Pyaar, Prema ..... Friendship?

🖤Chapter 6🖤

Ashwin and Ahana stay at the balcony, him letting her cool down before entering the house. It's quiet, with only occasional chirping of the crickets and the very mild sound of the waves hitting the shore way far from his house. Since his house is near the paddy field, they could also hear the chirping of the nocturnal birds flying over the house and the paddy fields. His hands is still massaging Ahana's hands when she removes it from his grip, Ashwin turning to look at her but she shakes her head indicating its nothing serious and he leaves it at that. "I still remember when I was a kid when me and my sister used to sneak out to the watch tower" Ashwin says with a low voice, pointing at the watch tower. Ahana huffs and nudges her head, asking him to continue. "Sometimes, exam ku padichikite irunthu bore adichirum, but akka vanthu continous ah padichikite irukkum, until now I can never guess how she kept herself motivated" he says with a huff "So nambe mattum pona, amma kite naala vangevun nu akka veyum koode illuthutu poiruven" he says "Inthe mari irutu nerathile yah?" she asks with a curious face and he nods with a huff "Apo valiba vayasu, so adventurous ah iruppen. So akka oru torchlight eduthukitu apidiye, inthe oru route irruku" he says his finger vaguely pointing at the paddy field, since it's dark and all "Aanthe route konjum dry ah irrukum and nereya poochi irukathu, so anthe path eduthukitu apidiye anthe watch tower kite poi urkaruvum"

"Apdi enna sevinge ange?" she asks as she turns her body sideways and looks at him "Naange usual ah vediya kalaile than appa engele elupi padike soluvaru and at that time, sun koode irukathu so it's still dark, just imagine waking up goddamn early just to study. Naanum naala paiyan maare padichi apdiye bore adichirum, so akka ve ange kootitu poiyi, sun rise paake povum, amma six o'clock than elunthirupange, athukatiyum sun rise pathuruvum so mudinjone apdiye aaleka veetuku odi poiyi, paadikire bench le ukanthuruvum" he says and then looks at Ahana looking at him blankly before bursting out laughing. He later joins her and the both of them laugh their heart out, their laughter echoing out into the vast paddy field. "Enna nadakuthu ingge?" a voice sounds from behind and the both of them turn to see the lady of honor, Aishu, standing there with her hands on her hips. Her furrowed brow lifting up in suprise when she realises who he was talking to and immediately running and barging towards her, Ashwin again helping her to be steady. "Can you guys stop colliding into her and making her almost hitting her head on the ground?" he says exasperatedly and Ahana snickers waving him off. "Epdi da irukke?" she asks as she grabs Aishu's shoulder and then bends a little to look at her face, since she's still small for her age. "Naa nala irukken kaa, neenge epdi irukkinge? Yen ipo yenkude olunga peseve matringe? Avlo busy ah? Ille mama than pese vida maatrara?" she steamrolls her questions and Ahana laughs before covering her mouth "Iru ma, apdiye pada pada nu kelvi ketukite irukke. Onu onna than bathil solle mudiyum" she says as she signals at him that she's going down and he nods at her, looking at them walking away, Aishu speaking a mile a minute and Ahana patiently nodding and answering her.

He stays back as he still wants to enjoy the atmosphere, when he feels another presence at his back and it's a well-known one. "Enna ma?" he asks without turning as he knows it's his mother. His mother huffs before coming towards him, him turning to look at her at the same time. She wraps him up in her arms and Ashwin sighs, a long relieved breath as he comforts himself in his mother's arms before he pulls back. "Epdi pa irukke?" "Naa naala than ma irukken, ipo than udambu konjum normal ah irukku" he confesses, since his mom has been worried sick since he was tested twice for Covid positive, a few weeks back and recently declared negative. "Apdiya, naaluthu than, sapdriya?" "Ah ma, Ahana sometimes veetuku vanthu samachi kudukum, illati naa athu veetuku poi sapduven, apdiye athu busy ah irunthuchina I'll just order outside" he says and his mum hums. "Cheri ulle va, time airuchi, nala paduthu thunge, naaliki kolatheivam koviluku poitu Aishu ke archana senjitu, veetu alangaram plus vele neraya irukku, ipothan Ahana ve room ke thoritithu vaaren" his mom says and Ashwin snickers "Aishu vitruke maatale" he says and his mom smiles "Athan avunge rendu perum ore room le poi tunge sonne, especially Aishu ve akka ve disturb pannathe, avunge tired ah irupange, poi padathu tunge nu advice panittu vaaren" she says and the duo laughs out, already knowing that Aishu would have broke the advice and would now be pestering Ahana.

Ashwin walks past the room his mom allocated for Ahana and Aishu and sees the door slightly open, the cool AC wind filtering out. He pokes his head inside and sees both of them curled together tightly and fast asleep. He smiles and shuts the door before going off to his room when his phone rings and he smiles when he sees the caller ID. He slips into his room, locks it an then settles himself on the bed before accepting the FaceTime request from Sivaangi. The first thing he sees is the angry face of his rowdy and he already knows she's pissed off as he never did call her after yesterday's shopping at T.Nagar. "Yena ma?" he prods gently and it's all she needs to trigger her off "Yena ma va? Yengge kaaname poningge Mr. Ashwin? Nethu text panni soningge Ahana akka kude shopping poringe nu, apo vantthe text, ipo varaikum oru call oru text kude ille! Apdi thaniya veetle enathathan kilipinge nu kude terle-" "Naa Chennai le ille ma, Coimbatore le irukken" he answers her and that only fumes her even more "Enathu oorle irukinggela? Yen enkite sollule? Epo kalambuninge? Thaniya poningala?-" "Ma iru ma, konjum neram iru ma, nee ipdiye pesikite iruntha, how am I supposed to answer you?" he says and Sivaangi zips her mouth, raising her eyes asking for him to continue. "Inniki than kelembune, akka magalukku vaysu vanthuruchi, the day before yesterday than en amma sonagge, so nethu shopping poitu apdiye innika kalailiye kelembitum" "Kelembitum ah? Thaniya poleya?" "Ama ma, amma Ahana ve paakanum nu solikite iruntange and plus Ahana vum rendu naala down ave iruntha, so ipo kootitu ponna at least amma avale paathe maare irukum, avalukum oru stress reliever maare irumkum nu than kootitu vanthe" he says and Sivaangi looks at him silently "Yena ma?" "Ille yen ithu yenkite sollave ille nu konjum varuthuma irukku-" "Aiyo sorry ma, naanum inthe driving elle mudichitu, family kite peseve time seriya irunthuchi. Actually unne call panulam nu than irunthen but neeye panite. Sorry ma" "Paravale ma, naa unggeluku etho aachi nu bayanthukitu irunthen apo cheri inniki aacho call panni ketruvum nu than panne" she explains and he hums.

"Akka epdi irukangge?" she asks "Ipo konjum okay ya iruka, akka, amma, mama and Aishu avale occupied ah vechurukange, so she's fine now" he says and the yawns. "Cheri pa, I know you're tired after the long drive, naa vekeren, epo epo time iruko call panungge, or at least reply to my text. Don't scare me again" "Ah, seri ma" he obeys and the duo say their goodbye before Ashwin shuts his table lamp off and goes into deep slumber.

'Ama, 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'

That one sentence wakes him up instantly, making him sit up on the bed, his breath heaving. He blindly gropes his side table and manages to grab his phone and sees that he's only slept for an hour and the whole house is dark and quiet, all the family members already retired to their respective rooms and some of them off to their pre-booked hotel rooms not too far from his house. He drinks the glass of water from the side table before laying down, his body facing up as he stares at the rotating fan on the ceiling. He doesn't know why that sentence is still haunting him since his uncle uttered it to him almost three hours back. It's nothing new, people misguiding his and Ahana's friendship as a romantic relationship but he doesn't understand why this is still running in his mind. He tries to move it and fold it in his head but every time he hears it, it still gives him the hives. Not that Ahana wouldn't make a great wife, heck, she would be the best one, but to see her as his wife is something that he doesn't want to experience, reality or not. 'Oruvele, anthe third person nambeluku terinjuver naale, nambe naale digest panna mudiyiliya? Ille avaru oru maare, inthe maare friendship elllam ipdithan mudiyum nu brand podra maare pesne naaleya? Or..' Ashwin mulls around his thought as his eyes slowly close again and he goes into a deep slumber once again.

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And that's Chapter 6! Hope you love it, that trouble is starting to brew up and it's no suprise that our hero is the one feeling it 😅

Till then, Sayonara 👋🏽👋🏽

Love, Angel 🖤