Her new home was a tiny one bedroom house with walls of old paint and dirty hand prints. This accommodation was shared by her husband's parents, his brother, his sister in-law, himself and now, her. Her husband was the elder son of the household and the sole breadwinner. For all his rough looks, he was a calm and loving man. After her initial fright of his very presence, Meenachi also came to understand this. Her husband owned a small tea shop in the city and would go for work very early in the morning. He would return only after the last bus had arrived from the next town. In the little time they spent together, like the time she brought him tea as he left for work, they would talk and laugh their hearts out. They also developed a strong bonding sharing more resemblance with a good friendship than romantic love. Though brothers by blood, the two siblings were poles apart in their character. While Muthuchami worked day in and day out at the tea shop, Mani would spend most of his time in gambling. Though he had completed his matric, he would not go for any work. Her father in-law played a near nil role in the household.
Some more months passed on in the same uneventful fashion. Meenakchi was often condemned to the role of a maid when her husband was not around and her sister in-law was the one in command. She would be up before sunrise and slept only after every other member of the household had hit the pillow. Her work neither tired her nor did it manage to dampen her spirits half as much as the long glances from her brother in-law sitting across the kitchen did. She did not speak to anyone about it and went on with her duties. More often than not, she looked too out of place in the household. With her rustic dressing and way of life, and her innocent and childlike energy in doing things, she did not fit into the 'city' where she must now belong.
It was the month of October. The city was drenched in a monsoon that flooded the streets with rain and the hearts with memories. Her sister in-law had gone to her maternal home for some reason. A couple of days later her husband also had to leave on account of some job offer in a near-by town. She was left alone in the house with her in-laws. The week went on without much ado till the night before Muthuchami's arrival. That was when the incident happened.