Mullai's PoV
Mullai sat in the room hugging her knees close to her chest
She was nervous
Things had gone her way
Too much so if she were honest
She had always garnered hopes of marrying her Jeeva maamaa
She was a victim of adult foolhardiness.. matchmaking talks at the wrong age..in front of an audience who were in a very impressionable stage in life
As a result of which she had blindly allowed it to grow in her not knowing what it actually meant
Sitting here..in this room ..today..now..she realised how ridiculous she had been
How utterly thoughtless and flippant..about something as huge and as personal as her entire life..she had been
She smacked her head
Jeeva maamaa Jeeva maamaa she had chanted day in and day out
Roamed around the little village waiting to see him..jumping in front of his bike..ambushing him..cajoling him into taking her on rides in his bike
She grimaced
Her one ride to the temple with Kathir had been more lively, more exhilarating than the many she had been on with Jeeva
She didn't remember any details of those rides
Jeeva was very held back
He was never happy or excited on encountering her
Simply polite was all he was
Her brain had not failed to register all this
Her heart had been too stubborn and quite simply slow in the uptake
She smiled ruefully
It was her interactions with Kathir that had left her all hot and bothered, arguing, crying, challenging, sometimes even caring..but it had emotions..genuine emotions..never a zombie like moment in even one of those interactions
Strangely she had not realised this till everyone had blessed her and Jeeva's unison..her parents and his mom
To be precise she had started feeling unsettled about the whole thing when she realised that she was uncomfortable talking or being around Jeeva when Kathir was around..it was like she was cheating on him
Initially she thought it was because she knew Kathir was against this marriage
But just a few days later she realised that she had been a complete baby about her own life
Like a spoilt petulant brat of a baby pines after a doll she had pined after Jeeva..fought with her parents to get him for her..simply because she had been promised that very toy long long ago..but now she had it she realised it she wasn't too excited about it
When she was grappling with all this was when she had witnessed it
Jeeva with another girl
She stood staring at them from across the street
They sat holding hands
The girl was crying
Jeeva put his arms around her shoulder and she leaned into him
Jeeva sat stroking her hair in an obvious attempt to console her
Tears streamed down Mullai's face but she stood looking
