Chanakyan's love

Three

Gowthami

Once the exam came to an end in the late noon, the driver came to pick me up. I fell asleep due to the weariness of the day and woke up when the driver uncle called me.

Dragging myself out of the car, I tiredly walk to my home. In the Veranda, I witness Chanakyan, smoking and leaving puff of toxic smoke out in the air. The other goons were beating up a guy and Chanakyan seems to relish it.

God, he's infuriating me.

Closing my nose with my fingers, I snatch the cigarette from his mouth and smash it using my slipper. "How many times should I--" I start but cough as he purposely lets some more toxic smoke out of his mouth, right at my face.

"You were saying something?" He cooly asks while I glower at him. "If you smoke again in my house, I'll not hesitate to kill you," he laughs as If I'd cracked a joke. "You are already doing it so..." He says and I frown, unable to understand his words.

"What?" I ask for clarification but he doesn't say anything. "Po...aprom solren," (I'll tell it some other time) I roll my eyes at him.

"No thanks, I've better jobs to do than talking to you and wasting my time," I throw a sharp glance at him and shuffle inside my home. But I didn't miss the smirk on his face.

Argh, I really want to beat him up and defeat this guy! I've been seeing him since my childhood. He's killed people and I've seen his cruelty with my own eyes. I feared the look on his face whenever he hit people. He was cold, unnerving and almost...evil.

That terror I possessed over him when I was young eventually turned into an intense hostility. I dread him but I won't let it be obvious to him...

Hence I always berated him and put up a courageous attitude. I'll not permit him to know that I'm frightened of this beast of a man.

Yes!

Afterward, I freshen up, put on a red-green half saree, and descend the stairs. In the living room, my father was chatting with an elderly man while Chanakyan stood behind my father. Once he acknowledges me, his eyes rake over all over me...

Shameless guy! He's checking me out again. I feel a shiver down my spine at his gaze. I wanted to scold him but as elders are present in the living room, I grit my teeth, glare at him, and get inside the kitchen.

"Arghh!!" I let out a frustrated noise, catching my mom off guard. "What happened to you?" I hiss as I respond.
"Nothing...I just don't like Chanakyan," Mother shakes her head.

She's fed up with me constantly complaining about him and so, she doesn't take it seriously. She knows that I despise him and even when I once told her that he looks at me weirdly, she said, "You are beautiful Gowthami, you'll turn heads of young men and it's normal. Besides, Chanakyan is a good guy. He has saved your father and protected our family, don't be harsh on him," She is fond of him and favors him more than me.

I agree that he has secured our lives but that doesn't give him the right to ravish me with his eyes every now and then! But then again..he's just admiring my appearance and never behaved badly with me. So I guess it's okay? If he's to make a move on me, I'm going to murder him for sure.

"Distribute these teas, go," Mother forwards a tray of tea cups and ushers me away. Sighing, I saunter out of the kitchen with the tray and offer the tea to Father and the elderly man.

I can sense Chanakyan's eyes on me all the while and as I lift the tray to give him the tea, I look at him sternly.

As he grabs hold of the tea mug, he keeps peering into my eyes and after a point, it made me feel so odd that I'd to flee away.

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