Ashmita was startled by the sudden voice and turned around slowly. It was the annoying prince leaning with his side against the flagpole on the castle. Partially covered masculine body glistening gold for the sun rays, he stood folding his hands to his chest and with a playful smirk on his face.
"Prince Rishi? What are you doing here?" Ashmita asked calmly.
Rishi noticed a change in her tone and walked slowly towards her. He said, "Well.. I have been waiting for you since the morning. Poor me.. I waited for so long, so excited to see this beauty.. I mean.. this Kingdom's beauty. You remember that the King, your grandfather, wanted you to show me around the place, don't you?"
"Yeah I remember and apologies, today we had to have a meeting with an important person so I couldn't be available before. But don't worry, I will take you to some beautiful places tomorrow", Ashmita said with a well pretended smile.
"Alright then. One thing.. You don't seem so well right now. Is it anything to do with that important person you mentioned earlier? I can understand if you don't want to share. Definitely", Rishi asked, sitting beside her, turning his face from her's to the setting sun.
Ashmita felt a little annoyed as her peace got ruined and yet, "Nothing Prince Rishi, I am alright. Also how can you come to conclusions like that? Such cannot always be right.." Ashmita said calmly, looking straight into the sun.
"Well.. Normal people find it charming in me as my conclusions are right, always!" Rishi boasted about himself and said, "Since you're good, tell me.. Do you like the sunset?" They continued their stare at the sun as he kept sinking down.
Realising that she can't shake him off anytime soon, "Yes.. In fact I like sunrise as well", Ashmita patiently replied looking at Rishi.
"Ohh. Can I ask why?" Rishi asked curiously.
"Hmm.. In my childhood, after a delicious breakfast, I used to play along with my friends in the mornings and get trained for fighting skills in the evenings. Like every other kid I enjoyed a lot playing but felt miserable getting trained so hard everyday upto certain age. So I guess, I eventually started believing that, by the evening, all our problems, sorrows and hardships end along with the sunset in peace and so beautifully like the sky right now" Ashmita said showing Rishi the sky, "On the other hand, sunrise brings us new laughs, new hopes, new strength and fresh courage, of course to fight the new problems. Also the sun rising everyday itself sets an inspiration for me. So that's the reason I love both."
"You see.. In our lives, we always have one or the other things like happiness or sadness, dreams or troubles, hopes or despair moments. We wish we can have all the positive things all the time. But it's not possible. Also sometimes, we need to let go of something in order to grab something better. So this losing or gaining the positive things or negative things should be done carefully and beautifully with courage like the sun does everyday", Ashmita said by closing her sun-bathing eyelids that're drenched in his faint orange light.
"Beautiful..!" Rishi said unconsciously as he was looking at Ashmita, whom he thought to be an angry little bird always but is a real soft person surprisingly. 'Seriously Feisty.. How many shades have kept hidden in that beautiful heart of yours..? Can you hide me in there for this one lifetime please? 'Cause every moment with you is turning into a memorable one for me' he thought to himself.
"What do you mean?"Ashmita snapped her fingers in on Rishi's face who seemed to be spaced out.
"Huh? What did I say..? Yes! Beautiful!! Sunset and your explanation were..", Rishi said while looking around but not at the Ashmita.
Ashmita chuckled and nodded her head.
"What about you? You like sunset? " Ashmita asked, looking at Rishi.
'I like you feisty' Rishi thought of saying it loud but he managed to say, "Well.. I didn't really have much time to enjoy nor praise nature's beauty. I was always immersed with training between the four walls and even haven't read about these in books either. I was only supposed to read about the history of kingdoms, war tactics, serving people, laws enforced in different kingdoms, about agriculture and so on but never the literature", Rishi said with a bitter smile.
"After countless attempts, I finally convinced my father to go out of that cage and explore all the kingdoms. I personally made it a challenge to find something rare and much interesting", Rishi said.
"So did you find it?" Ashmita asked.
"Find what?" Rishi asked with confusion.
"Did you find that rare and interesting thingy?" Ashmita asked her question again.
"Yeah.. Think I found it..", Rishi said by looking directly into Ashmita's eyes. Suddenly she started to experience the same magic that she felt when they met each other for the first time.
Both of them looked at each other and time seemed to have freezed. They both looked at each other's eyes and there was something happening with their minds and hearts.
They both came out of their stupor suddenly when a pigeon lay on Ashmita's shoulder. They both turned around at the same time and their hearts bet loudly and in sync.
'Ah.. What happened you Ash? You stupid girl..! Control yourself!!' Ashmita cursed herself inwardly and tried to calm her beating heart.
'Rishi. C'mon man. What's wrong with you? Is this the first time you are seeing a beautiful girl? Well.. this much of a beauty? Of course Yes! This is my first time seeing such a rare beauty but get a grip on yourself and don't scare her already', Rishi scolded himself by placing his hand on his thumping heart.
"Good Night. Prince Rishi", Ashmita said hurriedly and went towards the stairs.
"Uh.. Well.. Yea.. Good Night! But don't forget our trip to the lands!" Rishi said fastly.
Ashmita nodded but before she went down she looked back and looked at Rishi. Rishi's heart skipped a beat by her look but what she said later made his heart stop, almost.
"Pince Rishi. For a charming prince because of the conclusions you make, you need to realize the difference between me and my sister Ashmita", she smirked and left.
Rishi stood there like a statue and after some time he snapped back into reality and went hurriedly downstairs.
While in his hurry he didn't notice the person ahead and walked directly into him.
"Ouch.. Sorry.. Sorry.." Rishi realised there are two people in front of him.
"You?? Ashmita??" Rishi asked the other person hesitatingly.
"Hello! Prince Rishi. I am Abhijit and she is Maira not Ashmita", Abhi introduced Maira and himself.
"What??" Rishi got shocked again. Rishi knows that Ashmita has a twin sister. He noticed it on the day he arrived but he didn't get time to meet her. Today he also tried to meet her but he didn't find anybody.
"Hello Prince Rishi. I am Miara", Maira introduced herself again.
"Are you sure that you are not Ashmita?" Rishi again asked to confirm.
"Yes I am sure", Maira chuckled and asked, "But May I know why you are asking this?"
"Well.. that.. I have been speaking with Ashmita until now on the roof but at the end, she said I need to know the difference between you two. So..." Rishi explained the situation.
Maira laughed by throwing her head back and said, "Ohh... Sorry to say this Prince Rishi and I really don't mean to laugh at you but i think she just played with you"
Rishi frowned after hearing maira's words and understood that Ashmita really played with him.
'Huh..! Ok feisty. Not bad. But next time I won't fall for your tricks", Rishi thought to himself and smirked.
"That's fine Maira and hello Abhijit glad to meet you man. Sorry for the delay in responding" Rishi said with a smile.
"Not a problem Prince. Then.. we will take our leave. Good Night", Abhi said.
"Well then, Good Night!" Rishi said.
Abhi and Maira left the place and Rishi also went to his room.