09-06-2020, 11:20 AM
Thanks for all the comments.
Episode 10 (Flashback – continued)
At that time the waiter brought us the drinks we ordered. We silently sipped our drinks each with our own thoughts. It dawned on us that we had just accepted the fact that we are going to spend the rest of our lives together.
“Excuse me,” I said, “I have to go to the ladies.”
He just smiled broadly and nodded his head. I could see he was beaming much more than one would naturally expect. It just showed how happy he was. He must really, really like me. The first thing I did when I went into the ladies room was examine my looks. I was not bothered about it before as I was angry and was meeting him reluctantly, but now I was conscious about my looks. Luckily, I had applied some lipstick before I left the office. Now I freshened it more and took out my small hair brush from my handbag and combed my hair a bit. Satisfied at how I look, I took my mobile phone and called my mother. My mother must have been on tenterhooks waiting for my call. She immediately answered the phone.
“Swetha, did you see him .. did he talk to you .. what did he say, where are you now,” she rattled off without giving me a chance to speak.
“Cool ma, cool. Let me speak. If you keep talking like this, how can I reply.”
“Sorry dear, I was so anxious. This is a very good match for you, that’s why.”
“Okay, okay, listen, he said he likes me very much.”
“Oh, thank god, you gave me really good news,” my mother was delighted on hearing this.
I smiled here on hearing how happy my mom was. “I’m talking from the ladies. He is waiting for me, bye, I’ll talk to you later.
“Okay but don’t be too long,” this was the conservative part of my mom speaking.
“Okay, okay, I’ll come soon. I’m not going to run away with him now itself and start living with him.”
“Idiot, where that slipper now ...,” she threatened but she was too delighted to be annoyed by my banter. You make sure you don’t talk too much, like this and speak to him properly like a demure girl.”
“Okay maam, I’ll go and speak to him like a small innocent baby,” I said laughingly as I cut the phone.
“Sorry to have kept you waiting,” I said as I sat down.
“No problem at all, it’s okay.”
“Tell me about yourself. What are your interests, hobbies, likes,” he was still addressing me in respectful terms used by people who are still acquaintances.
“Let me first tell you about what I don’t like,” I replied.
He looked at me curiously, wanting to know what I meant.
“First thing is I don’t like you calling me with respectful terms. Just call me as you would a friend.”
“Okay in that case, you too just call me Mahesh,” he replied.
I started talking about myself and he asked some questions in between and made me talk more about myself. I liked it that he was a good listener. In fact I thought I may have revealed more about myself than I intended.
“I’m the one who is talking. You have not said anything about yourself,” I said finally.
“No, it’s that I couldn’t take my eyes off your face. I just kept admiring you as you spoke.”
My face reddened as sudden shyness overtook me. Swetha being demure, I thought to myself, will wonders never cease. To hide my bashfulness, I asked him in return,” So you were just looking at my face and didn’t listen to anything I said.”
“Nothing like that, I was both listening to what you said and admiring you at the same time.”
I looked at him in mock reproach. “Well, not today, but I’ll test you another day and see if you can repeat what I told you about myself today.”
He just smiled when I said that. Even for this is a smile the only answer from him, I thought to myself. He looked quite handsome when he smiled .. I too was admiring him without his knowing. (In fact, if one were to compare between my husband and Shiva as far as facial look alone is concerned, my husband was the more handsome between the two of them. At five feet nine inches of height, he was also fairly well built. Not the body builder type of build of Shiva but firm muscled. As he spoke to me that day, I felt I was slowly falling in love with him. Did those feeling arise because in my mind I had accepted that he was going to be my future husband, I couldn’t say. However, one thing was sure, even if this was not the scenario, I still would have been attracted to him.
I’ve never had this feeling for another man before. We spoke not as two people who have just met but like we have known each other for a long time. I felt very comfortable being with him .. actually he made me feel comfortable when I was with him. I didn’t know how time flew and before we knew it, it was already dinner time. Even though I declined he insisted on buying me dinner. By that time my mother had already called three time. Since the phone was on silent mode, I ignored her calls. I was only with her future son in law and not someone else. So why was she unnecessarily worrying. It was nine in the evening when the watchman opened the gate and my scooty entered into my apartment complex. As the watchman was about to close the gate, I saw his car turn back. He saw that I had noticed him and he waved to me as he drove away. Without me being aware he had followed me to ensure that I reached home safely. Okay that’s one more plus for him. As I entered my home my mother had a hundred questions, or it seemed like that. My answers to all her questions were monosyllabic which irritated her further.
Finally, I told my mom,” His parents will call you tomorrow.”
“Alright, you quickly take bath and have your dinner,” My mom told me.
“No need, your future son in law bought me dinner. I didn’t let him off easy, I made sure it was a big bill,” I said smiling at my mother.
“I know my daughter .. very capable of doing all this. Poor Mahesh, he doesn’t know what he is letting himself into.” My mom too said with a huge smile on her face.
“He is not your son in law yet but you are already worrying for him,” I said with my hands on the hips.
I stared at my mother as my father was listening to the conversation between his wife and his daughter. Even though he didn’t say anything I could see the happiness in his face.
“I’m going to have my bath then going to sleep,” I said though the time was not even ten yet.
“We know, you won’t have time to talk with us anymore,” My mother mocked me.
“Well my dear mom, as long as you understand that, well and good,” I said as I cheekily turned my back to them and walked into my bedroom.
I took a leisurely bath. My mind was full of what had happened this evening. I had gone to work in a bad mood. Even my friend Kavita couldn’t speak to me as I barked at everyone for every little thing. From this Kavita had deduced that things had not gone well for me yesterday. She too must have thought discretion would be better at this point and avoided talking to me unless necessary. How things changed by that evening. I was reflecting how it was that I had become so fond of someone in such a short period of time. It had never happened to me before. We just seemed to have naturally hit it off from the beginning. After finishing my bath and dressing up for bed. I lay down with the phone beside me ready at hand. For a long time, it did not ring. As time went on, I was becoming impatient. I kept staring at the phone.
“What is this man doing it’s reaching 10.30 in the night and he has still not called,” I was mumbling to myself.
“If he doesn’t call tonight, he is going to get it,” I promised myself ominously.
Just as I was thinking that my phone rang. My hearted lifted in joy but I did not want him to think that I was just eagerly waiting only for his call and I just let the phone ring. After It had stopped it was more than five minutes and he still had not called back a second time. This time I became worried, I cursed myself for not attending his call. Luckily, he called just then. This time I took the phone after three rings lest he keep it down once more.
“Hello, Mahesh, tell me,” I still couldn’t get myself to call him dear or baby. It still felt awkward.
“Hi Swetha, were you getting ready to sleep?”
“Yeah, I was just about to when you called.”
“Oh, in that case never mind, I’ll call you tomorrow. “
Good god, what a dunce this man is I thought to myself. I better speak quickly or he’ll cut the phone. “No, it’s okay, I don’t feel sleepy yet. Why did you call?”
“I just felt like talking to you.”
“We spoke for so long just now and you like to talk with me some more?” I said as if astounded but very pleased inside.
“No matter how long I talk with you it will never be enough.”
“I know, before marriage our words would be very sweet for you but after marriage you men would scold your wives in irritation if they want to have a conversation with you.”
“I would never say that to you, your voice is something I will never get fed up of hearing.”
“Let’s see, how true this is going to be after marriage,” I needled, him.
He too did not give in. “You are going to see that for sure after marriage Swetha,” he spoke to me warmly.
These were all very new feelings for me. If only I knew that falling in love would feel so wonderful, I should have done this idiotic thing long ago. This thing cannot be forced on isn’t it, I admonished myself. It comes naturally when your right man come along. The right man has finally come into my life.
“Swetha, it’s not only your voice that I would never become fed up of,” Mahesh said and did not say anything further.
He expected me to ask what else it was. I took the bait. “What else you won’t become fed up off.”
I could hear him laugh softly. This future husband of mine can be quite bold and naughty I thought to myself. We had just about told our liking for each other and he was getting ready to be naughty straightaway. However, this playfulness coming from him felt so right and pleasing.
“If I tell you Swetha you must not get angry with me okay?”
I thought to myself, should I let him go further at this point of our relationship or should I wait a bit more.
“No, no, I think it’s better I not know about it.”
“Sure, you don’t want to know,” he teased me.
“No, I’m sure.”
“Why, Swetha?”
“You will say something bad and I would feel very shy,” I replied.
“Would I say something bad to my sweetheart,” Mahesh said.
He called me sweetheart for the first time. In fact, it was the first time a man was calling me sweetheart. I felt a surge of joy in my heart.
“No, you don’t have to say anything now to your sweetheart,” I replied.
He laughed out loud on the phone. We spoke unaware of time flying by. I am usually asleep by 11.30 pm when I have office the next day but today, I didn’t feel one bit sleepy. It was around 2.30 am that we realised how long we had spoken. My phone itself felt hot as I had been speaking with the phone being charged as we had been speaking for so long. He was the one who phoned so the bill was going to be on his head. He should start getting ready to pay huge phone bills.
These thoughts of how wonderfully our relationship started was causing me so much distress now when that very relationship was in great turmoil and risk. I felt morose at the situation I was in not realising that I had part responsibility for matters to reach this terrible state. I don’t know how I fell asleep with all these disturbing thoughts in my mind. I was awakened from my fitful sleep by a very pleasant feeling that was running through in my body.
Episode 10 (Flashback – continued)
At that time the waiter brought us the drinks we ordered. We silently sipped our drinks each with our own thoughts. It dawned on us that we had just accepted the fact that we are going to spend the rest of our lives together.
“Excuse me,” I said, “I have to go to the ladies.”
He just smiled broadly and nodded his head. I could see he was beaming much more than one would naturally expect. It just showed how happy he was. He must really, really like me. The first thing I did when I went into the ladies room was examine my looks. I was not bothered about it before as I was angry and was meeting him reluctantly, but now I was conscious about my looks. Luckily, I had applied some lipstick before I left the office. Now I freshened it more and took out my small hair brush from my handbag and combed my hair a bit. Satisfied at how I look, I took my mobile phone and called my mother. My mother must have been on tenterhooks waiting for my call. She immediately answered the phone.
“Swetha, did you see him .. did he talk to you .. what did he say, where are you now,” she rattled off without giving me a chance to speak.
“Cool ma, cool. Let me speak. If you keep talking like this, how can I reply.”
“Sorry dear, I was so anxious. This is a very good match for you, that’s why.”
“Okay, okay, listen, he said he likes me very much.”
“Oh, thank god, you gave me really good news,” my mother was delighted on hearing this.
I smiled here on hearing how happy my mom was. “I’m talking from the ladies. He is waiting for me, bye, I’ll talk to you later.
“Okay but don’t be too long,” this was the conservative part of my mom speaking.
“Okay, okay, I’ll come soon. I’m not going to run away with him now itself and start living with him.”
“Idiot, where that slipper now ...,” she threatened but she was too delighted to be annoyed by my banter. You make sure you don’t talk too much, like this and speak to him properly like a demure girl.”
“Okay maam, I’ll go and speak to him like a small innocent baby,” I said laughingly as I cut the phone.
“Sorry to have kept you waiting,” I said as I sat down.
“No problem at all, it’s okay.”
“Tell me about yourself. What are your interests, hobbies, likes,” he was still addressing me in respectful terms used by people who are still acquaintances.
“Let me first tell you about what I don’t like,” I replied.
He looked at me curiously, wanting to know what I meant.
“First thing is I don’t like you calling me with respectful terms. Just call me as you would a friend.”
“Okay in that case, you too just call me Mahesh,” he replied.
I started talking about myself and he asked some questions in between and made me talk more about myself. I liked it that he was a good listener. In fact I thought I may have revealed more about myself than I intended.
“I’m the one who is talking. You have not said anything about yourself,” I said finally.
“No, it’s that I couldn’t take my eyes off your face. I just kept admiring you as you spoke.”
My face reddened as sudden shyness overtook me. Swetha being demure, I thought to myself, will wonders never cease. To hide my bashfulness, I asked him in return,” So you were just looking at my face and didn’t listen to anything I said.”
“Nothing like that, I was both listening to what you said and admiring you at the same time.”
I looked at him in mock reproach. “Well, not today, but I’ll test you another day and see if you can repeat what I told you about myself today.”
He just smiled when I said that. Even for this is a smile the only answer from him, I thought to myself. He looked quite handsome when he smiled .. I too was admiring him without his knowing. (In fact, if one were to compare between my husband and Shiva as far as facial look alone is concerned, my husband was the more handsome between the two of them. At five feet nine inches of height, he was also fairly well built. Not the body builder type of build of Shiva but firm muscled. As he spoke to me that day, I felt I was slowly falling in love with him. Did those feeling arise because in my mind I had accepted that he was going to be my future husband, I couldn’t say. However, one thing was sure, even if this was not the scenario, I still would have been attracted to him.
I’ve never had this feeling for another man before. We spoke not as two people who have just met but like we have known each other for a long time. I felt very comfortable being with him .. actually he made me feel comfortable when I was with him. I didn’t know how time flew and before we knew it, it was already dinner time. Even though I declined he insisted on buying me dinner. By that time my mother had already called three time. Since the phone was on silent mode, I ignored her calls. I was only with her future son in law and not someone else. So why was she unnecessarily worrying. It was nine in the evening when the watchman opened the gate and my scooty entered into my apartment complex. As the watchman was about to close the gate, I saw his car turn back. He saw that I had noticed him and he waved to me as he drove away. Without me being aware he had followed me to ensure that I reached home safely. Okay that’s one more plus for him. As I entered my home my mother had a hundred questions, or it seemed like that. My answers to all her questions were monosyllabic which irritated her further.
Finally, I told my mom,” His parents will call you tomorrow.”
“Alright, you quickly take bath and have your dinner,” My mom told me.
“No need, your future son in law bought me dinner. I didn’t let him off easy, I made sure it was a big bill,” I said smiling at my mother.
“I know my daughter .. very capable of doing all this. Poor Mahesh, he doesn’t know what he is letting himself into.” My mom too said with a huge smile on her face.
“He is not your son in law yet but you are already worrying for him,” I said with my hands on the hips.
I stared at my mother as my father was listening to the conversation between his wife and his daughter. Even though he didn’t say anything I could see the happiness in his face.
“I’m going to have my bath then going to sleep,” I said though the time was not even ten yet.
“We know, you won’t have time to talk with us anymore,” My mother mocked me.
“Well my dear mom, as long as you understand that, well and good,” I said as I cheekily turned my back to them and walked into my bedroom.
I took a leisurely bath. My mind was full of what had happened this evening. I had gone to work in a bad mood. Even my friend Kavita couldn’t speak to me as I barked at everyone for every little thing. From this Kavita had deduced that things had not gone well for me yesterday. She too must have thought discretion would be better at this point and avoided talking to me unless necessary. How things changed by that evening. I was reflecting how it was that I had become so fond of someone in such a short period of time. It had never happened to me before. We just seemed to have naturally hit it off from the beginning. After finishing my bath and dressing up for bed. I lay down with the phone beside me ready at hand. For a long time, it did not ring. As time went on, I was becoming impatient. I kept staring at the phone.
“What is this man doing it’s reaching 10.30 in the night and he has still not called,” I was mumbling to myself.
“If he doesn’t call tonight, he is going to get it,” I promised myself ominously.
Just as I was thinking that my phone rang. My hearted lifted in joy but I did not want him to think that I was just eagerly waiting only for his call and I just let the phone ring. After It had stopped it was more than five minutes and he still had not called back a second time. This time I became worried, I cursed myself for not attending his call. Luckily, he called just then. This time I took the phone after three rings lest he keep it down once more.
“Hello, Mahesh, tell me,” I still couldn’t get myself to call him dear or baby. It still felt awkward.
“Hi Swetha, were you getting ready to sleep?”
“Yeah, I was just about to when you called.”
“Oh, in that case never mind, I’ll call you tomorrow. “
Good god, what a dunce this man is I thought to myself. I better speak quickly or he’ll cut the phone. “No, it’s okay, I don’t feel sleepy yet. Why did you call?”
“I just felt like talking to you.”
“We spoke for so long just now and you like to talk with me some more?” I said as if astounded but very pleased inside.
“No matter how long I talk with you it will never be enough.”
“I know, before marriage our words would be very sweet for you but after marriage you men would scold your wives in irritation if they want to have a conversation with you.”
“I would never say that to you, your voice is something I will never get fed up of hearing.”
“Let’s see, how true this is going to be after marriage,” I needled, him.
He too did not give in. “You are going to see that for sure after marriage Swetha,” he spoke to me warmly.
These were all very new feelings for me. If only I knew that falling in love would feel so wonderful, I should have done this idiotic thing long ago. This thing cannot be forced on isn’t it, I admonished myself. It comes naturally when your right man come along. The right man has finally come into my life.
“Swetha, it’s not only your voice that I would never become fed up of,” Mahesh said and did not say anything further.
He expected me to ask what else it was. I took the bait. “What else you won’t become fed up off.”
I could hear him laugh softly. This future husband of mine can be quite bold and naughty I thought to myself. We had just about told our liking for each other and he was getting ready to be naughty straightaway. However, this playfulness coming from him felt so right and pleasing.
“If I tell you Swetha you must not get angry with me okay?”
I thought to myself, should I let him go further at this point of our relationship or should I wait a bit more.
“No, no, I think it’s better I not know about it.”
“Sure, you don’t want to know,” he teased me.
“No, I’m sure.”
“Why, Swetha?”
“You will say something bad and I would feel very shy,” I replied.
“Would I say something bad to my sweetheart,” Mahesh said.
He called me sweetheart for the first time. In fact, it was the first time a man was calling me sweetheart. I felt a surge of joy in my heart.
“No, you don’t have to say anything now to your sweetheart,” I replied.
He laughed out loud on the phone. We spoke unaware of time flying by. I am usually asleep by 11.30 pm when I have office the next day but today, I didn’t feel one bit sleepy. It was around 2.30 am that we realised how long we had spoken. My phone itself felt hot as I had been speaking with the phone being charged as we had been speaking for so long. He was the one who phoned so the bill was going to be on his head. He should start getting ready to pay huge phone bills.
These thoughts of how wonderfully our relationship started was causing me so much distress now when that very relationship was in great turmoil and risk. I felt morose at the situation I was in not realising that I had part responsibility for matters to reach this terrible state. I don’t know how I fell asleep with all these disturbing thoughts in my mind. I was awakened from my fitful sleep by a very pleasant feeling that was running through in my body.
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