The Chosen One

Chapter 21 - Another Mother

It was 4 th time Sivaangi' s call went unanswered by Ashwin. She looked at her phone confused. Sivaangi's parents had already left to India and Ashwin had promised to take them all to zoo that day.

"Where is Ashwineyy Ma? Why hasn't he come yet and why isn't he answering your call?" asked Mithra with a pout

A familiar unsettling feeling started creeping inside her, reminding her of a similar day when all her calls went unanswered.

"May be he is busy Miththu, you go and play, I will call you when he comes" replied Sivaangi in her not so confident tone.

She again called him but again there was no answer.

"What should I do now? Should I ignore and wait for him to contact?, why am I not able to ignore? Should I go and check on him? Will it be intrusion of his privacy? What should I do now?" These questions bombarded her mind when she dialed again.

This time the call was answered but all she could hear was some moans and deep breaths but that was all she needed to hear to take a decision.

Being a mother for 3 years Sivaangi is now an expert in detecting sickness just by the sound and that 5 seconds of call was enough for Sivaangi to guess that Ashwin was sick.

She immediately packed all the emergency medicines and necessary items, took the kids too along with her because she had no one to leave them with and started towards Ashwin's hotel.

It took almost 5 minutes for Ashwin to come and open the door for her. He looked like he was just out of a furnace, swaying, unable to stand even for a second that he held on to her and rushed back to the sofa.

"Inga enna panra Sivaangi Ma, just common cold dhaan, I will be fine, kutties vera kootitu vandhirkka, they might catch it from me.." said Ashwin lying down on the sofa, breaking into bouts of continuous coughs.

Sivaangi did not answer she touched his neck and forehead and it felt like a freshly lit stove.

"Enna Ashwin ippadi kodhikudhu?" She asked

"Therilaye, my girl fans do call me hot, may be because of that?" he asked back innocently.

"Shabbah, joke ah! tablet edhavadhu edutheengala? " she asked again concentrating on the task at hand

" eduthen but eppo nyabagam illa" he replied in a crackly voice.

"Ashwineyy, do you have uvva?" asked Nethra standing next to him slightly massaging his forehead with her tiny hands

"Uvva means fever, hurt in their language" came Sivaangi's voice from the kitchen area

"Ashwineyy, drink medicine properly, it will become ok, amma will give you a chocolate and 5 kisses if you drink medicine properly without spitting" said Mithra sincerely,  joining her sister in rubbing her father's forehead

"Appadiya, 5 kisses ah? But naan 10 kuduthadhaan kudippen" Ashwin replied with a tease looking at Sivaangi who stared at him

"Ok no problem, amma give Ashwineyy 10 kisses if he drinks medicine properly" Mithra ordered her mother

"Hmm, ivalo jorathalayum cholesterol mattum appadiye irukku" sighed Sivaangi, came near him and gave him a glass of hot milk

"idha kudichitu indha tablet podunga" she said handing over the cup of milk and tablet to him

Ashwin drank the milk silently as a obedient child and ate the medicine and looked at her longingly

"Enna?" She asked