16.You & Me - Sandhya

Thulasi was thinking about her new design when her mobile started to ring. She looked at her mobile display with no interest but immediately attended the call after seeing Seetha’s name in the display.

“Hello Seetha amma…”

“Hi Thulasi, how are you?”

“I am fine amma, how are you? It’s been almost a week since I spoke to you…”

“Yes Thulasi, I know… Are you busy now?”

Come on, nothing is important for me than you. Tell me amma…”

“Thulasi, I know you don’t like to talk about Dinu…”

Seetha paused for a while to hear the reaction from Thulasi, but Thulasi was quiet. Thulasi was dying to hear something about Dinakaran. But as always she didn’t want to express that… After waiting for a few seconds Seetha continued.

“Actually Thulasi he says he has some important news for you. I have been fighting with him to share the news with me so that I can pass it to you… Finally today he gave up and shared the news with me… But now even I feel it will be good if he can talk to you directly on this… But if you feel uncomfortable I will ask him to talk to Kavya or may be your mom…”

“Seetha amma, you know about me. If you think that this is something important that I should directly hear from you son, then I am fine with that…” said Thulasi trying hard to hide her curiosity.

“Thanks Thulasi… Yes I think this is something that you should hear and decide how it can be shared with others…”

“Ok amma… but…”

“No Thulasi, it’s better if you hear it directly from Dinu… I will ask him to meet you in your boutique today evening...”

“Ok amma…”

From then on Thulasi spent her day worrying about her appearance and how she should talk to Dinakaran. This is going to be their first meeting after their conversation over the phone…

Uma looked at the somewhat restless Thulasi and asked,

“What’s wrong with you Thulasi? You look slightly out of sorts today?”

A shy smile appeared in Thulasi’s face, realizing that she has showed her emotions in her face.

“Nothing special Uma…”

“Really?”

“Yes Uma…”

“Ok, fine then… By the way, are you meeting Kavitha madam today evening? It will be good if we can strike a deal with her.”

“Oh, I forgot about it… Uma can you handle it today? I have another meeting today… Dinakaran sir is visiting us today evening…”

Thulasi added the last sentence after seeing the question on her friend’s face. A smile appeared in Uma’s face.

“Oh, ok, that’s fine Thulasi. You need not worry about that Kavitha ma’am. I will manage it or else I will ask Sanjana to take care of it for us.”

Sanjana is the new designer who had joined their boutique recently. She is also from a somewhat poor background and without any professional experience. But Thulasi and Uma had given her the job sensing the talent in her.

“Thanks Uma…” said Thulasi for not just what Uma said but also for being a good friend and not cross questioning her any more.

Time seemed to move very slowly that day. Thulasi kept looking at her watch but unfortunately time had no respect for her feelings and hence was tickling slowly as usual!

At last around 3pm there was a knock in her door and Thulasi looked at the door with expectations… She was not disappointed, within a few seconds the door opened and a man entered the door. Thulasi looked at the person eagerly but was absolutely shocked!

“Hello Thulasi! Look at you! You are just the same, as beautiful as ever…”

Thulasi saw the sales girl standing behind him uneasily. She understood the situation immediately.

“Don’t worry Shoba, its fine, you can carry on…” she said soothingly.

“Thanks madam…” said Shoba and left the place.

Now Thulasi shifted her gaze towards him… Ranjan… her ex-fiancé….

“Hello… how are you? Please sit down…” she said trying to hide her disappointment. Only one question was crossing her mind then, why should he come here today and that too at this time?

But since Ranjan had no idea about her thoughts, he came and sat on the chair comfortably.

“Your shop is very nice Thulasi. I had no idea that you are capable of doing all these things…”

“mmm…”

What do you know about me, thought Thulasi bitterly?

“I am sorry for everything Thulasi. I really mean it…”

Thulasi was quiet for a few seconds, then said,

“It’s ok, what can you do about it? It’s all past now. So when did you come back from USA?”

“Today morning, Thulasi… You know I am convinced that no one else can replace you in my heart…”

Thulasi looked into his eyes straight without trying to avoid her anger. Ranjan was taken aback for a few seconds.

“I am sorry for everything Thulasi. I can understand you anger. I know I should have stood by your side and convinced my mother then… But then you should think from my perspective also. You know about my parents… I am used to sacrificing my own likes and feelings for them… But Thulasi I can assure you one thing, I can never think of anyone else other than you as my wife… You may think why I am coming and telling you all these after so many years. I wanted to take some time to convince myself about my feelings… You know what? I have informed my mom that I can never even think of anyone else other than you…”

Thulasi was quiet. Her mind was boiling… Lots of thoughts were flowing through her mind… She really wanted to yell at the person sitting in front of her. But since she was brought up by Saradha, who has always wanted her daughters to behave well, Thulasi tried to pacify herself and kept quiet…

And as fate would have it, exactly at the same time, there was a knock at the door and Dinakaran entered the room with a smile in his face. His eyes were fixed on Thulasi’s face… Though Thulasi was in a turbulent mind set, suddenly within a few seconds everything got changed… soft breeze started blowing… and ofcourese sweet smell of roses filled the air… all the confusion in her mind disappeared… a feel of warmth appeared in her face… she felt comfortable… Since Dinakaran, her own Dinakaran is here… he will take care of her…

Dinakaran could read her mind… He had no idea about the reason for her confusion when he entered the room but now he could see the relief in her face. He smiled at her and automatically a smiled appeared in her face too...

“Hello Thulasi, how are you?”

“I am doing good, thank you… Please sit down… I will ask Shoba to order juice for you…”

Suddenly Thulasi realized that she didn’t offer anything to drink or eat for Ranjan. She turned towards him and found him starring at Dinakaran.

“He is Ranjan… His father and my father were close friends… and this is Dinakaran… He and his mother are very important members of this boutique…” Thulasi introduced both of them.