12-02-2023, 07:36 AM
There was a tense moment. Reena tried to smooth it over by laughing a little.
"I didn't mean to offend you. But think about it, Mansi. In Duttsahab, there is a man who obviously likes you a lot. Cares for you. And you seem to at least find him not undesirable. And he is rich and generous. In just a couple of months, he has turned your life around. If you were to...explore things further...who knows? Think about the future. Think about Pinky's future."
"What exactly are you saying? That I should leave my husband and take up with Duttsahab?"
"No, of course not. I am saying...just keep an open mind. There are ways in which you can have your cake and eat it too."
"So...become his mistress?" Mansi almost shouted.
"Not exactly mistress. That's such a cheap 19th century word." Reena dismissively said. "Have you heard of the term friends with benefits?"
"No."
"Look it up online when you go home." Reena said. "It's not that different from what you already have with him. You both enjoy each other's company. You are both benefiting from this arrangement. And it's just a few days a month. You yourself said it has made your family life a lot happier. If you explore things further, you will benefit even more, trust me. And I am not just saying financially."
"Do you know what you're suggesting?" Mansi said horrified.
"If you think from the medieval middle class Meerut values mindset, what I am suggesting is evil and sinful and horrible. But you know there is a bigger world out there. You have tasted that world. You have started fitting into that world. Think from that enlightened perspective and you will see that what I am suggesting is the best of both worlds." Reena paused to finish the last of her food. "Anyway, I have said what I had to say. What follows is up to you."
Mansi thought about all these things on her way back home. She was in an Uber. Before meeting Reena, she almost exclusively traveled by locals. But she had gotten so used to the air conditioned car rides with Dutt, that she had started using cab services regularly.
She herself did not realize how access to easy money was changing her. When others made a lot of money, it was through their careers or business. They spent most of their free time working to make that money and got very little time to spend it. Here. she was making 25-30 thousand rupees for just a few days work, that too for a few hours. And had the rest of the days free, even with her household chores. She found herself shopping a lot more, indulging a lot more, and not just for Pinky. For herself too.
In addition, Dutt made sure that every other day they spent together involved shopping as well. he wanted to get her almost addicted to materialistic life.In addition to the skirt suits, he had bought her a sari, some earrings, a bracelet, and many toys for Pinky. And when she checked the bank account, she realized that everything he bought her were genuine gifts, not compensation. Because even after buying her expensive gifts,there was still anywhere from 5 to 8 thousand rupees added to the account every time she spent a few hours with him. His hold over her was strengthening. He got the first sign of it the first time she wore the skirt suit at an event. He noticed that as instructed, she had shaved her legs. Shaving body hair was an alien concept to the demure middle class housewife. She had to go online and check how exactly women shave their legs. It seemed so odd and weird. But Duttsahab had told her to do it, so she felt compelled to comply.
Then there was the fact that she really was enjoying his flirtatious behavior a lot more than she cared to admit to Reena aunty or even to herself. When in the car, he started sitting closer and closer to her, and she did not stop him. Once while returning from an event in South Bombay, he had a few too many drinks, and dozed off on her shoulder. She did not know that he was pretending to be asleep, just to test her comfort zone. The entire way from King's Circle to Borivali, his head was resting on her shoulder, and she could feel his warm breath on her skin. Later that day when she scolded herself for allowing that to happen, she rationalized it by saying that she herself had downed a couple of drinks, so it was an honest mistake.
His touching also became more prolonged and bold than she found comfortable describing to Reena aunty. Once at an art exhibition, when she was wearing a sari, he had casually slipped his arm around her and placed his hand on the naked skin above her waist. She had almost jumped out of her skin, but didn't push his hand away. For about ten minutes, they walked like that, with a lot of the visitors around noting to themselves that the old millionaire seemed to have a young hot girlfriend.
Almost everyday, Mansi felt tempted to just talk to Amar about all this. Tell him the true nature of her "job", tell him about the flirtatious generous benefactor behind the uptick in their lifestyle. But she couldn't. She couldn't talk to anyone. She had no real friends to speak of. She couldn't discuss such things with her parents or relatives. And the only one she could talk to, Reena aunty, had in fact suggested she forge ahead. What was that term she used? Friends with benefits? Mansi fished out her phone and googled the term. And read the description wide-eyed.
--
"I didn't mean to offend you. But think about it, Mansi. In Duttsahab, there is a man who obviously likes you a lot. Cares for you. And you seem to at least find him not undesirable. And he is rich and generous. In just a couple of months, he has turned your life around. If you were to...explore things further...who knows? Think about the future. Think about Pinky's future."
"What exactly are you saying? That I should leave my husband and take up with Duttsahab?"
"No, of course not. I am saying...just keep an open mind. There are ways in which you can have your cake and eat it too."
"So...become his mistress?" Mansi almost shouted.
"Not exactly mistress. That's such a cheap 19th century word." Reena dismissively said. "Have you heard of the term friends with benefits?"
"No."
"Look it up online when you go home." Reena said. "It's not that different from what you already have with him. You both enjoy each other's company. You are both benefiting from this arrangement. And it's just a few days a month. You yourself said it has made your family life a lot happier. If you explore things further, you will benefit even more, trust me. And I am not just saying financially."
"Do you know what you're suggesting?" Mansi said horrified.
"If you think from the medieval middle class Meerut values mindset, what I am suggesting is evil and sinful and horrible. But you know there is a bigger world out there. You have tasted that world. You have started fitting into that world. Think from that enlightened perspective and you will see that what I am suggesting is the best of both worlds." Reena paused to finish the last of her food. "Anyway, I have said what I had to say. What follows is up to you."
Mansi thought about all these things on her way back home. She was in an Uber. Before meeting Reena, she almost exclusively traveled by locals. But she had gotten so used to the air conditioned car rides with Dutt, that she had started using cab services regularly.
She herself did not realize how access to easy money was changing her. When others made a lot of money, it was through their careers or business. They spent most of their free time working to make that money and got very little time to spend it. Here. she was making 25-30 thousand rupees for just a few days work, that too for a few hours. And had the rest of the days free, even with her household chores. She found herself shopping a lot more, indulging a lot more, and not just for Pinky. For herself too.
In addition, Dutt made sure that every other day they spent together involved shopping as well. he wanted to get her almost addicted to materialistic life.In addition to the skirt suits, he had bought her a sari, some earrings, a bracelet, and many toys for Pinky. And when she checked the bank account, she realized that everything he bought her were genuine gifts, not compensation. Because even after buying her expensive gifts,there was still anywhere from 5 to 8 thousand rupees added to the account every time she spent a few hours with him. His hold over her was strengthening. He got the first sign of it the first time she wore the skirt suit at an event. He noticed that as instructed, she had shaved her legs. Shaving body hair was an alien concept to the demure middle class housewife. She had to go online and check how exactly women shave their legs. It seemed so odd and weird. But Duttsahab had told her to do it, so she felt compelled to comply.
Then there was the fact that she really was enjoying his flirtatious behavior a lot more than she cared to admit to Reena aunty or even to herself. When in the car, he started sitting closer and closer to her, and she did not stop him. Once while returning from an event in South Bombay, he had a few too many drinks, and dozed off on her shoulder. She did not know that he was pretending to be asleep, just to test her comfort zone. The entire way from King's Circle to Borivali, his head was resting on her shoulder, and she could feel his warm breath on her skin. Later that day when she scolded herself for allowing that to happen, she rationalized it by saying that she herself had downed a couple of drinks, so it was an honest mistake.
His touching also became more prolonged and bold than she found comfortable describing to Reena aunty. Once at an art exhibition, when she was wearing a sari, he had casually slipped his arm around her and placed his hand on the naked skin above her waist. She had almost jumped out of her skin, but didn't push his hand away. For about ten minutes, they walked like that, with a lot of the visitors around noting to themselves that the old millionaire seemed to have a young hot girlfriend.
Almost everyday, Mansi felt tempted to just talk to Amar about all this. Tell him the true nature of her "job", tell him about the flirtatious generous benefactor behind the uptick in their lifestyle. But she couldn't. She couldn't talk to anyone. She had no real friends to speak of. She couldn't discuss such things with her parents or relatives. And the only one she could talk to, Reena aunty, had in fact suggested she forge ahead. What was that term she used? Friends with benefits? Mansi fished out her phone and googled the term. And read the description wide-eyed.
--
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