“Why is your Prince so very stubborn?" She asked SurPal Singh, who she found out was the aide of the Prince from Raina.
He smiled and said lovingly, “Dheeth aur bahuth hi pyaarey!”
(Stubborn, but very adorable too!)

Khushi shook her head and muttered “Fan club!” that‟s the name she gave to all the women who drooled over him at the Corporal.
“Yes of course! You can‟t not love our prince you know?” SurPal said in chaste English and she stared at him as he said, “I am an MS in agriculture, Ms. and I am proud be his aide!”

“No wonder!” Khushi grimaced again.
“Yep! You are right. He is so....um... I can‟t explain it to you but he is what he is - a true prince by any standards. Just that people go by his so called reputation...” he said smiling at her.

“Ok! I am sorry I said something against him. Please drop me at...” Khushi got busy giving him a false address.
As he dropped her she waited and called a taxi and went home. None would ever know where she lived.

A week later...

Khushi lazily put the washed clothes up for drying and looked at the small alarm piece by her bedside. It said half past two. She did every possible chore and even woke up late but could not pass time. It ate at her. She dug up the flowerbeds on behalf of the owner and even watered the plants as well as cleaned the tiny bathroom till its old tiles gleamed like diamonds.

She gave up and packed her stuff in a backpack. She wore her normal attire for an outing. It was carefully chosen for camouflage and went to the opposite side of Mumbai first and then got down and took a taxi to one of the elite‟s malls to pass time.

Chasing the Rainbow

Thakur Deepthimaan Singh Rathore sipped on his coffee and waited for Eisha Bhujpal. The woman was getting on to his nerves and he was almost about to bid her goodbye. She was good-a nice distraction for him. A no-nonsense woman who minded her own business! They went out together, and spent the leisure time with common friends. The sex was great. But of late he had this feeling that was nagging at him. Everyone seemed to be shallow and he was tired of all relationships. He had his moments and contrary to all his buddies who were getting married, saying it was time to settle down, he thought it was time to get detached. Relationships were well off as long as they were far and few. Friends getting married, was ok. He was happy for them but... Imagine one right under your nose and nagging at you! He groaned. His mom was forever asking him the question and he did not know how to explain it to her. He wanted something that stirred his soul. All women he met and was with, were good no doubt. Some were really very enterprising as they bore his eccentricities too, but he never felt that strong urge to be with someone or rather what they said that he never experienced the fear of losing someone as yet. He treated his partners as his equals and with respect. He never ever felt that he would be lost without them. That was it! He never felt the urge to completely give up on himself for the sake of a woman. No woman made him feel so. Women loved him. He had a natural charm or so they told him. He maintained himself in good physical form and also his bank balance, his lips twisted wryly.

Women swooned over him and he was tired of being nudged by each one of them towards the altar. For him, such a thing happened only if he felt it from inside that he would cease to exist without the woman. Moreover, for him, the feelings and the truthfulness of the whole thing mattered not some piece of paper called a marriage certificate. No woman could ever bring that tumult of feelings inside him, for him to feel the urge to be bound to someone at that level. On the contrary, their shallow and greedy nature turned him off more and more these days, and he would be most often bored or turned off by their artificial shells of pompousness.

His mobile rang and it was Elisha! She said she was held up and was starting and he groaned. He had to meet her and tell her that he was off but he needed to do that in a

decent manner. After all they were going together for the past two years! That was the longest fling he ever had... he thought. He intended to do that on the weekend. Just explain to her coz he never made any promises and she understood his free spiritedness, a quality that attracted him to allow her to be his partner in the first place.

As he sipped on his coffee, a movement caught his eye and he looked to his right and saw a young girl sitting on one of the circular sit-outs with a backpack and he smiled. It was a Sunday and people were in a mad rush for shopping and ... he turned his face, froze and jerked his head back!

It was her! What was her name? Yes! Khushi! Oh God! She was in a faded jeans and a light blue-checkered cotton shirt that hung loose over her greyish jumper. Her long tresses were secured high up on her head and cascaded down the clutch that held them in a heap on her head.