Warrior Princess; Her Quest to the throne

Vindhya didn't dare look up to see who had thrown the crumpled leaf but pulled it closer to her after noticing that the invigilator had gone past her.     

"More than one right answer," that's all it said.     

Vindhya's face paled and she quickly scanned the instruction sheet once again, cursing all and sundry at that moment.     

But she didn't have much time left to spare on anything else except for re-examining her answers. By the time the gong rang loudly, she had barely managed to answer the last question. Putting her fists against her eyes, she willed her heart to become normal before getting up from her place.     

Vindhya's shoulder was tapped gently just as she was about to step out of the auditorium.     

"Hope I managed to help," it was one of the two contestants who had aided her during the maze round.     

Vindhya was embarrassed that she had ended up relying on this chit for making it through today. She wanted to retort saying that more than help, 'timely' help would have been appreciated but that would imply that she hadn't figured out the instructions herself. So she simply nodded curtly, acknowledging her words.     

"Then, will you make sure to put in a good word for me?" the girl asked with hope in her voice.     

At this, a frown appeared between Vindhya's eyebrows.     

"Who exactly has asked you to do this? Why are you helping me when you are my direct competition?" Vindhya finally asked the question which had been burning in her mind.     

The girl smiled coyly and said in cryptic words, "I simply want to be the first one to offer my congratulations to the next QIT. I hope that you will look upon me kindly when the time comes."     

Before Vindhya could respond, the girl left from there.     

She stood there for a second, with her mind churning out various possibilities. The only conclusion that she arrived at was that her father was the one working behind scenes in this case. As the head of a zilla, he was the only one who could persuade someone to do this. Were these girls from the same zilla as hers? Since they were a batch younger, Vindhya hadn't paid much attention to them in the past. Should I bother looking into it? While she debated with herself on it, her attention was diverted by someone's delighted squeals.     

She turned her head and immediately wished that she hadn't. A grinning Yash received that loud, ill-mannered girl in his arms and she shamelessly jumped into his embrace. Feeling nauseated looking at the scene, she walked off.     

"You have no idea… first I thought… but then I realized… oh I can't begin to tell you," Mriga was incoherent with excitement.     

By the end of the paper, she felt that she had made a more than decent attempt towards the answers, making her feel far more confident than she had been while going in. Yash hadn't been expecting her to crash land in his arms as soon as she saw him but apparently his body reacted faster than his head and before he knew it, she was standing close enough for him to be able to feel her words bounce off his skin, causing goosebumps.     

Maybe she realised the incongruence of their positions and stepped back awkwardly, causing Yash to hold her forearm and say, "Thank you… for letting me stay."     

With that, he released her and took a couple of steps back himself. Mriga moved her gaze around and asked in surprise, "Where are the others?"     

Right then, a sullen looking trio walked upto her.     

"How did it go?" Abhirath asked.     

She looked at him in confusion. There was something wrong with him and she asked him about it immediately in worry.     

"Don't bother your head with inconsequential things. Answer me first," he responded.     

Mriga being Mriga, ignored him and asked Vandit about it. In a wronged tone, he told her how Chiranjeev bullied them while she was giving her exam and that he was extremely harsh when marking their performances as well.     

Mriga's eyes grew wide like saucers in delight.     

In a stage whisper, she asked him, "Even Abhirath was reprimanded?"     

"You know that I can hear you, right?" Abhirath snarled but neither Vandit nor Mriga looked at him.     

Vandit winked at Mriga and nodded his head, making her mouth drop down first.     

"Chiranjeev was extremely vicious when dissing Abhirath's map," he said, maintaining the fake whisper tone.     

Mriga punched a fist in the air to show her glee.     

"Oh! I wish I had been there to witness it," she said after a few seconds.     

"Cruel girl," Abhirath's sulky muttering reached her ears but she chose to play dumb.     

Right then Chiranjeev came there and Mriga shrieked excitedly as she ran and closed the distance between them.     

"You are my hero," she told the guy who was looking at her weirdly.     

She grasped his arm and gave it a squeeze to show her appreciation towards his actions. Unknown to her, Abhirath felt his heart getting squeezed at her actions. This girl was so happy to see him get defeated... he felt like crying!     

Chiranjeev, who shunned physical proximity, removed her hand gently from his arm and murmured to her, "Someone will add poison to my food at this rate."     

He was talking with reference to her standing so close to him while Mriga thought that he was speaking about own actions.     

"Then one has to be careful, right! Anyways, I am very proud of you," she reiterated, in between giggles.     

He shook his head at her over the top reaction and asked, "If you are done celebrating, do you want to tell us about the exam? Everyone has been worried about your performance today. Wait a mi… are you showing this exaggerated reaction because you want to hide your dismal act in the test?"