Jaivardhan,one of the most trusted senapati of Maharaj Yudhisthir hastily made way through the busy bazaars of Indraprastha. His horse's point of hip dahsed a vegetable seller's cart which was filled with tomatoes.The tomatoes were scattered on the ground, resulting a major loss for the seller. He threw curses at the young man but Jaivardhan did not slow down.

At the moment, his only focus was to safely give the scroll to Maharaj Yudhisthir. He halted at the door, and quickly jumped off and left without patting his horse. "He never leaves without patting Garud. I wonder how serious this matter is." The first guard murmured and took the horse to the stable.

Sweat tickled down Jaivardhan's forehead as he ran towards the darbar, his grip around the scroll tightened as the king's throne was in sight. The two guards tried to stop him but he pushed past them. All the mantris stopped talking as they saw an exhausted Jaivardhan, murmuring was heard and upon seeing their senapati Arjun got up at his place while Yudhisthir anxiously waited for him to speak.

"Pranipat Maharaj Yudhisthir, Maharani Draupadi and everyone present in the darbar. The Nepa kingdom's answer is here." Saying so he handed the scroll to Shrutkrit who passed it to his father. Draupadi anxiously tapped the side of her throne and that did not go unnoticed by Vatsala. She even saw the sweat forming on Prativindhya's forehead as he waited for his father to tell them what was written in the scroll. It seemed as if time had stopped for a moment, as the surroundings were silent and only Jaivardhan's heavy breaths were heard.

Yudhisthir's pupils dilated for a split second and he slowly kept the scroll aside. He got up from his throne and took a deep breath before speaking.

"The king of Nepa has gladly accepted our marriage proposal to tie the knot between the second Nepa kumar Nityansh and Suthanu while the third Nepa kumar Saarujan with Pragti. The marriage will take place in barely few days and hence I require everyone's cooperation in this." Despite this being a happy news,Yudhisthir displayed no emotions while speaking. After he completed,Arjun sighed.

Soon, it was time for lunch and the mantris left. As the tradition went men ate first,and the Pandavas were leaving one by one,while the Upapandavas were fooling around to lighten the atmosphere. Vatsala smiled when she felt a kick and when she raised her head to look to Prativindhya, the smile faded away in barely few seconds. He was always worried and carried a dull expression. Vatsala gently grasped the tip of his fingers and gave it an assuring squeeze, a faint smile flashed on his face although it did not last long. Eventually, he got up and joined the rest of the men.

Once lunchtime was over, Swara and Ciara decided to clean up while Vatsala joined Draupadi in the kitchen. They were preparing two plates,just then Nitya slowly peeked in and left. Ever since her elder sisters relationship was busted, she tried to stay away from her parents sight in order to avoid any suspicion.

While walking in the corridor,only the sound of Vatsala's anklets was heard. Draupadi spoke rarely and her voice lacked the love of a mother. A deep sigh left her mouth and Vatsala knew the reason behind it.

Few days ago...

"How have you both been communicating?" Yudhisthir asked for the one hundredth time. Suthanu gulped, but she did not make any eye contact with him and continued to stare at the floor. Vatsala sat on a chair and looked at Prativindhya who was staring outside the window. His eyes narrowed and his jaw line sharpened, indicating that he was done with all this. He turned around with gritted teeth,and for the first time Vatsala could only see anger in his eyes.

He walked closer to Suthanu,whose palms had gone all sweaty after sensing her brother's cold aura. "Suthanu I demand you to look up now." He finally snapped at her, and in a fraction of second, she looked at him with teary eyes although that did not soften him.

"W-we have been communicating through letters... Bhratashree, please I love him a lot-"

"Letters? Now, I am sure that someone has been helping you with this. Name the person Suthanu."

Vatsala felt herself go numb while Suthanu's eyes widened. Prativindhya was too clever to trick. Too not raise anymore suspension she immediately gave a quick no but he did not buy it.

"....so you will not tell us who the person is right?" Vatsala felt sweat tickle down her forehead as she felt the baby move,"Alright then,I will find him or her. But before that, those letters where are they?"

Suthanu kept mum,she had no intentions on revealing those letters. Yudhisthir and Draupadi stared at each other for a brief moment and before either of them could speak something,
Prativindhya walked towards Suthanu's closet. He opened and turned towards Vatsala,and gestured her to come closer to him. She did what she was told too.

"Search her entire closet. Not even a single corner shall be ignored." He whispered while Vatsala fearfully went through the closet. She knew very well, where the letters were,she sneakily removed the letters while Prativindhya was not looking and kept it under the drawer. She quickly turned around and gestured him that there was nothing. Prathi took a glance and wished to thoroughly search the closet although his decency and morals did not allow him too.

"Suthanu,this is the last time I asking you. Where are the letters?"

Suthanu was clearly trembling and before Prativindhya could speak further the door opened,revealing an angry Shrutkarm, Arjun who held Pragti's hand and Ciara whose eyes clearly shone with worry. Vatsala felt her palms go sticky as she saw some paper in Shrutkarm's hand, and she feared if they were the letters.

"Bhratashree, did you find the letters?" Shrutkarm asked.

"No, Vatsala went through the entire closet but we found none. But we still have to check the room!" Yudhisthir answered.

"Is that so? Did you check beneath the drawer? We found Pragti and Sushen's letters over there." Shrutkarm told them, while giving Pragti a glare. Upon hearing that, Prativindhya quickly checked it and Vatsala did not get a minute to stop him. Prativindhya removed the drawer,and out came those letters. Suthanu's heart broke as she saw her younger sister swollen eyes. It seemed as if Pragti has been crying since the past few nights.

"That's impossible! Vatsala went through the entire closet! Right dear?"

Vatsala gulped before nodding and quickly added,"I may have missed that part. I never thought the place beneath the drawer to be a hiding spot!" Her voice carried urgency but Prathi believed it. "Take rest, you seem tired for some reason. All this sweat." He commented while wiping it off. Soon, Vatsala faded out of the scenario.

That was a close call. I must stay alert.

She mentally sighed,although she was unaware that someone was staring at her.

Presently...

"Vatsu... I do not understand which daughter to be more disappointed in. The one who decided to love her father's enemy's son or the one who continued to love a married man?"
Draupadi said out of the blue as she stared at the locked doors of Pragti and Suthanu's chambers.

"Go to Suthanu's chamber,"Draupadi said while handing the plate to her," I will go to Pragti's." Vatsala took the plate and stared at it for a moment. She knocked Suthanu's chamber's door,and once it was opened Vatsala felt bad.

Those swollen eyes,messed up hair and a broken heart. Guilt filled Vatsala's chest as she recalled how much Suthanu requested for the letters, but Prativindhya simply shoved her and burned them.

"I am sorry...I could not do anything for both of you..." Vatsala said with tearful eyes.

"No Vatsu, you tried. Please do not blame yourself over this. Maybe niyati does not want us to end up together." Suthanu answered with a faint smile and closed the door. "I am sorry..." It was almost a whisper,just then before leaving.

"Vatsala I wish to talk to you."

Vatsala turned around to see the source of voice. It was Shrutkarm.

[A/N- Why does Shrutkarm want to talk with Vatsala? I hope you liked this chapter!]