by M. V. Kasi
Ajay smiled, recalling that conversation.
“True. But this will be our first official date. It’s different and I think you know it too,” he said.
She sighed as though she didn’t think it was a good idea.
“Ajay, we have been having sex like animals since the past few months. And I’m close to being five months pregnant with our child. I think we are way beyond a first date.”
He chuckled. “True. But I don’t care if we already had our child too. I would still want to go on our first date,” he said. And then, his voice got husky, “Wear something sexy. Something that will allow me easy access to get naughty as the night goes on.”
She sighed again. But this sigh sounded like she was amused and also exasperated.
“Okay I will. Any other instructions, Sir?” she asked.
“Yes. Can you call me Sir while we are in bed? But not tonight. Because tonight…it will be like any typical first date, where we get to know each other better. And there will be no talking about each other’s work,” he said, and hung up before she could protest.
CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT
SIA HAD AN hour or so before Ajay got home to take her out on their first date. She felt so nervous that she had to quickly dial Dr. Patel’s number.
“How have you been, Sia?” Dr. Patel asked.
“Pretty good so far.”
“That’s good to hear. So how can I help you today?”
“I’m a little nervous about something,” she said in a slightly anxious tone.
“Why? What is making you nervous?” he asked.
She sighed out loud. “I’m nervous because, in an hour or so, I’m going on a first date with my husband,” she replied.
“Hmm. So what is bothering you about going on a date?”
“I don’t know. I just think it is a horrible idea,” she stated.
“Why?”
She sometimes hated it when Dr. Patel simply asked her questions and didn’t soothe her fears. Even though after all these years, she knew that his modus operandi had always been to make her arrive at her own answers and soothe herself.
She breathed through her mouth before answering his question.
“He’s breaking me. He’s slowly chipping away my defenses one by one. I’m really worried that soon, I won’t have a wall between us,” she confessed.
“Okay. And what happens when there are no walls between the both of you?”
She was silent.
“Sia?”
“He’ll get to see the real me. The weirdo who is scared of her own bloody shadow during the nights. And he’ll be disgusted by my past. He’ll call me a liar, and a schemer, and many more names that are justified.”
“I see. And then, what happens next?” Dr. Patel asked her softly
“He’ll leave me,” she whispered out her worst fear.
She didn’t know when she had begun to acquire a brand new bloody phobia—fear of abandonment.
It was quite ironic that she was supposed to use Ajay, and then get rid of him once his use was done. Now, she wanted to cling to him and beg him not to kick her out from his life.
“Sia, you need to believe in yourself,” said Dr. Patel. “Life has no guarantees, but if you give it a chance, you might be pleasantly surprised.”
He had always told her that she had to suppress the negative voice in her head that tore through her self-esteem and confidence. She had tried, but the negativity was so deeply rooted that it sometimes overpowered everything that was good in her life. Which was very little.
Thanking Dr. Patel, she ended the call, determined to take chances. Hell, she took huge risks when it came to business opportunities. She even took chances when she went with her instinct, and picked Ajay as the father of her child, and eventually as her husband. So chances of things going wrong tonight in a major way were quite slim.
After that self-pep talk, she moved on to the next stage of getting ready for her date.
She stared at the huge mound of clothes on her bed in slight disgust. It was ridiculous really. Ajay had already seen her naked, and done some extremely dirty, delicious things to each and every part of her body, but for some reason she was trying out several attires in order to look the best for their date that evening.
After rejecting most of the dresses, she finally settled on a simple knee length floral skirt with a black scooped neck top. It wasn’t sexy by any means, but it did allow access like he had requested. And besides, all the other dresses were getting slightly snug around her waist, and she didn’t want to wear maternity wear until her seventh month began.
Even after she got ready, she realized that she was still anxious about their date.
What can she talk about if she wasn’t allowed to discuss about her work? She really didn’t have many friends. Except for Anjali. And Anjali was more like a good friend rather than a soul-baring or secrets-telling kind of best friend. And even if she were to talk about Anjali, that would contain a total of five minutes of conversation.
Shit. Now she was even more nervous.
CHAPTER TWENTY NINE
AJAY KNOCKED ON Sia’s bedroom door and waited for it to be answered.
When she opened up and stood in front of him, he slowly began to scan her from top to bottom. Something was different about her and he couldn’t place it yet. She looked radiant as always, but her expression held something.
She looked kind of shy and…nervous?
The cold and aloof woman was gone. At least for that evening. And he felt charmed by her shy persona.
“Hi,” he said.
“Hello,” she greeted.
“Ready?”
“Yes,” she replied softly.
Something strange twisted in his chest as he looked at her with her slightly rounded stomach. “Is that lipstick kiss proof?” he asked her quietly, focusing on her hot pink lips.
She nodded her head, and soon she shaped her lips into a small pout as she waited for his kiss.
“I’m really glad,” he said, and leaned in closer to give her a gentle, but a long kiss. When they were nearly breathless, he pressed his forehead to hers.
“What was that for?” she whispered.
“For you…and for me. And as a toast for having many such date nights,” he said, pulling away from her.
He led her out of the house.
“You look beautiful,” he added as he opened the car door for her.
“Thank you. You look great too.”
He smiled and got into his car on the driver’s side.
“So…where are we going?” she asked him a little hesitantly.
“A new restaurant. I know the owner rather well.”
Some of her tension melted away as she smiled at his statement. “Is there anyone in the city that you don’t know?”
He turned to smile at her. “You. But I’m hoping that you give me the opportunity to rectify that soon.”
Sia’s heart skipped a beat when she heard him say that. But she refused to let the dread overshadow the giddy excitement she felt about their first date.
Soon Ajay stopped the car in front of a swanky new restaurant which thankfully was on the ground floor. She was half worried she’d be forced to take an elevator during her date.
“Naughty Princess. I was looking for you all over the house. Why would you hide here in this tiny closet?”
The terrified nine year old girl cowered in a corner.
“Come out from there, will you, Princess?”
“No. I don’t want to. Please don’t make me. I just c-can’t.”
“Well…if you don’t, then I’ll join you in there. It will be another fun game. Like hide and seek. You can hide wherever you like, and I’ll surprise you each time…”
No small enclosed places had been safe for her. Sometimes he found her, and sometimes he didn’t. Each night, she stayed cowering and rocking at a corner, praying he wouldn’t find her.
“Ready?” Ajay’s voice broke through her flashb
ack.
She shook her head, trying to drive out all the negative thoughts from her head, determined to enjoy the evening.
Ajay gave the car keys to a valet and opened the car door for her. He even held out his hand for her. Smiling, she took it and got out. At first she thought he would let go of her hand, once she was out of the car, but he simply adjusted his grip, and twined their fingers together.
She stared at their joined hands in fascination, and then slowly looked up into his eyes.
He was smiling.
Over the past four months, Ajay had used those fingers to do the hottest and the dirtiest stuff to her than any other man ever had. But for some reason, the simple act of holding hands, made her heart flutter like that of an innocent virgin’s who was experiencing a man’s first touch.
They walked into the restaurant. The hostess, who had been greeting the guests politely, broke into a wide smile seeing Ajay. She fussed, and then gushed over them, until they were seated at the best table with a lot of privacy.
“So?” he asked with a smile as they were left alone with their menu cards.
“So?” she repeated, and then sighed. “I’ve never been to a first date before. So, you’ll have to guide me on the etiquette.”
He was surprised. “Never?”
“No.”
“So you are a first date virgin then. And I get to teach you about what is expected from you,” he said with a smirk.
She raised a haughty eyebrow. “I know enough to know that I’m not allowed to let you take me home on our first date.”
His smile got wider. “Oh really? What if I got really persuasive? Will you let me take you home then?”
“I’ll think about it. Only if you build a case for yourself,” she said, fighting a smile.
“Would you come home with me if I promise to be a good boy?”
“No.”
“What if I were a bad boy?”
“Intriguing. But not possible. You are the poster boy of how being kind and hardworking will help you achieve success at a young age.”
“Hmm, what if I said, I had almost served time at a Juvenile home for…thefts?”
She paused while taking a sip of water from her glass and her eyes got bigger.
And then, she giggled.
Yes. Giggled.
That high-frequency girly noise emitted from her was so unexpected that Ajay looked shocked out of his amusement.
“Oh my god. Ajay Manthena, the good boy with high moral standards, the owner of top of the line security company, almost spent time at a Juvenile home for theft! Oh the irony!”
She was laughing now.
Ajay had never seen or heard her laugh so openly before, and it felt strange. Her laugh sounded as though parts of her throat used for showing her mirth or enjoyment were rusty due to lack of use. He loved hearing it and being the cause of it.
He smiled. “Well, not many people know about. Except The Colonel of course. Because he got me out of it, after I heard an earful from him.”
“How did you get adopted by The Colonel?” she asked, curious to know more about his past, even though she knew it wasn’t fair for him. Especially since she had no intention of revealing hers.
“Long story. But I can shorten it by saying that there was a pretty bad accident. I helped drag out Harsha from the wreckage, and got hurt in the process. The Colonel brought me home from the hospital and raised me as one of his family members.”
She definitely didn’t know this from the basic background check she had done on him. She just knew that he was adopted from an orphanage.
“How old were you then?” she asked.
“Thirteen.”
There was a silence.
“Anyway, during my Juvie which lasted for half a day, I met some really scary people. They toughened me up. And that’s how I became a tough guy.”
She rolled her eyes at that. “You are not tough. You are sweet. Anyway, have you been using that line about serving time at Juvie to get girls?”
“Not yet. You are my first too.”
She smiled.
“So? Does my bad boy, exciting persona help you to decide whether or not to go home with me tonight on our first date?” he asked.
“Hmm, let me think.” She paused, and then said, “I will go with you. But you’ll have to give me a minute to hide all my silverware and electronics before you come inside.”
He grinned.
Soon they ordered food, and while they ate, he regaled her with more childhood adventures. He told her about how he kept trying to escape from the house several times. And how it drove everyone crazy.
“What did they finally do to make you stay?” she asked.
She was fascinated by the stories he told.
“The Colonel put a GPS in my watch and used it to track me. More than being outraged at having being found, and dragged back home, I was curious about that little tracker. And so, I stayed and wanted to learn everything I could about that kind of technology.”
She was listening to him raptly.
He smiled at her expression. “When I was fourteen, my fascination of tracking devices led to my fascination to build tracking software. And later, it turned into a business idea to start my own security company. I wanted to start the company much earlier, when I was seventeen. But The Colonel had insisted that I get a basic under graduation degree first and also to enjoy my remaining childhood.”
He smiled fondly. “Well, I’m glad he made me pursue a degree, because not only did I learn to hone my skills in building good software and hardware, but I also met many like-minded people at my university.”
“Hmm, so the people you keep chatting up with, you went to school with them?” she asked.
“Some of them, yes. The rest of them are mostly company’s clients.”
Technically, they were talking about work. But she wanted to know everything about what made him into the person he was.
“So as soon as you graduated, you started Manthena Corp?” she asked.
“No. I took a year off, and used that time to get investors and a list of possible clients. Our company is a little over three years old, and so far, we offer security to only exclusive group of clients. Mostly to IT corporations, banks, hospitals, restaurants and also to a few private individuals—like you.”
“Hmm…I know you do more than just install cameras, locks and alarms.”
He laughed. “Someone has been doing their homework,” he teased.
“Well…I wasn’t going to just marry a random person off the street,” she countered.
“Huh. Then maybe I should do the same check on you, sometime. But unfortunately, our company hasn’t expanded to the PI or personal investigations line, yet. We are more into counter measures that deal with IT systems and security consultations for big corporations.”
‘Thank god for that!’ she thought.
He told her about how he had gotten a scholarship, and then an internship during his college, in one of the top technology companies. He also told her about how he had to make a lot of contacts to have a good client base.
When it was finally time to leave, he signed the check, and they drove back home.
Surprisingly, when they reached home, he took her to his bed, but only to hold her close.
She lay on top of him with her chin on his chest, watching his face. And he was lying inclined on top of several pillows, with his neck bent, watching her and stroking her back as he spoke to her.
He spoke about his childhood. About his and Harsha’s mandatory trekking trips in the mountains with The Colonel.
“There is a place called Valley Of Flowers in Uttarakand. The trek to that place was one of the most beautiful sights I had ever seen.”
He laughed softly.
“But I wasn’t excited to go there at first. When The Colonel had announced to us that we’d be leaving on a weeklong trek, Harsha and I had whined a lot. We were only fifteen at that time. But after we reached that place, and we
stood at the peak, where we could stare down at the vast openness and the sheer beauty of it, it felt so worth it. It was quite an adventure, especially when we spotted a mountain leopard and a few blue sheep.”
He smiled as recalled those memories. “And by then, we were taught to cook simple meals. Which we put to very good use. I still cannot forget the taste and satisfaction derived from a steaming cup of tea or the simplest fare cooked over the open fire. It outmatched every possible fancy meal I had ever eaten over the years.”
She listened to him quietly. Her body lying on top of his was completely relaxed.
He kept talking and stroking her back.
“After that trip, each year Harsha and I would be so excited to plan out next adventurous summer trip…”
CHAPTER THIRTY
SIA OPENED HER eyes slowly. The unfamiliar curtains in the room made her heart rate speed up.
She had slept through the night in Ajay’s bed!
She tried to control her panic as she slowly tried to slide down the bed, trying not to wake him up. She almost made it, until a hairy muscular arm wrapped around her upper waist and dragged her across the bed with minimal effort.
“Good morning,” he drawled, and then yawned while he spooned her from behind.
Yes, spooned.
Good god, she had never ever spooned. And so, her heart began to beat faster. But for a different reason.
She liked the spooning too much.
“I-I need to go,” she stammered, trying to squirm away.
He pulled her even closer.
“No, you don’t. It’s a Saturday. We have all the time in the world.”
“I need to…” Her brain refused to assist her as tried to think of a reason, to get away from that position in a polite way, without offending him.
“I—” she broke off as he cupped her breasts and rubbed his thumbs on the underside.
She moaned softly.
“You?” he prompted huskily.
She turned towards him. Only to see his sleep softened face, watching her with glittering eyes.