Chapter 30 - Continued
December 07, 2025
The bell rang at eight-oh-seven.
She opened the door. Azad stood on the landing in a light grey shirt, collar open, a thick paper bag from a Pune shop held in one hand. The tiredness of the drive was on him. He stepped inside, set the bag on the folding table, and looked at her for a second longer than necessary.
“This yellow,” he said. “It is good on you.”
She moved forward and put both arms around his neck. She kissed his cheek, lingered, then drew back only a little. “You said seven-thirty. It is already eight.”
“Lonavala was choked. Nothing new.” His hand settled on the small of her back, palm flat, and stayed there. He noticed me and gave a short nod. “Sunny. Work is all right?”
“Yes. Normal days.”
“Good.” He let her go and sat on the wooden chair, stretching his legs out. “Tea. I have been in the car since four.”
Ma turned toward the kitchen. Before she could take two steps he reached for the paper bag and held it out.
“First this.”
She stopped. He opened the bag and lifted out a folded Paithani saree still in its clear plastic cover. The border was heavy, deep maroon and gold, the kind that caught light even through the wrapping. She took it with both hands. For a moment she only looked at it.
“Azad Sahab… this is…”
“I saw it after the second meeting. The colour is nice and unique. I told them to pack it properly.” He watched her face.
She held the plastic-covered saree against her chest for a second, then set it carefully on the bed. She stepped close again and hugged him, tighter this time, and kissed his cheek once more, slower. “Thank you. You did not have to.”
“I know.” His hand moved once on her back. “Tea.”
She went to the kitchen. The stove lit. A vessel was set down. Azad’s eyes moved around the room and stopped on the two large AC boxes still standing unopened against the wall.
“Those are still in the boxes,” he said. The ease had left his voice. “I sent them on Saturday morning. Today is Sunday night. Why has no one come?”
Ma came out with the tray—two cups, a plate of toast she had prepared while waiting. She placed it in front of him at once. “The fitter called on Saturday afternoon. He said another installation ran late and he could not reach. He promised Monday morning. I told him to come early, before ten.”
Azad looked at the boxes, then at her. “Monday. I am sitting here and already the shirt is sticking. Call him yourself tomorrow. If he gives any more story, tell me immediately. I will send another person.”
“I will call first thing.” She poured his tea, added sugar the way he took it, and set the cup down. When she bent, the pallu slipped from her shoulder. She did not fix it immediately. He drank, his eyes on the low cut of the blouse, and let the subject of the AC rest for the moment.
She sat on the edge of the bed, closer to his chair than to where I was sitting. “Pune meetings went all right?”
“They finished. One dinner I could not refuse. The usual talk.” He broke a piece of toast. “The heat there is heavier than here.”
Ma picked up the new Samsung and turned the screen toward him. “Look at this. Sunny bought it. My old phone was switching off every two hours. He ordered it on Friday after the salary came and gave it to me this afternoon. I have been transferring photos and contacts since then.”
Azad studied the phone, then looked at me. He nodded once. “You noticed and did it. That is how it should be.” He reached across and patted my upper back, brief and solid. “Continue like this. She will not say when something is needed. You have to see it yourself.”
Ma’s face eased. She angled the phone so he could see his name already saved at the top of her contacts. “It does not hang. The screen is clear.”
He finished the tea. A faint line of sweat had formed at the open collar of his shirt. “This room turns warm very fast after the highway.” He stood, pulled the fabric away from his chest, and glanced again at the boxes. “Monday morning. Do not wait for him to call you.”
“I will not wait.” She stood. “Should I make dinner? I can do paneer the way you like.”
“No paneer tonight. Simple dal and khichdi. I have eaten hotel food for two days. Light is better.”
She agreed and went back into the kitchen. Azad remained seated for a short while, then rose and followed her. I stayed on the wooden seat under the window, phone in my hand, screen dark.
The thin curtain that separated the kitchen from the room was already half-drawn. I could see shapes. Movement. The yellow of her saree. The grey of his shirt.
I shifted on the wooden seat so that my line of sight went straight through the gap at the edge of the curtain. From where I sat I could see her back, the counter, the way the saree sat on her hips. She was lighting the stove. He came in behind her and stopped close enough that his chest almost touched her shoulder blades.
“Turn around,” he said. The words were low.
She did not turn immediately. She set the matchbox down. Her hands stayed on the edge of the counter. He reached forward and caught the end of the pallu where it rested over her left shoulder. He drew it down slowly, the cotton sliding across her upper arm and then off completely. The pallu fell to the side and hung from the knot at her waist. The sleeveless blouse was bare now from the shoulders to the low neck. I could see the soft upper swell of both breasts above the fabric, the skin still slightly damp at the ends of her hair where it touched her collarbone.
He stepped in fully. His body pressed against her back. One hand settled on her waist over the yellow saree, fingers spreading. The other hand came up and rested on the side of her neck, thumb under her jaw. He bent his head and put his mouth against the side of her throat, just below the place where the bite from Friday night had almost faded. The kiss was open. I heard the soft sound of it. She made a small noise in her throat and her shoulders moved once.
“Azad Sahab…” Her voice was already thinner. “Sunny is sitting outside. He will hear.”
“He is looking at his phone.” The words were spoken against her skin. His hand left her neck and moved down. It slid over the front of the blouse, palm covering the left breast completely, fingers pressing into the soft weight. Even through the curtain I could see the way the fabric shifted under his hand, the way her breast gave and then pushed back against his palm. “Stay like this.”
She tried to turn her face. He did not let her. His other hand stayed on her waist, holding her in place against the counter. The hand on her breast moved slowly, deliberately. He squeezed, released, then squeezed again, harder. His thumb found the nipple through the cotton and rubbed across it in a small circle. She drew in a sharp breath.
“Not inside the blouse… please… not now…”
He laughed once, low. The hand that had been on her waist moved lower. It slid over the curve of her hip and then down across the seat of the saree. He gripped her there, fingers sinking into the soft flesh through the cotton, and pulled her back against him so that her ass pressed fully into his groin. I could see the shape of it. The way her body fitted against his. His hand stayed on her breast, still working the nipple through the blouse, while the other hand began to move, rubbing, pressing, sliding the saree a little against her skin.
“Azad Sahab…” The protest was weaker. Her hands were still on the counter, but they were no longer steady. One of them had closed into a fist. “He will—”
“He will sit there and look at his phone.” Azad’s mouth was at her ear now. I could hear every word. “You like when I touch you like this. I can feel it. Your nipple is already hard under the blouse.” He pinched it lightly through the cloth, then rolled it between thumb and finger. She made a sound she tried to swallow. It still came out, small and broken. “See? You cannot even keep quiet.”
His hand left her breast for a moment. It went to the low neck of the blouse and slipped inside. The fingers disappeared under the fabric. I saw the movement clearly through the gap in the curtain—the way the blouse shifted, the way her breast was lifted and then covered by his palm from the inside. Skin on skin now. He held her there, full and heavy in his hand, thumb moving across the bare nipple. She gasped and her head dropped forward.
“Please… ahhh, Azad sahab…”
“I missed you my Jaan…” he whispered. His other hand was still on her ass, gripping, kneading, pulling her back against the hardness I could see even through the grey shirt and the yellow saree. He ground against her once, slow, deliberate. The counter edge pressed into her stomach. “You want me to stop?”
She did not answer. Her breathing had gone uneven. The hand inside her blouse continued to move, squeezing, releasing, fingers spreading and then closing again around the soft weight. Through the curtain I watched the way her shoulders tightened every time his thumb crossed the nipple. My own cock was fully hard, straining against the front of my shorts. I did not touch it. I kept both hands on the phone so that the screen stayed dark and my fingers stayed visible if either of them glanced out.
Azad’s hand came out of the blouse. For a second I thought he would stop. Instead he brought the same hand down and struck her once, hard, across the seat of the saree. The sound was sharp and clear in the small kitchen. She jerked forward against the counter and a short, involuntary sound left her—“Ahh—” before she bit it back. He laughed, low and satisfied, and rubbed the place he had just hit, palm flat, slow circles over the cotton.
“That is for telling me to stop.” His mouth was still at her neck. He kissed the skin there again, open, then bit lightly. “Turn the gas off. The food can wait.”
“No,” she said. The word was breathless. “I have to finish.”
“Food can wait...” Azad’s hand was back inside the blouse. Both hands now—one on her breast, the other still gripping and rubbing her ass through the saree, pulling her against him in a steady rhythm. “You are already wet. I can feel the heat even through the cloth. You have been thinking about this since I walked in.”
She made a small sound that was neither yes nor no. Her head was lowered. The yellow saree had loosened a little at the waist from the way he was holding her. Through the gap in the curtain I could see the side of her breast where his hand was working inside the blouse, the way the soft flesh moved under his fingers, the darker point of the nipple when his thumb pulled it forward. My cock throbbed against the fabric of my shorts. I pressed the phone harder into my palm so that my hands would not move.
He stayed against her for another few seconds, one hand still inside the blouse, the other gripping her ass through the yellow saree and pulling her back into him. Her breathing had gone short. The small sounds she made were no longer only protest.
“Azad Sahab… ssss…ahhh”
Her hands stayed on the counter, but they were no longer pushing him away. When his fingers rolled her nipple again she pushed her chest into his palm instead of pulling back.
He took his hand out of the blouse. For a moment I thought he was finished. Instead he caught both her wrists, turned her, and walked her backward the short distance to the other wall of the kitchen—the one that faced the gap in the curtain more directly. He pressed her against it. The movement was firm but not rough. Her shoulders met the painted surface. He lifted her arms and pinned her wrists together above her head with one hand. The yellow saree shifted. The pallu, already down, hung loose at her side. The sleeveless blouse rose a little with the stretch of her arms. Through the gap in the curtain I could now see past Azad’s back to her front. Her armpits were bare and clean, the skin smooth from the parlour the day before. The low neck of the blouse had opened further with the angle of her arms. The soft upper curves of both breasts were fully visible, the fabric straining. Her face was turned toward me without her knowing it. Eyes half-closed, mouth slightly open, colour high on her cheeks and throat.
Azad stepped in close. His free hand went back inside the blouse at once, cupping her breast fully, thumb moving across the bare nipple. He lowered his head and kissed her. Not the earlier kiss on the neck. This one was on the mouth, open, deep. I could see the way his jaw moved. I could see her mouth open under his. For the first two seconds she stayed still. Then she kissed him back. Her head tilted. Her wrists stayed pinned above her head, but her body pressed forward into his. The sound of the kiss was wet and clear even through the curtain. His hand inside the blouse kept working, squeezing, lifting the weight of her breast, thumb circling the nipple until it stood tight against his skin. She made a low sound into his mouth and her hips shifted once against him.
He broke the kiss only far enough to speak against her lips. “You were telling me to stop.”
“I was…” Her voice was unsteady. She tried to turn her face, but he followed and kissed her again, slower this time, tongue sliding against hers. Her eyes had opened for a second when he spoke. I saw them. They were dark, unfocused, the same way they had looked in the hotel photographs he had deleted. She kissed him back harder. One of her legs moved, the yellow saree tightening across her thigh as she shifted her weight. His hand left her breast, slid down over the front of the blouse, and gripped her waist, pulling her hips forward so that she was flush against him. The kiss continued. Her pinned hands flexed once above her head. She did not try to pull them free.
When he finally drew back, her mouth stayed open for a second. Her lips were wet. Her chest rose and fell quickly under the blouse. He still held her wrists. He looked at her face, then let her arms down. She did not move away from the wall immediately. Her eyes stayed on him. Even from behind Azad’s shoulder I could see the change in them—the resistance that had been there at the start was gone. What remained was heat. She looked at him the way she had looked at the Paithani when he first handed it to her, except sharper. He had made her want it. The kitchen was small and I was ten feet away and she still looked at him like that.
He stepped back. She stayed against the wall for another breath, then pushed herself upright and reached for the pallu. Her hands were not quite steady. She began to draw it back over her shoulder. Azad turned toward the small fridge. As he passed her she put one hand flat on his chest, not hard, just enough to stop him for a second. The other hand finished settling the pallu. Her voice was low, still breathless, but the tone had changed. It was no longer only worry.
“Why do you always have to do this? Make me fall for it more and more…ufff.” she said. The complaint was there, but it sat under something else.
Azad looked down at the hand on his chest. He covered it with his own for a moment, then lifted it and kissed the inside of her wrist once, quick. “Because you like it.” He smiled, the same easy smile he had used at the door. “And because I love how you first resist and then stop telling me to stop as you start liking it, even though your son is just ten feet away..haha.”
She made a small sound that was almost a laugh and almost annoyance. “I did tell you to stop multiple times...”
“And then you got horny, so you gave up..haha.” He winked at her, open and unhurried, and turned to the fridge. He took the bottle of water, drank, and walked out past the curtain, shoulders relaxed, expression ordinary, as if he had only stepped in for water. Ma remained in the kitchen. I heard her set a vessel down harder than necessary. Then the steady sounds of cooking returned.
Through the gap I could still see her. She had both hands on the counter now. Her head was lowered, but when she lifted it for a second to reach for the spoon I saw her face clearly. The colour was still high on her cheeks. Her mouth was slightly swollen from the kiss. Her eyes, when they flicked once toward the curtain and then away, were not the eyes of a woman who had only been interrupted. They were bright. Restless. The same fire that had been there when Azad held her against the wall was still in them. He had left her like that—blouse resettled, pallu back in place, hands moving over the pot—and the want had not left her body.
I sat on the wooden seat with the phone dark in my hands. My cock was painfully hard against the front of my shorts. I had watched his hand inside her blouse, watched her armpits bare and clean when he raised her arms, watched her mouth open under his and then kiss him back, watched the way her hips had pressed forward while her wrists stayed pinned. I had seen the exact moment the worry about me left her face and something else took its place. The curtain was thin. The kitchen light was on. She had not looked toward me while it was happening, but she knew I was there. And she had still kissed him like that.
I did not move. I kept my breathing even and waited for the food to be ready, the image of her face after he walked out still clear behind my eyes.
By nine the food was ready. She served him first—a full plate of khichdi and dal with pickle—then made mine and set both on the folding table. She did not take her own share until we had both started eating. Azad ate without hurry. After a minute she pulled the remaining chair and sat opposite him, the pallu now pinned in place. The colour that had been on her face in the kitchen had settled, but it had not gone. When she reached for the water jug her hand was steady. Her eyes were not.
“The dal is tasty,” he said. “Better than the food they kept giving in Pune.”
“I am glad that you liked it..” she answered. She looked at him.
Then they spoke about the condition of the highway, a shop he needed to visit in Jogeshwari the next week, the price of cement, ordinary things. I kept my eyes on the plate. The kitchen was still in my head. Her wrists above her head. Her mouth open under his. The way she had kissed him back after the second protest and then looked at him with that heat still in her eyes when he walked out for water. She had patted his chest and complained, and he had winked. Now she sat across from him with the pallu pinned and her voice ordinary, and I could still see the difference.
When most of the food was gone she served herself a small portion and ate standing at the kitchen counter. Azad took two calls—one short about a pending payment, one longer about the rate of cement. After the second call he stretched, rolled his neck once, and looked at her.
“I should go,” he said. “It is late. You have had a long day.”