by Reet Singh
'What about you two?' she asked, with barely concealed cynicism. 'You're very chummy. Remind me again how long you've known each other? Well, let me tell you ... it's never long enough.'
She didn't wait for them to respond - didn't even stay long enough to witness the speed with which Mohini disentangled herself from Aalok's absent-minded embrace and fled away from the confusing comfort of it.
§§§
Mohini walked out into the garden less than an hour after she had fled with embarrassed haste. She had changed out of her day clothes. Aalok remembered the white cotton nightgown from when he'd peeped into her room earlier. It covered her fairly ruthlessly, yet he felt a quickening of his pulse. She didn't know it, but she looked sexy as hell.
He watched as she dawdled, straightening a chair on the porch, then picking a leaf off the tiled floor. Her eyes looked anywhere but at him even as her feet made an excruciatingly slow, circuitous course to where he sat.
He hadn't moved after the two women rushed away. It was nice and cool outside, and he was in the mood to brood. He had much to think about and so, apparently, did his hostess. Watching her hesitant approach, he narrowed his eyes.
She was quite a package, now that he thought of it. Tiny, and deliciously curvy. Annoyingly mercurial - fiery dragon one minute, and timid as a mouse the next. Calm for a bit, then all hot and bothered at something. He remembered how she'd struggled to get out of his arms earlier, right after they'd first met, and yet had let him hold her while Tina spouted fire and venom at all and sundry.
She intrigued him no end as she pretended she wasn't making a meandering beeline for him. She clearly had something on her mind and nobody but him to talk to. He shouldn't be amused but his camera-trained eye could read the language of that rather delectable body - she hated that she needed him.
He patted the grass by his side, but Mohini pointedly ignored his suggestion and went and perched on the swing. Aalok's lips twitched. He wasn't one to enjoy teasing women - but this one fascinated him. Her elusive air, the barely concealed hostility, her eccentricity in choosing to live in a village, her crazy cat - even, and especially, her choice of nightwear.
His contemplation was broken by a well-aimed cushion that bounced off his chest.
He winced at the soft missile. 'What was that for?' he asked, his tone more amused than annoyed.
'You weren't listening to me. What on earth were you so deeply engrossed in? Or do you sleep with your eyes open? I asked you something.'
'I missed your question. Ask again. And this time don't whisper.'
'Hmph! So how long have you known Ritvik?'
'Wait - let me see..... We met at that awards ceremony, the one where his NGO won a state award. Wasn't that in August last year?'
'Oh!' She sounded deflated.
'Listen,' he said, getting the drift of her thoughts. 'Even though it hasn't been that long, I know him well enough. He's too dedicated - and practically married to his organization - to be a philanderer. Surely you don't believe....?
'No! Of course not! It's so unlike him, but even so, the evidence seems irrefutable and I'm....I'm floundering ...I can't think.'
'Call him.'
'I can't. Tina filched his phone. And his car keys. She was so mad she just plucked them off the mantel as she stormed out.'
'Ouch!'
'Yes. And she tossed the phone in the first water body she saw – flung it right through the bus window - because an unknown number kept calling and calling and calling.'
'That would be him.'
'It probably was. Using a land-line or something, the poor darling. The same number kept calling her as well, so she switched off her phone.'
'She didn't throw it out of the window, too?'
Aalok couldn't help the tongue-in-cheek comment though he kept his expression deadly serious. He didn't know how Mohini would take his flippancy on top of all that she was going through.
Mohini grinned, much to Aalok's relief. 'No! She's smart that way.'
'Always a good trait in a girl, being able to discriminate. She'll go far, that Tina, now that she's learned what to switch off and what to throw into water bodies, don't you think?'
Mohini giggled. 'Absolutely.'
'She could open a finishing school for young women who desire to learn how to ... um ... how to finish themselves.'
Mohini's giggles turned into helpless laughter. She doubled up and clutched her sides.
Aalok grinned in affinity, got up off the grass, and joined her. The swing lurched as she continued to laugh. He prided himself on being moderately sarcastic, but his comments hadn't been that funny. She was definitely halfway to hysteria.
'Enough,' he said. He grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her. To his dismay, though she sobered up immediately, a perfectly formed, globular teardrop sneaked out of the corner of one eye and traced a lazy path down her cheek. She hiccuped, the sad little sound making its way right into his heart, and he groaned. Prompted by a million emotions, none of which made any sense, he pulled her closer and kissed the delicately fluttering eyelashes.
He tasted the tears that hovered, and the saltiness of her anguish was his undoing. His lips followed the teardrop that had escaped - it was almost at the corner of her mouth now, and he kissed it away. Since he was in the neighborhood, it made perfect sense for him to capture the softness of her lips in his.
Her mouth trembled against his and he offered solace by doing nothing more than pressing gentle kisses against it. His hands were still on her shoulders, holding her close, while hers seemed to be creeping up his chest.
One more kiss before he pulled away. One last nibble at the delectable softness, and then he'd .... except that Mohini’s lips parted just then and he got the distinct impression of a tongue entering the fray. Taken by surprise, he made to move, just an inch so as to be able to see her face - but he wasn't allowed to. A soft but determined hand had entangled itself in the hair at the back of his head, and there was no ignoring its resolute command.
Six
She was letting the man kiss her. Worse, she was greedily kissing him back. The kiss was explosive. It was unstoppable.
She had wondered about his lips and now she knew. His tongue was deliciously rough, inflaming her senses. The hot shape of that addictive mouth delighted her. She'd been asleep for too long after Govind, and this man had inadvertently roused her - aroused her, woken up her sexual alter-ego.
The blood pounded in her veins and drowned out the voices in her head. She couldn't stop even though she should. His heart hammered against her breast, thrilling her. She was practically in his lap now, the swing rocking away as her hands struggled to find their way under his T-shirt.
What was wrong with her? She didn't know this man - had met him only half a day ago. Yet she'd let him get under her skin. He fascinated her. She shuddered as his hand found her breast through the cotton nightgown.
Dear god! She would go up in flames. Any minute now - and all that would be left of her would be a heap of smoldering ash.
She moaned as her nipples responded to his touch. This was madness. She was melting, melding into his hot, hot body. She had thought his shorts too skimpy, his sleeveless T-shirt too minuscule, but now they annoyed her - they kept her from touching him.
Meanwhile, while his lips continued their exploration of her mouth, his hands roamed freely, singeing through the cotton. He found the hem of her nightgown and tugged. She moved obligingly, allowing him to push it up and out of his way. Soon he was cupping her bottom, pulling her closer to where he needed her to be.
She wriggled, feeling him harden against her. Oh lord! She didn't want this to stop. She wanted him with a fierceness that defied logic, with a force that made a mockery of all the principles she thought she believed in.
A feeble sanity tried to whisper some words of caution, but Aalok’s fingers demolished whatever willpower she had summoned. Her nerve endings screamed for more - for him to discover all her secret places. When hi
s mouth found her breast, she thought she would die of pleasure, but the thrill served, shockingly, to jolt her back to earth.
What were they doing? Right out in the open, where anyone could see them. What if Tina woke and stepped out into the garden?
Dazed, Mohini hauled her reluctant, over-heated body up and away. Her gaze locked with his lust-hazed eyes. They invited her back, promised unbelievable pleasure, and she wavered. She couldn't look away, but then she shook her head. She wouldn't change her mind even though her fickle body clamored for fulfillment.
He released her and she rolled off the swing, landing on the grass with a thwack that knocked the breath out of her. Lying flat on her stomach, she closed her eyes as disappointment wound its way through her, paralyzing her.
She wanted him. She still did, but it was stupid and futile and she never did things that were stupid and futile. Not any more. She had grown up in the last three years. She was twenty-five but her spirit was so much older.
She heard him move, then a feathery touch shivered it's way down her spine, but it was only Aalok covering her, pulling the nightgown down for her. She stifled a groan of regret.
'Let's take this to my room,' he suggested, his voice low and persuasive.
'No!' She rolled away, just out of reach. 'No!'
'All right.' He was a fount of patience. 'Care to tell me why?'
'Yes,’ she groaned. 'I'm married.'
'What?' he roared, and Mohini winced.
'It's true,' she said, her voice small but sure. 'At least,' she turned and met his accusing gaze, 'at least, it was until some years ago.'
'And then?' He didn't sound quite so angry now.
'He died,' she whispered. 'Somebody killed him.'
Aalok flinched and Mohini watched as every trace of passion and anger leached out of his body. His eyes darkened and the bleakness in their depths frightened her. He moved suddenly, blocking out the moon, and scooped her off the grass.
'We're going to talk,' he growled, and marched off in the direction of the East annexe with a very startled woman in his arms.
§§§
Aalok couldn't decide where to deposit the armful of woman he carried - the bed in his part of the East annexe seemed an obvious choice but it was too suggestive considering the state of arousal they'd been in. He set her down as gently as he could in the rocking chair instead. Then, he marched into the other room and came back with Raja. Placing the teddy bear in her arms, he dropped down on the rug at her feet and tried to find the right words.
What could he say to a woman after she'd disclosed something as shattering as a murdered husband? Her face was tucked out of sight, buried in the softness of the ancient, pink-coated bear. She looked tiny, a droopy little thing sitting quite still almost exactly as he'd placed her.
He cleared his throat and she came partially out of hiding - only the upper half of her face was visible and two tear-drenched eyes peeked at him from between the moth-eaten ears of the ridiculous toy.
He raised an eyebrow at her, hoping she'd get the unsubtle hint - he deserved an explanation. Silence was not an option after what had transpired between them - but the ball was in her court. It was her decision - and though he wished she would choose to talk about what had happened to her husband, he wasn't about to force her.
Earlier, when he'd marched in with Mohini in his arms, he'd been furious at being presented with the shocking disclosure so out of the blue like that. His blood, already heated with passion, had boiled further and he'd been determined to wring the details out of her - but now his heart ached.
She was still devastated. Some years, she'd said, and she still hadn't gotten over it.
'Govind,' she said, finally breaking the silence. Her eyes widened and she said it again, louder this time. 'Govind.'
She was looking right at him but he sensed that she was somewhere else - somewhere in her memories of the man whose name she took with such tenderness. It shook him.
For a fleeting second he felt envy - but almost immediately a rush of shame washed over him. He was jealous of a dead man! Jealous - because the woman he'd been very recently making out with still carried a torch for her late husband.
Aalok hated himself just then. He needed to get the hell away from this place and especially far away from this woman. He liked women - he'd been surrounded by them his entire life - but three sisters, one little niece, and a string of lovers had ensured he knew enough about women to recognize trouble when he saw it.
This woman was trouble. She was inexplicably alluring, but also complicated, and he didn't need any of that in his life.
He looked at her, then looked away. Her hair was all mussed up and framing her face like a halo of dark silk - he remembered doing that, remembered running frantic fingers through the strands in an effort to turn her head so he could find the perfect approach to her lips.
What a moment of madness that had been!
He hadn't felt such an irresistible urge in decades - he might be sixteen and in the throes of his first lust for all the maturity he had displayed. You did not kiss a woman you just met when you were a thirty-two year old man-of-the-world. Especially not one who was the sister of a friend.
Mohini spoke and he was forced to look at her again. Her face had lost some of the awful greyness. She still clutched the teddy as though it would save her from the demons that plagued her, but her eyes had a spark and the chin was up in the air.
'Govind,' she waved a hand at him, 'as you might have guessed, is my husband. Was.... was my husband.' She swallowed, but with barely a pause continued with 'he was shot. I was right there.'
If she noticed Aalok flinch, she made no sign.
Her eyes had gone all far-away again and Aalok wished he hadn't started this. He wished he hadn't fallen in with Ritvik's suggestion to move to the village to gather his wits after the fiasco in Delhi. But most of all he wished he hadn't kissed her. That had really set the cat among the pigeons as far as his wits were concerned.
'I couldn't do a thing,' Mohini said, her voice coming out low and sad. 'I didn't know the plan. I didn't anticipate anything so I didn't fight hard enough when the man asked me to leave the room.'
'What man? Which plan?'
'I'm sorry - wait - let me start from the beginning.'
'Listen, Mohini, you don't have to do this.'
'I do,' and Mohini sat up straight, startling him when she tossed the teddy bear across the room. It landed face down on the bed and she asked very politely, 'Would you turn him around, please?'
After Aalok had done that, she crossed her arms about her middle, stuck out her chin, and began again.
'We met at a college festival. I think it was Pulse, I'm not sure. Possibly that, or....never mind. The thing is we kept bumping into each other. He played guitar and sang dreamy songs so if there was a party, he was there. I think we knew some of the same people too. Although, after he .... after he died, I found it strange that nobody came forward to share anecdotes. Not one of the friends I'd imagined he'd known before he met me had much to say about Govind. That's when I discovered that my husband was a keeper of secrets.' She stopped and her lips twisted.
Aalok didn't understand, but Mohini's expression was remote and bleak, and he didn't dare ask for a clearer explanation.
'The day I graduated - I studied Eco honors - he asked me to marry him. I adored him and there was no doubt in my mind that I wanted to be with him. He was funny and kind and he cherished me. I was valued. Loved.'
She sniffed, wiping a tear from the corner of her eye. 'He did rather well for himself, but that didn't impress my family. I was too young, my mother suggested. He was too good to be true, my brother thought. He had a swanky car and a fancy flat in Delhi, but they didn't care. The fact that he was an orphan bothered my parents. I didn't listen since I was convinced of Govind's love for me. He was a charming man. He really was. I believed in him. I married him in a registrar's office and we were madly happy.'
Mohini sighed. 'He
worked in a bank - at least that's what he claimed right up to the moment of ... right up until he was killed. We'd been packing to move abroad, to the US, because his bank needed something done there. I remember thinking that the transfer was a rather hurried affair - but Govind said there was some urgency and I believed him because I always did - and besides I didn't know then that he was somebody else.’
She shook her head, he eyes clouded. ‘I feel now, in the light of the events of that night, that he had an idea people were out to get him. I think we were fleeing the country because of that.'
Twisting her fingers together until her knuckles whitened, she murmured, 'I've never revisited that night - or any part of my life as Mrs Govind Raj - at least, not since Ria was born.'
'Ria?' Aalok choked on the name.