The Girl Next Door ( Collection of Short Stories )-Tady_Bear

[manigopal]

My name is Preet. I am in my mid-30's and am married to Pooja for

about 5 years. Pooja and I met at college where I was doing my post
graduate Diploma in Systems Management and she was studying for her
Marketing Management Diploma.
 
I had completed my Engineering from a Southern university and moved
to Bombay for a Management Trainee job at a MNC. Pooja also works as
a Advertising Executive for a well esatblished company in South
Bombay. She is quite shapely and dresses well to show off her figure.
Her favorite weapon is the chiffon saree which will cling to her
curves and show off her assets, both top and bottom. If you pass
Pooja on the street, you would probably remember her figure for a day
or two.
 
Since I work as an Executive for a MNC in Bombay, the company has
provided me 1 bedroom flat in a gated community in a very yuppie part
of town. The flat was nothing to speak of, as I said before, a 1
bedroom with hall and kitchen. As you entered the flat, you walked
into the elongated hall where we had chairs, table and settee which
served as sitting area during the day and sleeping area for the
guests at night. Just behind the hall was the bedroom and the
corridor which lead into kitchen. In corridor, there was a sink and
between the kitchen and the hall was the bathroom.
 
Anyway, there was an incident at our house involving Pooja and
Naveen, a very close friend of mine, Naveen. I had studied with
Naveen at the University and after graduation, he started working for
a computer company in South while I migrated to Bombay. However, we
had kept in touch every once in a while via email and phone.
 
If I recall the incident even now, I feel very aroused. After having
witnessed it and getting more details from Pooja about it, I am
writing this now.
 
It was late April and the weather in Bombay had started turning hot
and humid. Naveen had informed me that he was going to stop over in
Bombay on a Friday before he flew for an assignment to the US on
Monday. He had also inquired if it was OK for him to stay with us for
couple of nights, as we were close to the airport. He also knew that
we were childless and that both of us worked. He promised that he
would be of minimal bother to us, to which I had replied, after
discussing with Pooja, that it was OK to stay with us if he is fine
with sleeping in the hall (our visitor's bedroom). Since he was
arriving on Friday, the start of our weekend, it was really no
problem for us.
 
It was agreed that I would pick him up from the airport, since he
hadn't been to our place. For that matter, he hadn't met Pooja
either, since our marriage had taken place in Delhi. He was quite
excited of coming to Bombay, mainly because that was stop-over for
future thing bigger and better abroad as well as meeting me for the
first time since our graduation.
 
As that day was nearing, Pooja and I were spending our weekends and
after work hours in cleaning the house and keep it in tip-top shape.
We had decided that on that day, Pooja was to come home earlier than
her usual 9:00 PM to receive Naveen. However, couple of days earlier,
Pooja mentioned that she had a big meeting with an important client
the same afternoon that Naveen was going to arrive. She had said that
she would leave soon after the meeting and hoped to be on time.
 
That day arrived and we were all set. Pooja was dressed in her
favorite chiffon sarees to impress the client and I anticipated
Naveen arrival that afternoon. However, late in the day, Pooja called
me at work during a break in her meeting and said that she was going
to be late since the meeting was dragging and she couldn't leave it
midway. Since work is priority and bread-and-butter for us Indians, I
told her not to worry about it and that I will take care of Naveen
and see that he is comfortable at home.
 
I left work couple of hours early, after verifying that Naveen's
plane was arriving on time. It was uneventful arrival and I noticed
that Naveen had not lost his boyish charm that he was famous for in
college days. Since his luggage was minimal, we took a rickshaw home.
During the ride home, apart from catching up on years past, I also
mentioned that we have the evening to ourselves and Pooja would be
home late, since she was stuck at a client meeting.
 
I offered that we could drop the luggage home, walk to a nearby
restaurant and talk over beer and dinner. I also ordered couple of
dishes to be taken away packed for Pooja. So after we finished
dinner, we ambled home. Naveen wanted to sleep early since he had had
a hectic day and was tired. He also wanted to take a shower before
going off to sleep. As he came out of the bathroom, I noticed that he
was wearing a lungi and had his old undergarments in his hand. I gave
no second thought to it. As he was taking his shower, I had readied
the settee in the hall as his bed.
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