Pyaar, Prema ..... Friendship?

🖤Chapter 5🖤

It's almost late evening when they reach Coimbatore and another half an hour to reach Ashwin's house. Ashwin lowers down his speakers as the both of them have been jamming throughout the journey. He internally smirks as Shana sits tight and quiet at the back after Ahana sarcastically shuts her and has been mum the entire drive, either staring at the road or scrolling through her handphone. He extends his left hand and shakes Ahana awake as she's been slumbering for the past half an hour. "Da, enthiri, veedu vanthuruchi" he says as Ahana stretches, yawns and looks at the house, nicely decorated and people buzzing in and out of the house. He parks his car in the same spot he always parks and shuts off the engine, stretching his arms and neck as it's been a very tiring journey. The trio get down the car and Shana immediately walks off into the house, muttering and grumbling. "Ei! Unnode luggage-" Ahana shouts but it falls on deaf ears. Ahana shrugs and goes to the booth and takes out both hers and Ashwin's luggage, leaving Shana's one inside. "Ei, yendi?" "Yen? Paasamo? Oru aani yum venna, avalukku rendu kaalu rendu kaiyi irukku le, avale vanthu eduthukito. Nee vaa" she says as she shuts the booth and drags him away.

It was Ashwin's mama who greeted them at the entrance with a big smile "Eh, vaada machan, yen ivalo neram? Traffic jasthi ya?" "Ille mama, Shana ve yethuruthuku late, so athu naale than. Traffic ellam normal ah than irunthuchi" he says and his mama hums before his eyes land on Ahana and his face brightens even more "Eh Ahana! Rombe naala aachi le unee pathu, epdi iruke ma?" he asks as he wraps her up in her arms and Ahana huffs as she holds him even tighter "Naale irruken mams, as usual vele naale yaru kitayum olungga pese mudiyile, sorry" she apologises as she leans back and Karthik mama laughs and ruffles her hair "Eh, sorry ellam yethuku, it's okay" he says and she opens her mouth when a shrill of a voice is heard and the three of them turn to see Ashwin's sister, speeding towards her and colliding with her. Ahana staggers a little but manages not to fall off as Ashwin immediately places one hand on her back and another one on her elbow to hold her balance. "Ei akka, paathu kaa" he says as he eases Ahana back onto her feet while his sister leans back a little, her arms  still enclosing Ahana. "Papa, epdi irukke?" she asks excitedly and Ahana huffs a small thing "Naala irukken kaa, Aishu epdi irukka? Ennale nambeve mudiyile, ava vayasuku vanthuta nu" she says as Karthik mama herds the ladies inside as the machan and mama duo stay back.

"Inniki ivangele paathe maare than" he says with a shake of his head and Ashwin agrees whole-heartedly. It's sweet how his family treats Ahana like their own daughter, many times he has seen either his mom or his sister and occasionally his father call her up and just have a small talk with her or inform her important stuff, like they would do to their own daughter. He still shudders when he remembers the freak accident that put her in coma for almost a year and a half and how devastated his parents had been, calling him up everyday and asking if she was alright or if they needed anything for her treatment. Separating from her birth family at Malaysia and her adopted ones at US, she established herself here on her own. Many nights she's complained about being alone even when she has tons of family members and friends and Ashwin understood that, he's been in that hellhole for almost seven years, so he made up his mind to be her best and only friend, to introduce her to trustworthy  people and also his family, and now, six years after, she's already became part and parcel of his family.

Ashwin shakes off his monologue and follows his mama back inside and sees almost half of his entire clan there, laughing and joking and clearly making the entire house such a happy place for him. His eyes scanned around the living room and then falls on Ahana, clamoured around by kids of varied ages, asking her question after question and her patiently explaining to them, her tired face now replaced with a fresh one. His lips curve into a soft smile and he then tries to signal her but it went in vain since she couldn't even look up from the curious kids in front of her. "Enna girlfriend eh koopde try panriya?" someone said from his left and he jerked before looking at the side to see her uncle from his mom side, looking at Ahana with a soft look. "Girlfriend ah? Ille setepa, friend thaan" he reasons and the old man huffs "Aama, ipdi than friend friend nu sollitu, apro paatha, two years ke apro, ille ive than ennode wife nu solle vendiyathu. Ithe ellam apove paathachi da" the old man teases and it makes Ashwin uncomfortable so he excuses himself and goes directly to her. He pokes her shoulder and she turns to look at him with a raised eyebrow and Ashwin signals her to follow him before walking off. 

He's at the top floor balcony where he can see his family from downstairs when he hears soft thuds of footsteps from the stairs beside him. "Eh enna?" Ahana asks as she stands beside him but he doesn't reply her, causing her to grab his shoulder and shake him "Woi, unne than, enna pagal kanava?" she teases and Ashwin sighs before telling her what his uncle said to her. Ahana clicks her tongue and rolls her eyes "Ithu nambe aanadiku face panruthu thaane. Ithuku poi ipdi serious ah irukke? Avaru palaya aalu, apdi than pesuvaru, nambe ellam inthe generation, we both can clearly differentiate the look you give me and the look you give Sivaangi. Ithu moonavathu manasen kite explain pananum nu avasayam ille. Freeya vidu. Chill" Ahana says and Ashwin takes a deep breath and then nods and then looks at her and then smiles. "Apro, madam rombe famous polle? Pulaiga ellam unneye suthi suthi varange?" he teases and Ahana lifts up her imaginary collar "Avangelukku teriyuthu yaaru arivali nu" "Yaaru neeye? I saw you dumping coffee into your cereal cause your brain failed to load early in the morning and the proceeded to eat said cereal" he says with a look on his face and Ahana grumbles "That was just one time. Asshole" she lowers her voice at the last word, worrying if any kids were beside them. "Cheri Shana, Shana nu oru Peter amma irunthangale, engge avunge- aaisu nooru, ipo than kekelam nu paathen tho, vaarange" Ahana says as the both of them see her storming at them, full speed.

"Vuuta speed running le jeichiruvangalo" Ahana whispers at him and he snickers, hitting her lightly on her hips to ask her to keep quiet. Shana storms up to them, fuming and huffing, her fists clenched. "Yena ma? enna achi? Yen ipdi oodi varainge? Oota panthayathuku ethavuthu practice ah?" Ahana uses the tone which she uses for small kids. Ashwin is doing his level best to keep his laughter in him but his lungs are burning, one more from Ahana and he might burst out laughing so her squeezes her shoulder once and shakes his head, asking her no more and she subtly nods before turning back at Shana. "En luggage yenge?" "Ungge luggage unge kite than irukum, yen kitaya iruke pothu?" Ahana says nonchalantly and it only fumes Shana even more. "Engge. Ennode. Luggage?" Shana punchuates every word and moves forward to Ahana but Ahana stays rooted in her spot and that's when Ashwin sees the joking demeanor falling off from Ahana's face, her eyes turning stormy. "Back off" Ahana snaps but Shana smirks "Mudiyathu enna panuve?" she challenges and Ashwin knows this is the time to intervene.

He grabs Ahana's shoulders and pulls her back, one of his palm placed on her mid back, to calm her. Unfortunately Shana doesn't give up as she asks the question again "Car kule irukku" Ahana answers and Shana's jaw clench "Varam bothu eduthutu vaare teriyatha? Ipo iruta aachi, yaaru vanthu edupa-" "Unneku rendu kaalu, rendu kaiyi irukku le, athe use paanu" Ahana says and Shana huffs, crossing her arms petulantly and then looks at Ashwin with big puppy eyes "Ashu, yenneku help panriya? Please? Rathiri aairuchi-" "Avan unnode server ille, if you have two legs and two hands go and take yourself or don't change your clothes or walk around naked" Ahana snarks and snaps before pulling Ashwin away. Dragging him all the way to the top floor of the house. She then takes off her hands and then goes to the wall and leans against it, looking at the dark area of the paddy fields, the light from the watch tower the only source of illumination. Ashwin sighs and walks towards her, very well knowing that she's really pissed off by Shana's attitude and comment. If there's one thing in the world that Ahana hates is when people impose into her personal space and play 'I'm the alpha' game with her. She's been on the other side of that multiple times here in Kollywood that Ashwin swears to himself that he would never do that to her. And the words Shana used to make it look like her helper, the words may have been normal to other people, but only Ahana knows those words used to be his humiliation, back when he was struggling.

He goes to her and takes her left hand in hers and slowly massages it, conveying everything that doesn't need words for. Ahana takes a deep breath and looks at him with a smile "Thanks" she says and Ashwin nods, neither taking that word nor denying it, as the friends stay up and enjoy the cool breeze and the chatter of their family down in the hall. 

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And that's it for Chapter 5!

Till then, Sayonara 👋🏽👋🏽

Love, Angel 🖤