Ugly Woman Handsome Man

Hot As A Coffee

Hot as Coffee

When we returned from the supermarket, my dad was waiting for us, hungry.Bindu rushed to me, peeking in the bags I held for snacks. With a smile, I handed her her chocolate bar and left the provisions in the kitchen. Returning to my room, I saw that my assignment art was nice and dry.

With a smile, I set it aside just as Lallu came in.

"Poof. What is that smell?" she asked, standing at the doorway.

I stiffened. I recognized that tone of highhandedness.

"It's the paint," I murmured, putting my brushes and paints aside for classes tomorrow.

"Ugh! How can I sleep in this stench?"

I bit my lip. This was a complication I had not anticipated. The smell was not that revolting since I had kept the windows open. Maybe I had just got used to the smell.

"I will keep the painting out," I proposed.

Lallu's nose wrinkled. "Hm. 'Kay. See what you can do."

The door swung shut and I wondered why she came to the room in the first place. As if she could hear my thoughts, she came back in.

"Mom wants you to come and have dinner."

I thoughtfully kept my brushes aside. What had I done in this situation? She liked Karthick. Was it my fault if he stared at me an entire period? Hadn't he humiliated me already by ignoring me the next day? In the corner of my mind lurked a doubt that maybe she had asked him to ignore me. But he had been too genuinely surprised to think they had conversed before that day in bus.

Switching the light off, I stepped out of my room, only to have my dad loom on my face. Grabbing my long plait that I had thrown over my shoulder, he twisted it around his wrist and entered my bedroom. I had no choice but to follow. I guessed that he held my hair so that I would not escape. Like a button had been pressed, all thoughts about my worries with Lallu fled the room.

He switched on the light and sniffed the air. Whipping around so fast, he tugged my hair in a second roll around his waist and glared at me. It was not hurtful yet, but I knew how much it hurt when several hairs are pulled out at the same time. I kept my head down, scared about what he was going to do next.

"Who painted in here?"

My heart thumped. I supposed Lallu had ratted on me. I never saw any purpose in lying. Swallowing, I whispered, "Me?"

It sounded more of a question, a plea than an answer.

"You study art? It is on you I am pouring all the money?" he roared, tightening his wrist and pinching my ear with his spare hand. He had huge nails on his thumbs and he dug it in my soft earlobe.

I nodded helplessly.

He raised his hand to hit me but was stopped by my mom. He tugged his hand free and shouted, "What are you-?"

"I told the lie. Why are you beating her? Are you drunk?"

My dad drinks? His hand lowered.

"How did you know that she is learning art? Who told you?"

My dad's face had gone purple since the moment mom had asked him if he was drunk. Patiently, she unwound my hair from around his wrist and pulled me away from him. My dad hung his head and something told me he had always been careful with his drinking around my mom.

"Why are you silent? Tell me."

"I overheard them talking."

"Overheard whom?"