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11.You & Me - Sandhya

 

 

Much to the surprise of Kavya, Dinakaran kept looking at the picture.

“Sir….”

“Oh yes, sorry Kavya! I have seen someone very much similar to your sister, but it can’t be the same person” said Dinakaran, keeping the photo back in the cupboard.

“Where did you see the other person sir?”

“In a shop, a boutique…”

“Oh yes sir then it should be my sister. She has a boutique near Gemini… This picture was taken some time back…”

“Oh ok…” said Dinakaran again looking at Thulasi’s picture.

Saradha offered them coffee and snacks. Dinakaran took the cup in his hand and again looked at Thulasi’s photo.

Thulasi looked much prettier in that photo. There were no traces of worries in her eyes. He wondered what can be the reason for her worries at present. Suddenly their initial meeting came into his mind. Immediately a flurry of thoughts came rushing through his mind and all bits and pieces slowly fell into place. So, Krishna is in love with Kavya. And he had thought so badly about Kavya…

He can still remember Thulasi’s words,

Have you seen my sister before? What do you know about her? What do you know about me and my family? How can you say all these things just like that? I know I can't advice you, but still.... this is very wrong sir... I will try to arrange the money for my sister's marriage

And now what else should she worry about? Dinakaran felt very bad about himself. He wanted to help Thulasi somehow… But before that, he should know about her…

“So how long are you staying in this flat?” he asked Kavya and Saradha, to start the conversation.

“It’s more than five years now… And ofcourse it’s a rented flat…” said Saradha with a sigh.

“Oh ok… So, your elder daughter took care of Kavya’s college expenses etc.?”

Kavya knows that Saradha likes to talk about Thulasi. But she felt a bit uncomfortable to share all her family details with someone like Dinakaran. But Dinakaran’s question triggered Saradha’s weak point.

“Oh yes, Thulasi took care of both the family and Kavya’s education expenses… You know we were not like this some years back. My husband signed guarantee for his friend and this friend betrayed all of us and ran away. So we had to sell almost all of our properties to avoid legal processing… Almost at the same time my elder daughter’s marriage got stopped too… All these shocks were a bit too much for my husband. And then we three women were literally without anything. But Thulasi as usual took up the responsibility and she managed it wonderfully… She has been always like this…”

“Oh ok…” said Dinakaran. Though he was a bit shocked to know about Thulasi’s earlier marriage arrangement, he also felt happy to hear some good words about Thulasi, though it came from her own mother.

“So sir, you will be going to your office now?” asked Kavya to divert from the subject.

“No Kavya, I will be going home… So, did you hear any news about your husband’s friend?” Dinakaran answered Kavya’s question but again continued his conversation with her mother.

“No, we haven’t heard anything about him in the past five years… We filed a complaint in the police station but we haven’t heard anything about it after that…”

“Hmmm…. Can you give me those details? I will see if I can help you on this… I have some good contacts in the police department.”

“Sure… Kavya, can you bring those papers from Thulasi’s cupboard?”

Kavya nodded in acceptance and went inside to take the papers.

“So, you are looking for a groom for your elder daughter?”

“I would really like to do that, but what to do? She has tied up my hands saying that she wants Kavya to be married first… But the good thing is she has atleast accepted to get married after Kavya’s marriage“

“But why? Now Kavya is also earning money, so I assume it should me more than sufficient for you.”

Saradha sighed in despair and said,

“Yes, nowadays it’s much better… But there are so many other debts also… When Thulasi started the boutique we had very less money with us, so we used the jewels and other valuables for that. Also, it took some time for us to start gaining some money from the shop and then for Kavya’s college expenses etc etc… But thinking about it, I am grateful that Kavya is also like her sister and not selfish… Her marriage is almost fixed now… Her fiancée is in US and we need to save some money for her wedding also… I don’t know how Thulasi is going to manage this…”

Dinakaran was quiet for a few seconds. He remembered Thulasi’s shocked look when Abirami demanded five lakhs for her sister’s marriage. He also remembered her returning her mother’s purse with money the same day… Oh god, how honest she is!

And though he has more than enough money, he still demanded her to give a share of their profit to his mother… He felt very ashamed!

That small money meant nothing to him but it would have surely helped Thulasi…

“Good that you have two good responsible daughters aunty…”

Saradha was surprised to hear him call her as aunty but she didn’t say anything. And that also brought her back to senses. Wow, she has been sharing all her personal problems with a literal stranger!

Kavya came back with the papers.

“This is the copy of the police complaint sir… It also has details about that Kumar…”

“Kavya, give respect atleast for his age… You can’t just call him by name…”

Kavya murmured something angrily and Dinakaran looked at Saradha in amazement. She has lost almost everything because of this Kumar’s betrayal, but still she wants her daughter to give him respect! Now Dinakaran understood how Thulasi and Kavya got their good nature. A smile appeared in his face.

“I will check with my contacts to gather information about this person aunty…”

Kavya looked at him surprised. Dinakaran smiled at her,

“Why this surprise Kavya? You don’t like me calling your mom aunty?”

“Oh no sir, nothing like that… From what I have heard from others… I mean, I never thought you can mix with people so easily…”

Dinakaran did notice the change in her flow. He could also guess what she would have heard from others. He smiled and thought,

But you are not like others Kavya, you are Thulasi’s sister, My Thulasi’s sister… From now on, even I have the responsibility of taking care of you all… I can’t let Thulasi shoulder the entire burden…

“True… But everyone is not Kavya and all families are not like yours!” he said aloud.

Kavya giggled,

“That’s good to hear sir… Mom, you heard that? My mom always thinks that I am not up to the mark….”

“Is that’s true aunty?”

“Not really, but she is the spoilt kid of the family. So I have to correct her before it’s too late…”

“Now I know your secret mummy!”

“So atlast you learnt the secret…  you should thank me for that…”

“Yes sir… Loads of thanks for helping me on this…”

“This coffee and snacks are more than enough Kavya and aunty your coffee is too good…”

“Thank you… By the way, if I may ask, your wife also takes care of the business or is she a house wife?” asked Saradha.

“Oh aunty, do I really look that old? How can you be so sure that I am married? I am still a bachelor…”

“Oh ok… I told you about Kavya’s fiancée Krishna right? He is just twenty five and nowadays though girls have patience, it looks as if guys doesn’t have any patience at all…”

Dinakaran laughed hearing that while Kavya gave a surprised glance at her mother.

“Mom, you shared all these news in those five minutes? Amazing power!!!!”

Dinakaran continued to laugh… He felt very much at ease with this family.

“Ok aunty, Kavya, I should leave now… And Kavya thanks a lot for inviting me, I thoroughly enjoyed meeting your mother… And aunty thanks a lot for your hospitality, so nice of you… “

“It’s our pleasure sir…”

Once in the car, Thulasi occupied Dinakaran’s mind again… He wanted to meet her again…

“Vasanth, drive towards Gemini, I need to do some shopping there…”

As always, Vasanth nodded his head in acceptance.

“And Vasanth, never utter a single word about us visiting Kavya’s home to amma, ok?”

For the first time, Vasanth looked at Dinakaran surprised. But when Dinakaran gave back a questioning look, he immediately changed his expression and nodded as always but a smile appeared in his face too!

  

Go to You & Me - 10

Go to You & Me - 12

 

To be continued...

 

 

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