The Tea Trail

Maru Veettu Virunthu

The uneasiness of the drunken night was now replaced with warm fuzziness post the movie outing.

Mullai had unearthed so much about Kathir...She had never seen him so free and happy..he had danced for songs, whistled for the mass scenes, cried in the emotional ones..All this was new to Mullai..A peek into the human side of her husband...but floored her was the look in his eyes when that guy tried to brush against her..there was so much anger and a flicker of something else..was it possessiveness?..she wasn't quite sure but she knew her husband could be very protective of his close clan...hadn't she first hand seen him take on her mom when she insulted his anni?..And to be the one to get defended by him felt special..like she had been allowed entry into his clique..she was in his clique, if she were honest to herself her heart was doing a little dance of joy...

It hadn't stopped there...at the eatery..oh it was nothing fancy...just a roadside eatout..but the lack of romance in the place was more than compensated by the care he took to ensure that she enjoyed the dining experience...

And the tea..Had to be best goddamn tea she had...they had shared a tea just like old times...they had rendezvous'ed over tea..well not entirely like old times..but luckily not entirely like old times as well..for however fun their old time conversations were they also often ended in them fighting..him hitting her and her crying and leaving the house vowing never to talk to him again only to promptly return the next day with a peace offering to tout..

Her hand of her own accord went to that small scar on top of her right eyebrow...

Kathir on the other side had a major self-realisation moment..he had scowled at her inside the car for holding him..but at the movies when that guy brushed her he had been so annoyed...but why had he put his arms around her...pulled her close..was he trying to make up for his behaviour inside the car...maybe..he had seen her irritation..it had been an auto reflex...it had taken him a moment to realise that Mullai was no longer one among other women..she was THE ONE..but what happened at the theatre was nothing to do with all this..he had been blinded with rage...luckily the guy had walked off in a hurry after just the one whack...else there was no knowing what he would have done...he still had a problem recognising that voice in which he spoke to her after that..was it his...was all that rage over something that happened to her.. but if all this stupefied him..what actually made him go bonkers was how a simple response from her brought him down...cooled him completely off his rage...

when you go out you tend to stay with the group..more fun..quicker resonse if something were to go wrong..for so many reasons..she had chosen to walk with him...that simple response did so much to him..he still couldnt believe that he took her to a roadside eatery so late in the night..if only his brother knew...

Kathir MV : Thappe pannatha pothellam thittu vaanguva da Kathiru...aana ithu..nalla velai..namma varumpothu ellarum padatha pathi pesura mummarathula nammala kelvi kekkala..roattu kadai ku koottittu ponathu therinjuthu..athuvum antha raathirila..unakku tin thaan di....

He laughed...Just by that simple display of confidence in him...and she had become his confidant..he had taken her to 2 of his hangouts only very few people were privy to..

He realised that his wife Mullai was beginning to occupy a very important space in his life..

Encouraged by such thoughts they stopped ignoring each other and started having stilted conversations that usually ended up in an argument..she hated his music taste..he hated that she was so clumsy and was always dropping things or stamping him..but the fact was they had argued for the most part of their adult life...but post the marriage they had gone to sidestepping one another..These cute little arguments were their way of going back to normal...this was actually exhilarating for both of them..