Pregnant For The Royal Prince

THE King and Queen both froze on seeing their son Raghav, at the door, he had now left the door side and was now entering.

They were quite scared, especially Arya. Had he heard anything? Ohh! Jeez, she really hopes not.

She began fidgeting with the letter in her hands, as she tried hiding it.

Neel was as calm as ever, he just sat on the bed watching his son as he walked up to them.

“Dad… mom, I asked a question,” he demanded.

He had heard the commotion emanating from their room, both of them exchanging words at the top of their voices, and so he entered to inquire what the problem was.

“The great Prince of Shimla kingdom”, king Neel hailed, trying to pacify him down.

“Maharajah, may your days of kingship be long”, he replied bowing.

“Um… Raghav, it’s nothing serious actually”, she smiled, shaking her head.

Then she turned to her husband.

“My Lord, please excuse me”, and she bowed and left.

Raghav watched her in utmost confusion as she walked out the room, he knew it was something serious, though she had said it was nothing serious.

He turned to his father the moment the door closed, he sighed and walked up to him.

“May your days of reign on earth be long Your Grace”, he bowed the moment he got to his father.

Neel smiled.

“You can sit”, he motioned.

Raghav nodded and sat on the bed close to his father.

“Dad, I actually heard the rants of mom, and I know there is something serious”, he said.

“What is the problem?” He finally asked.

Neel sighed. He had envisaged his son to have discovered some things amiss, why not? He had always known him to be so good at detecting, he was blessed with the gift from birth.

“You should have gone for a detective course and not medicine”, he said maintaining a straight face.

Raghav forced a smile.

“Alright dad, can you tell me what I want to hear now?” He asked.

Neel sighed again.

“Actually Raghav, it’s really nothing serious to be worried about”.

“I saw mom fidgeting with a paper and I’m damn sure it’s a royal letter, who sent us the letter dad?” He continued asking.

“That is none of your business Raghav”, he said with authority.

“You have limits and boundaries son”, he added.

Raghav gave up.

“Alright… alright, if you say so”, his two hands were up as he talked.

“Of course”.

He got up, bowed again, then walked out of the room.

*

*

*

Rina closed the door behind her and turned to behold the room. Wow, it was damn posh.

The interiors were of high class, the small gold coloured chandelier hanging down the ceiling, the bed, the couches around… everything in the room was a five star.

“Wow!” She exclaimed, “is this gonna be my room?” She rhetorically asked, smiling broadly.

As if on impulse and without thinking, she jumped on the bed and began rolling from side to side, laughing and rejoicing, feeling its warmth.

She was so happy, this little room was like heaven on earth.

Just then a knock came on her door, interrupting her.

Jeez, she got up the bed without ado, then rushed to the door, straightening out her clothes which had already rumpled from the rolls.

She opened the door to behold a girl which she instantly envisaged to be of the same age bracket with her, or better still, slightly older than her.

The girl was putting on the kind of uniforms she saw the maids outside wore, and she knew it was a maid. She was holding a big bag in her hands.

“Namaste”, the girl greeted.

Rina smiled.

“Namaste”, she replied, nodding.

“Miss Prag sent me to give you this”, she handed the bag to her, she wondered what could be in such a big bag.

“Oh”, she stretched out her hands to collect it anyway, “thank you”, she added.

The girl nodded.

“There are two uniforms in there, two pairs of black shoes, and a pair of socks. The white and black pinafore is to be worn Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Then the one with the red pinafore is for Tuesdays and Thursdays. Weekends are free days, you can wear whatever you like”, the girl explained.

Rina nodded, digesting the information.

“Thanks I have gotten the info”, she said.

“Alright, she also asked me to tell you to be in the kitchen by 6pm”, she added.

Rina nodded.

“She had told me that as well, thank you”.

“You are welcome”, and she turned and left.

Rina closed the door, and walked up to the bed, then dropped the bag on it.

Hmm, the uniforms were okay anyway, she only hopes she will try remembering when to wear each.

The shoes as well, perfectly fine.

She picked up the white and black to inspect, and wow, she discovered her name written behind by the left shoulder, hmm.

She subconsciously glanced at the wall clock hanging on the wall, and the time told her it was 5pm.

Jeez, already? She needed to rush things now, else she was gonna be late on the first day of work.

She immediately tossed the uniform back on the bed, ran to the door and properly locked up with the key, then rushed to the bathroom.

By the time she was done freshening up, it was already 5:30, holy moly, she became faster than lightning.

She applied her creams and lotions with a rush. Now picking up the uniforms, which was she gonna wear?

Her thoughts ran wild, it was Wednesday, so she was going to put on the white and black.

Immediately, she put it on. Then proceeded to put on the shoes and socks as well. Then she walked to the dressing mirror.

Damn, it fitted perfectly, everything. She smiled and twirled around, wondering how whoever put up the dress had known her size.

Everything fitted perfectly well, including the shoes. She was comfortable in it.

Her eyes traveled to the wall clock again, and this time around, she knew she was gonna be late. It was almost six.

Was this how her first day was gonna be? Lateness? What would Prag say now, that she was incompetent?

She primped up her hair, tying it in two, then dashed off, locking up her door and putting the key into the large pocket of her uniform.

She had walked for like ten minutes when she found out she didn’t even know the direction to the kitchen.

Whether upstairs or downstairs, she didn’t know. Twice she would have asked; Prag, and the girl who had brought her uniform, but it didn’t even cross her mind.

For the first time in her life she felt so stranded that she wanted to burst into tears.

There even wasn’t anyone to ask as the hallway was empty, nobody around.

Just then two doors away cranked open, and the occupant came out. Rina made a sigh of relief, at least she had seen someone.

The girl locked up her door then began walking towards her, taking the opposite direction.

She walked up to her and made to walk past when she politely stopped her.

“Um, good evening”, Rina greeted smiling.

The girl stopped and looked at her.

“Yes?” She inquired.

“Sorry for disturbing you please, I’m new here, can you please direct me to the kitchen?” She asked.

The girl looked at her again.

“Oh, you are the new maid?” She asked.

“Yes I am”, she nodded.

“I see. I am actually going to the kitchen, you can follow me”, she said and continued walking.

“Oh, thank you”, and she joined her. They took the hallway down, passing by so many doors.

Rina studied the girl leading her and wondered if she was a maid, she wasn’t putting on the uniform.

In fact, she was dressed casually, like it was the weekend. She even had to crack her brain to be sure of the day.

But her mind still told her it was Tuesday, because she could vividly remember that the previous day was the day Elder Sachin, Zaina’s dad had interviewed her, and that was Monday.

She wanted to ask her why she wasn’t dressed in the uniform and she held back herself, keeping her mouth shut. It wasn’t her damn business.

They continued walking along the hallway and Rina thought they weren’t ever going to stop, or see its end.

Soon they came by another hallway by the left and the girl turned, Rina joined her.

This time, the hallway wasn’t long and empty, they were actually maids walking about, and then it dawned on her, the kitchen and exit door was close by.

But hold on, they were still upstairs, she knew they hadn’t taken any stairs to go down. Does that mean the kitchen was upstairs? She shrugged.

Rina began hearing voices as they continued walking, chattering voices. It increased as they moved further.

Finally they reached an open door, and the girl entered, Rina followed.

Holy Moly! About twenty pairs of eyes rested on her the moment she entered, interrupting their chattering.

Jeez, they had now shifted attention to her, not even on the girl who had put on something different from the uniform.

“Oh, Rina, you are here?” It was Prag, she was standing supervising the maids chopping veggies.

“Yes Miss”, she muttered under her breath, Prag could hardly hear her, and she envisaged instantly that it was the privy eyes of the other maids.

“Can you all get back to your duties?” She said, clapping her hands.

The maids instantly began doing their work.

Rina studied them in a flash, some were washing fruits, some chopping veggies and other cooking stuff, some cutting up the chicken, some doing the dishes and some doing the main cooking.

They were all putting on aprons on their uniforms.

Then she studied the kitchen itself. It was really a classy kitchen, all kitchen utensils and equipment, both the ones she knew and the ones she didn’t, were all there.

Wow, it was really a sight to behold.

“You got your uniforms and shoes?” Prag asked, coming closer to her.

“Yes, thank you”, she nodded.

“Alright. You must really be hungry by now, but as you can see, we are still preparing dinner”.

Rina’s stomach rumbled, as if it heard what Prag had said.

“But you can take snacks and refresh yourself, while we prepare dinner. Go over to the refrigerator and take whatever you want, then move to the section over there and eat”, she pointed towards a particular direction and Rina’s gaze followed.

It was three long seats, and a clear counter like table. This must be the dining here in the kitchen, she thought.

“Thank you”, Rina said and moved to the refrigerator.

It was a long see-through refrigerator, you could easily see its contents.

She opened it and jeez, she almost freezed out. It was damn cold inside.

Her eyes rested on a lot of things. Fruits, packets of juices, carbonated drinks, assorted snacks… name it, were all in the refrigerator.

She didn’t even know which to take. Finally she selected some pastries and a packet of juice, then began walking towards the dining section.

“Would that be enough for you?” Prag asked from where she stood supervising the maids cutting up the chicken.

“Huh? This would be more than enough Miss”, she replied smiling.

Prag shrugged and let her be.

About an hour later, they were done cooking. Rina had already finished eating for like fifty minutes ago, she just sat still on her seat and watched the others.

“Not that jug, the other. Have you forgotten?” She heard Prag shouting at a maid.

They had dished out the food into white sparkling glaze earthenware, then placed them on huge trays.

On another tray were jugs, cups and cutleries.

The maids allotted to the King and his wife, began carrying the trays to the dining.

The maid who had led her to the kitchen came around to carry the tray meant for the Prince, Prag halted her.

“Alina, I thought the tailor had gotten you a new uniform, why are you still putting on casual wear?” She asked.

Alina, the girl sighed.

“Well Prag, she brought it this evening. What is the difference, now and tomorrow? I’m gonna put it on tomorrow”, and she carried the tray and walked out.

Now it was the Princess’s tray left, Rina looked round and found the remaining maids busy as they cleared up the kitchen.

That was when it dawned on her that it was her personal maid who was fired, else she would have taken the tray of food to the Princess as well.

Prag turned to her, her heart skipped a beat. What does she wanna do now? Send her?

“Rina, you are taking the Princess’s dinner to her”.

What!