Pranav and Dinesh looked in shock at the usually soft spoken Appukuttan.

"Appupa!" exclaimed Pranav.

"Pranav, when my granddaughter came to me and told me about your alliance, I didn't have to think twice. If she liked you, then you must be an amazing person. When I talked to you and met your family, I liked all of you. You seemed like a husband worthy of her. What I did not understand was what wealth and being wealthy means. I am a self-made person. I do not have a lot of education, but I turned my bones into water building whatever I have made. But you are wealthy beyond what I could imagine and so I do not understand how you acquire and keep that wealth. I did not realize that it has lot of things that goes against my character and nature to do it. But I still accept that at least Malukutty has an honest job and is beyond scrutiny. I failed to realize that what you and your family does reflects on her as well", he said. Malathi could hear what they were talking and she covered herself with a blanked to comfort herself and bear the words her grandfather was going to speak further.

"Malukutty had grown up in this house. Never in my life Thanka or I have hurt her either with words or with sticks. So when I see my child in that room, covered in bruises from head to toe, how do you think my heart feels?" he asked Pranav, who lowered his head. Dinesh looked at his brother's crestfallen face.

"What do you think being a husband means, Pranav? Does it mean to just provide food, clothing, shelter and protection to a wife and the kids you have? You failed in one of them, but its not just that. Everyone in this world says a wife should be like this, a wife should be like that, she should live a simple life and be respectable. What about a husband? Doesn't he have to live a life in which his actions should not negatively affect his wife? I know this is part of your life and in no way you can change it. Then at least protect her so that whatever you do does not affect her", he said.

Dinesh wanted to say that it was Malathi who refused his escort when she left, but a look from Pranav silenced him.

"Son, let this old mind of mine at least adjust to the way of life that is going to be the one for my child. Above all, let her rest and recover in here so that she is away from your home. I know that you can provide better treatment and care for her. But I can't let my child go in good conscience to a place where she could be attacked because she is your wife. She was, is and will remain your wife and she will come back to you when she is fit, just let her be here until then", said Appukuttan.

"Of course Appupa, as you wish", said Pranav, his voice laden with sadness.

"Etta, what are you saying?" countered Dinesh.

"I will take leave of your ettathi," said Pranav who went inside to meet a now sobbing Malathi. He took leave of her after kissing her forehead. 

On the way back, Pranav was silent and finally Dinesh, who was driving, said, "Etta, we should have brought ettathi. What will Amma, Achan and Achachan say when they hear about it".

"Let your ettathi recover in peace", said Pranav as he slipped into a deep thought. When they reached home, without saying a word to anyone Pranav went to his room and closed the door.

"Dinesh, where is your ettathi?" asked Sridevi in panic.

"Appupan refused to send her with us", said a dejected Dinesh who went on to tell the details of the attack and by the end of it Sridevi was sobbing uncontrollably and Bindu and Meena were comforting her.

"How did that low-life have the nerve to attack my daughter?" asked Prakashan too upset to even sit down.

"But why is Pranav not talking to us", said Sureshan.

"Appupan said some really sharp things, it made ettan very upset", said Dinesh.

"Acha, can't we go and get her?" asked Sridevi between tears to Keshavanunni.

"Frankly, if she were my granddaughter, I would have done the same. Let us wait for sometime for Appukuttan to cool, then we can get her", said Keshavanunni. He was distraught at the turn of the events. Even in his worst dreams he did not think that Paarakkal might attack Malathi. He felt angry as well as guilty at her state and wanted to see Malathi, but understanding it would only tick off Malathi's family made him stop.

"Sridevi, we will go tomorrow and see if we could change their mind. Don't cry", said Prakashan.

The next day, Pranav was at home, he did not have any appetite, but spend time in his bedroom looking over the accounts to take his mind off the recent events. Prakashan, Sridevi, Bindu, Meena and Karthikeyan went to see Malathi.

In the afternoon there was a knock at Pranav's door, it was his father Prakashan. "I know you are upset, but your mother is even more upset. Go and console her", he said.

Pranav on his way to his parents bedroom caught Karthikeyan. "What happened there?" he asked him.

"Good thing you went there yesterday. Today, ettathi's father and mother were there and he gave Valiyachan and Valiyamma an earful", said Karthikeyan.

"What did your ettathi say?" he asked.

"Ettathi did not say anything. She was running a fever and was sleeping. We all told them we will take her to hospital, but that Appupan refused and said they themselves will take ettathi. So we all came back", said Kathikeyan.

By the time he reached his parents' bedroom, Bindu was leaving with the uneaten lunch of Sridevi.

"Chechi refused to eat anything", said Bindu.

Pranav took the plate from her and entered the bedroom to see his mother lying down. He kept the plate on the side table and helped her sit up.

"Amma, are you upset that Malathi's Achan scolded you?" he asked.

"Yes, I am. But I felt very bad seeing her. She looked very sick", said Sridevi.

It hurt Pranav, but he took the plate and said, "Please eat".

"Nothing will go down my throat. By the way, I heard that you ate very little", she said to him.

"I had a lot on my mind. Somehow I felt like a failure as a husband", he replied.

Shocked Sridevi tried to console him, "Its not like that mone. It was premeditated, we could not do anything about it".

"That's the point Amma. Normal people don't have enemies, even if they have, they don't have enemies who do premeditated crimes against them. Appupan is right... we are living in a bubble where such things are normal", observed Pranav.

***

The night that Malathi was admitted to the hospital, Vishnu and Aniruddhan came back to Paarakkal very late. Devika and the rest of the family were waiting for Vishnu to come back. Seeing his blood soaked clothes, everyone ran to him.

"What happened?" Devika asked in shock.

"I am OK, its not my blood", said Vishnu.

"Then who's is it" asked Chandrashekharan, Vishnu's father.

Vishnu took a second and said, Malathi, Kalarikkal Pranav's wife", he replied.

A shocked silence came over everyone.

"What happened to her?" asked Divakaran, Vasudev's father.

"Sreekumar ambushed her and tried to... assault her", said Vishnu. The entire Paarakkal family were looking at each other in horror.

"We reached in time, so she was saved. We took her to hospital", he said and without further explanation went to his room followed by Devika.

"What is going to happen now?" asked Murali to Divakaran.

"Those Kalarikkal fellows won't keep quiet. But why did that moron do such a shameless act? He should have settled it with Pranav, not his wife", said Chandrashekharan.

Subramaniyam turned to the women of the family, "For the next few days, stay indoors. I don't like the look of what just happened."

After taking a bath, Vishnu went into his bedroom, his twins were lying on the bed, fast asleep. He adjusted their blankets and kissed their foreheads. Then he heard Devika behind him.

"Are you alright?" she asked him.

"Not really. All the while when this fighting was going on, I was thinking what will you and the kids do if anything happened to me. But I was assured in my mind that my family will take care of you. But today, for the first time, the thought came into my mind, what if something happened to you or the kids, what will I do then?" said Vishnu.

"Etta, I am not used to this kind of life and even you are miserable here. Can't we go someplace else and do some other work?" she asked him.

"I have a duty towards this family.  But I have to say, when I saw Malu today like that, I had half a mind to leave right away with you and the kids", he said.

The name caught Devika's attention, seeing the distraught face of Vishnu, she did not ask him, but laid a comforting hand on his shoulder.

***

The attack on Malathi became a big news in Kaniyankara. The people of the village were scared, so they went to Shanmukhan master, a retired local school teacher, to make peace between the warring families because even though they were fighting amongst themselves, it was badly affecting the village. Shanmukhan master and a few of the prominent local people went to Paarakkal to discuss this out.

"Maashe (Master, as in school master), we deeply regret attack on their daughter-in-law. That was uncalled for and very barbaric. We will not do anything further, until they do", said Subramaniyam. Even though he did not believe that Sreekumar had harassed the women in the village, he had to admit that Malathi must have been attacked by him since Vishnu was the witness.

Shanmukhan master and the rest then went to Kalarikkal and Keshavanunni responded, "Maashe, we would have destroyed everything that belonged to Paarakkal, but since it was one of them who saved my grand daughter-in-law, we are keeping quiet for the time being."

An uneasy calm enveloped the village. People were on their toes, expecting some small inciting incident that might turn everything into a nightmare. 

It was the evening the following day after the Kalarikkal family went to Malathi's house. Pranav was still not interacting with the rest of the family and was in his room. Bindu had kept the lamp on the verandah when an out of breath Purushottaman came running into the courtyard.

"What is the matter?" asked Bindu.

"My daughter, Pournami has been kidnapped" said Purushottaman gasping for breath.

Some of the Kalarikkal family members came to the courtyard.

"When did this happen?" asked Bindu.

"She had gone for deeparadhana (ritual of lighting of lamps in the evening in the temple) and some people told me she was pulled into a jeep by Sreekumar", said Purushottaman.

Dinesh, who had come out hearing about Pournami, quickly went inside and got a pair of shot guns and came out and gave one to Akhil.

"Dinesh, call Pranav also", said Meena.

"Ettan is upset, I will deal with this myself", said Dinesh and left with a group of people, Akhil and Purushottaman.

Dinesh directed Akhil and a few of their men to go to a farm house of Sreekumar which was on the top of a rubber estate hill. While Dinesh and a few men went to Paarakkal paddy field where they know that Sreekumar sometimes drank in a maadam (a thatched house on short stilts in the middle of the paddy field).

***

Pournami was at the end of the wooden platform of the maadam, hands and feet tied with rough coir ropes that broke her skin at places. Blood was trickling from a wound on her forehead and she was feeling faint. A lone lantern that cast a yellow light all around made the shadows wave on the otherwise dark paddy field. Sreekumar and his driver who were drinking arrack and were making rude comments about her. After a few minutes, Sreekumar poured a glass and pushed it against her nose.

"Why don't you drink some? It will make everything better", he said savagely.

She turned her face away from the foul smelling liquid and got slapped by Sreekumar.

She then turned around to look at the dark sea of paddy that extended to the horizon in all directions. No one is going to help her and she sobbed. Her helplessness made Sreekumar laugh hysterically who went back to drinking. As she lay waiting for her end to come, she saw shadows at a distance moving towards them. Were they hallucinations made by her desperate mind? She looked at Sreekumar to see if he noticed it, but he and the driver were busy downing glasses filled with the clear liquid. Pournami felt like being pulled into a deep sleep, but seeing the moving shadows gave her hope and she fought to stay awake. She must have lost consciousness because the next thing she heard was - "You are one vile creature", it was said by Dinesh and his voice was menacing.

Sreekumar scrambled for his gun, but the butt of Dinesh's shotgun came down on his face and he fell from the maadam. One of Dinesh's men had punched down the driver. The last thing that Pournami remembered hearing was Dinesh's voice asking; "Are you alright?"

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