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Taptap

Taptaptap

Taptaptap

Pavi groaned and tossed in his bed. He could hear a muffled call of his name. It came once, twice and by the third call, Pavi was wide awake and out of his comfortable slumber. He glanced at the clock on his bedside. 3:14 AM. He frowned and groaned in reply to the person at the door. He dragged himself out of his warm bed and slugged on his wasavch: a traditional robe for the older people. It was silent and warm outside that even the cicadas slept

A young girl stood when he slid his main door open, Pavi could see she was panicked, her eyes were wide and she restlessly shuffled her feet as soon as she saw him.

‘The..the Madame is– I am…Sir, The Madame is very sick.’

The wasavch did not stay on for too long as he threw it aside as he ran into Sunka’s room. The maid, Loira had been sensible enough to take off the blanket and replaced it with a bedsheet but Pavi could see that the fever had risen significantly high and she moaned painfully when he placed a hand on her damp forehead. The bed and the pillow were already damp with sweat and her nightgown considerably soaked. He ran a hand into her wet tangled hair and called her out softly but Sunka started sobbing in her sleep, holding on to his arms, feet, anything that was near the vicinity.

‘Loira.’ Pavi called out and a rapid shuffle on the wooden floorboard before the maid came to the door.

‘Yes, sir.’

‘Get two cotton cloth and two water bowls. One cold and the other should be warm. Also, bring a set of cotton night-gown for the Madame. Make it quick.’

He heard the maid leave and he removed the bedsheet covering her. He took a hand fan from her drawers and fanned her. The candlelight flickered and she didn’t look forty-six, but rather a little troubled kid in the dim light. Well, she is a kid, Pavi thought as she started to relax, at least to me. She curled up under the cool wind coming from the fan and Pavi waited for the maid.

She was just nineteen when she came to the Headquarters. The daughter of a sleazy underground merchant eager to win the favor of the previous Gama. Pavi remembered his time training for succession when she first introduced herself to him, as his fiancée. He looked at her, smitten and hopeful of a life, unlike the one she is living right now. She smiled a smile so unburdened that Pavi felt distaste and pity. He thought, she didn’t belong here and she didn’t even know the man she was marrying.

Looking back, maybe it was then when he started as a brother would to a sister.

The maid came and Pavi instructed her to change Sunka’s garments. And he wiped her sweat away with a warm wet cloth and placed a wet cloth on her forehead, then she seemed to fall into a hopefully stable sleep. Pavi looked at her sleeping face and slowly as he refused to remember the past anymore, he drifted off to sleep.

Sir…

Sir…

Pavi frowned and looked around. It was the playground where the three of them usually spent their time at. But it looked different, it looked exactly like it did forty-five years ago and Pavi immediately looked down at his hand. It was a kid’s hand and the skin taut without any trace of skin sag.

‘Pavii.’

He looked up and stopped. The Gama looked like a kid again, laughing a wide laugh that missed one tooth. He looked like that kid who bragged about his brother to them.

‘Paviii’ The girl beside the Gama called out and pointed at the laughing kid, ‘He’s messing with frogs againnn.’

Pavi laughed, he missed them. He missed this. Pavi cupped his hands by his mouth and yelled,

‘Sir!’

Pavi stared, wide-eyed, and spaced out in front of him. He looked around; he was back in Sunka’s room. Right. Sunka. He looked at her and she was still sleeping. He looked up back at Loira. She was waiting for him to reply.

‘Sir, you have a phone call,’ Loira softly said, ‘from your son.’

‘Hello.’

‘Hello? Pa?’ Nuan’s voice rang through the speaker sharply. Pavi winced as a sharp ached ran up his skull,

‘Yes. Yes. It’s me.’

‘I’m boarding my flight soon. I should reach the airport around 9 am.’

‘Hm. I’ll get ready and I’ll wait for you at the Airport. Where we can wait.’

‘You can wait outside the terminal, Pa.’

‘Okay, I’ll reach before nine and wait outside this tarminal.’ Pavi frowned and scribbled ‘tarminal’ on his palm with a ballpen. He adjusted the telephone on his shoulder, ‘Just come straight out when you reach ok.’

‘Got it. Why don’t you guys use smartphones geez, I’m hanging up.’

‘Bye, son.’

Click.

Pavi looked at the trusty telephone that had been at the Madame’s quarters for years. It must have been even older than his son. Pavi frowned again, what is a smart phone?

‘Loira.’

Loira came shuffling as she always did and stood near the door, ‘Yes, Sir?’

‘Go to the Gamasha’s quarters and tell his attendant that the Madame is sick.’

Pavi put on his wasavch and sat down near the bed. He looked at Sunka, she was frowning quite deeply and she moved her head to the side as if disturbed by a mosquito. Raising a finger, he smoothed out her forehead and wiped her sweat away with a damp cloth.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

But the frown came back to her face and her hand grabbed Pavi’s arm. Some incoherent sounds came out from her mouth and Pavi looked at her face. Her eyes remained shut but she kept muttering something and moaning. He checked her forehead, the fever rose again. It was a good thing he called for Ehan.

Pavi gently placed his hand on hers and tried to prey her hand off his arm but her grip was too strong. With the other hand, he squeezed the cloth dry and checked its temperature,

‘Sunka.’ He softly called out and lightly dabbed the damp cloth on her forehead. He watched her face relax but she was still holding on to his arm.

‘Sunka.’ He called again, almost whisper.

He wiped the sweat off her skin, down her neck, her chest, and gently, he slid the warm cloth down her arm. Placing the warm cloth on her hand, he gently took it off his arm. But it came right back, gripping even harder and almost deathly. She started muttering again and Pavi halted, he could hear her clearly this time and he knew who she called for.

Pavi would recognised that name anywhere, only that he hadn’t heard it in a long time. The name came heavy, it brought back indescribable feelings. That name came to him like breathing, as natural as inhaling sustenance. She moaned the name again and Pavi bristled, his body froze up and bristled. Feelings that he tried to suppress and bury seemed to be enlivened and it came sprouting back with full force.

His short dream came back and played out like a rolling sequence of old worn-out pictures. He used to hold hands, one in each grip of his two small hands. Sang an old tune of the other side of the world they heard on the crackling radio. Ring around the Rosie hm hm hmmm and they made up the words after that. It always seemed to be like that, as he remembers. They were always together and even now.

And even now, well…things have changed but also it seemed to have stayed the same somehow. Nuan always seemed to hate that they stayed the same while the world outside made several advancements but Pavi liked this. Everything stayed the same. Fate seems to work in absurd ways.

Taptaptap.

Pavi jerked up and then, his little flashback was broken. He was back in Sunka’s perfumed room with flowers that only looked alive. He looked down at the immobile body, Sunka’s, and his mind stopped functioning.

The damp cloth has fallen at the side of her face and his hand, it didn’t look like his hand. It looked disconnected and it hovered above her neck, his lanky palm spread out as if to press down on the delicate dip of her throat.

And she slept, her chest heaving up and down slightly.

When did she calm down?

And…is that his hand?

Taptap. Taptap.

It sounded louder and hurried so Pavi grabbed the damp cloth and hastily stood up to open up the sliding door.

‘Yes. Yes.’ He called out and slid the door open.

‘Mother.’ Ehan huffed slightly for a breath and he hurriedly looked past, behind Pavi.

Seeing her sleeping form, he sighed and dropped down, his hands on his knees.

‘The maid said she had gone mad with fever.’ He muttered but he sounded largely relieved.

‘Hardly. She had some mild fits but quite normal for such a high fever. I reckon it has gone down now.’ Pavi looked at Ehan’s squatting figure and smiled,

‘You don’t need to worry Ehan. Now don’t sit on the doorway, it’s bad.’

‘Thank you. You should take some rest, I’ll take care of mother.’ Ehan took the damp cloth from Pavi’s hand and walked to the bed to check his mother’s forehead.

‘I’ll need to leave for the airport, it’s already…’ Pavi checked the time. ‘7-20’

‘The airport?’

‘Yes. My son, Nuan is coming home today. I’m sure you still remember him. Please be ready for a formal meeting soon, maybe even today.’ Pavi fixed his garment and looked at Ehan.

The young man looked as if he rushed here in panic and of course, he most certainly did. He treasured his mother and it showed in his appearance now. His short-cropped hair bent all ways like a crop circle and his shirt, imported not traditional, was put on inside out. But even through this clumsy look, Ehan looked too much like his composed father, his straight-set features, his plump lips set in a petulant line carried his father’s sharp charisma and their eyes. Their eyes seemed like dark portals that swirled and commanded people to their whims and pressure.

And Pavi looked straight into his eyes,

‘I’ll send an attendant for some modern medicine and some revitalizing soup. Keep her temperature down for now and…’ Pavi hesitated, ‘she has been calling for the Gama so just… try to calm her down.’

Ehan sat down beside the bed and gave Pavi a hard look, ‘Why don’t you just call him then?’

‘Well,’ Pavi fixed his garment again, ‘It’s best if you don’t disturb him now. He has…got a lot on his plate at the moment now.’

‘But I’m sure he’s not engaged with work now, in the morning.’

‘I’m afraid not.’

‘Are the Elders holding a meeting? This early?’

‘No, no.’ Pavi looked at Ehan who looked at him questioningly, and he couldn’t look away ‘He must be having tea with your cousin, Maya.’

‘What?’ A croaky voice interjected between.

Pavi’s eyes dashed to the bed, and Sunka met his eyes. Her eyes were dilated unnaturally, a little too wide and she sat up with struggle on the bed. Her limbs looked wobbly but it seemed that fiery rage gave her superhuman power.

She turned to him again, ‘Who is meeting who? Who?’ Her voice rose in decibels as it went.

She made an attempt to get out of bed but Ehan leaped and grabbed her arm in place.

‘Mother. You’re sick, please lie d–‘

‘How dare you!’ Sunka screamed and violently flailed her arm,

‘You expect me to sleep? How…’ She seethed, ‘How can I sleep when my husband sprawls around with that, that whore of a widow and now her whore daughter.’

Ehan let out a patient sigh and rubbed her arm,

‘Mama. Ma, stop this. The fever will get worse.’

‘And you.’ She ignored him and continued.

Pavi looked on as she pointed a trembling finger at him, her wild eyes accusing him of crime.

‘You made all this happen. You two-faced bastard. Do you think I don’t know? You slithering imposter!’ She buried her face in her palms and cried, then it came out muffled,

‘You bastard, why don’t you strangle me to death? Stop this, please. I want to rest. Please.'