Chapter 2: 1. Anika


    Author''s PoV


    This belongs to N?velDrama.Org: ?.


    On a breezy morning of November, Anika is practicing her yoga in the backyard of her small and


    compact house. Anika has a little brother who is in his high school now. Anika is in her final year of


    Bsc., Computer science. Anika''s mom is a gand designer who works from home as per the orders


    she gets from the flower dealers. Just like her mom, Anika is also very good at arranging flowers for


    bouquets. It is a very happy family with everything they need.


    "Dei Advay, get up!" Anika came in, waking up her brother to school. Advay is a slowpoke. His day only


    starts with the yelling of his mother and his sister.


    "Wake me up after 5 minutes, Akka(sister)!" He covered his head with the nket and curled inside it.


    "Ma, Advay is not getting up!" Anika shouted from inside the room.


    Anandhi is Anika and Advay''s step-mom. When Advay was a month old baby, their mother got severe


    jaundice and by the time they found out, it was toote that all her internal organs were already failing


    and she died of it. It was then Saravanan (Anika''s dad)''s rtives made him marry Anandhi to take


    care of Advay and Anika.


    Saravanan initially opposed the idea butter realized that it is not a joke to bring up two kids alone. He


    could not manage his work and take care of his daughter and the new born baby. Knowing that he


    could never be good enough for the kids he agreed to the wedding but on one condition. He insisted


    that the girl he is going to marry should be an infertile girl who cannot bear children of her own. He


    thought, by doing this, the girl would treat his kids as her own. One way or another, his calctions


    worked. They found Anandhi from a vige in Tirupur who was 32years old by then and was still not


    married. When Anandhi was in her teen age, she met with an ident that resulted in losing her


    uterus. It was well known news in her little vige that no one agreed to marry her. So when


    Saravanan''s family asked her hand in marriage, her parents readily agreed to marry her to him.


    Anandhi is a woman from a poor family and she was happy to be married finally. She was depressed


    that all her friends had 2kids by now but she was still a burden to her family. So when Saravanan came


    with 2 kids, a girl and boy, she was more than happy to marry him. So that is how Anandhi became


    Anika and Advay''s mom. She looks after them like her own kids. She is grateful for the life she has got.


    "Advay, your friend Vinod wille any minute now and if you are not ready by then, he will leave you


    behind and you have to take the bus to the school. Wake up soon!" Anandhi shouted from the kitchen.


    "Pch, I am awake!" Advay got up and made his bed.


    When he was about to go to the restroom, Anika ran in and locked the door.


    "Hey Eruma(buffalo), what were you doing for so long? Maaaa, look at her. She has locked the


    restroom door." Advay shouted banging on the door. Anika wasughing inside while taking a bath.


    He pushed her aside and went into the restroom once she opened the door. "Why did you wake me up


    when you were not done with the restroom yet? I am going to kill you if you do this again." he yelled at


    her from inside the bathroom.


    "Anu, why did you do that? See, he is angry." her mom asked her when she settled herself on the


    kitchen b to eat her breakfast.


    "Hahaha ma, chill. He still has 20minutes. Boys just need 10minutes to bathe and get ready." Anu said


    while eating her idli with yummy tomato chutney.


    "We should build a toilet in the backyard to stop this fight. You guys are grownups and still every


    morning you make the house like a battlefield. It is because of you two, your dad is bathing at 5.30 am


    even in this winter." her mom told her.


    "It''s ok, Anandhi. Pack lunch soon. I have to go see my MD before going to the factory. I have to leave


    early." Saravanan came into the kitchen for his breakfast.


    "Good morning, Pa." Anika greeted her dad.


    "Good morning, Anu. How is your projecting along?" he asked her.


    "Nithya and I are working on it, pa. We have help from our seniors who passed outst year. He is


    working along with us. Hopefully we will finish it on time."


    "Who is that, Anu?"


    "Arun, pa. He is a nice guy." she said enthusiastically.


    "Hey, is he a boy? How did you know him? Don''t you get a girl to help you out?" Anandhi asked her.


    "Anandhi, it has nothing in gender. If he is helping them out, it''s fine. Stop talking like you are in 60''s"


    her dad stopped her.


    "He studied in our college only, ma. He was in his first year of Msc when I joined college. He just


    passed out. We know him because he participated in college culturals all two years like I did. He is a


    good guy, ma. He readily agreed to help us to finish the project." Anika tried exining to her mom.


    "How does he get time to help you guys? When are you meeting? Where are you meeting?" Anandhi


    bombarded her with questions.


    "Ma, he is still looking for a job. He wille to the collegeb and we are working together. That is


    why I have beeningte these days."


    "Enough of your enquiries. Let her eat, Anandhi." Saravanan stopped the string of questions.


    "He himself is not in any job despite the Msc degree. How can he help them? Whatever!" Anandhi


    mumbled to herself.


    "Lunch?" both Anika and her dad asked in chorus.


    "It''s all ready. Think about building a restroom and another room at the back extending our home. The


    kids have grown big and it is not right to make them sleep in the same room." Anandhi told him while


    serving him steaming hot idlis.


    "You know our ie, Anandhi. You are the one that is making a budget every month. The only


    savings we have in hand is for Anu''s wedding and I am not taking it for anything else." he said.


    Saravanan has a fixed deposit where he deposits a particr amount every month in it for Anika''s


    wedding.


    "Ma, don''t worry, I am in my final year and from next month we will be having campus interviews. I am


    sure I will get a good job. I will build you a room and a bathroom!" Anika told her mom and jumped


    down from the b.


    "I know you will." Anandhi smiled at her daughter lovingly.


    "Ok ma, ok pa, bye, will see you in the evening." She waved bye to them and went out of the home to


    catch her college bus.


    "Get lost, monkey!" Advay threw a magazine on her as he entered the kitchen for his breakfast.


    "You are monkey, donkey, buffalo, everything." Anika ran out shouting names at him.


    "Dei Advay, how many times do I have to tell you not to call her names?" His dad asked him in warning.


    "She was the one that pissed me off in the very morning. You won''t ask her anything but will only scold


    me." Advay started eating while whining.


    "Ennanga(an endearment call for a husband), don''t scold him while eating." Anandhi supported him. It


    is a regr scene in their home. Saravanan always favors Anika and Anandhi always favors Advay.


    They all went out to their respective jobs after a busy and chaotic morning. Anandhi, after sending them


    all out, took a refreshing bath and ate her breakfast while watching TV. She always loves this calm


    time.