"She entered in our academy and all the eyes turned to her...She was the most beautiful.... and courageous among all the girls. Everyone wanted to practice with her but...she chose me." Viraaj looked up at the ceiling, recalling all the beautiful yet painful memories.
"I thought.....I will defeat her in one blow but...I was wrong. She was strong and very skilled. I lost. I wasn't able to forget that day....not because of my defeat.....but because of her. Her face....I can't forget her. She was the most.... beautiful and strongest girl I have....ever seen."
He chuckled remembering what he did next to see her. "I wanted to meet her....or atleast see her. Do you know what i did?"
Ira chuckled with tears in her eyes and asked "What you did?"
"I escaped from my academy with my friends. We went to her academy.....and jumped inside climbing a wall. My friends also had someone in their heart. We all wanted to see....our loved ones. One of my friend....had gathered the information about Irya's academy, it's structure and schedule. When we entered inside the academy....it was lunch time. So we had to wait until the lunch time....ends and after that, all the girls came out to practice fencing."
"She came out of the building, wearing her fencing attire.....Just one look at her and I was mesmerized by her look.....we hided behind a store room near the building. My eyes were stuck on her.....she was looking even more beautiful....while practicing. I was in daze when her our eyes met. My friends and I quickly hided behind the store room.....when I tried to look out and see anything....I found her standing infront of me with her hands crossed over her chest."
"Want to stare at girls? Which one is beautiful? This one? Or that one?" Irya asked. She didn't told anyone about Viraaj and his friends and came to deal with them by herself.
Viraaj shook his head, not knowing what to say.
Irya signalled other to leave. Viraaj tried to escape from there with his friends but she held his collar and pulled him back, trapping him under her. His back hits the wall and he tried to move away from this closeness.
"Did I tell you to leave?" She asked.
He shook his head in fear and placed his hand over his chest. "P-Please, move away. You are t-too close."
Irya chuckled and asked "Why? This is what you wanted right? You wanted to see the girls, don't you? I am a girl too. Stare at me."
She stepped back and Viraaj sighed in relief until she asked.
"Tell me, am I beautiful?"
He looked at her with wide eyes and asked "W-What?"
"You wanted to see beautiful girls, right? And I saw you staring at me. So tell me, am I beautiful? As you want?" She crossed her hands over her chest and bited her lips to control her laugh.
He looked down, feeling trapped. He glanced at her and again averted his gaze down. With little hesitation, he nod.
Irya's eyebrows raised in wonder that how brave this young man is to answer. But before she can say anything, he held her hand and pulled her away. They hided behind the tree near the store room when the sound of footsteps fell on their ears.
"Irya!" Her friend called, trying to find her "Where did this girl go?"
Her friend left from there and she looked up at Viraaj who was holding her in his arms gently. He sighed in relief and looked down at her. As realisation hit him, he quickly left her and apologised.
"I am sorry. I didn't mean to touch you but if your friend had seen me, she would have complained against me."
Irya looked at him doubtfully and said "But you did touched me. So you have to bear the punishment."
Viraaj sighed and nod "Fine. You can punish me. What is the punishment?"
Irya took a step towards him and pointed her index finger towards him "You have to take me to the top of the mountain."
Viraaj looked at her confused and asked "Why? Why do you want to go so far? And why do I have to take you there? You can go whenever you want, can't you?"
She puts down her hand and shook her head "No I can't."
"Why? Everyone can go out once a month then why can't you go out?"
She leaned back on the tree, her hands behind her back and replied sadly "My brother has strictly instructed the teachers to not let me go out, even with my friends. I can go out only if my teacher is with me. But If I ask them to take me there, they will not."
Viraaj's eyes soften to hear her and he asked "But why you want to go there?"
Her face lit up and she answered with a big smile "My friends told me that there are lots of flowers and butterflies on top of the mountain. And the view from there is beautiful too. They always talk about it and I feel missed out. I want to see that view too."
Viraaj chuckled on her cuteness "Fine. I will take you there. But not in day. At night, before sunrise."
"At night?" She asked surprised.
He nod "No one should know about it. If anyone finds out that I helped you escape the academy and took you to mountain, the academy will suspend me and your brother will kill me."
She laughed to hear his fear and nod "Fine. I won't tell anyone. Tomorrow is fine?"
Viraaj nod "Fine. I will meet you here at night. Don't forget to wear warm clothes."
At night, Viraaj climbed the wall and entered inside the academy. He walked towards the store room carefully and found Irya sitting there while covering herself with shavl.
"Let's go." He said and helped her climb the wall. He walked towards a tree and brought his horse towards Irya.
"Didn't anyone see you bringing him here?" She asked to Viraaj while pointing towards the horse.
"No, it's not from academy. I asked my friend to arrange a horse for me and he kept the horse out of the academy. Let's leave now. Climb."
They climbed the horse and went towards the mountain. It was dark night but because Viraaj had made all the arrangements before hand, they can see the road clearly. He had placed lamps along the road, which made their journey easier.
Irya tried to hide her face to not show her smile to see his preparation. She was sitting infront of him so he can see her hiding her face and asked concern.
"Are you alright? Feeling cold?"
She shook her head and replied "No. Did you do this? The lamps."
He chuckled slightly "Yes. We are climbing a mountain at night. It's dark and could be slippery somewhere. So I checked the road in day and arranged everything."
They reached the mountain when the morning light started to appear in the sky. They jumped down from the horse and the view infront of them made Irya forget everything. She was surrounded with the beautiful flowers and right infront of her eyes, the sun was rising while spreading it's tint in the sky.
Without disturbing her, Viraaj walked towards her and stood beside her. A wide smiled appeared on her face by watching the beautiful view infront of her eyes.
"Do you like it?" He asked.