Kaushalya was in the kitchen preparing ladoos for the puja but something was unusual her two notorious princes were not there to ask for ladoos before the puja. That was very unusual. Whenever she used to make ladoos for Vishnu puja Lakshman and Shatrughan always used to hide around the kitchen for one opportunity to get their hands on ladoos made for Lord Vishnu. Kaushalya always used to give them one ladoo each before the puja and this was their secret. But where are they today.

After finishing the preparations she went around in their search. After a few minutes of searching she finally found Shatrughan in the garden. He was sad.

"what happened? Why are you soo sad" asked a concerned kaushalya

"mata lakshman bhaiya is upset with me" replied shatrghan on the verge of crying

"but why?"

"Me and Lakshman bhaiya were playing when i took his dagger which ram bhaiya gifted him in order to tease him . He was running after me when his foot hit the water container and the water spilled on bharat bhaiya's drawing. Mata saw this and she scolded bhaiya a lot. Now bharat bhaiya is upset with lakshman bhaiya and lakshman bhaiya is upset with me" narrated shatrughan now crying

"Ohho Sumitra overreacts sometimes. You stop crying see i have brought ladoos for you. "

Seeing 2 ladoos in her hands his sobs increased.

"what happened"

"now who will steal ladoos with me"

"shatrughan you know na none of your brothers can be upset with you for long. You are the youngest take its advantage. "

"seriously mata"

"absolutely! Here have one and take the other one to lakshman all his anger will fade away in seconds"

" mata than i should give my ladoo also to bhaiya as an apology"

Kaushalya smiled. She feeded one with her hands to shatrughan.

"you have one i will give you one more so that you can give two ladoos to Lakshman"

Shatrughan jumped with happiness and hugged kaushalya

"mata you are the best! "

Kaushalya caressed his hair.

______________________________________

Afternoon

Keikeyi was in her chamber writting a letter. She heard some sounds coming from outside. She went out to see who was there. After looking for five to ten minutes she spotted something behind the big showpiece. She went ahead to check and found Lakshman hiding behind it. Lakshman was covered in mud from head to toe.

"Lakshman look at yourself. What prank did you do this time"

"ssshhhh mata speak slowly otherwise maa sumitra will listen"

"ohh so you are hiding around from sumitra. But what about this mud on your dhoti and angvastra and what are you hiding behind your back. Show me"

Lakshman brought his hands forward and proudly showed keikeyi two juicy mangoes.

"What is this? " asked an amused keikeyi

"uff mata you dont know anything. These are mangoes"

She hit his head lightly.

"I know that lakshman. But what are you doing with these mangoes.

Lakshman with a bit of guilt replied
"Mata you know na bharat bhaiya loves mangoes. I spoilled his drwaing by mistake. So i brought these mangoes as an appology. "

"From where" now a concerned keikeyi asked

Lakshman was ready to run but keikeyi caught him demanding an answer

"from the garden" lakshman replied with a bowed head

"Lakshman you climbed that big tree. You know na its too risky. You could have injured yourself or worse"

" mata lakshman is strong. Dont you know. Everyone fears lakshman"

"shut up lakshman" she said trying to sound strict but could not hide the concern in her voice.

Just then they heard a dasi asking about lakshman as sumitra was looking for him.

"Laksh come get inside before sumitra finds you" keikeyi said

They both went to keikeyi's chamber hiding from Sumitra's dasis.

Keikeyi ordered her dasis to prepare the bathtub for lakshman.

Lakshman went to take bath and keikeyi ordered one of her dasi to bring his clothes from Sumitra's chamber without getting noticed by Sumitra.

When Lakshman came out after taking bath and dressed in fresh clothes keikeyi noticed some scratches on his arms and legs. Her eyes filled with tears.

"Dasi get me the medicine fast"ordered keikeyi

A few tears rolled down keikeyi's cheeks. Seeing this Lakshman was hurt for he has never seen his mata keikeyi in tears.

He hugged her.
"Mata please dont cry otherwise everyone will say Lakshman is bad.

"no lakshman you are my prince how can you be bad. Whoever says this is a devil"

"this means mata sumitra is a devil. Haww"

"Lakshmannnn!"

______________________________________

It was around midnight everyone was deep asleep except for the little prince of ayodhya. He was having a hard time tossing around but no sleep.

"what should i do? Should i wake up Ram bhaiya" thought Lakshman

He paced towards Ram's bed as he knew his Ram bhaiya will never scold him. But once he reached Ram's bed he changed his mind seeing Ram sleeping peacefully.

After thinking for a while about what to do. He had an idea.

He left his room and paced towards his Mata's palace.

When he reached their he saw the guards sleeping.

"huhh! Its there duty to guard mata's chamber and here they are sleeping! "

His mischievous mind had an idea. He webt back to his room and brought Bharat's colors.

"I know they are out of reach but its emergency "

He went to the guards. After a while satisfied with his creativity Lakshman stopped.

"now they look fine. Now they will guard properly"

He entered the chamber and slipped beside a sleeping Kaushlya careful not to wake her up.

He hugged her. Kaushalya even in sleep realised his pressence and hugged him back.

And after 10 minutes Lakshman was sleeping peacefully emracing Kaushalya whike the latter caressed him lovingly.

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So guys this was Chapter 3 of Siya Ram. Hope you like it. Do give your reviews and share the book with your friends.

Guys many of you didn't review chapter two. If you do not like the chapter you can openly criticize but do let me know your views.

And if you have any ideas for the story that you want to read let me know i will try to work on it.

Share my story with your friends and enjoy reading.

Take care! Stay safe!!