Kadhalin Niram

Chrysanthemum Yellow

You would think that after that night and Kathir's less than welcome (as far as she knew) on her wishes, Mullai would keep her mouth shut. As she promised mind you, but she didn't. Of course she didn't. 

Two nights later, Mullai and Kanna  were sitting in the middle of the hall, with a huge trunk in front of them. It was filled with old photos in wooden frames or albums that held tattered photos. Lakshmi was reciting the memory or interesting tidbit about each off the photos when Kathir entered the house. 

Lakshmi's attention got diverted immediately. "Vaa da..", she snipped in a tone that clearly indicated that he was in for some reprimanding. "Maa..", he looked around for people to save him from the earful, Mullai and Kanna looked at each other and giggled silently, but made no attempts to save him. 

"Nalla vennum... Yenna evlo thiraru... nalla venum", Mullai thought to herself. 

"Enna da ithu?", Lakshmi started,  "Enna time ku vara? Unna pakave mudiya matenguthu, Kathir saptana illayanu kettu therinjikura nelamai la irukan na, ithulam nalathuka illa da...", she glared at him, making Kathir feel eight as he scratched his head, "Maa..", 

"Puthusa kalayanam agi irukunu sonna nambuvangala da yaravathu?!", Lakshmi ended her admonishment with the billion dollar question, which made Mullai's back stiffened and eyes widened. Kathir had flushed so red that  he looked like a berry, it was now Kanna's turn to gawf at the pair for them. And he did so very happily. 

Mullai glared at Kanna, "Santhadi saaku la same side goal podra nee...", she murmured at him. Lakshmi shooed Kathir to go freshen up which he was immensely grateful for. 

When he came back, lazily rubbing his damp head with a towel, he heard something along the lines of "... itho inga trouser podama irukurathu, athan Kathir anna..", Well, it was safe to say that he ran faster than the speed of light to get to Kanna. And to his horror kanna was leaning over to Mullai to show a photo. 

He snatched the photo from Kanna and held in close to him, glaring like Hades would have, "Unnaku vera vellai ye illaya," he sneered at him, as Mullai bit back her smile. Or at least tried to To his surprise Kanna, gave him the widest of smiles, 

"Eee, bayanthutiya chumma, nee varatha pathan athan, verupethi pakalam nu," he smiled at him, Kathir breathed in relief, before registering what he said"Athu appa oda photo, neeye vena paran.." he pointed at the photo Kathir was holding and sure enough, Padian smiled at his son as Kathir flipped the photo to take a look, 

'Pakki oru second la bayamuruthuriche...', he thought to himself as he relaxed, "En da, intha college class ithulam naybagam iruka illaya, anni kita sollava.." he offered, Kanna surrendered quiet blatantly after that, 

"Anna anna poru nae, Mullai anni than palaya photos kettuchu anthan pathutu irukom, neeyum va," he offered magnanimously, "Vera vella illa ennaku.." Kathir muttered as he went and sat in the sofa just to defy them, 

He then spent the next few minutes, trying and (failing, miserably) not to eavesdrop into the lively conversation of Kanna and Mullai. He couldn't help but notice that Kanna was the only one Mullai was truly herself with, where her smiles didn't have the usual strain it had or looked polite like it did with his brothers or Dhanam. This was so heartfelt and geinuene, even obnoxiously loud at times. For some reason it made his heart light. Good... at least there was one person she could rely on and make her feel at home. 

"Mullai anni, Dhanam anni vara marri iruku na book eduthu konjam pavala kattitu padukuran," Kanna said, making Mullai giggle, and nodded as she put back the photos into the trunk. She then got up and tucked the saree into her hip and bent to pick up the truck. While doing  so the pallu which was tucked in haste, came free, right when she had the trunk in her hands. The sudden movement of it made her instinctively, jerk which in turn made her stumble off balance with the heavy metal trunk. "Aii!", Kathir had stood up and had halved the distance between them, his right hand half raised to hold her. Mullai swayed into a standing position on her own, and looked up at him,