You and I - a pranushka tale

chapter twenty-three

"I don't get why we have to clean when we aren't the ones who are getting married." Mithrah hissed as she and Nithya attempted to clear the main hall. With a lot of struggle, they were moving a large table to the corner together as they were ordered to keep the centre of the room empty in time for the afternoon.

"Trust me." Nithya agreed, out of breath as her fingers almost let go of her side of the table. Suddenly, her eyes lit up almost as if a light bulb switched on above her head. "Do you think if I drop the table on my leg and break it I can rest until the wedding?"

Mithrah nodded contemplating her plan before looking at her with a frown. "That did seem like a good plan. But do you really want to be limping at her wedding too?

Nithya's eyes widened as the table almost slipped through her fingers once again. "I didn't think about that. You're right, I don't want to be limping then. Where are the lovebirds anyway?" She asked a few moments later after they managed to move the table a few centimetres further in comparison to where it was before.

Panting, Mithrah lifted her end again as she shrugged. "God knows. I don't think I saw them since lunch."

Radha walked into the room at that moment and had overheard their conversation. "I sent them to a nearby temple. They won't be back till later." She told the two girls as she glanced at the way they struggled to hold the table with amusement. "You know you could have asked for help right?"

They shook their heads with appalled expressions. "No way. We cleared pretty much the whole room. This table is nothing. There's no way we are asking for help now." Mithrah replied stubbornly thinking back to how a few moments before Prabhas offered to help but she refused, claiming she was as strong as him. There was no chance she was asking for help after he walked away laughing as if he knew she was going to say no.

Radha shook her head with a smile before glancing around at the now rather empty room. "This should be fine." She commented before looking back at the girls who had finally managed to place the table away. "Nithya go and call everyone in the garden to come inside. The sellers are going to be here soon."

Nithya nodded and hurried away as Radha and Mithrah placed carpets on the floor with some cushions as an attempt to make it comfortable once everyone sits down. "I call dibs on one of the sofas," Mithrah mumbled as she glanced at the handful of chairs they left around the circle in the middle.

Radha nodded. "You can sit there once you are too old to walk up and down the stairs. But today those seats are for your grandparents and Thara's."

"But Ma," Mithrah whined making a face. "My back already aches and I actually run out of breath when I go up the stairs."

"Maybe you should start exercising," Radha told her with a laugh as everyone slowly made their way inside before sitting down on the floor. In between the noise and commotion, a couple of sellers from the best saree and jewellery store from the nearby city came to their villa to sell them what they wanted for the wedding. Mithrah snorted at the large piles of products they had bought to show and gave her mother a nudge. "Did they bring the whole store or what?"

Radha rolled her eyes, even though she smiled in agreement to what she said. They certainly did bring countless pieces for them to see. Radha looked around the room to ensure everyone was in the room when she noticed one absence. "Mithrah," She called, just as her daughter was about to go and sit with Nithya. "Go and call Prabhas. He should be here too."

Mithrah nodded and hurried upstairs to find him. He was standing on the balcony near his room speaking on the phone when he saw Mithrah walk towards him. He laughed at her trying not to make noise and disrupt the phone call before she stood still. She gestured to ask whether she should leave and come back a few moments later but he shook his head.