Across Time

10. after you left me (part one)

2004, salem

An exasperated mother scooped batter onto a dosa tawa, grumbling complaints to herself as loud music pumped through the house.

"Ella veetluyum Suprabhatam kalaila oodum, namba veetla mattum than Britney Spears sathama 8 am ku kekkum. Sivaangi! Va keelai!"

Her daughter soon bounded down the stairs, full of her usual glee and mischief.

"Good morning ma! You are looking extra beautiful today," Sivaangi said as she pinched her mother's cheek.

"Ice pothum, first poi breakfast sappudu. Varathu late-uh athula intha vellai vera."

Binni watched with a small smile as Sivaangi jumped to the dining table and cutely dabbed her dosa in chutney.

"Nee 19 nu ennaku nambave mudiyala Sivu. Innum avlo kozhantha thanama irruka."

"Ma! I'm an adult okay."

"Athu age padi, moolai match agala."

She sighed.

"Ippo unakku coffee kooda poda theriyathu di, but in just a couple years you'll be married, maybe even with a child. Life romba fast ah pothula?"

"Amma first of all, coffee is gross compared to Boost and I know how to make that perfectly. Even Sachin would approve. And second intha kalyanam, kozhantha pechu ippo thavaiya? Right now is my free days, athathu enjoy panna vidunga pleasee."

"Seri, seri. Aana nee ippo kelumbula, college bus sathiyama poidum. Quick ah po."

Sivaangi finished her breakfast and ran out the door, her college id swinging wildly around her neck. She hurried to the bus stop only to see her bus taking off down the road.

"Oh shit, miss pannitena?! Ugh, amma lecture thanga mudiyathu," she groaned.

She began to drag herself home, cursing her awful luck and cursing the driver for arriving so punctually. She was just about to open her gate when she heard a loud start of a motorcycle to her left.

Her eyes widened, and she quickly turned in the direction of the noise.

This wasn't just any motorcycle. This was Ashwin Kumar's beloved Royal Enfield.

Ashwin was her neighbour, and he worked as a computer specialist at her college. He was unbelievably handsome, and she and half the girls on campus had been crushing on him from the second they saw him. Despite all the attention that came his way, he was extremely reserved and rough. The mystery surrounding him made him all the more attractive. Sivaangi spent an embarrassing amount of time dreaming about him and thinking of ways to impress him. Though he knew of her, he had never spoken to her, he always ignored her greetings or conversations at college.

She watched as he backed up into the street, and without much thought she flung herself in the path of the bike right in the middle of the road.

He hit his brake harshly, his face full of anger.

"Hey! Enna di, loosa?!"

That wasn't exactly what she'd dreamed his first actual words to her would be.

"Oh sorry Ashwin, I just tripped."