10-12-2018, 09:21 PM
The Unwanted (?) Houseguest Ch. 03 - Wife's 'helping hand' grows insecurity.
The cheerful feeling with which I left for work lasted till mid-day. After all, I was at work and so was Prem. This was bound to be the case for the bulk of his stay. When he would be at home, I would be there too. There wasn't much reason for me to be so fearful. The cheerfulness let me focus on my work and I got a productive morning in.
By mid-afternoon, the fearful feelings started sinking in again. How dare he lift Kavita in front of me? And she didn't even stop him. And she even played along with him, as he referred to her 'gaining a little weight'. What had gone on between them during college? Were they just friends?
I replayed the incidents in my mind, and I flushed with shame as I recalled the incidents with Kavita's handbag, first at the railway station, and then earlier that morning. I could in a way understand Prem doing what he did at the railway station. Maybe he had a 'weird' sense of humor and found it funny.
But why did Kavita play along earlier that morning? Was she just innocently playing along with Prem's 'joke', or was she sending me a message, by insisting that I take the handbag from her as Prem held her in his arms? Was she sending me the message 'compared to Prem, you're only fit enough to carry a woman's handbag'?
In all our married life until then, it had occurred to me at times to try 'carry' her to bed. I had never actually tried it out, because I wasn't sure I would be able to, and even if I could, I didn't know if Kavita would find it romantic.
But now, this cocky guy had just come into our house, and it felt like he was 'challenging' me to do the same. Should I try to 'match' what he did? What would Kavita think, if I tried it and failed? Would she laugh at me? Would she tell him so they could both joke at my expense again? Somehow, I felt too defeated to even try it, now that he had 'set a benchmark' in front of my eyes.
My thoughts then drifted to the effect of Prem carrying Kavita. He ended up depositing his sweat all over her waist, belly, shoulders, blouse and sari. Normally I know Kavita to be very finicky about cleanliness. This was one thing I had admired in her. During our 3 years in USA, she had maintained the house impeccably, doing the laundry, keeping the house clean, all by herself. After moving back to India, she continued to take care of the housework by herself, even though it was cheaper to hire a maid. I did bring up the topic of hiring a maid with her, but she wasn't keen on the idea, as she said prices had gone up, and it would not be as cheap as I thought to hire a maid, taking into account how long they stay etc.
Still, for someone so finicky about cleanliness, I found it odd that she didn't bathe immediately after Prem sort of 'covered' her with his sweat. Was she trying to 'savor' the smell of his sweat? God, that was such an awful thought and it caused my stomach to churn.
I tried to take a step back. There's nothing to worry about, he's at work like you, and this is going to be the case most of the time. Call up Kavita and talk to her. Make sure she doesn't miss you, I told myself.
I called her. She picked up the phone after a couple of rings. She sounded sleepy, and I asked her if she was taking a nap.
She said that she had been napping, that she was a bit tired and sleepy.
I asked her if she was feeling okay, since I didn't know her to be too tired at that time of the day.
Kavita said, “Yeah, today I had more clothes to hang up after washing, and take off the rack once they dry, remember?"
Yeah, that made sense. I asked her if she had her lunch.
Kavita replied, "Yeah, I was so tired after the clothes work, I had lunch straight after doing the clothes, and decided to lie in for a nap."
That caused the churning in my gut to resume. She still hadn't had a bath. Maybe she was 'savoring' the smell of the remnants of his sweat. My brow started sweating as I tried to find something to say. My thoughts were broken by Kavita.
"Hello Manu, you still there?"
"Yeah, I had something come up at work."
"OK, get back to work then, I'll get up in an hour and take a bath."
And then she hung up, as I started saying 'I love you'.
I couldn't continue thinking about the implications of my interpretation...that she was savoring the smell of his sweat. I decided to go home on time today instead of working late. I put my mind to work, trying to put away these disturbing thoughts at the back of my mind.
I got home at 6:30 that evening, which was about the earliest I had been home on a full work-day, after moving to Bangalore. My heart sunk when I pulled into the parking lot and saw Prem's motorcycle was already there. I hurried upstairs, but contrary to my fears, Kavita and Prem were just sitting on the sofa. She was again wearing a sleeveless blouse, though it seemed that she had finally taken a bath. She was looking as gorgeous as she looked the previous evening, when we went to pick up Prem. The jasmine gajra was not in her hair though, I assumed she took it off before her bath like she typically would do. Prem had changed out of his work clothes, and was wearing knee length shorts and a sleeveless t-shirt. He grinned and greeted me, and I returned it sincerely, even though I couldn't help feeling uneasy deep down. Less than 12 hours back, my wife had 'measured' my arms and his, and I felt like she had announced that he was 'twice the man I was'. And he appeared to be 'rubbing that in', by wearing sleeveless t-shirts at home.
Nothing alarming happened that evening, however. We talked about Prem's assignment base location, which was closer to our home than I'd realized. That explained why he was home before I got back. And if they were as attracted as I feared they were, I might have seen some indication of that when I got home, I thought. We had dinner, watched some TV and went to sleep.
The cheerful feeling with which I left for work lasted till mid-day. After all, I was at work and so was Prem. This was bound to be the case for the bulk of his stay. When he would be at home, I would be there too. There wasn't much reason for me to be so fearful. The cheerfulness let me focus on my work and I got a productive morning in.
By mid-afternoon, the fearful feelings started sinking in again. How dare he lift Kavita in front of me? And she didn't even stop him. And she even played along with him, as he referred to her 'gaining a little weight'. What had gone on between them during college? Were they just friends?
I replayed the incidents in my mind, and I flushed with shame as I recalled the incidents with Kavita's handbag, first at the railway station, and then earlier that morning. I could in a way understand Prem doing what he did at the railway station. Maybe he had a 'weird' sense of humor and found it funny.
But why did Kavita play along earlier that morning? Was she just innocently playing along with Prem's 'joke', or was she sending me a message, by insisting that I take the handbag from her as Prem held her in his arms? Was she sending me the message 'compared to Prem, you're only fit enough to carry a woman's handbag'?
In all our married life until then, it had occurred to me at times to try 'carry' her to bed. I had never actually tried it out, because I wasn't sure I would be able to, and even if I could, I didn't know if Kavita would find it romantic.
But now, this cocky guy had just come into our house, and it felt like he was 'challenging' me to do the same. Should I try to 'match' what he did? What would Kavita think, if I tried it and failed? Would she laugh at me? Would she tell him so they could both joke at my expense again? Somehow, I felt too defeated to even try it, now that he had 'set a benchmark' in front of my eyes.
My thoughts then drifted to the effect of Prem carrying Kavita. He ended up depositing his sweat all over her waist, belly, shoulders, blouse and sari. Normally I know Kavita to be very finicky about cleanliness. This was one thing I had admired in her. During our 3 years in USA, she had maintained the house impeccably, doing the laundry, keeping the house clean, all by herself. After moving back to India, she continued to take care of the housework by herself, even though it was cheaper to hire a maid. I did bring up the topic of hiring a maid with her, but she wasn't keen on the idea, as she said prices had gone up, and it would not be as cheap as I thought to hire a maid, taking into account how long they stay etc.
Still, for someone so finicky about cleanliness, I found it odd that she didn't bathe immediately after Prem sort of 'covered' her with his sweat. Was she trying to 'savor' the smell of his sweat? God, that was such an awful thought and it caused my stomach to churn.
I tried to take a step back. There's nothing to worry about, he's at work like you, and this is going to be the case most of the time. Call up Kavita and talk to her. Make sure she doesn't miss you, I told myself.
I called her. She picked up the phone after a couple of rings. She sounded sleepy, and I asked her if she was taking a nap.
She said that she had been napping, that she was a bit tired and sleepy.
I asked her if she was feeling okay, since I didn't know her to be too tired at that time of the day.
Kavita said, “Yeah, today I had more clothes to hang up after washing, and take off the rack once they dry, remember?"
Yeah, that made sense. I asked her if she had her lunch.
Kavita replied, "Yeah, I was so tired after the clothes work, I had lunch straight after doing the clothes, and decided to lie in for a nap."
That caused the churning in my gut to resume. She still hadn't had a bath. Maybe she was 'savoring' the smell of the remnants of his sweat. My brow started sweating as I tried to find something to say. My thoughts were broken by Kavita.
"Hello Manu, you still there?"
"Yeah, I had something come up at work."
"OK, get back to work then, I'll get up in an hour and take a bath."
And then she hung up, as I started saying 'I love you'.
I couldn't continue thinking about the implications of my interpretation...that she was savoring the smell of his sweat. I decided to go home on time today instead of working late. I put my mind to work, trying to put away these disturbing thoughts at the back of my mind.
I got home at 6:30 that evening, which was about the earliest I had been home on a full work-day, after moving to Bangalore. My heart sunk when I pulled into the parking lot and saw Prem's motorcycle was already there. I hurried upstairs, but contrary to my fears, Kavita and Prem were just sitting on the sofa. She was again wearing a sleeveless blouse, though it seemed that she had finally taken a bath. She was looking as gorgeous as she looked the previous evening, when we went to pick up Prem. The jasmine gajra was not in her hair though, I assumed she took it off before her bath like she typically would do. Prem had changed out of his work clothes, and was wearing knee length shorts and a sleeveless t-shirt. He grinned and greeted me, and I returned it sincerely, even though I couldn't help feeling uneasy deep down. Less than 12 hours back, my wife had 'measured' my arms and his, and I felt like she had announced that he was 'twice the man I was'. And he appeared to be 'rubbing that in', by wearing sleeveless t-shirts at home.
Nothing alarming happened that evening, however. We talked about Prem's assignment base location, which was closer to our home than I'd realized. That explained why he was home before I got back. And if they were as attracted as I feared they were, I might have seen some indication of that when I got home, I thought. We had dinner, watched some TV and went to sleep.
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