Disclaimer: This is a work of FICTION.
Back to writing after quite a while, so just something short.
This most definitely is not a romantic work. I am not sure how to classify it. So read it at your own discretion :)
This is a spin-off of Anbarey. Please do read that before you read this one. That said, you wouldn't be missing anything if you decide not to read this one shot. So read it at your own discretion!
Don't tell me I didn't warn you twice!! :)
Not proof read and the entire chapter was typed using a mobile device. Please bear with typos.
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Kaanal Neer
He kicked the already broken old plastic bucket in frustration when his call went unanswered for the third time that evening. He stuck his head out the parapet to see if the noise had caught anyone's attention. Satisfied no one was privy to his agony, he went back to his phone.
"Sorry Preethi. Please pick my call", he quickly shot a text staring at the chat window which was filled with his Sorries since that morning.
He knew he deserved this.
He was an asshole for standing his girlfriend up, but a part of him knew this day, this disappointment was inevitable. Only he had hoped to be better.
"Preethi, please!", he muttered to himself with the phone perfectly balanced in the crook of his neck.
A whistle.
The whistle was what he heard first and it startled him. Instinctively, he held his breath with the phone still pressed to his ear.
He leaned on the parapet hoping she wouldn't walk to where he stood in the big terrace. This was his spot. His secret lair. It was a small, not so well lit space behind the water tanks at the farthest end of the terrace from the staircase that led downstairs. Everyone had a spot on the terrace, his appaththa always stood beside the koyya maram, the one that she had planted on some occasion when she was younger, his periamma always stood facing the ghats as if the mountains held the answer to all her questions, his mother Indu always the practical one stood at the threshold of the stairs keeping an eye out for visitors downstairs and for the kids, his athai Sivaangi always at the spot above their muttram lost in thoughts. Everyone had a spot on the terrace. And this was rightfully his, the spot that had seen his first thiruttu dhum, the very spot he had decided what he wanted to do with his life, the very spot where he had decided to pursue post-graduation in lieu of the promotion at work.
To his dismay the whistle only got closer and it was beginning to not just be a whistle anymore.
He froze and he wasn't even sure why. "You are an adult", he reminded himself. It was probably the knee jerk reaction to his privacy being intruded he told himself, yet he remained still.
Her voice had suddenly gotten bolder.
சூறைக்காற்றில் தீபம் வாழுமோ?
மூடும் தீயில் நீந்துமோ?
And closer.
Yes, this wasn't just his space anymore. He closed his eyes briefly.
கானல் நீரிலே
வாழும் மீன்களே
And her singing stopped abruptly.
He gulped before opening his eyes to the sight of her looking like a deer caught in the headlights.
