CHAPTER- 10

I hugged her very tightly so that she could never leave me,I was scared that the moment I leave her I will lose her forever.

she struggled to free herself from my embrace first but gave up as I was much stronger than her.

then I pulled back from the hug .and she looked into my eyes confused.

"meera jai Singh....are you mad huh?",I shouted at her.

"I....",she tried to say but before letting her finish I again started scolding her.

"you know what I respect it that how much you love that guy and that guy loved you so much that he died to save you,but there are many people other than him who love you ,your mom was crying as hell when you ran from there madly ,Ron was so worried, your teammates my friends everybody was so worried about you ,and I ,you know what meera the moment you left the haveli and Ron told me about your condition, I felt as if I will not see you again,I felt ...as if my whole world was crashing, because I love you,.... I love you from last 8 years, You didn't even knew about me but I followed you on your each and every social media account, I attended all your concerts just because I love you, for everybody else you were just an idol but for me you were more than that,even that music fest I attended it because of you you know how dissapointed I felt when I got the news that you will not be attending the fest,but suddenly when I saw you sitting in the hotel lobby do you know how happy I was,and you wanted to end your life just like that?"I said without stopping even for a second.

"are you mad who is going to end her life,I was just sitting here and enjoying the weather.and I can't die here I know how to swim",she replied.

and I again hugged her,this time even she hugged me back.

she was right the weather was nice and that place was also beautiful but the most beautiful thing about that moment was ,that I was there with her.

the winds that were flowing that day were exceptionally cool and fragrant, which got followed by magic of rain .

I held her hand and we both ran towards a tree to take shelter .

she stood there drying her hair ,and then struggling to reach my hair to dry it holding her scarf,seeing her like that I lowered my head and then she wiped it from her scarf.

and I chuckled seeing her cute and caring behaviour.

I was lost in that moment ,then I suddenly realised that I forgot to inform Ron and fred that I found her. they must be still looking for her.

then I called Ron.

(on the phone)

"hello..",I said.

"hello ,yes joo-won have you found her?",he asked.

"yes I found her and she is with me right now ,don't worry,we will meet you near the car as soon as the rain stops",I said.

after some time rain stopped and we left from there and as we reached near the car we saw Ron and fred waiting there anxiously. .

"meera are you fine..?",Ron asked panicking.

"I am fine.....just wanted to be alone for some time",She said .

"are you mad.....do you know how worried everyone was?",fred said.

"hmmm...I am sorry I shouldn't have done that but ....I don't know I was feeling somewhat suffocated there..",meera said.

"ok stop it ...let's go back",Ron said.

(1 week later)

we were done with today's shooting (location:- jai samand lake udaipur) and were sitting in the boat by which we went to the island resort.

others were busy adoring the scenic beauty and I was sitting quietly as it was nothing new for me , obviously I grew up here in this city. so it was nothing new for me but then also udaipur looks more beautiful then ever during monsoons, so even I couldn't help it after some time .

"meera tell us something about this lake ",do-woon asked . and I like this about him that he is really interested in history and cultural wonders just like me.

so that was the moment he started my radio.

"ok guys then allow me to introduce you to one of great wonders built by mewar king ,maharana jai Singh ",I said standing up on the front bench of the boat.

"ok but first sit down or you will fall down",Ron and Alex said together.

"ok.ok I know.....so as you can see this lake is quite huge and 2nd largest artificial lake of Asia.

It was made by maharana jai Singh ji ,in around 16 th century for irrigation purposes. ",I said and moved towards the right .

and then pointed towards the embankment.and said.

"look there that beautiful embankment was built out of beautiful white marbles and stones also there is a old Shiva temple which will be our next stop",I was saying when haa-joon and shi-woo interrupted in between.

"what?...really this is a man made lake ....",

"yes....and it is very deep too,there are many crocodiles in there so be careful and don't fall in there ",I said .

then joo-won pointed towards the hill and asked.

"what is up there it looks like some sort of a building?",

"ummm.....it's not a building but there is a palace actually there are two of them one right there on top of this hill known as hawa mahal,and another one on that hill known as roothi rani ka mahal",I said.

"roothi...what?",yae joon and Emily asked.

"roothi raani ka Mahal which translates to upset queen's palace. ",I said smiling because I thought of a evil Idea.I know ron,kara and Christopher are cowards they get scared easily.

"and it is said that ,that queen's palace is haunted ",(😎☻😈☠)

the moment I said that there faces were worth watching

"what.....?",joo-won said scared. well that was unexpected but fun.

"yes.....",I said making it sound more scary.

"why....?",do-woon asked looking at joo-won. I understood that he is also very scared of such things so I went further.

"ok so long long ago...",

"stop making it sound over dramatic.....come to the point directly ",Ron said cutting me in between.

"fine....well it is believed that the youngest queen of king jai Singh, she was upset of king because he made her wait and didn't come to her on their first night,so she was very angry she felt very disrespectful and her ego was hurt so she pledged that she is never going to go back to the king's palace,then she lived in that fort with her female servants until she died and even the king was furious because of her behaviour so he never tried to voo her,this made her more angrier and it is said that ,that queen's soul still roams in that palace. she waits for her true love on every full moon night",I said making it sound more scary,but alas my trick worked they looked scared so perfect time to add fuel in fire.

"guys....fun fact today is full moon night",I said.

"no...no you are lying, there is nothing like that",Christopher said. shifting closer to Emily.

"but there is some confusion...",haa-joon said.

"what .....",I asked.

"like if she never loved the king then she is waiting for whom",haa-joon asked. I wanted to say for you Ofcourse I was angry as I could see my plan failing.

"ofcourse she waits for king,she was angry because king was busy with other queens and never glanced at her ,while she only loved him all her life",I said .

"ok...so kind of grave jealousy, and unrequited love ",haa-joon said.

"meera it was really a lame story whom did you hear it from?",yae-joon said breaking his silence.

"my grandpa told me when we came here....",I said.

"how do you know if it is true.....are you sure?",yae-joon asked again.

"you can go and check yourself not a single villager dares to go up there after sunset ,and some who went never returned but there bodies were found floating in the lake ",I said which was true though.

"what.....?",kara said scared as hell.

"don't worry the queen is looking for her true love so you are safe ,all the girls are safe but boys I can't give guarantee about you guys .",I said looking towards the boys group.

"bullshit...",yae-joon said and Ron and Joo-won agreed.

"yeah it is not true....",Christopher said.

"meera have you seen it yourself?",SEO-joon asked.

"umm...no I have never seen that queen's fort but I have been to the king's fort",I said.

"why.....?",do-woon asked.

"I don't know grandpa never allowed us to go there ",I said.

"then let's go and check...if it is really true ",shi-woo said walking towards me.

"I don't think we should go there ",I said because even I felt like something was not right.

"why ...what happened don't tell me even you are scared ",veronica said.

"I am not scared but I am not interested in becoming the live dinner of leopards and other wild animals, it will be dark soon",I said.

"no please let's go even I want to see those forts ",do-woon said.

"yeah and it is just 12 noon we can leave early from there ",min-joon said.

"ok then let's go ...who will inform the staff about it ",I asked.

"do-woon will inform them or we can ask them to come with us ",yae-joon said.

"so let's go ...",fred cheered us.

we went to the shiv temple after landing on embankment and prayed there .

and now I was standing near the lakeside while they were busy taking pictures.

and joo-won approached me.

"meera is that story really true.....",joo-won asked.

"I don't know.....but villagers disappearing after going there is true ",I said as I wanted to make fun of him.

he looked scared.

"are you scared.....?",I asked in a mocking way.

"n....no ..I am not scared",joo-won replied.

"look there is someone behind you....",I said and he turned back to see then as soon as he faced me.

"vooooooo.....",I said and started laughing.

"meera you....you are so bad",he said and I continued laughing.

"and..you are so cute, how can someone not fall in love with you ",I said not realising what I just blurted out.

"so you..finally said it...",joo-won said scratching his neck and smiling at me, I was just feeling embarrassed so I changed the topic and again started to tease him.

and when we were bickering with each other I was still feeling uneasy.

then we left from there towards ticket window.

when I was walking on the embankment suddenly a man passed by and he felt really familiar, I turned back to see who it was then he dropped his wallet unknowingly, I called him but he didn't stopped.

"hey ...stop you dropped your wallet ",I said.

.

.

. he didn't stop so I picked up his wallet and followed him,

"hey beard man wait....",I said and stopped him by keeping my hand on his shoulder .

he turned back and looked all startled but even I was surprised because he looked like aniket,

"Aniket...?",I spoke.

but he didn't replied.

"you are alive.....",I said again and he stood there expressionless.

"meera ...",Ron called me from behind. I looked back at him and our group. they were looking at me confused.

I again turned towards aniket and but he was not aniket. that man looked at Me confused.

I realised what just happened.

then gave him his wallet back. and joined my group back.

"what happened...?",Ron asked me.

"umm.....that man dropped his wallet I was just returning it ",I said.

"ooh....",Ron said and kept his hand around my shoulder.

we took the tickets and went to the baadal Mahal (king's fort). which was 3km up on the hill.

it was already 2 PM by the time we came back to the route again as for the king's fort and queen's fort main path is same but for king's fort we had to take a left turn while for the queen fort it was still 2.5km up from there between the dense forest.

"I don't think we should go there anymore.....",I said.

"why we've come this far let's just go",fred said. and haa-joon and other members agreed.

"I think meera's right.....it is already 2 PM and Looking at weather I think it is going to rain soon",joo-won said.

"just say that you are scared .....",do-woon said.

"hyung I am not scared ",joo-won replied.

"then do you dare to come up there",do won asked joo-won.

"ok fine.....Let's go ..I am not scared at all...",he said and started walking in front like he was leading us.

we started our journey, I was coming here for the first time but I was feeling like I've been here before. as we reached near the fort I started feeling more stuffy and some memories started coming infront of me.

we reached the fort within 30 minutes , I was standing infront of main entrance of the fort.

and I was feeling very sad and this feeling was inexplicable.

they all went inside and I just stood infront of the door.

then rose and veronica came to Me.

"meera come in what happened...why are you standing out here. ",veronica said.

"guys give me some time....you guys go ahead ",I said.

they left from there but I felt extremely nauseous and uneasy, and suddenly my breathing got uneven.

I sat near a tree,trying to balance myself .my head was spinning and aching so much that for a moment I thought it will just burst.

my vision started getting blurry.

then it started to rain heavily.

I was trying to deal with the headaches and trying to see what the heck is happening.

followed by all the flashbacks.

( MEANWHILE on the other side)

"wow what a view....",fred said walking towards the terrace boundaries .

"so joo-won did you see the queen here anywhere ",,yae-joon asked joo-won sarcastically.

"hyung why do you behave like this with her all the time....you don't like her or what?",joo-won said.

"I respect her as an artist she is a amazing singer and songwriter but as a person she doesn't look very innocent I don't know what she really is .....",yae-joon said.

"but.....",,joo-won tried to say but yae joon started again.

"I know, I know you like her very much but I don't want you to get hurt...just try to stay away from her. ",,yae-joon said patting his back..

"veronica where is meera....?",Ron asked veronica who came on the terrace with rose.

"she said she wanted some time alone and asked us go ahead ",veronica said.

"what.....? and you left her alone just like that?",Ron asked furiously.

"I didn't wanted to but.....", veronica said.

"but what....?",Ron said.

"she was not looking well so I thought maybe she needed some space ",Veronica said.

"ok....let her be alone for some time ",Ron said .

"guys come on let's click a selfie.....",kara said walking towards everyone and pulled Ron, veronica and rose with her.

after some time it started raining.

"oh shit...guys let's leave as soon as rain stops ",do-woon said.

"yeah....it is already 3:30 let's leave before we become some wild animal's dinner ",Ron said.

they came out of the fort.

and searched for meera but didn't saw her anywhere.

"call her....",veronica said to Ron.

"yeah I am calling her but there is no network here..",Ron said dialing her number.

joo-won was very scared and started shouting her name.

suddenly some noise was heard from the bushes.

and meera came out.

"what....why are you shouting like that?",meera said walking towards him.

"where were you?",Ron and joo-won asked angrily at the same time.

"nothing just remembered there is an old temple behind this fort so I went there ",meera replied.

"temple.....here..how do you know? didn't you say you haven't been here before ",yae-joon asked.

"my grandfather told me when I was a kid .....he told me there is a very old temple behind this fort ",meera said.

"but atleast you should have informed us..",joo-won said.

"ok now leave it ...let's just go back ",Ron said.