Karan greeted Pratap and they looked very happy and it seemed that Karan had a good bond with Pratap, they were present in the room for some 10-15 minutes and Maya did not raise her eyelead even for a second, she just sat there without speaking a word.
After they left Maya asked Karan why he had such a good relation with Pratap to which Karan replied, "They never had a child, but he has always treated me like his own. Rukmani bua was not so fond of me but Pratap uncle always motivated me and helped me. He always admired me, that's the reason we have such good relations." Maya nooded to his reply and slept.
As she slept tears flowed from her eyes and some flashbacks hit her, but before they could have control over Maya, Karan slept on the other side of the bed and gently caressed Maya's head which gave a hold to Maya's tears as well as to her flashbacks and she slept peacefully.
Maya suddenly woke up in the middle of night due to a bad dream and wondered, "What if Pratap tries to harm me? Will he repeat those things again? Mai kaise batau uski sachai?" Maya spoke to herself. "Umm" Karan glared in sleep as he was disturbed by Maya's voice listening to which Maya gently smiled and slept.
In the morning Maya was sitting on the couch while Karan was cutting an apple for her, when Pratap entered the room and said, "An apple a day keeps the doctor away. You must eat plenty of apples daily Maya." He said coming close to the couch which made Maya uncomfortable. She just nodded her head and sat there without making any eye contact with Pratap.
Karan kept the apple slice on the plate, which was taken by Pratap and he said, "Ye lo Maya, have it." while putting the apple slice near Maya's mouth. She took the apple slice from Pratap's hand and took a small bite. Karan noticed that something was off with Maya, so after Pratap left Karan came near Maya held her hand and asked, "Maya what's up? You seem off about something." "nahi kuch nahi, I didn't sleep well last night, nothing else." Maya said.
[After a few days]
It has been a couple of days and Maya had fully recovered but mentally she was getting weaker because of the stress and tension she had due to Pratap's presence. She would spend most of her time with others, she did not prefer to stay alone, she would just sit without uttering a single word when everyone was chit chatting at the dining table.
All this things did not go unnoticed by Karan, he saw a shift in Maya's behaviour but he thought that maybe it was because of the trauma she got after being shot or because of the new environment she just got into. Karan would make sure that whenever they're alone he'll entertain Maya. She had even cried a couple of times but everytime the reason Maya gave was that she is feeling alot of pain in her back.
But that was not the truth, she was having a lot of stress and anxiety which she had to hide deep down in her heart because she didn't know whom to tell the reality.
One morning Karan had left for office while Maya was still asleep, Pratap came to their room and started caressing Maya's head which woke Maya and to her surprise it was Pratap, she quickly got up and moved away from him. "Aree Maya don't be scared. Meri kya aukaat hai ki mai hone vali Maharani sahiba ko harm karu." Pratap said giving a nasty look and added, "Mai to bs sorry bolne aaya hu, I'm sorry bacha" Pratap said as he moved his hands towards Maya's face.
Maya pushed his face away and said, "Go away, just leave, don't you dare to come near me." She said as tears flowed from her eyes. "Don't you dare to..." Pratap said these words but paused as Shivang entered the room. Maya quickly went towards Shivang and wished him, "Good morning Shivang." to which Shivang wished her back and asked, "Pratap ji aap yaha kya kar rahe ho?" "Mai to bs bahu ki halat puchne aaya tha, ki how she is feeling now. I was about to leave." Pratap said and left while giving a horrible look to Maya.
Shivang saw the look on Pratap's face and also saw that Maya was not at all comfortable with the look so he asked, "Bhabhi are you ok? Unhone kuch bola to nahi?" "Nahi..nahi" Maya replied.
[At the dinner table]
Maya & Sujata were serving food when Maya reached Pratap's place she got uncomfortable but she had to, while she served the food on Pratap's plate he came close to Maya's hand and moved his hand with a desire of touching Maya's leg. Maya quickly served and moved ahead, Shivang noticed this and decided to tell about this to Karan after dinner.
Shivang went to Karan after dinner and told him what had happened at the dinner table but Karan said that it might be a coincidence and Pratap would not do anything like that to any women.
Maya was sitting on the bed and looking at her parent's photo and tears flowed down her eyes. Karan came into the room so Maya quickly whipped her tears but Karan saw that she was crying so he sat beside her, held her hand and asked, "What's bothering my dear wife?" "N-n-nothing, I'm just missing my parents." Maya said in a low gentle voice.
"Maya they're always with you and blessing you please don't cry you know that I can't see you like this." Karan said as he whipped Maya's tears and added, "I don't know if I should ask it now or not but what happened to your parents?"
"I was small and I don't remember much but they met with an accident when they were on their way back home. Narsinh uncle and Kamni aunty always treated me well until Janvi was born, Uncle got my father's job and everything was good until one day the company's owner removed him due to some reasons. After which they always blamed me for my parent's death and uncle's removal but I don't know why." Maya said.
"Which company was it?" Karan asked. "I-I don't know" Maya replied.
After some talks, Karan slept peacefully. Maya could not sleep because she was troubled by Pratap. It was sunday the next day and Karan was gonna be with her the whole time so she was relieved.
[Next Morning]
Maya was sleeping while Karan stared at her and realized that he is getting obsessed with Maya's sleeping face, "Yaarrr she's so cute & beautiful" Karan said to himself while caressing Maya's head. Maya got scared and woke up feeling some hand on her hand thinking it was Pratap, but it was Karan, Maya quickly got up and Karan also felt shy so the room was filled with awkward silence.
Karan headed towards the bathroom and Maya sat on the bed thinking about Pratap. After Karan came out of the bathroom Maya saw that Karan was going out and she did not want to be alone the whole day so she asked, "Aap kahi bahar ja rahe hai?" "Ha I have some work at the office." Karan replied, "But aaj sunday hai!" Maya said in disapproval "but work is work sunday ho ya monday!" Karan said with a small smile.
While Karan packed his bag Maya sadly sat on the bed which was noticed by Karan so he asked, "You had any plans for today?" "Mai bore ho rahi thi yaha so I thought maybe hum aaj kahin bahar ja sakte hai, but no problem aap busy hai so we'll do something next weekend." Maya said, raising her shoulders.
"Agar aisi koi baat hai to you should tell me na, mai cancel kr deta meeting, but let's do one thing tum mere saath chalo hum meeting k baad kahin chale jayenge." Karan said with a hint of excitement in his voice. "Are you sure?" Maya asked. "Yes yes, 100% sure. Ab chalo jaldi se ready ho jao we need to leave soon and ha wear a western outfit today, I've never seen you in western outfit." Karan said while picking his stuff from the study table.
Maya quickly got up, took a bath and she came out wearing a beautiful multicoloured shrug layered upon a black top and jeans. She sat on the dressing table and got herself ready with some accessories after which she turned around Karan and asked him, "Kaisi lag rahi hu?" "Very very very beautiful, but wait kuch missing hai, umm...Sunglasses!" Karan thought for a while and said. He quickly got glasses for Maya and completed her look.
Karan took her Kajal pencil from the table and did a small Kala tikka behind her ear and said, "Kisi ki nazar na lage humari rani sahiba ko." which left Maya blushing.
They went down stairs, everyone was waiting for them for breakfast but Karan said, "Aaj Sunday hai to maine socha Maya ko kahi bahar le jau to aaj ka humara lunch or dinner mt banana also breakfast bhi hum office mai karlege." "Chalo acha hai Maya bhi ghar se bahar nickal kar fresh ho jayegi." Sujata said.
"Aree Maya Karan k piche kyun khadi ho samne aao na" Jagruti said, Maya was uncomfortable to come in front of Pratap which is why she was hiding behind Karan but now she had to step forward "Acha western pehna hai iss liye sharma rahi thi, ismai kuch galat nahi hai Maya don't be shy" Jagruti said and Maya replied with a smile. While Pratap kept looking at Maya in a very weird way which was noticed by Shivang.
[At office]
Karan & Maya headed towards Karan's office where the clients were already waiting for Karan. The clients greeted the couple and started with the meeting.The designers who were working on the interior design of a huge commercial building by Raghuvanshi builders presented the designs they prepared but they were not liked by the clients. The designers noted the requirements again and were given a new deadline, they got a nice scolding from Karan after the clients left.
Maya was listening to everything and her jaw dropped after seeing Karan's totally different personality. "Sir, all the designs will be re-developed by the deadline. Don't worry." the designing team head said. "Re-develop? Why to make the whole thing again from scratch. Just make some changes and it's done." Maya said while coming close to the table everyone was sitting.
"But ma'am that's not.." the team head said but was interrupted by Kara, "What do you have in mind Maya?" Karan asked. "See the clients want their entrance area to look big, so why don't we just reduce the spaces occupied by the reception area and stairs? And other small changes can fix other problems as well." Maya said while pointing towards the design they made.
Karan was impressed with Maya's intelligence, he asked the designers if this can be done or not to which they replied positively. Maya was also happy that she could help Karan with his work.
After the meeting they had breakfast in the office when Maya told Karan that she did an online course of interior designing, she had also got a scholarship from Malva University for the same course but Narshih won't let her study. "Do you still wanna study?" Karan asked Maya. "Karna to hai but ab nahi hoga mujse." She replied to which Karan smiled and continued the breakfast after which they left the office and headed to some other place.
[On their way]
"Where are we going?" Maya asked "It's a very beautiful place 80km away from Malva in middle of the jungle. It's quiet, peaceful and one of the best places in Malva. You can tell it's a hidden gem. I discovered it when I was in college, after which I go there every weekend, I've never taken anyone there till date. You'll be the first person to explore it." Karan replied with a hint of excitement in his voice and eyes.
Soon they reached the place which was located in the heart of jungle, it was a small waterfall with a river flowing right from the foot of the waterfall. The place was covered with trees and the aura of that place was so good that Maya was lost in the beauty of that place. "Beautiful, isn't it?" Karan asked her. "Yesss the best place I have ever visited." Maya replied moving towards the water when Karan pulled her closer and wrapped her in his arms and said, "Be careful" while pointing towards a stone which was about to harm Maya who was lost in nature.
Meanwhile it suddenly started raining which added a spark to the beauty of that place. Maya was still wrapped around Karan's arm looking deep into his eyes, Maya released herself from Karan's hold and started enjoying the rain. She jumped, danced, played and was turned into a child in the rain seeing that Karan could not take his eyes off Maya, "iss view se zyada to tum beautiful ho Maya." Karan spoke to himself when he was hit by a splash of water on his face which was Maya's act.
Karan also filled some rain water in his hands and splashed it on Maya and in a while the place was turned into a battleground as they started splashing water on eachother. Maya was running from Karan in order to get saved by the water Karan would throw on her which was when she stepped on a slippery mud and was above to fall but how can Karan see his wife falling and getting herself hurt?
He saved Maya from falling as he held her in his arm and slowly kept her on the ground which led to a romantic eye contact. All they could hear was a soothing sound of rain and all they could feel was each other's closeness, "Can I kiss you?" Karan said, sliding his hand through Maya's hair, Maya had turned red by then and whispered, "Really?" Karan smiled gently and before Maya could say anything Karan leaned in, as their lips met the world around them seemed to be fading. Maya felt his lips move gently against hers, sending sparks through her body. She closed her eyes, losing herself in the moment.
Karan pulled Maya closure as Maya's fingers caressed his hair and they were completely lost in the moment. The jungle, sounds, the cold wind that blows everything disappeared. It was just Maya & Karan wrapped in each other's warmth and love.
When they pulled apart, breathless the world felt brighter and everything seemed to be more beautiful than before. "That...that was amazing" Karan said as he felt shy while rubbing the back of his neck. "Y-y-yeah" Maya said without making even a slight eye contact with Karan due to shyness. "We should leave before it gets dark" Karan said just to stop the awkward silence, held Maya's hand and headed towards the car.
Note from writer
Hello readers? How was the chapter? Finallyyyy!!! Maya and Karan are getting close and things are getting spicy between them. Our cuties are in love but they're unaware of it. They think it's just an attraction but let's see how they realise their love for eachother.
Maya's problems are not yet over. Pratap is still around her & bothering her. What's Maya's connection with Pratap? What's the history? Will Pratap harm Maya? How will Karan get to know about Pratap's behaviour with Maya?
Let's seek the answers to these questions in the upcoming chapters, until then have a good time everyone and don't forget to vote and follow @inkedbymisha on Instagram for more updates & spoilers.
~Misha
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