Adultery Sakshi's Universe

[yodam69420]

Evening settled into the house like a guest overstaying its welcome. The golden glow of sunset had faded, bleeding into deep blue shadows that stretched languidly across the floor and curled into the corners like secrets waiting to be confessed. The air was thick with the scent of coconut chutney, green chillies, and roasted gram—homely, inviting, but under it, something else simmered.
In the kitchen, Sakshi moved with the deliberate grace of a dancer staging her final act. Crisp murukku gleamed golden on a steel plate. Soft white idlis rested under muslin in a bowl that sweated gently. A flask of fresh filter coffee waited beside a pair of tumblers. She wasn’t merely preparing snacks. She was summoning.
He would come. She knew it with the certainty of a woman who had waited too long not to be right.
When the knock finally came, it wasn’t loud. It wasn’t rushed. It sounded like fingers uncertain if they deserved to touch her door at all.
She opened it to find Ramu beneath the porch light, the cane firm in one hand, his other balled into a fist he didn't quite realize he was clenching. His shirt was tucked in for once. His shoulders stooped not from age but from the weight of the moment. His eyes… they were softer than she’d ever seen them.
"I thought you might need company," he said. Low. Barely above a murmur, like it was meant for no one else to hear.
She tilted her head just slightly, eyes unreadable. "Always. Come in, uncle. Snacks are ready."
He entered slowly, cane tapping a rhythm against the tile, one beat for each memory unspoken between them. He eased into the cane chair with a soft grunt, as if sitting down in her presence took effort he was willing to expend. She set the plate before him, poured coffee into the tumblers. Steam rose between them like breath between two mouths leaning in.
He picked up a murukku, bit into it. His eyes didn’t leave her face. "Delicious."
She smiled faintly, barely there. "It’s been a long time since someone properly praised my cooking. My husband eats in silence. My son throws it."

Ramu chewed slowly. Swallowed. "They don’t understand what it means to be fed by hands like yours."
She arched a brow. Not sarcastic—curious. "And you do?"
"Yes," he said, placing the half-eaten snack back down. His voice carried now—not louder, but clearer. "Because I’ve spent years remembering what it means to crave. To long. For softness. For warmth. You deserve more than a kitchen and a silent table."
She stirred her coffee, slow circles. The spoon clinked gently. "Is that all I deserve to be?"
"No." He leaned forward slightly. "You deserve to be worshipped."
The silence between them shifted. It wasn’t empty. It pulsed.
Her breath caught. She didn’t look away. Her fingers brushed the rim of her tumbler, knuckles white.
"Bold words, uncle," she said finally, voice dipped in something darker than coffee.
"They must be. I’ve no time left for polite ones."
She leaned forward on her elbows, saree falling just enough to hint at her collarbone, at the quiet swell beneath. "And what is it you want from me, really? Don’t sweeten it. Say it."
His cane tapped once on the floor before he set it aside. He looked at her fully now, stripped of whatever hesitation had held him back before. "I want you as my wife. Not a fantasy behind curtains. Not a sigh in my bed at night when no one's there. I want to walk into this house knowing I belong here. Beside you. Inside you. Without apology. Without shame."
Her lips parted slightly. Her pulse thudded in her throat. "Uncle..."
He leaned in more, elbows on his knees, voice rough like stones dragged across tile. "You tempt me without trying. You move and I ache. I don't want to just look anymore. I want to touch. Wake up with your breath warm on my shoulder. Your thigh over my hip. I want you, Sakshi. No more hiding. No more pretending we’re anything less than already claimed by each other."
She leaned back slowly, breath shaky, eyes glued to his. Her voice came soft, deliberate. "And what would that make me? A mistress with a mangalsutra?"
"No." He said it like a vow. "It would make you mine. And I’d be yours. The world can name it how it wants. In here, it would be true."
Her gaze flicked away for half a second—then snapped back. "And Murugan?"
"He left a space. I didn’t steal it. You offered it. Every silence. Every blouse that slipped just a little lower. You let me see you, Sakshi. Now let me have you."
Her fingers trembled on the steel tumbler. "You're not asking for a moment."
"I'm asking for surrender."
She stood. Slowly. Saree rustling like silk secrets. Her back was to him now, voice almost a whisper. "And if I say yes..."
He rose to his feet. Steady. Determined. "Then I will take you in every way a man can take the woman he’s waited his whole damn life to touch."
She turned. Her chest rose and fell, breath ragged. Her eyes glistened—not tears. Hunger. "You think I haven’t imagined it too? Think I haven’t walked these hallways knowing your eyes traced every sway of my hips?"
His fists clenched at his sides.
"Then let’s stop pretending," he growled. "We already belong to each other."
She took a step. Another. Her hand reached—held his.
He moved, slowly, respectfully, guiding her fingers up.
Then bent slightly.
Just as his lips neared the center of her palm, she pulled it back gently.
He froze.
She smiled. Slow. Mysterious. "Not yet."

He nodded, breath caught. "No?"
She tilted her head. "You’ll have to earn it, Ramu. Think of this as your exam."
His breath came deeper now. "Then I will pass."
Just as his breath steadied, she softened. Her voice lowered. "And my son?"
Ramu straightened—not offended, but clear. "He will never be without you. I don’t ask you to lock him out. If this becomes ours, he’s part of it too. I want you both. Not as burden. As blessing."
Sakshi exhaled. Her shoulders sagged, just a little. A shield lowering. "He’s all I’ve done right."
"Then let me be the next thing you don’t have to apologize for."
Outside, the shadows deepened. Inside, something else rose to meet them. Not longing. Not fantasy.
Desire had a name now.
And it answered to hers.