Nenjamellam kadhal

Chapter-19

                                                                            Sakthi

I woke up late on Sunday. It was a rainy day. Honestly, until he brought it up in the text, I had completely forgotten that the professor had been upset with me yesterday. After exchanging a few texts, I got out of bed. My siblings were nowhere to be found when I came out of my room, and my parents informed me that they had each gone out with their respective partners. With my parents preoccupied with their own work, I was left alone and on my own to fend for myself. I started to spend my day lazily at home after chatting with my friends for a while.

Following a leisurely lunch with my parents, I felt bored and frustrated post-lunch when they retired to take a nap.  In an attempt to liven up my day, I devised a plan to persuade someone to take me out. Dada and Thatha were out of the question, as they were both attending business events. This left my parents as the next possible option. I began pestering my dad in the late afternoon, pleading with him to take me somewhere. My mom, after some reluctance, eventually agreed to join us, and so my parents and I embarked on a long drive along the ECR, with a brief visit to our farmhouse and beach. On the way home, we went on a small shopping spree; Mom bought me dresses; and we ended the day by having dinner in a restaurant I had wanted to visit for so long.

The next day marked the beginning of the second semester, and I was running late for class, so Mom dropped us off at the college. Our class schedule has been posted on the class noticeboard. I had two practical sessions scheduled for this semester, which would be on Tuesday and Friday afternoons. On other days, I could wear regular clothes, reserving my uniform exclusively for practical classes. My classmates in this semester were Ramya and Pavithra, among my friends, who would remain my classmates until our final year.

In the first hour of the day, our class coordinator handed out our schedules and divided us into two groups based on the odd and even numbers of our roll numbers. Ramya found herself in the odd group, while Pavithra, I, and others landed in the even group.This division meant that Odd would attend the electronics lab while we attended the design lab, and vice versa. The electronic lab was a group activity, and the design lab was an individual project.The next day, I had a design lab class, while Ramya had an electronics lab session. 

The day was scheduled to be theory classes, leaving me with no time to collect my record notebook from the professor in the morning. But yet, I needed to understand the purpose of the notebook since I wasn't going to use it any longer. I had agreed to collect it only because he had asked for it.

After lunch, I messaged the professor, and he asked me to pick up the notebook in the evening. In the last free hour of the day, I went to collect the notebook with Ramya. However, she stayed outside when she received a call. We chatted for a few minutes, and it was at this point that I was genuinely surprised when the professor handed me a bag of chocolates. After accepting the chocolates, I turned to leave, but before I could go, he asked me about the principal's intervention on the day of the exam. I briefly explained and then walked out of his cabin.

Upon spotting me with the small bag, Ramya raised an eyebrow questioningly. I explained, "The professor gave me some chocolates."

She countered, "Why did he give them to you now?"

I replied, "Nethu avaru, na supermarket grocery shopping poren unaku enna choclolate pudikum nu sollu na vangitu varenu sonnaru, na sweet nu kuduthaley sapduvenu sonnen, but summa solraru nu nenachen, aana I was surprised when he gave it."

Ramya stopped in her tracks and, with concern in her voice, asked, "Muthey, enna d panra nee? Is this still just a crush? He might be too old for you. Even if age isn't an issue, he's a professor, and you're a student. Your mom would go crazy if she found out. Veetla unga amma ku therinja saami aaduvanga indha age difference therinja. Unga akka, anna love panni kalyanam panna poranga dha aana nee poi love panrenu ninna avanga reaction kandipa vera madri dha irukum. Nee inum avangala porutha varaikum adhey 2 vayasu Sakthi dha. Unvishayathla, she is a helicopter mother; she will not be lenient with you, as she was with your siblings, and definitely will act differently."