A Sunflower's Tale

~ Chapter - 5 ~

A week away from that night- those seven days had been ethereally beautiful for Mullai. She fell for Kathir gradually through every minute that passed from when she spoke of the thing she dreaded the most in her life. His chivalrous attitude towards her throughout made him stand high in her eyes. He could have easily belittled her sentiments but he respected and admired her for the decision she took for the mere depth of love she had for her sister. She knew she was head over heels for him from the second she had pulled him for a kiss on his cheek.

In even those other times they spent with each other after that, she couldn't take her eyes off him and he would nod at her with an I-know-you kind of smile. He never prodded her about anything that would discomfort her even a little- it was easy and breezy with him like it had always been. She knew she had lost to him completely by the end of the week. She felt he at least deserved to know the fact that she reciprocated his feelings and that he would definitely understand if she asks for a year or two worth time to think about their marriage. He had been shouldering enough work in Parthiban's project for the whole week and so she thought she could leisurely talk with him that weekend about their future together.

She had been counting the days for the weekend to arrive and it was finally Friday eve, after a week's wait. Kathir and Priya were busy wrapping up the work for the week and they had been in a meeting with the staff for more than two hours straight now. Kathir's mobile vibrated a third time for him to lose patience and he paced towards the table that held it to switch it off for good. But the name on it did have a very contrasting effect on him though. Mullai Calling... His face curved up immediately and he didn't care about the half of the staff goggling him that very moment.

He swiped up the call, held it close to his ear and before he uttered a word, the lifeless voice of hers from the other side made him hold his breath tight for a second- it was exactly the same as when she called to tell him that her sister had gone lost, "Kathir... na unga office keela thaan wait panren... emergency... konjam please seekiram vaanga...", and the line went dead. He gripped his mobile hard and half-ran towards the lift shouting back on his way to Priya that he had to leave immediately and they would catch up on the phone later. Her voice was enough to tell him that the worst was waiting for him around the corner. He spotted her car and as he reached it, he bent onto the slided down window to peer into her pale face, devoid of both blood and emotions.

She didn't look in his face but just moved out from the driver's seat and settled on the passenger's side saying in that hollow voice, "neenga vandi ootunga...", he didn't spare a second but just got into the car and drove it out of his office compound before asking her, "enga ponum Mulla...". He saw her through the corner of his eyes- her eyelids shut tight, palms fisted and her head hit the headrest with a thud while she said in almost a whisper, "Hyderabad...". The wheel screeched and the car stopped dead in the middle of the road. She opened her eyes to hear the horns honking loud behind them and she tapped his hand hard to make him realise that the car stood stumped in the traffic.

He moved the car to the side in a trance state and he starkly gazed at Mullai's side profile as she looked out of her window, "Kalai akka va Mulla... avunga nalla thaana...", and like that he found her slumped onto his front the next second, crying her heart out. He enveloped her wholly within his cocoon and through her tears he heard her say, "she is no more Kathir... one year ku mela aachaam avunga nammala ellarayum vittu poyi... I lost her Kathir... we lost her...". It took many minutes for them both to even move away from each other's warmth and the fact that they had to reach Hyderabad at the earliest possible time, made them brace themselves up for the time being- they had lived with pain for these two years and it had now become a ever-present part of their forever too.

A call had come from an ashram in Hyderabad about an hour back asking for Mullai and they had informed her that Kalai had lived the last ten months of her life there. She had never disclosed to the people there about her family but had spelt Mullai's name continuously before she took her last breath. They never knew where she had come from till they saw an advertisement of Pandian Constructions and Parvathy Interiors yesterday which had Kalai's photograph in it. Mullai couldn't hear more on the phone and had just said that she would come there directly. They stopped once for food and they both gulped down a few mouthfuls only for the sake that either of them should not starve the whole night just because the other did.