Arhi FF: Kalarikkal House (Thread 2 link posted) - Page 46

Chapter 10 – The Pond Incident

"You have got to be kidding me! You want me to bathe in this still water? And that too still water used by Lord knows how many people!"

She was afraid that if she dealt much more with the man, her eyeballs would disappear into her head for rolling them so much!

"It's a natural swimming pond, Mister! Even your fancy westerners have it! The water is cleansed by natural means, like ground circulation and the plant life that you see growing all over there! Believe me! This has got to be cleaner than the chlorinated mess that you are used to swimming in! Although, if the devil swims in poison, does he get poisoned? Hmm... that's a good question..." she tapped her chin in exaggerated thinking, but he ignored her and took a step down from where they were standing. There were three more steps to climb down before he would actually reach the water and he still looked like a man faced with the possibility of jumping into a shit-pit.

"Listen, I don't have time to babysit while you get over your fear of nature. So, you take your time, take all day if you want, and I am going to go back and attend to the million real chores that I have to do. So..." She turned around, but then stopped when she heard,

"Wait, you're leaving? I don't know the way back, woman! Go outside and stand watch while I finish up here." He ordered before he went down two more steps, now low enough that the light green water was lapping at his bare feet.

She opened her mouth to offer the retort that was at the tip of her tongue, but when he pulled off his jhubha, she thought better of it and walked up the stairs and out the exit. He could find his own damn way back! As if she would wait around for him to finish up!

Just as she was about to walk off, however, she saw Ambili coming her way. The girl was still a good distance away and hadn't seen her yet, but she could tell from the towel and clothes hanging on the girl's shoulder that the girl was coming for a bath. She snuck back in just the way that she had exited and closed the door behind her. Not that the door locked; it merely closed.

"What the hell! I told you to wait outside! You know, for a virgin, you are a mighty curious little chit! It's..." She heard him exclaim loudly and ran down the stairs and waded into the water to his side and slapped a hand over his mouth.

"Shhh!" she said, keeping her hand over him, while turning to look back to the door where she knew the girl would be coming in at any minute. Ambili was only 16 and the sweetest girl you could ever meet. As much as he deserved to be flogged when some woman found him using this pool, she had anticipated that it would be some old married woman or a matriarch even, Ambili didn't deserve to be surprised by a half-naked man in a woman's pool.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" she heard his muffled question as he tried to pull her hand away from him.

"Someone is coming this way to use the pond." She told him in a whisper.

"So what? Go tell them it's occupied and to come back later." His condescending expression was all the more clear now that the soot had been washed out of his face and torso and she wanted to smack the snob off his chin. She resisted the urge as she heard the footsteps outside coming closer.

"I can't do that!" she told him and he pulled her hand down successfully as he asked, albeit in a whisper following her lead.

"Why not?"

She closed her eyes and sighed but then heard the footsteps just outside the door and said, "It's a women-only pond; it would rouse suspicion if I tried to shoo her away."

"What the!" he spluttered just as the door opened. She leaned up and said, "Please, please cooperate!" before she pushed him under water and turned around to face Ambili.

She thought he would rise back up and give them both away, but with Shiva's mercy, he stayed down and she couldn't be relieved enough as she burst into a wide smile and said, "Ambili kutti! Ithra nerathe kulikkanirangiyo?" (Ambili! (kutti is an endearment). You came to bathe this early?")

"Neratheyo? Ee chechi! Innu njan vaikiya enitte! Appozhekkum vellam ninnu poyi. Ambalattil pokendantha innammede pirannalaya karanam. Athondu kulathilengil kulathil. Alla, Kashi chechiyentha half-sari okke ittano kulikkane?" (Early? Today I am late. By the time I woke up, the water had stopped. We have to go to temple today because it's my mother's birthday. So, I have to bathe here. Wait, did you start bathing with your half-sari on, didi?)

She looked down and noticed that she was fully clothed even though half-immersed in water. As she looked up, she noticed the girl starting to disrobe and her eyes widened as she thought of the man behind her needing to breathe and having to come up for air and seeing the poor girl.

She quickly unpinned the shawl of her half-sari and pulled it off before she turned around in the guise of undoing her blouse. "Innu valare choodalle kutti. Athondu njan tuniyonnum marane ninnilla. Vellam kandapozhekkum angotterangi." ("It's so hot today. So, I didn't even bother to change out of my clothes and got into the water as soon as I saw it.")

She let the shawl go and it draped over the surface of the water and she felt under its edges until she could feel the man's shoulder. She tapped and felt him rise under the shawl for a moment and could hear him almost gasp for a breath and she coughed loudly to cover the noise. She was still blocking Ambili's view of the man so that all the girl could see was her form and the large blue shawl floating in the water.

She didn't dare turn back around but kept up a steady stream of conversation to distract the girl and was relieved when she heard the splash of water at the other end of the pond.

A few minutes later, she lifted the shawl's edge just enough to look at the man underneath and then noticed the fury in his eyes at what she had done. "Sorry..." she mouthed before she pushed him down again.

This time, however, he must have finally adjusted to bobbing up and down in the water inconspicuously enough to draw air because he took a deep gulp of air before going under the surface and decided to exact his revenge.

She hadn't' been expecting it and thus yelped in the middle of a sentence when she suddenly felt him grab her by the hips under water and pull her to him.

"Enthu patti?" ("What happened?") She heard the girl ask in alarm and she quickly shook her head although she didn't dare turn around to face her. "Onnulla... oru pambine kanda pole tonni." (Oh, nothing, I thought I saw a snake.")

"Pambo?" ("Snake?") she heard the girl ask in fear, but she couldn't concentrate suddenly when she felt him press his lips against her waist where her skin was exposed to him under water.

"Chechi sherikku nokkikke. Pambano?" ("Look closely didi. Is it a snake?") Ambili asked again and she tried to focus on the girl's question as he lowered the edge of her skirt just a bit to kiss the edge of her hip-bone.

"Illilla.. Pamballa" ("No, no. Not a snake.") She answered as her fingers climbed up his nape and tried to pull his head away from her navel by the hair.

She was rewarded with a bite just below her waist, which made her yelp and jump in surprise.

"Ayyo...enthu patti? Pambu tanne ano?" (Oh no! What happened? Is it really a snake?") she heard the girl ask again and tried to keep quiet as she felt the heat of his mouth as he sucked on the skin where he had just bit her.

"Oh... oru kochi neerkoliya. Pedikkanda Ambili." ("Oh, it's just a small water snake. Don't worry, Ambili"). She finally told the girl, knowing that it would have precisely the opposite effect.

"Neerkoliyo? Entamme!" ("Water snake? Dear Lord!"). Ambili cried out in alarm and soon after that she heard the girl wrap up her bathing and climb noisily up the stairs to get dressed.

It just happened to be the exact moment when the opportunistic jackass below the water decided to come up for air and in a moment of sudden panic, she clutched his head to her chest so that the girl wouldn't see him, or worse, he wouldn't see the girl in the midst of getting dressed.

For whatever reason, he had mind enough to be still, but she didn't take further chances as she ducked her head below water and dragged him down with her.

"Njan pokuva Kashi chechi. Pinne kanatto!" (I am leaving Kashi didi. Will see you some other time.") She heard Ambili call out and soon after the door opened and shut, she resurfaced in a rush, pushing away from him.

Just as she started swimming away, she felt him pull her back to him by the ankle. She kicked out, but he didn't let go; instead, he merely pulled her to him with force.

She crashed into him with the momentum and he grabbed her up by the waist. The water was dripping steadily from his thoroughly wet hair, but his eyes surprisingly lacked the anger that she had expected to see there when he in a deadpan voice, "The next time you try to pull something like that on me, I will untie your blouse before I bite you!"

"You're a sick pervert, you know that?" she said as she tried to push out of his arms. His hold was strong, however, and he tightened it still as he bit out, the anger now starting to leak into his eyes, "Oh, and sending me to bathe in a pond used by adolescent girls is not a sick perversion?? What the hell is wrong with you? What if she had found me here like this?"

She didn't have an answer for that; honestly, her thinking hadn't exactly traveled down that path when she had concocted the impulsive plan.

She bit her lips for a moment as she thought of how awry the plan could have gone, but then raised her eyes to his and said, "Well, nothing untoward happened. I came back in time."

He stared at her a moment longer, first in disbelief and then in scorn, before he finally said, "Well, let's hope you can cover up that mark on your waist so that it doesn't advertise to people that you have been letting men bite your virginal skin. That should be good fodder for the village gossip mill, don't you think?"

"What? It's going to leave a mark?? " she exclaimed, trying to look down at her waist. She couldn't see it with his arm going right over her waist, but it was then that she noticed that her shawl was missing.

She rapidly crossed her arms across her chest as she looked around for her shawl. She saw it floating away to the end of the pond where the lily pads clustered.

He followed her gaze and this time when she pushed at his arms, he let go and she swam to retrieve her shawl and paused to drape it over her before swimming back.

By the time she climbed up the stairs, he had dried off and was pulling the new jhubha over his head. Unfortunately, she had no such change of clothes on her at the moment. She didn't pause to give him face as she said, "I am going to leave now. You can follow at a safe distance. Do not let people see that you are following me, particularly in my state. If you do, I will scream bloody murder and tell them that you tried to molest me. And I am not merely making empty threats. If I were you, I wouldn't push me anymore today!"

And with that she walked off, drenched to the bone, without waiting to hear his response or to see if he followed.

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Ayyo Rama, this is unbelievably funny, Kashi and her silly myopic ideas and what a response she got for it.

The snake in question Arnav is no better, he was right, Pallavi should have also warned Kashi, she did not know him and nor did Kasi.

She is no pervert Arnav, a vengeful witch and yes Kashi, love bites do leave marks and though there was no love involved, a bit does leave a mark.

What next now? What?

A silly grin on my face refuses to be wiped off.