Mriga snorted and said sarcastically, "Yeah, I can imagine how daunting a task it must be. Vindhya seems near perfect, doesn't she?"
In the falling dusk, Yash missed the expressions on her face and replied in all seriousness, "You have nailed the problem. She is not only perfect but also has a high probability of becoming our next Queen. You can imagine now why my mother is so keen on this association."
Mriga stared at him as she absorbed the implication behind his words.
After a moment's pause, she asked softly, "So, you mean to say that I was to become the queen, your mother would happily accept me?"
He looked befuddled.
"What? Wait, noooo. That's not what I mean. My mother has always valued the pedigree and the capability of a person. In her eyes, Vindhya meets all those criteria and hence she is insisting on the match. But you don't have to worry about it. I know how to win her approval," brushing his clothes, he stood up and extended his hand towards her.
Ignoring his support, Mriga got up as well. There was a tide of anger inside her which was gathering momentum slowly. In the past couple of years of her association with Yash, she had not seen this elitist side of his ever.
Eyes ablaze, she asked in a deceptively soft voice, "In other words, irrespective of what I do, I will never be good enough in her eyes for her son, correct?"
"Why are you deliberately getting me wrong at each point? I told you that I will handle it. All I need for you to do is give me some time and have faith in me," he said, trying to hold onto his cool.
He knew that she was upset right now but the situation in front of them needed to be dealt with patiently, not in anger or with misguided emotions.
"Really? So, I want to know how exactly are you going to convince her? From what you have told me, I don't see any possibility where she would say yes to us," Mriga challenged him.
Yash winked at her and said, "I have an ace up my sleeve. Just leave it to me. And if you want to check any of the above with Vindhya, you are welcome to do so. I have told you all there is to it. Now, please can we not talk about this any further. We hardly have anytime left to be together in this term. I don't want to waste it on things which are out of our control at the moment."
Saying so, he pulled her stiff body in his arms.
Mriga resisted initially but he didn't let go. After sometime, she sighed and put her head against his chest. Yash was relieved when she didn't fight to get out of his embrace any more. But he misinterpreted her gesture. Mriga's mind had detached itself from the rest of her limbs at the moment. Her actions weren't a reflection of what she was thinking.
"I shouldn't have fallen for him. I was better off single," she recalled the confusion during the previous holidays when she had contemplated whether to go ahead and take the next step with him.
"I am tired and want to go to bed early. Goodnight!" Mriga told him in a neutral voice when they reached outside her dorm.
They had walked back inside the Gurukul in near silence. Yash sensed that she was still under shock after the episode today so he didn't push her any further.
"I understand. Don't think too much and go to sleep early. Tomorrow is the last day when we can be together before leaving for holidays. Pack your things early so that we can spend the maximum time together, hmm?" he said in a gentle tone.
His heart had been filled with fear when she had confronted him about Vindhya. Even though he had tried to stay calm and rational, the scare of losing her had hit him the hardest in that moment. He vowed to himself that he would go and talk to his mother first thing rather than wait for an opportunity, later. He couldn't afford another misunderstanding with Mriga at this juncture of their relationship. To all and sundry, she looked gentle and amiable but he knew for a fact how resolute and determined she could be, once she made up her mind.
Mriga had just sat down on her bed when Ishani came looking for her.
"Where have you been through the day? Weren't we supposed to go and confront Yash today?" she plopped on the bed and asked her.
Mriga raised her grief-stricken eyes and replied, "Well, the confrontation happened unexpectedly. I have just returned from there."
Ishani saw her miserable expression and immediately sat up.
"Tell me everything," she ordered.
Though Mriga didn't want to relive the moments, she recounted the episode dutifully to her friend. She knew that Ishani had been concerned about her.
"That bitch! Listen, you may have gotten convinced by the whole thing but I am not. I am going to look for concrete answers right now," she said heatedly.
Mriga stopped her friend from getting up and asked, "Where are you going? He already explained the whole thing to me. I don't want to hear anymore of his explanations."
She extracted her hand from her friend's grasp and said, "I am not going to talk to Yash. I am going to that haughty girl, Vindhya. She is the one with the answers."
Without waiting to hear any more objections from Mriga, she got up and walked away. Mriga shook her head at her hot-headed bestie's reaction. She felt too tired to get up and run after her. Nothing was going to change...