Na Bangaram (Pranushka)

Chapter 18

Prabhas Pov:

I can't take my eyes off her. She looks different, but in a good way.

"You did bangs then," Ma asks her.

"Yes so cute 2 inches, layers, and added like face-framing or curtain bangs, sort of." Ma nods at her and smiles. I try to keep looking down at my phone, but it's so hard when she is standing so close to me. Her hair is straight now and she has her bangs falling on her face. I so badly just want to reach out and tuck them behind her ear.

"Ready to go?" she turns and looks at me. I nod at her and she smiles at me.

I take a deep breath to control myself when she gives me a full-blown smile, like how many lies did her father tell to have a daughter as beautiful as her. Ma calls us into the car. Since everyone is already in their seats Anushka and I sit next to each other. Rana starts driving. He purposely takes sharp turns so Anushka came falling onto me. She falls onto my arms and her head hits my shoulder. Her eyebrows scrunch up and she bites her lip as she apologizes to me. Before we know it we reach the temple. The girls get out first and fix their clothes. Rana stands next to Miheeka and Anushka is standing next to me.

Miheeka adjusts her tank top which was rolling up and Anushka fixes the strap on her sandals. Anushka then pushes her hair back behind her ear because the wind was pushing it onto her face. The girls walk ahead of us and walk up the stairs to the temple. I hit Rana on the arm, "We are at the temple. Stop checking out my vadina." Ma tells us she is going to pray and asks who is coming with her. "I will," me and Anushka say at the same time. Miheeka says, "I was gonna go take rounds around the gods." Rana says he was going to go. I punch him lightly and let him go in the opposite direction with Miheeka.

I follow behind Anushka who stops at the idol to pray. She closes her eyes and puts her hands together and I stand next to her and do the same. I open my left eye slightly and see her quietly mumbling prayers to herself. I focus on the curve of her lip as she continues to pray for about a minute. When she opens her eyes for a second, I immediately close mine and pray. Ma grins and teasingly says, "Prabhas look at the gods, not at Anushka."

My cheeks turn red and Anushka starts laughing. We follow Ma as she does rounds around the idol. After a little bit of prayer Rana, Miheeka, and Shriya meet up with us and we decide to go eat some prasadam at the cafeteria. I noticed that Ma was becoming very close with the girls. "You should be. After all, they are going to become your future kodalulu." I said to myself.

We grab the food and sit outside. I noticed Rana and Miheeka were sharing a Pongal but I didn't say anything. Ma and Shriya are sharing one as well which leaves just me and Anushka. Without saying anything she brings a plate of Pongal and gestures for me to eat. Ma strikes up a conversation, "So do you guys want to get ice-cream next?"

I observe Anushka's eyes turn bright. "Yes that would be amazing." she gushes. Shriya and Miheeka are quick to say yes. "Well, it doesn't seem like I have much of an option," Rana says sarcastically. 

I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! Thank you so much for reading. 

Just an Fyi, "kodalulu", means daughter-in-law and "vadina" is what you call your older brother's wife or sister-in-law. 

-Ag and Sv