Dusky Moonlight

22(1)

"I am afraid," Mathinila said when Veera was getting dressed. He came to her eyeing her nakedness.

"For what?" Veera raised her chin to meet her beautiful eyes.

"What if your brother comes to know about us?" "Then he won't marry my sister and... my father will loathe me for all his life," Mathinila worried holding Veera Pandya's hands.
"It won't happen, Mathi. Don't bother about that," he said softly.

"But what if he finds about us in the middle or maybe after the marriage? He might think for our happiness we imposed Kayanangai on him," she raised a question, "What if he does something to my sister? I don't like her but she's still my sister and I can't see her suffer because of us,"

"No, you shouldn't take the blame," Veera sat on the soft mattress which was scruffy after their lovemaking.

Taking her hands, "Other than my mother, no one will find about us," he assured.

"Just four days, then we don't have to care about anyone. Think only about our happiness now, we don't have to worry about your sister. It is her fate. We aren't doing anything wrong to her. She's going to be happy," he said caressing Mathinila's cheeks.

"I know. But I fear your brother," she looked down.
"He won't do anything. I know that for sure. He wants to be the Raja and for that, he has to get married. In this time, he won't fight for this even if he finds about us," Veera said but even he doesn't know how his brother will react sometimes.

"You know how hard I worked to bring you here. It isn't as easy as you think. No one in this palace will oppose me but I understand your fear on my brother and I feel that too. He won't accept anything that I wish and always see me with that enmity," Veera said and Mathinila understood his difficulty. She can't help but hate Aathiyan because in her eyes he's the biggest enemy for her love.

"I am happy that you're here, everything is perfect until now and it will remain perfect until the very end. I will do anything to make you happy and you know that." he convinced her and leaned closer to her lips. Mathinila moved away since he has to meet his mother in a few minutes. And staying here longer will arise doubts. She can feel that people already seeing them suspiciously.

Understanding her, Veera got up and said, "I will come to you at night when everyone is asleep. This secretly meeting is going to end soon as you wish," he said after kissing her knuckles of her hand and walked out of the room where they secretly met this afternoon.

After he left, Mathinila's face frowned. Being selfish doesn't make her feel bad but she's afraid to face her family if they come to know about her true intentions. But she could do anything for her love.

Her love -It's not happened imprudently. For the first time in her life, she took this decision with the least selfishness, she loves him not because he's the prince, she saw there's a true love in his eyes when they don't know anything about each other.

Their love did not happen yesterday to call immature. Their beautiful meeting happened almost a year before. Veera came to her town as a normal visit as a normal person. He had no idea that he's going to meet the only person he has been waiting for all his life. When touring around the market roads to buy something for his sister and mother, he met Mathinila. The first gaze itself is enough for him to go after her. Compared to Aathiyan, he had that charm to attract women and easily make them talk with him. He asked her name, and they conversed about buying bangles for his sister and she helped him.

She thought he's just a drifter and won't be a perfect person for her when she felt the same spark within her. Though it's hard to let go of these emotions, he had no other option than coming back to the palace. Then he kept thinking about the girl who had those beautiful almond eyes. Two months her thoughts didn't let him peaceful, so he decided to go to the town and meet her to say who he is.