Life going on as usual. Anitha attending office and Vijay taking care of his business. On that day it was started raining in the evening, initially as a drizzle further progressed to heavy downpour since a storm had hit the Bay of Bengal near Chennai.
Anitha started worrying about Vijay because he usually reach home only after 9, but today in this rain "what's he doing out" and " how he will reach...." she thought, it's already past 8, she called his mobile twice but it was not reachable.
To her relief, the door bell rang, it's Vijay only. He was all wet, as he was mostly using his 2 wheeler for his work. On seeing him, Anitha got both mad and sad at the same time, but she didn't express them. He took shower and changed to new clothes.
Anitha was preparing dinner and Vijay sitting in hall and working in his laptop. "How it's going?!" She asked him. "mm.. what?!" he asked her without lifting his head from laptop.
"Your work...how it's going on?!" She asked again. "mm..ok... We are getting orders regularly from small industries...but still, we need a big shot to lift up... " He replied.
"So much work and stress he was handling.. she knew....starting from getting orders till the delivery of goods.. sometimes he himself deliver them like a delivery boy.. very sincere and workaholic.." she thought.
The rain was becoming more and more heavy with lightning and thunders. Suddenly the power went off, Anitha started searching for a candle, and Vijay switched on his mobile torch to help her. There was a bright lightning followed by ear dumping loud thunder which appeared directly strikes the head from the sky. Vijay thought of a movie scene in which heroin would hug the hero as she get panicked by the loud sound in a thunderstorm then the duet song would start. Vijay took a glance on Anitha, she was sincerely searching for the candle.
"Don't you get panic by this loud thunders?!" He asked anitha. "No.."she said casually without stopping her search. "I missed a chance" Vijay said. "What?!".. she asked. "Or like some girls do you have any fear for cockroaches and lizards?! He continued. "No..why are you asking this?!" she found a candle and lit it up, 'The security must be working on the generator' she thought. "I missed the other chances too..." Vijay sighed heavily.
"I can't get you" her face glowing in that orange flame of candle. Vijay remembered the day, the very first sight of her pretty face in that campher flame and how he was thouroghly overwhelmed by her beauty, was in a trans state for 2 days, then he realized it was so wrong and wiped out all the thoughts about her from his mind and started concentrating on his studies. He once again sighed..'how life has changed now...' he thought and the power came at once.
They finished their dinner, after completing some works in kitchen, Anitha started towards her bedroom. She stopped short by looking at Vijay who was lying on the sofa and trying to get the comfortable position for sleeping as because it was so small for his length. She didn't notice it before, as he would be working late nights in his laptop while she was going to sleep. She thought about his master bedroom in his house.
'he was suffering a lot, all because of you' her mind pointed a gun at her. "You can come and sleep with me in the bed" the words slipped out of her mouth without thinking, Vijay jumped up, sitting on the sofa looking shocked, "wwhaat..?!!".
" You can come and sleep.... she trailed off, now realizing that the words have other meaning also. "I didn't mean...." she was choking, 'such a blunder' she thought and bit her lip hard which showed a sprout of blood, her face gone pale, she started trembling and gripped the sofa for support.
Vijay was watching her reaction calmly, he knew her, he understood why she said that, after a pause he said, "I just don't need a place in your bed....I want a place in your heart first" he said it quietly and lied down on his back with his arm resting on his forehead, he closed his eyes.
*********
"I will be expecting both of you, please be on time" Gayatri said it 3rd time.
"Ok...ok..I got it" Vijay replied. Anitha smiled watching both of them. It's one fine evening, Gayatri and Rajesh came here to invite anitha and Vijay for their baby mintu's ear piercing ceremony.
After they left the house, Vijay asked Anitha "is it all necessary?!" by pointing at the things Gayatri brought along with her. A plate filled with Fruits, coconut, betel leaves and nut, bananas. She managed with an instant cough, 'thank God, I hid the clothes already, she thought.
"No need... only for dear and nears they do", she replied.
"Oh...", "do you have any plans for the gift?"
She nodded, "no..."
"Shall we take dress for the boy?! And also for the girl? Is it ok or can we try for toys something like that?! His brows creased, not looking pleased himself with the choices. "You can help me know?!" He asked her.
"Actually while deciding about gifts, we consider, 'how far the relationship between us' and also our gifts will reveal 'how much we care for them', so... what do you think about Gayatri?! She poked him.
"Me?!... he didn't take much time and replied immediately, "she is like my sister", as expected.
Anitha took a glance at him, "is it so..?!"
"Ya.. definitely..." He shrugged his shoulders.
"Then you must buy a gold chain" she replied casually.
"What...?! 'Voi', "I am only a small budding entrepreneur, consider that", he said and left the house to continue his work.
'what is this 'voi' means, he was using it to call me often, she thought of Google searching, then dropped it.
******
Anitha felt satisfied when Vijay bought a beautiful medium sized gold chain with a smiley pendant for the boy. She thought about the gift given by him on the day of reception night, 'a fine platinum chain with a heart shaped pendant' which she kept in the locker without touching.
*******
" I don't know why he is calling me like that", Anitha muttered. The 3 friends were sitting in the office canteen, while two of them teasing Anitha.
"it's a word in local language, the teen guys were using it to call their sweet hearts" Aparna said with a ear to ear grin. Gayatri literally laughed while Anitha elbowed Aparna. "Ok I am leaving.." Aparna escaped.
Gayatri watched Anitha who is rotating her empty tea cup silently. "Don't make him 'fast' too much" Gayatri said in a blank voice. Anitha stopped rotating the cup. " You know what I meant" Gayatri said softly and started leaving. Anitha was watching her in silence....
To be continued.....
