Bara slowly opened her eyes, gaining consciousness, her back aching from the stiff posture or the hard tree behind her back. She straightened up as her hands landed on the surface which was ticklish, like grass?

She finally opened her eyes wide realizing her surroundings. She

was still on the ground. They left her here unconscious, just like this? How cruel! What if she got attacked by some animals or insects or worst got kidnapped by some freak?

As the memories of before she fainted flashed infront of her eyes, she quickly stood up holding the tree for support. Ismia! Was her first thought as she looked at the empty dark road ahead. How long had she been here for and where would Ismia be right now? She had told her to wait for her at home before leaving, yes, she should head home and wait. Bara started running in the direction of their small hut, internally wishing that Wafaa would already be back waiting for her too.

"Ismia. Ismia. Will she be okay?" Continuosly biting on her nails, she paced outside their house under the moonlight, her steps getting faster and her heart growing more and more anxious with each step she took. She couldn't even go to anyone from the village for help at this time.

"No! I can't do this. I should go to the palace myself. They came here looking for me. I can't let Ismia do this always." She self talked placing her hand on her heart. "You can fight for yourself Bara. You......can. You're not a darpok billi." Closing her eyes and breathing in, she let out a long breathe. Heading towards the road, without knowing how far she'd have to walk, without having any idea of what problems awaited her journey, she walked forward with only one person in her mind, that one person who was always a source of motivation for her on every path.

Crossing the same garden, she walked down the road already tired. There was no way she could walk all the way down this endless road towards the town. Her ears perked up as she heard the sound of a horse running towards her direction. Who could ride a horse to this village at this time of the night?

"Woah!" Her eyes widened as she took small steps backwards watching the horse ride straight in her direction as the rider looked like he had no intentions to stop and just let the horse stomp her to death. Shutting her eyes tightly, she fell on her bum on the wet ground waiting for a strong hit or kick.

However, all she heard was sudden silence after two loud shrieks, the horse and she let out together. Calming her almost exploding heart, she looked up to stare at the figure covered in black, jumping off his dark brown coloured horse. Anger replaced her once scared feature as she gave him a death glare in the dark.

"Andha kahin ka! Ankhein bhi chupa ly apni aisy hi ghora bhagana hai tou." She mumbled under her breath, getting up and cleaning off her dress which was now wet from the back.

"Arey, darpok billi tou ab bheegi billi ban gai." He laughed walking towards her with his head tilted in a mocking way. Bara pointed a finger at him in anger, "Tum.....t-tum.." Stuttering, she slowly folded her finger inside, putting her hand back down as he now stood two steps away

from her staring at her with raised brows, that's all she could see with his shining eyes under the moonlight.

He laughed again, mocking her. "Mein, m-mein na, tumhy bhi palace ly kar jany aya hun. Tum akeley nahi jany dy rahi thi na, dukh sy behosh bhi ho gai. So I came all the way back to get you. Chalo." He spoke every word slowly watching her facial expressions change to panicked and scared ones again. Her face was so expressive, like an open book. He observed amused again.

"M-mujhy? Kyun....?" Her eyeballs roamed around in panic as she thought of the worst scenarios. Maybe they found out Wafaa was not the real Bara. What if she was in danger there?

"Ismia...Ismia kahan hai? Ussny kahan tha that i should wait for her, she'll be back soon." She whispered to herself as she again started biting on her nails, taking tiny steps backwards. Her steps halted when two hands held her from her shoulders as a strong scent of wood entered her nostrils. It was from none other than the fully black covered guy, now standing at his arm distance length from her.

"Phir sy gir kar geela hona hai kya?" He let go as soon as their eyes met, looking at the small gutter right behind her. "Though I would've enjoyed it, but I don't have all night. Let's go."

Walking towards his horse he abruptly turned around with one of his hand in air. "Before you misunderstand or make weird scenarios, let me be clear. I had to come in a hurry so there's no separate ride for you other than....", he patted the horse with his hand indicating to what his words meant.

Bara, who was already flustered from the moment, bit the insides of her cheeks while fiddling with her dupatta. Was she going to ride a horse? With this andha-

"My lady, do you want the horse to land by your feet now to have the honours?" He rolled his eyes annoyed walking to fix the horse's saddle.

Bara fisted her dupatta in anger. I hope he steps on horse's poop!

Just the next second, a sloppy noise was heard as the both looked down, his right shoe was right on top of fresh horse's dump.

Bara covered her mouth with both her hands. Ya Allah, he really stepped on it. He stepped on it. She couldn't stop herself from laughing out loud at the scene taking place infront of her just as she had wished. Although she couldn't look at his face, but she could tell he was more frustrated as he aggressively moved towards the grass to clean up his shoe.

She moved towards the horse with pursed lips. "Get on this." He smacked the leather saddle, his mood all serious now. "I don't know.....how to-?" Her sentence once again fell incomplete as he got down on one of his knees. "Step on it and hop on."

Bara grew nervous looking at his leg and the horse. She didn't expect herself to ride a horse like this. Wasn't the tale that your prince charming would come pick you up on a white horse? But in her case, everything was the complete opposite.

"Just hold onto me." For the first time, he spoke to her in a soft tone. Tapping his shoulder, he waited for her patiently this time. Getting confidence, Bara placed her right foot on his leg, holding his shoulder for support.

However, as soon as she lifted herself upwards, the horse felt too big causing her leg to fall back down almost hitting his face but he dodged it on time. "Yarr bheegi billi!" He stood up as she jumped back on the road embarrassed. "Sorry.." She whispered looking down.

Sighing, he moved closer to her. "I'm doing this because I have no more patience left to deal with this anymore. Excuse me." Bara gasped as he picked her up from her waist with his hands, and made her sit on the saddle with so much ease. She grabbed onto his shoulders taken aback. Placing her on the top, he removed one of his hand and placed the other on her back for support in case she loses balance again. "Now move your leg to the other side." Bara silently followed feeling astonished. This was going to be her first experience riding on a horse. But her thoughts were mostly distracted the other way. With him.

He sat on the horse's lower back without the saddle, keeping a distance between them. "Excuse me once again." Grabbing the reins from both the sides as his arms rounded from her waist at a distance, he started riding the horse. The sudden run caused Bara to lose her balance and the pressure moved her backwards, she fell right on his chest, his arms saving her from falling as he had grabbed the reins from around her. She was half lying on the horse now which caused an unbalance.

"What are you?!" He straightened her up reducing the speed. "Hold the front part of the saddle tightly and bend forward." Bara quickly obeyed, holding onto the leather tightly and bending a little too much, which made the watcher from behind lightly smile underneath his veil.

Wafaa took precautionary steps walking behind the stiff man who had not uttered a single word the whole ride neither later when she peeked from inside the buggy to see the 'black wolf' leaving again after looking at a white paper which looked like a portrait whispering something to him.

She was guided inside the large palace as she grew more nervous by each passing second, her hands sweaty. She was a brave girl who could do anything to protect her closed ones. Just be confident, you're doing this for Bara. She thought to herself following the man with slow steps.

Soon, they were standing outside the giant double door with two soldiers guarding it. It was opened to reveal a long hallway, leading straight to the throne. The king's throne. Everything looked very traditional and even the carpet they walked on was embroidered.

She couldn't see ahead because of the giant figure walking infront of her so she just followed him inside looking down at the beautiful carpet she walked on. Bad idea, since she ended up bumping straight into his back when he stopped. "Oh..." She tapped on his back where she hit as if cleaning it off instead of rubbing her head.

Quickly retreating her hand back, she looked up at his tilted face, staring at her with his brown eyes. He stepped to the side, now her view clear but her mind in a blur.

"Is it this girl?" An old but high voice questioned from the front. It was the king, sitting on his large golden throne, in his heavy dress and crown. Wafaa's eyes roamed around shamelessly as all the other soldiers were standing like a statue, nobody dared to make eye contact with the king. Excluding her.

"Yes, your highness." He replied standing a step back from her. The elderly king observed the girl who confidently stood there with her head high looking back at him. He expected her to greet him but she remained silent.

"Young lady, what is your father's name?" He asked Wafaa who was slowly losing her nerves internally. This question confirmed everything. They found out. But how? Was the king of Dearth, looking for his daughter for the past four years? That couldn't be possible, he never cared about her anyways. What could've happened?

"I don't have one." She replied sternly. It wasn't a lie on her side. Wafaa was brought up by a single mother who was a mere maid in the castle, she had never seen her father nor knew who he was. Her mother never talked about him.

The king stared at her in shock. As a few gasps were heard from the king's men. One of them stepped forward, he also looked old as the mixed strands of grey and black hair showed his aging. He walked towards where Wafaa stood as she right away knew he was one of the members of the king's cabinet men since she had known the palace life well. "You're standing infront of the great King, lady. Respectfully, speak the truth only." He spoke with anger in his voice to make her speak, but she remained unmoved.

"Your majesty, allow me to call the doctor in for confirmation of her identity." He turned towards the king, placing a hand over his chest and looking down to show respect towards the king. Wafaa grew more confused hearing the words. She had been trying to figure out how did they find out, and all her confusion was cleared as the door opened again and entered in the same doctor from four years ago, the one who had treated Bara's wound when they arrived here. She rubbed her sweaty hands against her dress, looking towards her right, at the silent observer who brought her here still standing there, emotionless and unbothered.

"Doctor, do you recognize this lady here?" The cabinet man asked the doctor who squinted his eyes looking at Wafaa who avoided eye contact now. There's no way he wouldn't recognize me. She thought helplessly.

"Yes." He replied after some seconds. "She is the guardian of the patient, I remember her very well. I never allow patients to stay in my private house, but this young girl here begged me to let them stay since the patient was hurt badly and I remember her saying they had nowhere to go as they were new to the place. It was really hard for me to save the girl, she had lost so much blood-" The doctor had started ranting about himself not mentioning their names yet as Wafaa kept praying internally.

"Doctor, do you remember this lady's name?" The old man asked the doctor growing impatient.

"Of course I do, I have a great memory. I have a list of all my patients in my register over the years, although she wasn't one of the patients but she stayed with me for quite long as the guardian of the patient. Her name is..." He went on again as Wafa shut her eyes gulping hard, it's over now.

"Wafaa. Yes that was this girl's name." The whole room turned quiet, complete silence.

"Are you sure, doctor?" The king asked this time.

"Your highness, who would dare say lies infront of Your Majesty. I remember her very well. The unique name your royal guards saw in my register, Bara Hani Michelle, was the girl who was wounded. I treated her myself. I can recognize her with one glance." The doctor explained as Wafaa wished she could just sew his lips together to shut him up.

"You!" The cabinet man pointed at Wafaa shouting in anger. "You dare lie to Your highness? Do you know of the consequences of your actions?"

"Allah Allah. She lied to the King?" The doctor spoke with curiosity in shock.

"You're done with the portrait of the real girl. We're grateful for your help, doctor. You may leave now. You'll get your reward." The king's man pointed at the royal guards to guide him out of the palace as the doctor clearly didn't want to leave yet.

"Young lady." The king spoke, still no sign of anger showing in his voice. It made Wafaa think, maybe the rumors were right and he was actually a kind-hearted and just king. If she tries to win his favour. "I will give you a chance to explain yourself." The king nodded patiently waiting for her to speak.

"I want to ask you a question first." She spoke with the same confidence again, shocking every person in the room. This time, even the silent guy who brought her here tilted his head to give her a look. This would be the first time someone dared to question the king.

The king moved his hand up to stop the cabinet from reacting harshly. "Go ahead." He grew serious, giving Wafaa a chance to speak.

"Why did you send your soldiers to bring a common girl living in your land for years all of a sudden? They shot an arrow towards us which could've injured anyone. We have been living here for years in peace without causing any chaos or harm. If you found out through a random doctor that we were new to the place, which was from four years ago, your highness, you still can't just take away our rights of-" She was cut off as something huge was pushed into her mouth causing her eyes to grow double in size.

"Shut up." She heard him whisper as he retreated his hand back and she felt the taste of the plum in her mouth. She got carried away and spoke too much, didn't she? Not to someone random, but the king himself!

"This mannerless girl! You didn't only lie but disrespected the royal King." "She deserves a heavy punishment for this."

"She must be crazy!"

The cabinet started getting up and insulting her. Not knowing what to do, she closed her mouth taking a bite of the plum in her mouth. It tastes bitter. Just like him. Her nose sightly scrunched up not knowing what was going to happen to her next. She's been through many palace punishments anyways, she will handle it. Or will she?

A/n: Qussay, why a plum?!

Lmao idk what was i thinking but do y'all like plums? ��

I just realized I havent mentioned the boys' names in the chap �� i hope nobody's confused as to who's who :/

Also bheegi billi--- i mean Bara needs to stop embarrassing me ajeeb ��

Do lemme know how was the chapter and if you guys enjoyed it press the star button and subscribe to desi tadka ��

𝚑𝚘𝚕𝚊𝚊𝚊𝚊𝚊𝚊..!𝙰𝚂𝚂𝙰𝙻𝙰𝙼𝚄𝙰𝙻𝙰𝙸𝙺𝚄𝙼 𝙱𝙴𝙷𝙽𝙾 𝙰𝚄𝚁 𝚄𝙽𝙺𝙴 𝙱𝙷𝙰𝙸𝚈𝙾....;)

𝚃𝙷𝙴𝚂𝙴 𝙰𝚄𝚃𝙷𝙾𝚁𝚂 𝙰𝚁𝙴 𝚆𝙾𝚁𝙺𝙸𝙽𝙶 𝙷𝙰𝚁𝙳 𝚃𝙾 𝙱𝚁𝙸𝙽𝙶 𝙹𝙾𝚈 𝙰𝙽𝙳 𝙴𝙽𝚃𝙴𝚁𝚃𝙰𝙸𝙽𝙼𝙴𝙽𝚃 𝚃𝙾 𝚈𝙾𝚄 𝙶𝚄𝚈𝚂.
𝚂𝙾 𝙼𝙰𝙺𝙴 𝚂𝚄𝚁𝙴 𝚈𝙾𝚄 𝚂𝙿𝙰𝙼 𝚃𝙷𝙴 𝙽𝙾𝚃𝙸𝙵𝙸𝙲𝙰𝚃𝙸𝙾𝙽𝚂 𝚆𝙸𝚃𝙷 𝚅𝙾𝚃𝙴𝚂 𝙰𝙽𝙳 𝙲𝙾𝙼𝙼𝙴𝙽𝚃𝚂. ~𝙽𝚄𝙶𝙶𝙴𝚃