Slow and Steady wins the love

22 - New normalcy!

Nandhini's POV:

It felt so good to wake up in our room with my beloved husband sleeping peacefully. I never used to sleep with anyone next to me but weirdly having him by my side fills my heart with peace. I took a bath and prepared my morning tea and by the time, Kathir greeted me with his signature smile. When we were having our breakfast, Kathir's mobile let out a notification sound. He picked it up and instantly his face bloomed with a smile.

"What made you smile?" I asked him while taking another morsel of food. "There's no work for me till evening as the interns will be assigned with all the minor tasks." he squealed like a baby without averting his eyes from the mobile screen. "Ohh that means you don't have any work?" I asked with a hint of happiness as I can spend more time with him. He kept his mobile down and looked at me, "Not really, Nandhu. It depends on how interns finish their job within the time frame. If they fail, then I have to correct the rest." I nodded and silently prayed that interns should perform well today. It's not like I care for them, but to have some quality moments with my husband today.

Kathiravan's POV:

At last, I got a free schedule today. All thanks to this lockdown😉. I helped Nandhini in cleaning our room as she wanted to change the sheets, curtains, table covers and whatnot. But I noticed that she has a good taste in selecting the decors. She matched everything with similar colours and they gave a cosy look to the room. I never looked for these petty things and I always choose random colours when it comes to selection. But she is very particular in everything.

We had breakfast and lunch together and I can see how exhausted she was due to continuous chores. Though I insisted to rest for a while, she denied it abruptly and managed to show her enthusiasm like a butterfly.

When we were conversing about the new life in lockdown, our doorbell rang to grasp our attention. When she opened the door, Kishore and Rithika appeared with a huge grin. "Hey man, What's up?" I asked him flat and he crunched his eyebrows to say, "Good question to ask a guest who just entered your home. What great manners you have!" He exclaimed in which his sarcasm is dripping.

"Cut the crap, man. I know you won't come here without a reason." I retorted and he clapped before replying, "Well, I know that you won't care for me as your parrot is back to its cage. So I thought of visiting my friend who forgot me already. You useless moron."

Before I could say something, Rithika hit his shoulder and said, "Mind your behaviour Kishore. Nandhini is also with us." Kishore bite his tongue and I snapped towards the kitchen where she was preparing something, I guess.

God, I was too involved in replying to this idiot to forget that Nandhini and Rithika are here with us, hearing all our comments. Shit!!

I mentally slapped myself and saw Nandhini coming with a tray which has glasses of water. She gave that to Kishore and Nandhini with a warm smile. "Sorry, Nandhini. I hope you don't mind me saying such things to your husband."
She smiled and uttered, "Of course, I know how the language will be when two boys are in private. So I don't mind your silly bullies."

Rithika mumbled a 'thanks' and looked down as she is not good at communicating with strangers. "What would you like to have? Tea or coffee?" Nandhini asked them while holding the glasses and Kishore replied, "No need Nandhini. We don't drink tea or coffee in the afternoon."

"Then how about lemon ice tea?" She asked again and Kishore muttered, "Err... Actually, it sounds good but we don't want to trouble now. So..." Before he could finish, Nandhini interrupted him by saying, "Haa, C'mon it's not like the toughest thing to do. You guys are his friends rather than the guest. So nothing will burden me and you people need not be very formal with me. If I come to your home, won't you guys serve me tea or snacks?" She asked and Rithika looked at Kishore to answer.

"Definitely, yes." Kishore said instantly with a genuine smile and Nandhini uttered, "Then why not I follow the same here in my home?" With that, she left to the kitchen without waiting for further replies. Kishore slumped on the sofa nonchalantly and said, "Now I understood why you are very much attracted to her. She has a motherly nature man. And most importantly, she knows how to lighten the atmosphere unlike you two." He pointed out me and Rithika,  earning a glare from her in return.

After having a cool lemon ice tea, Nandhini spoke with Rithika about her interest, hobby and all. When Rithika told Nandhini about her embroidery works, Nandhini was all curious to learn the art and this encouraged Rithika to open up more to her.
Kishore who was witnessing all those scenes murmured, "I never knew that Rithu can mingle well with a person in the first meet itself. Do you remember Kathir? She took a whole year to speak with me without stammering and see now, she is speaking with Nandhini as she knew her for years." I smiled while shaking my head and told him, "Nandhini has that special quality Kishore. She knows how to pull the right button on a person. Without her, I don't feel this as a home."

"I agree with you, man. She is indeed a blessing for you." He patted my shoulder and we both started to play Chess which is our favourite game ever since college.

Nandhini's POV:

I learnt that Rithika stands high in her embroidery skills as she has learnt all types of embroidery stitches which is quite impressive. "How do you have time to do all this, Mrs Rithika?" I asked her in admiration and she shrugged "It's quite easy to do something when you have passion for that, right? The same applies to me as well. My mom was a tailor and she used to put simple designs. I got the interest from seeing her doing the designs and it turned out to be my full-time hobby." I blinked my eyes in yes and she continued to say, "And, you can call me 'Rithu'. Moreover, I am not much older than you like you treat" she laughed at the end and I nodded in agreement.

The day went well and we four enjoyed our company, ranting about different things. I had a great time with Rithu and she makes cute pair with Kishore brother. We both shared a lot of memories from our college days and I came to know that Kathir is absolutely a different person when he is with his friends.

People used to say 'Beauty with brains' but I must say that my husband is 'Naughty with brains'🤪.

Another thing that caught my attention is his importance towards 'Ms Revathy'. Yes, I heard so much that he listened only to her when everyone failed to make him agree to something. I know that she is also one of the best buddies to Kathir like Kishore brother but something inside my heart clenched when I got to know her importance that she gains from Kathir.

I didn't say anything to Rithika and our day continued to reach dusk just like my mood!!!

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Is it wrong on the part of Nandhu to get possessive over her husband?

Will it create any chaos between them?

Stay tuned to know more and stay safe to live more😉.

Stay blessed everyone!

Yours lovely,
Maaya🤍.