As long as she was fighting him to get free, she didn't feel anything. But when she stopped fighting, she realized how close they were. She looked at the difference in her husband's look. His eyes lazily traveled across her body that was crushed under him. His eyes stayed on her lips for more than required, and she kept talking to stop that tingling feeling in her stomach. She likes this man. She likes how much he loves his mom, she likes his personality, and she likes his arms and chest! Is she in love with her husband? We don't know yet, but she, for sure, is ogling him. She loves checking him out.
As he neared her lips, her heart threatened her to stop beating. She held her breath and released it only when her husband went out of the room to the balcony. She is a little girl by heart, but her anatomy is of a grown girl. The nearness of her husband did the hormone magic, and her body reacted naturally to it. She was scared of him for the first time since morning. But this is not a negative fear. Her first kiss! It made her head spin. She heard her heart thumping loud in her throat. He was not harsh, but he was not soft either.
She pulled her lower lip with her thumb and forefinger and looked down only to see red splotches. A weird thing happened in her stomach, and she ran to the restroom.
‘Epdi kadichu vechu irukaru! Ippo epdi avara pakurathu? (Look at how he bit me! How would I see him now?)’ she thought to herself.
***
Krishna’s state was a complete opposite to her. She was happily excited, but Krishna was in a very pathetic state. He could not understand his own actions. He was bewildered by his behavior with her. A kiss! A long kiss that lasted more than three minutes. Even though she was a novice, that didn't stop him from taking what he wanted. Her uncertainty in what to do gave him more excitement. When he neared her lips, her already wide eyes widened even more, trying to drown him in it. When he placed his lips on hers, her eyelids fluttered before closing. She clutched his shirt near his collar and surrendered under him. Her surrender made him explore her more. He liked her surrender.
‘God! What am I doing?’ He brushed his hair that fell on his forehead in the mild breeze outside. He could not contemplate his own heart. All he knew was one thing. It is very wrong to have kissed her. He sat on the swing in the balcony and tried to remember HER! Meera! The girl who he promised his heart!
“Krish! Krish, stop, you haven't replied to me yet!” Meera stopped him while he was going into his college.
“Meeru, please. Everyone is looking at us.” Krishna tried to maintain his act a little longer. He swallowed his laughs and his desire to engulf her in a huge hug.
He was not this frowny Krishna with girls then. He was a chocolate boy. He was friendly. But when it comes to studies, he becomes a demon. Whatever he is in, he should be the winner. Be it studies or sports! When he grew big enough and understood that her dad’s brothers and sisters deceived his mother and took off with all the wealth that his father earned hard, he had it in his bones to excel in everything and give back everything his mom lost after his dad. That was his motivation for success.
Kowsalya had a degree that helped her find a job to save her son. Krishna grew up looking at the hardships his mother went through to feed him and give him a shelter. He started working part-time at every vacation he got. He learned so many different job perspectives. He saved all the money, and when he came out of school, he already had one lakh rupees in his possession. He studied online about how to make quick big money, and he found the share market. He started studying the share market, and soon he understood the fluctuations. He kept his mind wide open for all the economic changes in the country, and soon he became a pro at it. His genius mind calculated the risks and predicted the future. Within a short amount of time, he became more brilliant than many brokers who worked in the line for decades. He invested his hard earned money in shares and took returns at the right time! His one lakh multiplied into many lakhs. Before he graduated his masters degree, he was already a millionaire.
Meera was his high school classmate. She came from Hyderabad due to the transfer of her father. She joined his school in their 11th grade. Meera was a very studious girl. Soon, he started hate-liking her. He hated her for the tough competition she gave for the first rank. He liked her for pushing him to his limits. Meera noticed the passive aggression he showed her and was puzzled at first.
In her previous schools, she had no friends. Her father would get transferred every once in a while, and she had to jump 7 schools until this last one. She would get first rank wherever she went, and that stopped some good friends coming her way. The friends that talked to her did that for combined studies alone. When Krishna made her feel like she was in his competition, she took that challenge sportively, and it was fun to her.
“Hi, Krishna! Congratulations.” She went and spoke to him when he got the first rank in the second term exams.
“Thanks!” He said, smiling contently.
“Enjoy it because this will become mine the next term.” She said to him and walked away while he enjoyed her open challenge.
Soon, their war made them friends. Mithran felt left out in this as he was an average student. He hated Meera for separating his only friend from him. Yes, Krishna was Mithran’s only friend. Mithran is the son of a wealthy businessman and he could tell easily when a person talks to him if he is truly friendly or is trying to make friendship with him for the benefits they might get in the future. And the result is that he had no friends except Krishna.
“Dei, I don't like what you are doing,” Mithran said to his friend.
“What did I do?” Krishna asked him back, truly unknowing of what happened to his best friend all of a sudden.
“I don't like you talking to Meera.”
“Haha, what are you? My girlfriend? Why do you get possessive on this silly matter?” Krishna asked him playfully.
“You have stopped spending time with me.” He started complaining.
“Thu, if someone hears you talk like this, they might think of us from a totally different angle.”
“Krishna!” He growled, and Krishna understood that his friend was not joking.
“Dei, loosa da ni? (Are you mad?) That is just healthy competition. Nothing more, nothing less. Above all, she likes you very much and always will inquire about you to me. It is you that always avoids her.”
“I don't want her to be between us, and I do not require a friend. Tell me, what is the reason you show all your teeth to her?”
“Karumam!” Krishna hit his head hard and looked at his friend who was standing in front of him with utmost anger.
“Dei, whenever I study with her, I call you too. Padika kashta pattutu velayada poitu ippo vanthu en pondati mari pesitu iruka. (You went to play to escape studies and now talking as if you are my wife)”
“Ok ok, I will come with you. But you should also come with me to the playground. I miss you there. Mithran said, and Krishnan hugged his friend to compromise him.
“Haha, ippo mattum yaravathu nammala pathanga, mudivey panniduvanga. (If someone saw us now, they will just confirm it!)” Krishna told his friend, and they walked to their class with laughter.
It was always Mithran for Krishna! Mithran is a hard-headed man. He is kind of arrogant, and that keeps himself distant from everyone. But Krishnan liked him when he first saw him. Their friendship started in their sixth grade. Mithran saw Krishnan’s insides even at that very young age. That is how much Mithran hated people and their greed. He had his own reasons.
“Krish!” Meera called him one day in the corridor of their classroom.
“Yes, Meera?”
“I saw you yesterday on the ground.”
“Yeah, we were playing basketball.”
“I saw you!” She looked down. She remembered his sleeveless shirt and shorts. She remembered his thick arms and how he used his height as an advantage in the game.
“Um… you were so good,” Meera said after she realized that he was looking at her for an answer.
“Thanks, Mithu and I are team players in our state team.” He said with pride.
“Oh!” She said, her little heart shaken at the sight she saw, and she could not understand the changes in it. She felt like she saw Krishnan with different eyes now. He looked more handsome and smart in her eyes.
“Ok, Meera. All the best.” He said and walked into the classroom. They had a class test that day, and the first time Meera came to school unprepared for the exam. The magic of hormones started playing with her, and her marks stood evidence of it.
“What is this, Meera? Why are your marks so bad? Mithu has scored better than you.” Krishna asked Meera while Mithu was throwing daggers on his friend through his eyes.
“Krish!” She could not look up at him. How would she say that she looked at him all the time and failed to look at her papers in the exam hall?
“Is everything alright in your home? Is something disturbing you?” He asked her for which she mentally held her head.
“No, I am fine.”
“Are you sick?” He asked her, feeling her forehead, but he withdrew his hand suddenly as he realized that he was in a school corridor. The little contact made him realize he had gone overboard. He felt guilty.
“I… I am fine.” Meera felt like her head spun at his contact. With the guilty feeling along came a little unknown feeling, Krishna went away with Mithu, but Mithu understood what was wrong with her. He has seen her looking at him at times, but now her gaze is all set on Krishna.
Slowly, Meera started drifting away. She could not meet Krishna's eyes. She could not talk to him easily like she once did. She could not be around him without her heart thumping loud. She could not concentrate on anything. When Krishna worried for her, Mithu read her right. He waited for the right time to tell his friend about Meera.
***
“Ennanga!” Krishna came back to the present at her call. He looked at her with no emotion whatsoever on his face. She could not face him but was worried that he might get sick if he slept outside in the foggy night.
“Um… it is very cold here. Come inside and sleep.” Damayanthi called him, swallowing all the emotions that tried to break her.
“You go and sleep. And I am sorry!” He said to her, still looking dead in her eyes. His sorry did hurt her. She hid it behind her eyelids in a fraction of a second, but he had an eagle eye!
“It… it’s ok. Please, it is already 12.30, come in and sleep. I promise I will not tell anything to athai.” She said with her hand pinching her throat. He tried hard to swallow that smile that threatened him at the irrelevant timing.
Don't know what he thought, but he walked in with her. She stood near the bed, not knowing where to sleep. He walked past her to the sitting area in his room. He pulled out the cushions and flipped the couch that made it into a bed. Dammu looked at it with her mouth wide open.
“This is a daybed sofa. It will be comfortable for you.” He told her and walked to the cupboard on the wall. He pulled out a blanket and a pillow and gave them to her. “Good night!” He told her and walked to his bed. He did not want to scare her in the night. He often wakes up in the middle of the night with nightmares. Sometimes, he would even scream. But today, the crushed flowers from her hair, the dried milk on the sheets, and her eccentric smell on him made his night a sleepless one. But she fell asleep on the very comfortable cushioned bed.