Page 3 of Twisted Bonds

“Excuse me?”

He turned when he heard someone call.

It was a group of girls.

“Are you a prince?” one of them asked. “We heard you belong to a royal family.”

Mihir noticed the group’s eyes were on his hand at the bejeweled Thakvar insignia gold ring, which glittered even in the gloomy weather.

“No, I do not belong to a royal family,” he replied.

It wasn’t the first time he had been asked that question in the past few weeks since he arrived.

The Thakvar family had stopped using their royal titles for several decades in order to blend with the rest of the clans in Singoor and catch up with modern times.

There were looks of disappointment on the girls’ faces. Giving them a polite nod, Mihir continued to walk to the other side of the building.

He knew many of them found him too different because of how he spoke and dressed. His language was too formal. While most students dressed in t-shirts and what they called sweatshirts, he wore buttoned shirts with a long overcoat, formal trousers, and shoes.

Even he wasn’t entirely comfortable in his current clothing as they were not his usual clothes. He was used to wearing long, comfortable linen tunics that suited the hot and dry desert climate. But when he was beginning to prepare to travel abroad, his brother asked Thakvar’s head tailor to arrange suitable clothing.

I should dress like everyone else in the university.

With that thought, he headed out of the library and went towards the store available on the university campus.

***

It was noon by the time Mihir changed into his new clothes.

The university sweatshirt and jeans felt strange yet comfortable and warm. He didn’t want to completely remove his insignia ring that was worn by all the Thakvar heirs. Sliding it out of his finger, he wore it on his neck chain as a pendant. It was now concealed behind the sweatshirt and closer to his heart.

Knowing he would soon get accustomed to the new clothing style, he headed out. The rain had stopped, but it was still cloudy.

It was nearing lunchtime, but he wasn’t looking forward to having yet another bland meal at the campus. Although it had been two weeks, his palette was yet to get accustomed to the sandwiches, which seemed to be the only food available on the campus.

There must be Indian food somewhere.

There weren’t many Indians at the university. There were only a handful who were seniors to him at the university. He recalled one of them mentioning a few Indian restaurants in the nearby city.

Looking forward to having a familiar meal, he went to the information center.

“Sir, I would like to book a taxi to an Indian restaurant.”

The grey-haired man at the desk looked at him momentarily before shaking his head.

“Taxi is too expensive, son. The closest Indian restaurant is almost an hour and a half away.”

Mihir wasn’t too concerned about the taxi fare. He had enough cash. And he didn’t mind traveling that far to have a satisfying meal.

But the man at the information desk handed him a folded paper. It was a bus schedule.

“Why don’t you go to the temple instead?” the man suggested. “It is about twenty minutes by bus, and they serve hot food. Students go there often.”

Mihir was surprised there was a temple nearby. He opened the bus schedule and saw that he had just missed the bus, and the next one would arrive after thirty minutes.

“Sir, do you have directions to walk to the temple?” Mihir asked.

The man handed him a route map of the area surrounding the university. “It’s a forty-minute uphill walk to the temple. It’s better to wait for the bus.”

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