12-11-2024, 07:53 PM
Manvika - Chapter 02
I got up to the continuous ringing of Manvika's phone on the bedside table. I opened my eyes to hear the noise of water as Manvi is in the shower. I took her phone to keep in silent mode and saw the call was from Sohail. The call ended and there were continuous WhatsApp messages popping up on the screen. When I tried to open the phone, I realised the chat was locked. I couldn't ask Manvi to unlock it as she would create a scene that I was doubting her. The notifications didn't stop and kept on coming. I took the phone to the bathroom door and tapped on the door.
"Manvi, you have a call and messages" I shouted standing at the door.
"Who is it?"
"I think it's Sohail" I replied as a slight shiver unknowingly escaped in my voice.
"Give me the phone" she said protruding her hand out of the door opening it slightly.
My hands were shaking as I handed the phone to her. I tried to hear if she had made a call to him, but I couldn't hear anything. But I heard her voice calling me and the next words from her mouth shocked me.
"Jeevan, can you hand me the bluetooth headset on the table" she asked in a very confident voice.
"What? But why now?" I dared to ask.
"There is an online training session from the client I need to attend and it's urgent. I totally forgot about the meeting invite. It is a mandatory session from the client. I'll hear it here itself" she said in a bit furious tone.
I know she was lying but I can't push her more into details. So I gave her the headset and waited outside the door until she came after half an hour out of the bathroom. She came out wearing a towel, threw the heaset aside and keeping the phone unlocked went to get dressed. I took the chance and immediately grabbed her phone to check it out. As I half expected, she had deleted all the chat and call history from Sohail on WhatsApp. She got ready and was about to leave, she turned to me asked
"Are you not going to office today?"
"No, I informed the office today I'll take leave for the day"
"Okay" she said simply shrugging her shoulders and left closing the door.
After she left I sat on the couch thinking about how things used to be a few months ago.
Manvika.......
(Few months ago....)
We stepped into a new flat owned by us (Jeevan and myself) as a young couple just married. I was brought up in a very conservative family and got married to Jeevan, my loving husband as a fully planned arranged marriage. I was very shy and hesitant just not even to talk, but to look at other boys until my marriage. There were a lot of love proposals before my marriage but I never even dared to care about such things. I was a virgin until our honeymoon trip. We had a nice honeymoon trip to Goa but Jeevan was not happy with me wearing fully covered chudidars and sarees even to such a place. Our sex life was great too for the first few months, until Jeevan wants much more than normal sex. He started to show me porn to encourage me for oral and anal sex which I was completely reluctant to. He tried to persuade me a lot of times but I simply said no. Things were going normal as Jeevan was going to office and me as a normal housewife would take care of the things at home until one night Jeevan started a conversation.
"Maybe you should look for job. I know you are getting bored at home all day and I don't want you to be just a hom maker. I want you to explore the outside world"
"I don't know if I could do that. I am just happy this way" I replied.
"No Manvi, that's a big world outside and you will get to learn a lot of things out there. You are well educated and will easily get a job. I spoke to my manager and tried to get you into our company. Unfortunately we are not recruiting now but a friend of my boss had a start-up company that may hire you" he said pushing me to go for it.
"No jeevan. I am not sure about this"
"Nothing doing. You just go and attend the interview first. We will decide later about joining" he said.
I went for the interview next day and aa the reference was strong enough, I got recruited with no questions asked. I tried not to join but Jeevan persuaded me to atleast go to work for a month and we can think of it later.
On the first day of my job, I was sitting in the lobby and I was someone approaching me.
"You must be Manvika" he said.
"Yes, I am... Sir" I said a little bit tensed.
"Oh, no formalities please, this is Sohail, your team lead" he extended his hand for a shake.
It was the first time I saw Sohail. He is a very young, charming guy with athletic figure and he looked so confident. As I raised my hand, ge confidently grabbed for handshake and that touch somehow made my body quiver.
Soon he introduced me to the rest of the team and I tried to blend in quickly. Few weeks passed and slowly I got into rythm with the office culture. Since that was a start-up, there used to be a lot of work especially on the weekends. But Sohail never pressured me to stay after office hours. Slowly I started to feel comfortable around him and the hand shakes have become a routine.
Things were going well until one day the clients were visiting the office as we have missed the deadline and there is still some pending work. Unlucky for us, there were few employees of our team on leave today week and the load just got up on us. I was busy at my desk when Sohail came and said
"It's already 6.30, you better leave Manvika" he said.
"No problem Sohail. I'll close this ticket and leave" I firmly said.
I sat there working and didn't even look at the phone. When the work was done and I looked around, there were no one in the office. I check the phone on horror and noticed it was 10.40pm and 7 missed calls from Jeeavan. I immediately called Jeevan but he didn't pick up and I messaged him to come to office to pick me up.
'Oh my god ' I thought to myself. It was then Sohail came near me with a cup of coffee.
"Oh, seems like you are done" he said.
"Yes, but you didn't leave" I asked.
"How can I leave with you in office. You are part of my team and I have your responsibility on me" he said and I was pleased by his words. I hurriedly sipped the coffee and we both entered the lift. Once out of the lift, Sohail asked
"Do you have your vehicle?"
" No, I messaged my husband to come or I'll take a cab"
"That's too risky to take cab at this time. I can drop you at home if required" Sohail offered.
"No problem, thanks" I smiled and left.
I stood outside the office and kept on ringing Jeevan but in despair. There stopped a cab in front of me and I was about to step in, I sensed the pungent smell of alcohol inside. Surely the driver is fully drunk and I don't want to take the risk.
"Kya hua madam ji, aa jao. Hum aapko jaldi ghat bhej denge" the driver said and I was terrified looking at him not at all feeling safe I got down immediately but the cab didn't leave. He started to make noises and I i felt horrified. It was then I saw someone approaching me and felt relieved looking at his face. It was Sohail.
" Is everything ok, Manvika" he asked ina concerning tone.
I just looked at him and soon tears started to come out of my eyes. He looked into the cab and said
"Kya bhai, kya hua. Gaadi theek hain na. Nikal jao yahaan se" he scared off the cab driver and soon he left.
"Don't worry Manvika. I am here, right" he said putting his hand on my arm and I felt safe.
"Let me drop you home" he said and I just nodded.
We got into the car and Sohail put on some lame jokes just to get me out of tension and I felt relieved after sometime. I messaged Jeevan that I will be home in few minutes. We were just a few blocks away from our home, when Jeevan called
"Where are you? Can't you just leave a message if you are late?" He started to shout on the phone. I just didnt say anything.
As Sohail stopped the car at our apartment gate, I waved him bye and he extended his hand for shaking to which I responded sharply and wished him good night, shaking his hands
and looked to see at Jeevan looking at us curiously from our flat's balcony on the fifth floor.
I got up to the continuous ringing of Manvika's phone on the bedside table. I opened my eyes to hear the noise of water as Manvi is in the shower. I took her phone to keep in silent mode and saw the call was from Sohail. The call ended and there were continuous WhatsApp messages popping up on the screen. When I tried to open the phone, I realised the chat was locked. I couldn't ask Manvi to unlock it as she would create a scene that I was doubting her. The notifications didn't stop and kept on coming. I took the phone to the bathroom door and tapped on the door.
"Manvi, you have a call and messages" I shouted standing at the door.
"Who is it?"
"I think it's Sohail" I replied as a slight shiver unknowingly escaped in my voice.
"Give me the phone" she said protruding her hand out of the door opening it slightly.
My hands were shaking as I handed the phone to her. I tried to hear if she had made a call to him, but I couldn't hear anything. But I heard her voice calling me and the next words from her mouth shocked me.
"Jeevan, can you hand me the bluetooth headset on the table" she asked in a very confident voice.
"What? But why now?" I dared to ask.
"There is an online training session from the client I need to attend and it's urgent. I totally forgot about the meeting invite. It is a mandatory session from the client. I'll hear it here itself" she said in a bit furious tone.
I know she was lying but I can't push her more into details. So I gave her the headset and waited outside the door until she came after half an hour out of the bathroom. She came out wearing a towel, threw the heaset aside and keeping the phone unlocked went to get dressed. I took the chance and immediately grabbed her phone to check it out. As I half expected, she had deleted all the chat and call history from Sohail on WhatsApp. She got ready and was about to leave, she turned to me asked
"Are you not going to office today?"
"No, I informed the office today I'll take leave for the day"
"Okay" she said simply shrugging her shoulders and left closing the door.
After she left I sat on the couch thinking about how things used to be a few months ago.
Manvika.......
(Few months ago....)
We stepped into a new flat owned by us (Jeevan and myself) as a young couple just married. I was brought up in a very conservative family and got married to Jeevan, my loving husband as a fully planned arranged marriage. I was very shy and hesitant just not even to talk, but to look at other boys until my marriage. There were a lot of love proposals before my marriage but I never even dared to care about such things. I was a virgin until our honeymoon trip. We had a nice honeymoon trip to Goa but Jeevan was not happy with me wearing fully covered chudidars and sarees even to such a place. Our sex life was great too for the first few months, until Jeevan wants much more than normal sex. He started to show me porn to encourage me for oral and anal sex which I was completely reluctant to. He tried to persuade me a lot of times but I simply said no. Things were going normal as Jeevan was going to office and me as a normal housewife would take care of the things at home until one night Jeevan started a conversation.
"Maybe you should look for job. I know you are getting bored at home all day and I don't want you to be just a hom maker. I want you to explore the outside world"
"I don't know if I could do that. I am just happy this way" I replied.
"No Manvi, that's a big world outside and you will get to learn a lot of things out there. You are well educated and will easily get a job. I spoke to my manager and tried to get you into our company. Unfortunately we are not recruiting now but a friend of my boss had a start-up company that may hire you" he said pushing me to go for it.
"No jeevan. I am not sure about this"
"Nothing doing. You just go and attend the interview first. We will decide later about joining" he said.
I went for the interview next day and aa the reference was strong enough, I got recruited with no questions asked. I tried not to join but Jeevan persuaded me to atleast go to work for a month and we can think of it later.
On the first day of my job, I was sitting in the lobby and I was someone approaching me.
"You must be Manvika" he said.
"Yes, I am... Sir" I said a little bit tensed.
"Oh, no formalities please, this is Sohail, your team lead" he extended his hand for a shake.
It was the first time I saw Sohail. He is a very young, charming guy with athletic figure and he looked so confident. As I raised my hand, ge confidently grabbed for handshake and that touch somehow made my body quiver.
Soon he introduced me to the rest of the team and I tried to blend in quickly. Few weeks passed and slowly I got into rythm with the office culture. Since that was a start-up, there used to be a lot of work especially on the weekends. But Sohail never pressured me to stay after office hours. Slowly I started to feel comfortable around him and the hand shakes have become a routine.
Things were going well until one day the clients were visiting the office as we have missed the deadline and there is still some pending work. Unlucky for us, there were few employees of our team on leave today week and the load just got up on us. I was busy at my desk when Sohail came and said
"It's already 6.30, you better leave Manvika" he said.
"No problem Sohail. I'll close this ticket and leave" I firmly said.
I sat there working and didn't even look at the phone. When the work was done and I looked around, there were no one in the office. I check the phone on horror and noticed it was 10.40pm and 7 missed calls from Jeeavan. I immediately called Jeevan but he didn't pick up and I messaged him to come to office to pick me up.
'Oh my god ' I thought to myself. It was then Sohail came near me with a cup of coffee.
"Oh, seems like you are done" he said.
"Yes, but you didn't leave" I asked.
"How can I leave with you in office. You are part of my team and I have your responsibility on me" he said and I was pleased by his words. I hurriedly sipped the coffee and we both entered the lift. Once out of the lift, Sohail asked
"Do you have your vehicle?"
" No, I messaged my husband to come or I'll take a cab"
"That's too risky to take cab at this time. I can drop you at home if required" Sohail offered.
"No problem, thanks" I smiled and left.
I stood outside the office and kept on ringing Jeevan but in despair. There stopped a cab in front of me and I was about to step in, I sensed the pungent smell of alcohol inside. Surely the driver is fully drunk and I don't want to take the risk.
"Kya hua madam ji, aa jao. Hum aapko jaldi ghat bhej denge" the driver said and I was terrified looking at him not at all feeling safe I got down immediately but the cab didn't leave. He started to make noises and I i felt horrified. It was then I saw someone approaching me and felt relieved looking at his face. It was Sohail.
" Is everything ok, Manvika" he asked ina concerning tone.
I just looked at him and soon tears started to come out of my eyes. He looked into the cab and said
"Kya bhai, kya hua. Gaadi theek hain na. Nikal jao yahaan se" he scared off the cab driver and soon he left.
"Don't worry Manvika. I am here, right" he said putting his hand on my arm and I felt safe.
"Let me drop you home" he said and I just nodded.
We got into the car and Sohail put on some lame jokes just to get me out of tension and I felt relieved after sometime. I messaged Jeevan that I will be home in few minutes. We were just a few blocks away from our home, when Jeevan called
"Where are you? Can't you just leave a message if you are late?" He started to shout on the phone. I just didnt say anything.
As Sohail stopped the car at our apartment gate, I waved him bye and he extended his hand for shaking to which I responded sharply and wished him good night, shaking his hands
and looked to see at Jeevan looking at us curiously from our flat's balcony on the fifth floor.
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