by KASI, MV
Eventually, she whined and complained enough to make him stop playing the movie. He continued holding her close and they talked about their favorite movies while growing up and also their favorite books.
Soon, she got sleepy and she fell asleep in his arms. And for the first time in nearly four weeks, since they had been together, both of them had their clothes on while they slept.
*****
During all the weekdays, they spent the evenings and nights at his place. And whenever Mahi cooked dinner, they would spend some time at her place before heading to his place.
And over the weekends, they spent the days mostly meeting their family and friends separately, but during the night time, however late it was they would make sure to spend it with each other. They spent some weekend days together as well, either spending a leisurely day at one of their homes or going out to eat.
On one of the Saturdays, Samrat accompanied Mahi to a car showroom, when she decided to buy a car. She ended up buying a cute little car for herself that she enjoyed driving everywhere. She also used it to get to work when Samrat worked from home. And whenever he had to go to the office, he refused to get into the 'Lilliput car' as he termed her car. He made her drive his SUV.
Mahi actually enjoyed spending time with him. And not just because of the awesome sex that got even crazier when she started using birth control pills, allowing them to do it bareback. While sex took up a lion's share of the cause of her enjoyment, she loved talking about their day, things happening at each other's work and even about their friends and family.
CHAPTER 13
Samrat decided to take Mahi to his house for the first time. He had mentioned it to her casually a while ago that he had another house in the city, but preferred to live in his parents' house as it was more convenient to commute to the office.
And later one day, he confessed to her that he couldn't live in his own house because it contained way too many memories for him. And when his parents moved to their village house, he renovated their city home to suit his needs, and liked living in his childhood neighborhood.
Mahi had never asked him to take her to his home. But since she was in his life, he wanted to share his past with her and open up to her as she had with him. She had told him a little about her marriage and then also about the extramarital affair that resulted in the birth of her son. She had also lovingly spoken several times about her son, telling him about her toddler son's antics.
His house was built on top of a hill with its own private road and overlooked the Secret Lake. It was locked most of the time and opened only when the watchman's wife had to get in for cleaning the humungous place.
As soon as Mahi entered, she loved the place and called it the most tastefully decorated luxurious home she had ever visited.
When they went further into the kitchen, she gasped and went further inside in awe.
He was amused at her reaction. She was running her fingers over the huge granite island countertops, and then the six burner stovetop along with the double oven. She sighed deeply and stared longingly at them.
"Do you want to be left alone for a while, so you can caress and kiss my kitchen furnishings and appliances some more?" he asked smiling.
She sighed. "It's been so long since I saw a conventional oven or a six burner stove or even beautiful traditional granite countertops. My current house is not suitable for fitting in any of those without a major renovation to my kitchen."
And then she smiled. "I should probably buy a small apartment somewhere that would be more convenient for me. But the perks of my current house outweigh the convenience. My current house has better and faster access to a hot neighbor."
"I'm very glad that you decided not to move," he said gruffly and dragged her out from the kitchen to show her the bedrooms and then the family room. Mahi took in everything around her quietly.
In the family room, Mahi saw a huge laminated picture of Samrat with his late wife and daughter. His usually stern and serious expression was softened as he carried his daughter with one hand and wrapped his other arm around his wife's waist. Samrat and his wife Nandini made a great couple.
Samrat's wife was on the taller side like him, reaching almost until his ears and looked like a perfect foil with her classically beautiful features against his raw masculine ones. Their little girl looked like a budding beauty, who would have looked just like her mother had her young life not been cut short so abruptly.
"Samrat, I feel a little uncomfortable being in this house. I feel as though I'm poaching on another woman's private property," Mahi told him hesitantly.
He pulled her close. "No Mahi, you are not. If you had met my wife Nandini before, you would know that she was the most generous and kindhearted woman. A few years ago when Nandini and I were making our will after Sana was born, she had specifically told me that she wanted me to move on and be happy in my life, just in case anything untoward happened to her. I had told her that I would want the same for her too."
Mahi nodded slightly in understanding.
Samrat got out some of his family picture albums.
Sitting on a formal sofa next to him, Mahi was smiling while looking at his solo pictures. In the pictures, Samrat was scowling into the camera because his wife had apparently insisted that he needed mementos in form of his solo pictures at every famous monument or location they had visited.
After a while, Samrat began to slowly open up about his marriage.
"Nandini was my family friend's daughter and I had met her a few times before too while growing up. But I didn't really notice her since she was five years younger to me and we didn't really move in the same children's circles. I was more interested to look at girls my age or older. The first time I saw Nandini's grown up photo, I was bowled over by her looks and even more so when I met her in person. She grew up to be so beautiful that wherever she went; people would often stop to stare at her. And not just being beautiful on the outside, she also had the genuinely sweet and caring personality that made people around her love her. But after a few months of my marriage...I realized that I wanted someone different. Someone who was more modern, and not innocent in a childlike way and someone who didn't always need my guidance, or worship, or catered to me so much. Even though I hadn't said a word to her, I think on some level she knew I wished her to be a different kind of wife. Each time Nandini tried to please me by trying to change or adapt more to my lifestyle, I felt guilty."
He stared at his wife's and daughter's picture. "Nandini named our daughter Sana because it was a mixture of Samrat and Nandini. I tried to show her in every possible way that I loved her and cared for her and gave her every comfort or luxury I could afford. But I think I was still a little distant with her."
He sounded torn. Then he held Mahi's hands and looked at their joined hands intently.
"That day...when the accident took place, I was supposed to be with them. I was supposed to go to the Srisailam temple with Nandini and Sana. I bailed out because I had some pending work. I could have asked someone else to cover for me or postponed my work to a later date, but I didn't. I wasn't that keen to go to a temple. Nandini was the religious kind who went to a temple twice a week and made a twice a year trip to Srisailam. Later that evening when I got the call about the accident and the news that my wife and daughter had died instantly, I just—"
Mahi moved closer to him and held him in her arms. She placed her head on his chest and rubbed his back, soothing him as he shuddered recalling his dark days after the accident.
"It's not your fault Samrat. Accidents happen. And I can tell you for sure that your wife loved you and must have felt equally loved in return too. I have met warm and compassionate people like her before; they see good in everyone and everything, and are always happy in their lives. Nandini and Sana knew they were loved deeply by you. Let your guilt go and remember them during your happiest memories," she said stroking his hair.
Mahi smiled sadly. "That's what I do when I remember Aryan, I rem
ember him hugging me close and saying, 'I love you the best in the whole wide world, mommy', it is the sweetest memory I have of him," she said, recalling her son with a smile.
They spent rest of the day watching his daughter’s pictures and regaling their children’s stories.
Later that night, she asked him about the project he was so involved with. "Why are you so invested in the gated senior community? I feel there is a more compelling reason than simply building a house for your parents."
Samrat had taken her there several times over the weekends to check on how the construction was progressing.
"Do you remember Badrinath uncle from our neighborhood? He used to play character roles in Telugu movies," he said.
"Sure. I remember him. I used to like him because he was pretty cool and spoke to the neighborhood children as though they were adults. He was never irritable or condescending towards us," she said, remembering the kindly neighbor.
"Yes. That was him. He was one of my initial investors in my company who believed in me. My father couldn't raise enough money even after we had sold most of our lands. The bank loans helped a little, but weren't enough for the vision I had to start my own company. Badrinath uncle offered to invest and I readily accepted his offer. I was able to repay him with an interest in five years and had been always very grateful for his timely help," said Samrat.
He intertwined his fingers with hers and stared at their hands, lost in deep thoughts or maybe memories.
"Badrinath uncle killed himself a couple of years ago. His children were fighting over his wealth and he had been feeling lonely and dejected in his old age. I had been travelling when the incident had happened and couldn't digest the news. Whenever we had met, he always had a smile or a witty remark.
Most of our neighbors who lived with just their spouses told me that they felt lonely living in the city with nothing much to do. As do my parents whenever they visit the city sometimes for long periods of time.
I researched a little and liked what the west and other cities in India did with their seniors. Assisted living is still kind of a taboo here. But, if they had a reasonably priced homely setting where they could mingle and have social activities with their peers along with dining facilities and emergency nursing facilities within a community, it would ease their loneliness somewhat.
It has been done in a lot of places too, but I personally decided to invest in such a community venture as a tribute to Badrinath uncle," he said.
She was touched by his gratitude towards their kind and generous neighbor.
CHAPTER 14
It was mid-November and close to four months into their deal.
Samrat had to fly overseas for a couple of weeks to attend a lawsuit hearing. Someone was suing the company claiming that Stimmulus was unnatural and that it might lead to severe brain damage.
He had to fly in personally for the court proceedings where a team of doctors, scientists and lawyers were working together to resolve the lawsuit either as an out of court settlement or to argue against the false claims.
Samrat tried to tempt her to join him in the trip. "Come with me. It might take less than two weeks too. We can fly back or just spend some time there sightseeing."
He had asked Mahi repeatedly to accompany him to the trip for two weeks since it was the longest they had been apart since their deal.
But Mahi refused to join him since she had a busy work week.
"Two words. Phone sex," she said with a shameless smirk.
Samrat sighed. "This is going to be a very long trip for me," he told her and kissed her senseless.
By the time Mahi woke up in the morning, Samrat had already left.
*****
A week later, Mahi was missing Samrat like crazy. He had been calling often whenever he had any free time. They usually spoke about their day. Samrat told her about the case and she told him about her work and some of the things she was doing outside work.
After they got those out of the way, they spoke about what they would have done to each other if they were lying next to each other on the bed. Not surprisingly, their dirty talk got them hot and bothered and made them miss each other more.
On the first weekend, Mahi was meeting her friends at a restaurant for lunch for a celebration. Ashwini was promoted from a Senior Director position to a Vice President of IT in her company.
Everyone raised their Margarita glasses and toasted her successful promotion.
"To Ashu! May you receive many such promotions!"
Ashwini had told them before how hard she had to work for it, often sacrificing her family time and missing some of her kids' school events.
"So what did the sleazy shorty have to say about your promotion?" Mahi asked her.
Ashwini had another contender who was vying for the same promotion.
"Oh as usual he made passive aggressive digs at me informing me that I didn't deserve the promotion and that my face and body got me what I wanted," said Ashwini.
Everyone at the table felt outraged.
"That bastard. Bahh why do such idiots exist. Why can't he just trip and fall on the sharp end of a knife and die already," said Jhanvi.
"You have a great track record and success rate with all your projects. That alone should be proof enough for that moron," said Mahi feeling equally outraged on Ashwini's behalf.
"I know. I wanted to graduate my feeling of always wanting to slap him to throwing a jaw breaking punch. But this wasn't the first time I met such nasty sore losers. They call me all kinds of names...bossy, pushy, cold and selfish. I don't care. Well...I do sometimes, but I try not to care," said Ashwini.
"Oh yes. I get those labels all the time too. And surprisingly from other women," said Smitha.
Everyone began discussing the different characters they came across during their careers.
Mahi started to tell them about something that was bugging her at work.
"I'm managing a team right now and I'm having some issues with one of the team members. It's kind of weird but I feel something is off about her situation. The colleague's name is Chithra and she is a brilliant programmer. She had been working on many high profile projects since past two years and has a great track record. And slowly things have been changing since she got married a few months ago to another coworker from a different team. She started missing deadlines, skipping work often and has been more withdrawn lately. She was one of the chirpiest girls until a few months ago. The entire situation is raising huge red flags for me. I'm not her direct manager and I didn't mention this to Samrat because she works in his company. What should I do?" Mahi asked in concern.
"The best option is to speak to her first," suggested Smitha.
"I already did and she just keeps apologizing and says that she'll pull her weight, but she still keeps missing the deadlines. I'm covering for her, but I don't want to do it for too long. It's not fair for both of us," said Mahi.
"It's a lose-lose situation either way I think, Mahi. You can't cover her for long and telling her immediate manager will probably get her into trouble. Speak to her again. Push her a little," said Ashwini.
"Yes. If you sense some red flags, prompt her or just ask her about what is happening in her personal life. I think it is okay to do that," said Jhanvi.
"Yeah. Talk to her like a friend rather than her project manager," suggested Parvathi.
Mahi nodded, deciding to do that. Slowly the topic shifted to how Mahi was dealing with the long weeklong absence of Samrat in her bed.
"Oh god, I'm missing him like crazy. The arguments when I leave the toothpaste or my stuff lying on the counter and not neatly in their places like he prefers or fighting for the T.V remote. Even though we are talking on the phone, I miss seeing him across the table or bed when we talk about each other's day or silly things like what we ate for lunch.
I miss his great back rubs and foot rubs. And it's been so weird not having someone holding me while I sleep, even if that someone has his stupid rules about always s
leeping on the right side of the bed and hogging most of the space," sighed Mahi.
Everyone at the table was silent.
"What?" asked Mahi.
"Did you realize that not one of the things you just listed had anything to do with sex?" asked Jhanvi.
"What? No. I said someone holding me in bed. That usually means..." Mahi trailed off not knowing how to complete it.
Slowly her panic attack was starting to emerge.
Smitha smiled. "Hey, it is okay to feel bonded like a couple in a relationship. You guys have been together for four months, practically living with each other."
Mahi nodded with a smile but there was a storm brewing in her head.
CHAPTER 15
On the following Monday morning when Samrat called, Mahi could hear some background noise.
"Sorry, I'm at a restaurant. I'm having drinks with my legal team and it might take a while before I get back to my hotel room. You'll be at work by then. We are going to win the case, Mahi. Shivani did a great job. I think the hourly rate she charges is worth it," he said, laughing softly.
Samrat had mentioned before about Shivani, stating that she was like a brilliant shark and literally tore apart the lawsuit. Mahi was pretty fascinated by the arguments made by their defense. She had especially been cheering Shivani's arguments.
Now that she was feeling mixed up and scared about how she felt about Samrat, she formulated an idea in her head. "So does Shivani look hot?" she asked him casually.
Samrat thought she was teasing him. "Very hot. Maybe that's why the prosecuting team was having a tough time arguing with her," he chuckled.
She bit her lip, knowing in the next few seconds she was going to change the entire dynamics of their relationship. "Samrat...I wanted to talk about the terms of our deal. I know you said, I had to be exclusive and not be with anyone else while we were together. But...I didn't say the same thing to you."