his downcast expressions and told everyone, "I am really depressed after that assessment report and need some food to cheer me up. Should we go and see what has our famous foodhall decided to serve us today?"     

Taking the hint, everyone nodded their heads in agreement and turned towards the cafeteria.     

"Oh! Hey you guys…" Mriga was happy to see familiar faces standing in front of her.     

She had been summoned by Ramanujam to receive her report after the boys and hence ran into everyone near the Admin building. She hadn't seen anyone except Abhirath in the past few days and was excited to meet the lot.     

The boys looked at each other in consternation. It was as if she had been conjured up by their thoughts.     

"What are you doing here, Mriga?" Vandit recovered first and asked her.     

She made a face at him and replied, "Just because I didn't complete my internship doesn't mean that I can't be invited for tea by the teachers, right?"     

Everyone stared at her in surprise. How come none of them had been asked to stay back for tea?     

She looked at their shocked expressions and giggled.     

She dropped her voice by a few octaves and said, "Aren't you completely gullible? I can't believe that all of you believed my stupid lie, even Abhirath!"     

"Why, why can't I believe you?" he responded heatedly.     

Vandit put a restraining arm around his shoulder and said lightly, "Haha, this is what she means. See, you are the first one to question her on everything. So, what are you doing here, Mriga?"     

He tried to cover up for his currently jittery friend but Mriga was so happy about the boys' getting duped by her a moment ago, that didn't find anything amiss about Abhirath's remark.     

She shrugged her shoulders and said, "I am here to collect my assessment report. Even though I interned for a short period of time, but I still need to show the record of that."     

"Well, don't go in with high expectations. We all have been given mediocre reports to keep us looking normal instead of 'outstanding'. I am assuming your report will be identical to ours," Nirbhay said with a smirk.     

She laughed and after agreeing with his assessment, made a move to go away.     

"Uh, I was… we were wondering if you would like to join us for dinner after this? Abhirath told us that you have been doing a great job teaching the younger kids. We all want to hear about it," Vandit addressed her retreating back.     

Mriga turned and looked at Abhirath in surprise, "Really? You said good things about me after giving me so much grief on the ground?"