WHEN FATE BRINGS YOU HOME

CHAPTER 24

Bright blue jute shirt and white kasavu (handloom cotton cloth with gold-threaded borders originally from the state of Kerala in South India) dhoti. That's all it took for me to squeak out aloud.

"Malayalee!?"

 It is true how the saying goes. It's easy to find Keralites, aka Malayalee, anywhere we go. His eyes lit up with sparkles, both his eyebrows raising higher, matching the same enthusiasm as me.

"You too?"

I nodded excitingly, grinning to the maximum my face can hold. Simultaneously, we were called over by a priest from the next counter to collect the prasad. The charming Indian tagged me with him towards the old man.

I've got to raise the bar of the charming people I've ever met, with this man at the top. He's a vibrant sight with grey eyes, black hair and almond skin. Tall as he is, but he looks playful and down to earth. 

Before initiating my hands forwards to receive the offerings, he raised his forefinger like an impatient child waiting to make his point.

"Wait. Guess what today's prasad is gonna be."

A full extrovert. He's making me panic. I don't talk to strangers much, unless there are people with me who already knows that stranger. But today, no one looks like a stranger to me at this place, I feel an odd connection with everyone. Especially with this one.

The priest rolled his eyes at him but had a tolerant smile on his face.

"Stop with your games, Krishna."

Oh, it's looks like they know each other very well. Krishna looked over me once blushing.

"How many times should I have to tell you old man? Call me Krish." He said hiding his embarrassment through his angered complaints.

I sputtered a laugh covering my mouth with my hand, so did the priest. I bit down my laugh to a smile when I saw him faking a mad expression, folding his arms over his chest. It's so cute that I cannot stop smiling. 

"Are you taking a guess or not?" He said with the same bothered face.

"Sure." I say so as to not disappoint him. 

"Laddu." He says with his confident smile.

I give into a deep thought, considering all the sweet options usually provided as an offering at a temple.

"It's going to be that mix with fruits, nuts and jaggery." I say with an equally confident smile.

"He's just-"

Krish silences the priest's attempt to come clean with a frisky shush. It looks like he's hiding something funny.

"Alright, old man. Reveal the prasad."

Golden balls of sugariness filled the plate as he displayed it to us over the counter. A wild smirk masked his innocence, as the old man left a tired sigh. I guess he gets to see this often, not just today.

"We follow a pattern all week. Kheer on Monday. Laddu on Tuesday. And so on." The old man let out his testimony and smiled apologetically. It is my turn now to act a fake madness. 

"Hey, now that's called cheating." I say citing his unfairness and turning away from him as a part of the joke.

I peeked a little in between the act to know what is going on. He dropped his smile and when I almost believed that he's going to apologize, he turned to the old man pointing to the plate-

"She's mad. I guess she doesn't want the prasad. I'll take her extra Laddu-"

I turn as fast as I could, my eyes wide. Nobody said anything about not wanting the sweet. Certainly, I did not. I haven't had the taste of Indian sweets in like four freaking months. Now, I'm really mad.