"Good. Then, Thankappan, you're leading the squad and plankton, you're in charge of Thankappan. Ciao!" Lonappan didn't waste further time and rushed out of Holy Land

He sighed. He heard Thankappan whining in the background, however, he couldn't literally give a damn about that. It was a very important day for him. He was inviting Ponnappan to his house. He wasn't lying when he said it's a literal life or death job for him. He was following up on his promise to have a long talk with his best friend and his mentor. Therefore, he needed that to be perfect with no interference from the idiots in #306.

He paced himself back to his house, where he was welcomed by his wife. "Hey, honey! Seems like I still got some time left before I get to work. Do you want my help in cooking?" She asked.

"No! You're all dressed up for work. I can't possibly let you work like this. By the way, you really look beautiful today!" Lonappan smiled as he gently nudged her out of the kitchen.

"Oh, you know how to flatter me! However, I wasn't kidding when I said that I got time. What do I do about it?" She asked.

"Get yourself comfortable over in the living room. Read the newspaper then. You know what, I'll bring some refreshments over." Lonappan kissed his wife in the forehead and headed back to the kitchen. His wife smiled and did as Lonappan instructed.

In a few minutes, Lonappan came back to the living room with a glass of lemonade in his hand. "Oh, nice! A lemonade! Place it on the table for now. I'll drink it in a minute." The wife requested.

"Sure." Lonappan placed the lemonade on the table and sat beside his wife for a few minutes. He woke up early that day to prepare a grandiose full course meal. Finally, he was so close to completing it. Therefore, the fatigue was visible in his face.

His wife noticed this too. She folded her newspaper and faced towards him. "You look tired." She said as she grazed her fingers through his face.

Lonappan smiled. "Nah, I just wanted to sit beside you for a moment." He answered.

"Liar." She replied. Both of them had a good laugh for a while. "So, are you nervous? Since your boss is coming?" She asked as she led her fingers to his hair this time.

"Nervous? Yeah. However, is it because he's my boss? Nah. I'm inviting him in as my dear friend. We haven't had a good talk for a while. However, you haven't seen him since our wedding, right?" He asked.

"Yea, he didn't speak much to me back then too. Like, was he against our marriage or something?" She asked.

"Nah, he didn't just expect me to marry and get settled, since I was always against marriage and stuff." Lonappan explained.

"Then what changed that you ended up marrying me?" She asked.

"I guess our first meeting? Like, I felt like marrying this person would be really cool and I'd be happy with her." Lonappan replied.

His wife sighed. "We think alike, huh?" She chuckled. "I love you." She suddenly professed her love.

Lonappan gave out a bright smile. "I love you too." He brought his face forth and closed his eyes. His wife closed her eyes as well.

As they were about to kiss, the doorbell rang. "Seems like your friend has arrived!" His wife said as she pushed Lonappan back.

"Sigh, ruined the mood for me." Lonappan got up and opened the door. "Yo! I've been waiting for..huh?"

#

"Why are you here?" Lonappan asked the man before him.

"Were you expecting someone else?" The man asked.

Lonappan hesitated to answer. "Of course not!" He nervously laughed as he lied to the old man.

"Babe, what are you doing by the doorstep? Bring him—in?" Lonappan's wife walked towards the door just to be surprised. "Dad!?" She shouted.

"Hello, my daughter. How are you doing?" Lonappan's father-in-law, his former boss, invited himself in.

"I'm doing great! Take a seat, dad. Oh, here's lemonade!" She gave him the lemonade that Lonappan made for her. How convenient!

Her father nodded. He took a sip of the lemonade and looked instantly refreshed. "Well, you sure know how to make good lemonades." He smiled.

She shook her head. "Well, it's actually Lonappan who made the lemonade." She replied.

"Oh?" Her father looked surprised for a moment before regaining his composure. "Well, he had all the qualities for becoming a good house husband then." He replied.

"Oh, that's fine. He still has his job. He loves-" She was about to say something, when she was interrupted.

"Why not retire? Being an 'architect' is really dangerous, isn't it? Like who knows, a random steel rod might hit your head or something. Furthermore, don't you make enough money for both you and your husband? If that isn't enough, I have a good amount of money." He suggested.

Lonappan looked serious. "It isn't about the money. I love this 'job' and I will continue doing it. No one can tell me otherwise." He replied.

"Besides dad, haven't you worked at the same place? Then, how could you say that?" His wife argued.

"I had a desk job. I wasn't an on-site 'architect' like your husband over here." The father-in-law explained.

"So? That doesn't mean you can make me back off from the job." Lonappan sounded furious. The feud between the father and son-in-law was getting heated.

Meanwhile, his wife was getting weirded out by this. "Oh, will you look at that? I have to go to my job now. Babe, I'll leave dad with you! Bye!" She escaped from the premises the first chance she got.

"Damn it! Don't leave me here alone with him!" He cried in his mind as he waved goodbye.

The father-in-law sighed. "I feel bad for driving her out with our fight. I won't behave like that again. Where are the kids?" He asked.

"They went to school way before you arrived." Lonappan answered.

"Shoot, I came here for nothing. Should've come here on a Sunday or something." The father-in-law clicked his tongue.

"Wait, you came here to see them?" Lonappan asked.

"Yea, why? You didn't want me to meet them or something?" He asked back.

"No, it's as you said before. You should've come here on a Sunday." Lonappan replied.

"Yea, I regret my decision too." The father-in-law answered as he took another sip off the lemonade.

"So..Are you going now?" Lonappan posed the question before him.

"Huh?" He looked at Lonappan in confusion.

"Well, you couldn't see the kids, so why don't go for now and come back another day?" Lonappan asked.

"Are you kidding? I don't want to come back for a second time at this age! I'll just wait here." He replied as he relaxed on the sofa.

"Crap." He cursed inwardly. In the very next moment, the doorbell rang for the second time that day. This time he was sure about the identity of the person behind the door. "Double crap!"

"Why are you standing still? Go open that door!" The father-in-law ordered.

"But!" Lonappan tried protesting. He didn't want to open that door, since his father-in-law wouldn't exactly like the person on the other side of the door. He sure as hell didn't expect such a turn of events when he planned this meeting.

"You want my old ass to open the door then?" He asked.

"No, I will." Lonappan replied and slowly walked towards the front door—the slowest that he could. However, the person on the other side relentlessly rang the doorbell.

"Stay here. Even I can do better than that." The father-in-law got up. However, he was pushed back to the sofa by Lonappan.

"No, I'll handle this." Lonappan assured. He felt it. There was no escaping this situation with lame tricks. He had to face it like he always does. He took a deep breath in and opened the door.

"Look, you told me to come, so I came. Now, you should at least have a courtesy to open the door at the first ring of the bell." Ponnappan spoke as he came in.

"Ho, look who it is. Lonappan, were you waiting for this bastard?" The father-in-law scoffed at Ponnappan.

"Yo, old geezer! You are still alive, spineless coward!" Ponnappan scoffed back.

The old man sighed. "Look, I know you aren't gonna call me your senior. So, at least call me by my name." He spoke.

Ponnappan sighed as well. He sat on a couch opposing the old man. "Hello, Chinnappan."

"Hmm, that's good." Chinnappan turned towards Lonappan. "Now, why is this fucking asshole here?" He asked.

"Hey, hey! I thought swearing was out of bounds, you fucktard!" Ponnappan hit back as well before turning to Lonappan. "So, as he said, why is he here?" He asked.

Lonappan stood silent for a moment. He was cooking up his brain. The two people who should not have met have met each other. This was certainly bad for him. "Shoot! An explanation would still won't be enough to get at least one of them out of the house. I need some help here for sure." That's when a particular person came into Lonappan's mind. "Oh no! My phone's vibrating. Seems like someone's calling me. Just wait a minute, okay?" Lonappan took his phone and ran towards the kitchen.

#