Comedy of Confusions

12.Minax: Secret Misson

It was the strangest of evenings. Sam was waiting for Minax at the gate. The minute she parked her bike, he shut the gate and quickly whispered.

"Don't let Amma know that I had kept you away at work. Wait for me later, we need to have a conversation." He quickly adjusted his tone to an audible level and pretended to be glad to see her.

Minax found it unbelievable that Mr Propriety was goading her to lie and was up to something very secretive, very very unlike him. That could only mean that there was something huge happening behind her back.

Minax found her Amma grumbling for her being very late. Appa as usual collected her bag and asked his wife to stop grumbling. "Meenamma has just come back from home after a long day, after all." he said before whisking Minax upstairs to her bedroom and tucking her to bed soon afterwards.

It was not long after Minax heard her mother lock the front door before retiring for the day that she found Sam tippy toe to her bedside. She was sleepy but Sam and 'conversations' were not to be trifled with.

'Min' he whispered 'you up ?'

Minax turned on the tiny bedside lamp and sat up. 'What the hell is going on ?'

"Language Min." Sam corrected. "Look, something is off. Amma's friend was here, pretty much the whole afternoon, thru evening waiting for you. Remember my classmate, the only off-spinner during my time?"

"Who ? Sriki ?" Minax was already groggy. The last thing she wanted was a discussion on a school senior she vaguely remembered.

"Yeah. Sriki's mother was here." Sam paused meaningfully. "Waiting for you."

"Me? That's bulls...I mean silly." Minax corrected herself. "I don't know her nor do I know that Sriki fellow. I mean like the whole school knew him..and I knew him to that extent."

"Yep. Why would she?"

Minax got annoyed. "You kept me at work for so long and now are holding me back from sleeping to ask me why Sriki's mother was here ? " Minax rolled her eyes. "Sam! This is crazy. There can be N number of reasons."

"Sriki works for a tiny tech company in the Bay Area..."

Minax interjected at once "Alright! Can we have this conversation later? You ought to trust me Sam. I am trying my best, working very hard. Just the other day my boss appreciated our efforts, took my team out for lunch, gave us two days comp off for all our hard work. Please don't start off on how bad my career progression is compared to some random guy"

"Listen to me Min, Sriki is a pompous fool. The last thing I would do is compare him to you. I know you are working hard and you have gotten really serious with your work just now. Exactly the reason why I am having this conversation with you. I know from common friends that Sriki will be here soon. Bride hunting. I don't know the whole story. But I see things adding up. You stay away from his mother and that pompous fool."

Minax leapt, aghast! While she is busy trying to snag a boyfriend, her mother is busy fixing her marriage.

"These things move quickly. Remember Raman, my senior?. He came bride hunting and was married at the end of two weeks. Don't know how they do it. Beware. I will let you know whenever I get information of their visit. You stay away. The guy will be here for a few weeks. If you can dodge him a few times, you are safe. But Amma is being wily. None of us had an inkling. If not for common friends, I would not have known either." Sam spoke gravely before leaving. "Take care Min. This is your time to build your career, not waste it on some pompous fool working in a nondescript sweatshop in SFO."