Mental Manadhil! ❤️

 

Mental Manadhil! ❤️

 

“Deepannnnnnnn!”, shouted some girl on top of her voice.

I removed my headphones, adjusted my boxers, and went out to see who it was. It was Apsara, standing before my house. I had to look again properly, to see if it was happening, real-time. It was her, in a bright-colored formal shirt and ankle-length beige pants. She looked up ready for something and I sensed something was up.

“Deepan, come down, with your scooter keys and your wallet. Hurry up”, she said, breathing in and out fast. I ran in, took my wallet, and I had around 400 with me. I took the keys and went down to give them to her. As soon I went down, she held my hands and took me towards the scooter.

“Hey! What’s happening, leave me! Where are you taking me!”, I exclaimed.

“Deepan, wake up. And come with me. It’s something important…” said she, in a serious tone.

“At least, let me wear something decent. These boxers are too revealing”, I said, turning pink.

“…. And urgent,” she completed her sentence. She threw her backpack into the boot space and pushed me to the handlebar.

I had no options, and I knew she wouldn’t open her mouth if she decided to. So, I took her and headed according to her directions, in a smelly oversized T-shirt and shorter-than-usual-boxers.

As she directed, in the next fifteen minutes, I found myself and my scooter heading towards Poonamallee. I was confused. All her relatives are in Kerala, and she worked in Bangalore until she returned for her brother’s engagement last week. What has she got to do in Poonamallee?

A car overtook us, and that brought me back to reality.

“What have you got to do in Poonamallee? Is there any interview you got to attend?”, I asked.

“No, dumbass. Think. I joined Tesla only two months before. How could I think of another company already?”, she shouted, literally.

“Yeah, valid.” I nodded. “Then why am I being kidnapped to Poonamallee this early in the morning?”, I asked her. She took some time before replying to me.

“Deepan, you have your Learner Driving License right which the other day you were showing off?” she asked me. I pressed my pocket which had my wallet, which held my precious LLR.

“Hear me out, my Annan is getting married today. And I’m taking you there.”, she said calmly.

At first, I felt bad for sleeping through the marriage of my favorite girl’s brother marriage. Yeah, I’ve always had something for her, and she believes me too. And not to spoil her belief in me, I kept my crush on her to myself, just to save that smooth thing we were having now. Wait a minute, something’s wrong.

“Hey! I thought your brother’s marriage was next month?”, realizing what was happening around me.

“Yeah, that’s the one my father fixed for him. This is done by me”, said she, as if we were heading to attend a normal wedding.

Instantly I knew, it was my last day. Her father, Mr. Ramakrishnan, MD of Bata, Chennai, was going to slipper me to death. He wouldn’t like me helping his son to marry someone of his choice. I stopped the scooter.

“You could’ve taken an Uber know, why me?”, I asked out of genuine fury.

She placed her hands on my shoulders and that itself was enough for me to melt, she added a please to it. I had to start my scooter again.

“Okay, just say why! I need to know why it was me!”, I still asked her the question which persisted in my mind.

“Deepan, I know only you. I thought you’ll help me. Besides that, where will I find a person who has an LLR and could drive me to Kanchipuram?”, she said.

A shiver ran down my spine. Did she say Kanchipuram?

“Kanchipuram? Do you think it's easy? I can’t show my LLR if we get caught. It's suicidal.”, I said.

“I thought something is better than nothing. We’ll manage. We could bribe them, from the money I stole from home”, She said, casually again.

Apple ringtone interrupted her. Her phone started to ring. I froze and struggled to bring my muscles to action. We decided to ignore the call. She took her phone and switched the mobile to ‘Silent' mode.

“Okay, let me ask something. Why do you care for me this much, Deepan? Don’t say I dragged and forced you to come with me. I would’ve known if you were unwilling to come with me”, said she.

I smiled. I smiled a lot before replying to her.

“You know what, I’ve always wanted to tell this. As I’m going to be killed by your father tomorrow, I’ll tell you this”, I said to her. I looked at her through the right rear mirror. Her pink lips curved to make the most beautiful smile ever. I knew she was beautiful, but today, she was more. Strands of her hair on her face, sunrays making her face bright, perfectly outlined eyes, and the mole she had on her neck, she was looking heavenly.

“You definitely would know I came only for you, not for your brother, especially after he broke my nose cartilage while we were playing Cricket. To be honest, you have always been special to me, and I’ve always wanted to extend myself to help you out. Ask me if it’s Love, no, it is not. I feel this is beyond words, a very special bonding. And that answers your question, I’m here for you; for the special bonding we have”, I said.

She smiled and smiled. I was happy that I used to the chance to pour my heart out properly and she understood it in the right manner. I was flying.

We reached Kanchipuram and she called her brother, and we went to Ekambareshwarar Temple, famous in Kanchipuram. The couple was waiting for her, and they went in once they saw her. Apsara took me in, and I stood beside a pillar carving, trying my maximum to cover my long, exposed legs. Apsara took a pair of rings out of her bag and gave them to them. He tied the knot, and they exchanged the rings. All these happening, I went into the deep thought of how I was going to convince her father for marrying her. How will he take me back, after helping his son to elope, and to have stolen money from him, for the same cause?

My phone rang, and my hands stopped working as soon I took my phone out and saw the name “Apsara’s Dad”. I knew I had to attend the call now or after, so, I looked at Apsara. She told me to pick the phone and to say she’s not around if he asks about her. I attended the phone call.

“Deepan, I had great respect for you. And you bulldozed it on your own”, his strong voice made me tremble.

“Why the heck did you elope with my daughter!”, he shouted. I dropped my phone.

He’s never going to forgive me, for what I did, without doing it exactly.