Page 114 of A King's Oath
“Really want to go?”
Avantika shrugged — “It wasn’t like a dream-dream. I have loved Van Cleef & Arpels, I mean. Their jewellery is incredible. Working for them was… fairytalish. Of course, now I see the reality and it’s way different…”
“What was your dream-dream then?”
She turned her face to eye him. His profile was sharper now. He had grown up and grown up so well. The flesh had baked into his bones, the faint five ‘o clock shadow had replaced the soft dark fuzz of his youth, the eyes… they were still as truthful as they used to be. But they were also deeper, more intense, because life had dug a pit inside them.
“Hmm?” His head turned, and those pits stared deep into hers.
“To make my own life.”
“You are not happy in your palace?”
“I am happy. But I have spent more years away from there than in there. Strangely… I am not as attached to it as I like to think. I love my parents, Kaka Maharaj and Kaki Maharaj… my cousins…”
“Kresha,” he rolled his eyes. She chuckled.
“On leap days, Kresha too, yes. But living there, a set pattern awaited me. I did not want that. Saraswati Crest had straightened the royal keeda out of all of us. So the princess life did not appeal to me… See, I am not a rebel. That’s something I have finalised about myself.”
“Finalised?” His eyebrows shot up.
“Yeah. It took me years to think and figure it out. Was I just a rebel because I wanted to do something so unorthodox? Or was I something else? I have come to the conclusion that I am not a rebel.”
“Then what are you?”
“I am… I don’t know what I am for making this decision of my life.” She smiled. “But I can say this with 100% clarity that I am happy.”
“Content.”
Her smile softened.
“Samarth, are you content?”
He nodded, too quickly for her comfort.
“Happy?”
“You ask me this on every birthday call.”
“So?”
“So? My birthday is over.”
“I am still asking.”
“I am not happy about you doing this because of me. How will I carry this guilt with me all my life? That I spoiled what could have been a happy, fulfilled life for you…”
“Oh, please, don’t overestimate yourself. Your god complex was there in school but now it’s gone to the next level.”
“I am serious, Ava. Rethink. Please. There is no prize for greatness…”
“Excuse me? You think this is me trying to be great?” Her temper flared.
“I didn’t mean it like that…”
“Then what did you mean it like? You have a god complex of meddling in people’s lives and making them as perfect as you can. I don’t. I only meddle with my own life.”
“And look what you are doing.”
