The Life Of Normal-Taro

A few months ago. Lonappan came to the Holy Land with food packed in multiple lunch boxes. He said that it was for them from his wife, however, Thankappan was quick to catch him on his lie. It was actually for Lonappan, but for some unknown reason, he was willing to give them that food.

Since it seemed like Lonappan was hiding something from them, the residents of the Holy Land naturally thought that food was bad and that Lonappan was treating them as sacrificial lambs. However, none of them actually said no to the food because Lonappan looked as if he would literally beat the living hell out of them if any of them denied the food. Hence, they reluctantly took the food,

Anyhow, it was totally different from what they imagined. They learned that Lonappan's wife was an extremely good cook. And that was the only piece of information that they received of that woman even after months of staying in the Holy Land. The one person who knew something other than that was Thankappan, so the aliens decided to ask him about it.

However, Thankappan got his information from the gossips in the office about how Lonappan's wife is previous head Chinnappan's daughter and how he was planning to introduce nepotism into MIB as well by placing Lonappan on the top of the Snehatheeram branch. Although those were baseless rumors, seeing Lonappan and Ponnappan out in the open glaring at each other makes them believe so.

Since Thankappan was in among a few who knew how close Ponnappan and Lonappan were, thus had a hard time believing all the rumors that came from those gossips—that is until he had the four generations meeting in Lonappan's house. Chinnappan being Lonappan's father-in-law was the only confirmed piece of news for him. Other than that, Thankappan wasn't actually allowed to see Lonappan's wife or get any other information from out there.

After this, the only other piece of information about Lonappan's wife that they received was when they were going for the teaching job. Lonappan subtly hinted that his wife taught in the Heavenly Flame School. However, no one noticed—or at least, they didn't care about it. The hype to know more about Lonappan's wife fizzled as quickly as it arose, so by that point in time, no one was actually interested in meeting her.

And eventually they forgot everything about it, until it resurfaced in the most unexpected moment.

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"Sorry, who's your husband again?" Taro asked, as he couldn't believe what he just heard.

"Okay, I know it's not the usual name that you hear in the streets these days, but neither is my father's. Hmm, maybe that's how they bonded in the office back in the day. Anyhow, his name is Ponnappan." Lena replied.

"What?" Taro stared at her with his mouth gaped in surprise.

Up until that moment, he expected Lena to be Lonappan's wife, but instead it ended up being Ponnappan's wife and it made no sense to him at all.

Literally everything she said pointed towards her being Lonappan's wife, from her house being meters from here and it being an arranged marriage to her father having a weird name and being the subordinate. That's why he couldn't comprehend it when it was revealed that Lena was Ponnappan's wife.

"You sure it isn't Lonappan?" He voiced his frustration by accidentally blurting out the question.

"Lonappan… How come you know the name of my cousin's husband?" She asked.

"Cousin?" Taro looked confused as she said that.

"Ah, you haven't met my cousin… You see that women in that corner with her head slumped. That's my cousin, Leia. She teaches Mathematics here. That Lonappan you spoke about is her husband. Now that I think about it, her husband has the same string of name as well. And her father as well. My, oh my, now that I think about it, isn't those kind of names too common around here? Or is it just my family tree?" Lena wondered.

"It's definitely your family tree!" Taro thought as he freaked out inside. However, he calmed himself down in a few seconds and acted as naturally as possible. "So, what's your father's name then?" He asked.

"It's Konappan. It's a weirder name that the others because it sounds more like a slur than a name. That said, my father says that he handpicked the name for himself. I would never understand why someone would pick such a stupid name if they're handpicking it themselves." Lena sighed.

"Hmm, maybe there's some unknown reason behind it or something." Taro shrugged. He no longer wanted to do any sort of small talk. He wanted answers and he wanted it fast. So, he quickly jumped to his next question. "Where exactly is your house?" He asked.

"Didn't I tell that to you already? It's literally meters away-" She was gonna repeat the same answer, but Taro stopped her.

"I heard that. I need the exact place. I mean, I live around this region as well, so I thought that knowing a fellow teacher's house would be beneficial for me since I could always head there if I need something. I'm relatively new here, you see. So, it would be helpful." Taro tried his hardest to ask her about her house without coming off as a creep.

And Lena understood what was going on pretty quickly. "Dude, calm down. I'm not gonna think of you as a creep. My house is in Mundur. Like really near to the center. So, even though it isn't as close to my cousin's house, it's closer in my eyes." She replied.

"I see. You still didn't tell me the exact place, but that's fine. I just needed this info." Taro spoke.

"Is that so? Then you can't head to my home if you need something. Or was that a lie?" Lena asked.

"That…" Taro's inexperience in lying was clearly showcased in this situation.

If it was Thankappan, he could've easily weaseled his way out. However, for Taro, the situation was extremely tricky. He couldn't think of one proper lie to cover up what he said.

Lena chuckled. "Oh, don't worry. I'm not gonna ask the reason. It seemed like you really wanted to know where my house for whatever reason. And you looked relieved after you learned about it. So, if that gives you peace, that's enough for me." She replied. "Oh, by the way. Give me your number. I'll send a text. I mean, if you really need my help someday, don't hesitate to pop a text over to me or call me." She said, to which Taro obliged and gave her the number.

"Ah, got the number. Thank you for your help." Taro spoke.

"It's fine. By the way, try mingling with your colleagues. Well, if you feel uncomfortable about it, then do that once you feel comfy enough. But talking with your colleagues helps—especially if you're stuck in some difficult situations." Lena replied.

"I'll keep that in my mind." Taro replied.

"Hmm, I would've introduced you to Leia as well, but since she's busy recuperating and I have the next class in five minutes doesn't help it at all. Some other day maybe. See you later." Lena spoke as she grabbed some textbooks and walked out of the staff room, leaving Taro in an extremely bizarre state.

#

Scarlet initially thought that the day would be boring as heck. That's why he did all those antics that he did in the morning. He wanted to entertain himself by making Taro chase after him. However, Taro took the boring path and caught up with him quickly and had a clench on him the entire time.

The hardest part for the Wadorian was to turn the pages during the classes. It didn't seem like he could turn the pages with the hand he had the book on, so he tried using the other hand. However, the slight fear of letting go of Scarlet made him do it the hard way. Scarlet, who felt sorry for him, flipped the pages for him instead, making it seem like it's the breeze that did it.

Anyhow, other than that, there wasn't anything for the Crimsoner to do, so the day was exactly as he expected it to be—boring.

That is, until a woman came in to speak with Taro. Initially it was all well and dandy, but with each passing moment, Taro expression changed like crazy. Hell, it even got to a point that Taro accidentally let him go. However, Scarlet was too invested in it that he actually stayed by Taro's side.

Thus, he became the second person in the Holy Land to meet with Ponnappan's wife. However, he didn't feel it the same way as Taro felt it. Instead, it was Taro's expression that told him the story. He understood that this was some sort of big revelation and the others would possibly have an equally unique expression in their face once they hear it. Thinking of it made Scarlet excited. Life had become boring for Scarlet to the point that he had to look at people's expression to get himself excited. However, he didn't exactly hate this mundane life either. He was happy and that was all that mattered to him.

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