WO/MAN (Arthanaareeshwaram)

Rukku

Arjun is lying on his bed in his room, lost in deep thought.
His bed is the one at one corner of the room near the window. There was another bed in the middle of the room, which was empty.

Nobody had dared to share the room with him, so he had scattered his belongings all over the place. His train of thoughts were interrupted when the door of his room opened.

Acharya sir entered and Arjun got up to greet him. "Sir ... How is Karan?" He asked nervously.

Acharya sir smiled. "No danger to his life. But he might have to be in hospital for a while. We tried to make it appear like an accident, so you are out of danger.

"Thank you sir, I am sorry."

"We didn't do this just for you. The girl also insisted that she be out of trouble, so we did not want the issue to go to the police. And the reputation of our school too would be at stake ..."

Arjun did not hear further as his thoughts wandered to Parthasarathy.

"So don't worry Arjun. But be careful next time." Acharya sir patted his head and he smiled in return.

The moment sir left, he turned to his bed, but stood rooted to the spot and his jaw dropped yet again.

In the middle of the room, lying on the bed, with his arms behind his head, was Parthasarathy!

"What are you doing here?" Arjun almost yelled.

"Were you dreaming when Acharya Sir was speaking?" Parthasarathy smirked. Arjun scratched the back of his neck.

"Bhaiyya! I was so worried ... what happened?" Rukmini barged into the room.

"Bhaiyya ... I ..." she clung onto his arm but her speech died, the moment she spotted Parthasarathy, who is now standing with a stupid grin on his face.

After few minutes of staring, she looked at Arjun for explanation.

"Hi! I am Parthasarathy; your brother's roommate and friend. Nice to meet you Rukmini!" Parthasarathy forwarded his hand to her.

But Rukmini looked like she was ready to catch flies with her mouth.

"Do you know her?" Arjun managed to ask as soon as he recovered from the shock.

"As I have told you already, I saw you people at the lake, the other day." He answered in a bored tone.

Arjun passed his hand through his hair and pulled a gaping Rukmini to his bed. He made her sit on the bed and started explaining all the events of the day.

Parthasarathy had plugged his ears with earphones and seemed to not care. But Arjun caught him occasionally glancing at Rukmini.

"Oh brother! I am not with you at school for one day and you put yourself to trouble. Are you some little kid?" She ruffles his hair and hugs him.

Parthasarathy let out a chuckle but soon earned a glare from Arjun.

"What? Am I not allowed to enjoy music?" He pouted.

"I know very well, Mr. PS, that you were not listening to music but to us." Arjun growled and Rukmini giggled.

"Mr. PS ... seriously? That does not sound good. Why not call me something better like Mr. Cool?" Parthasarathy shot a bright smile.

"Jerk!" Arjun muttered and Rukmini giggled again.

"What is this beautiful lady finding so funny?" Parthasarathy took a step closer to Rukmini.

"Stay away from her man. She is my sister. So ... she is like a sister to ..." Arjun stepped in between them.

"Oh no … no … no! Your sister is not like a sister to me. She is like a girlfriend." Parthasarathy smirked.

Arjun raised his hand to punch his face, while Rukmini gasped and grabbed his hand in time.

"Why are you so violent? I was just saying that she is a girl and my friend. What is wrong in that?" Parthasarathy frowned, taking few steps back.

"Bhaiyaa? What happened to you? Why are you turning violent now-a-days?" Rukmini started sobbing and Arjun hugged her.

"Sorry Rukku."

She hugged him tight and spoke in his chest. "Please Brother. You are my only family. I don't want to lose you too. Promise me that you won't get yourself into any trouble."

"Don't worry sweetheart! Your brother is safe in my hands." Parthasarathy chirps to earn another glare from Arjun.

The bell rings and the three of them head towards the dining hall. They had their dinner in silence, after which Rukmini left to her room. The boys returned to their room and silently laid on their respective beds.

"I am sorry if I had caused you any trouble." Parthasarathy said after a while.

"I am sorry too." Arjun replied.

"So friends?"

"Yup. Good night Parthasarathy!"

"Good night Arjun!"

"LAKSHMI!!!" Parvati exclaimed.
"I thought my brother was sneaky. But look at his wife who turned sneakier!"

Shiva chuckled.

"It is not a joke. I have been seeing that Rukmini all the time. But only after appearance of Parthasarathy (and the flirting), did I realise that she was Lakshmi!" She snapped.

"Don't get irritated darling. They are just having some fun together. Why don't we too have our share of fun?" Shiva winked at his wife, who just blushed.