Adultery Awaited desires - Completed

[Haran000]

6. Doubt

We were headed to a wedding dinner, Ved cradled in my arms. My vadhina, brother, Peddamma, and I entered the function hall. The main event was upstairs, while the ground floor buzzed with the preparations for the feast. As is often the case at these gatherings, there wasn't much for us to do.

Sandhya spotted her pinni’s (aunt's) family, and joined them. I found a chair beneath a whirring fan, settling down with Ved and amusing him with rhymes on my phone. An uncle seated beside me kept casting glances my way. It’s a familiar scenario, as the saying goes, "If a dog without a home sits idle, a mischievous child comes and pulls its tail."

"Whose son are you, boy?" the uncle inquired.

"I'm my father's son, uncle," I replied, perhaps a little too flippantly.

"Oh, who is your father?" he persisted.

"My father," I stated simply.

"Do you watch more comedyshow, boy?" he switched gears.

"No, uncle, I watch movies," I countered.

"Jandhyala movies?"

"Trivikram movies, uncle."

"Are you being sarcastic?" he asked, a hint of annoyance in his voice.

"It's wit, uncle..." I retorted, and he promptly turned away.

Just then, my brother called out, "Hey, come on, let's take a photo on the stage!"

"You go, don't call me," I grumbled.

"Ved, come on, my dear," he coaxed, then glanced at the uncle next to me. "Oh, Mohan Mama, is that you? How are you? We were just with Auntie."

"Is everything good?" Mohan Mama asked.

"Yes, Mama… He's my younger brother, do you remember him?" Santosh said, gesturing towards me.

"Yes… That's what I was asking," Mohan Mama replied, and Ved, sensing his father, ran to him.

"Oh, so you're Santosh's brother, then you're my son-in-law. My Sandhya mentioned you a couple of times. You've grown quite tall. Do you recognize me?"

"I have a bad memory, uncle, please forgive me," I mumbled, feeling a pang of embarrassment.

"Hmm… We didn't meet properly back then," he mused.

"Hmm…" I offered, and the conversation fizzled out. I found myself simply observing the faces of the people around me.

"So, what's news, boy?" he eventually asked, breaking the silence.

"Just eating and leaving, uncle," I quipped.

He chuckled. "Hahaha… Studies?"

"Graduation is done, I'm thinking of doing post-graduation."

"Study well and find a job, boy, you're also of marriageable age."

"Already?" I blurted out, surprised.

"You're six feet tall, you're fair, what else do you need, son-in-law? I'll find a good girl for you."

"Don't you have daughters, uncle?" I asked, my big mouth getting me into trouble once more.

"Hahaha… See you later, come to our house with your sister-in-law sometime," he laughed, then departed. Thanks to him, I hadn't been bored for a while.

With nothing else to do, I went downstairs and indulged in a hearty meal of mutton. As I ascended the stairs to return, a message popped up on my phone. I paused to check it, and as I continued past the stairs, a girl approached.

I stopped. My gaze fell upon her legs, then the shimmering sequins of a sandalwood-colored embroidered skirt. She stood directly in front of me. I stepped to the right to give way; she stepped to the left. "What's this?" I wondered, then moved to the left, and she mirrored me, stepping to the right. Ugh. I tried moving right again, and she moved left.
I finally stood still. She passed me from the left.

The next moment, hands covered my eyes, and I was gently bent backward. My back brushed against the girl's chest. A warm breath ghosted against my ear. A sweet, low voice, audible only to me, whispered, "What is it, bava (brother-in-law)? Why do you always stand in the way like this? Don't you have anything else to do? If you want romance, you can ask me, why do you need cringe jokes with relatives?" She then kissed my cheek. I was stunned. She released me and descended the stairs, vanishing like a startled deer by the time I turned around.

Before I could even consider following her, my uncle called out from behind. This maternal uncle of mine always wanted me to marry his daughter, yet claimed he had no children. Here I was, wanting to look at another girl, but he wouldn't let me. Ugh…

Who was that girl anyway? Why did she say that? Why did she call me bava? I pulled at my hair, utterly bewildered. Do people who like me even exist? Or was that girl merely playing a prank? Unable to make sense of anything, I walked towards my family, lost in thought, when two aunties I passed along the way giggled. "What's that about?" I wondered, continuing forward, only for an uncle to chuckle at me too.

As I neared my family, I heard four other people on that side laughing. The moment I reached them, Sandhya burst into laughter, hand clamped over her mouth, and pointed me out to my brother. My brother simply put his hand to his head in exasperation.

Sandhya came up to me, still giggling, and captured my face. She then showed it to me.

On my cheek was a girl's kiss, the red imprint of her lipstick clearly visible. A shiver ran through me, a blush creeping up my neck. That's why everyone had been laughing. I quickly pulled a handkerchief from my pocket and wiped my cheek.

"You naughty maridhee, who kissed you?" Sandhya teased.

"I don't know," I mumbled.

"Oh, really? You're even getting kisses from girls without knowing it," she scoffed playfully.

"You're getting too much, kid. Go home, I'll deal with you," Santosh chimed in, feigning sternness.

"Oh, bro, I really don't know," I insisted.

Ved, seeing their amusement, also giggled. I picked him up. "What's so funny kiddo, you don't even understand anything. Shush…"

"Haha…" Sandhya continued to laugh. Just then, peddamma arrived, and all three of us fell silent. But my sister-in-law kept laughing, looking at me all the way home.

After reaching home, we watched TV for a while, and just when everything seemed fine, my sister-in-law came to my room with milk.

"How much did you flatter her that she kissed you?" Sandhya asked, her eyes twinkling.

I folded my hands in supplication. "Oh vadhina, I honestly don't know. A girl just dashed past me, that's all."

"Hahaha…" She bent over the chair behind me, wrapping her arms around my shoulders, and with a smile, kissed my cheek. "I know you don't have that much guts, my innocent maridhee. Don't study tonight. Drink milk and go to sleep, okay?"

"Hmm… Good night…" I replied.

"Good night."



The day after the wedding, I plunged into studying for my entrance exams. I was solving problems, poring over theory, but even amidst all that, as I read certain topics in Physics, my mind would wander. Why is the universe like this? Does God exist or not? How do so many random events occur in this universe? Is it possible to go into the past and future? I'd get caught up in these questions, leaving aside the actual problems in the textbook.

I found genuine pleasure in solving physics problems. Newton stated that an object won't move without energy, and that energy comes from the transformation of mass. But even for mass to form, energy is needed. Where did this initial energy come from? Is the Big Bang real, or is it God's creation as described in ancient texts? I would ponder all these things, and comparing physics with religious texts became a habit.

One night, after nine o'clock, as I paced near my room door, lost in thought, my vadhina appeared.

"Hari, shall I make you some tea?" she offered.

"I'll make it myself," I said.

"You're practicing, right? Wait, I'll get it." My sister-in-law went and returned ten minutes later with a small cup of tea.

We leaned against the door, talking. "Has Ved gone to sleep?" I asked.

"Yes…"

"You go vadhina, I'll go to sleep late. I'm drinking tea now, so I'll stay up until one."

"Hmm… Anyway, I'm not feeling sleepy tonight," she replied.

She then noticed the papers where I had scribbled my thoughts, with various calculations and drawings, which I had pasted on my room wall. "Why have you pasted all this, Hari, like you're in some science lab?"

"I'm thinking about something vadhina. In the Puranas too, they say that our lives are governed by stars, planets, and all that."

"Meaning astrology?"

"Not exactly." 

My sister-in-law came a little closer. She pressed her hand on the door frame next to me and looked at my face, leaning her face close. Looking at those lips, something stirred within me. My dreams of kissing them, dormant until now, resurfaced in my mind.

"But isn't astrology the same, isn't it about birth date and star?" she persisted.

"Not exactly. For example, due to the sun's light, photosynthesis happens in trees, our earth heats up, seasons change."

"Hmm… Yes," she acknowledged. 

I took a sip of tea. "Similarly, there are eclipses, and we know about the full moon and new moon for the moon," I continued.

My sister-in-law moved into my lap. She looked intently into my eyes, her lips curving into a small smile. I didn't understand anything. My cup was touching her shoulder. I moved it aside. She came even closer, pushing me against the door, wrapping herself around me on one side.

"Hmm…" Her voice sounded somehow intoxicating.

"Did they name the twenty-seven stars because the moon had twenty-seven wives, or…" I began.

"Is the tea good?" She caressed my neck with her finger. I stopped talking.

"Yes, it's good."

"Tell me, what were you saying?"

"That is, or did they write the story of the moon's wives because of the movement of the twenty-seven stars?"

"That's a great doubt you've got. So, are you saying there are no gods, and it's all stories?"

"Not exactly, or are there gods, and that's why the science we know operates with proper principles?" I gulped down more tea.

"So, what is it now? Are you going to find out if God exists or not with these lines on papers?"

"Not exactly."

"Anyway, not that, but I'll ask you something," she said.

"Ask, vadhina?"

"Who kissed you at the function?"

"Again? I don't know," I sighed.

"Tell me the truth, you have a lover, don't you, you naughty maridhee? You secretly stare at me, and you're secretly maintaining a lover too, aren't you?"

I felt like laughing. I was struggling even to talk to girls, and my sister-in-law was turning me into Krishna.

"You're laughing, so it's true?" she pressed.

"Oh, no vadhina, I told you, a girl just dashed past me. Her lips just touched my cheeks, that's all."

"You're so tall. How could she kiss you like that in a dash? There's no logic maridhee"

Oh no, sister-in-law, where do I find logic now? If I tell her what happened and that the girl called me bava, my sister-in-law will weave a whole story. It felt best to drop this topic here, so I stepped towards my bed. "It just happened by accident. How can we explain logic for that?" I turned away, my face flushed with embarrassment and shyness.

She grabbed my shoulders and bent me backward. She put her face close to my ear. "No, maridhee, there's no logic. My cheek, being five and a half feet tall, wouldn't reach yours, would it?"

"Why wouldn't it, vadhina? If you hold me like this and pull me, wouldn't it reach, tell me…" I turned my neck to the left. My lips brushed my vadhina's cherry lips.

Both of us froze as if shocked. She let go of me in surprise. I moved forward. I started trembling, wondering what had just happened. What about my sister-in-law's situation? I started to get scared. Would she scold me, hit me, or say something else?

"That's how the accident happened, vadhina…" I stammered, trembling.

She left. When I turned back to look, she was gone.



The next day, I couldn't look my sister-in-law directly in the eye. She also knew it was an accident, which was why she didn't scold me. Yet, thinking about it, more desires grew within me. The warmth of sandhya's lips still enveloped me.

A few days after this, just when I thought everything was back to normal, I noticed that every time my sister-in-law spoke to me, she would move closer, and she would act shy more often in front of me. I don't know if she was doing it intentionally, or if it was just my imagination.

Naturally, my sister-in-law usually only wears an unlined blouse; she doesn't wear a bra underneath. She only wears a bra for functions. I know she wears a bra inside a Punjabi dress. After Ved was born, she became a little plump, and after that, she stopped wearing Punjabi dresses. She only wears sarees and nighties at night. I know there's a bra in her nighty.

In July, Ved started going to college. In the beginning, my sister-in-law used to drop him off, but now I'm the one who drops him off. Brother goes to the office, and peddamma doesn't pay much attention to the house, usually chatting with neighbors. During these times, I'd think twice. I noticed my sister-in-law wasn't wearing a bra even in her nighty, and she knew I was looking at her. The shape of her nipples was visible through the nighty. I observed them thoroughly, and my sister-in-law caught my gaze. Every time I looked away after looking, I felt like she was either secretly smiling or feeling shy.

Thinking about all this, I started to doubt whether my sister-in-law only wanted compliments from me, or if she had any ulterior motives. Why would my brother support me when I told him it was uncomfortable for me to sleep in their room even at this age? He could just think I'd play on my phone and sleep, right? Why should she let me rest my head on her lap and caress my head? Especially with her beauty pushing close to my face.

Days passed, and my post-graduation finally began.

First week of August.

It was the first day of college, but I woke up late. I got ready. Brother goes to the office by eight-thirty. Today, my sister-in-law gave lunch to my brother as he said he would drop Ved at college. Brother and Ved both left. She gave idlis to peddamma. I went into the kitchen.

"Vadhina, four is enough, if I eat too much, it's the first day today," I said.

"It's nothing, you always eat five anyway," Sandhya replied.

My college starts at ten. If I took the bus at nine here, it was a half-hour bus ride, and then a fifteen-minute walk from the bus stop to the college. So, I hurried, and as soon as my sister-in-law gave me the plate in the kitchen, I started eating and choked on a mouthful. 

As I coughed, my sister-in-law gave me water. She came close to me and patted my head.
"Slowly, Hari… Why the rush?"

"Hmm… If the buses don't come, I'll be late vadhina, that's why."

"It's nothing. Sit there and eat leisurely. It's okay to be late on the first day. Anyway, is it not junior college…l?"

"Okay… vadhina, can you fill water in the bottle and put it in the bag?"

"I'll do it, you go eat."

After I had eaten and put on my shoes, ready to leave, as I was about to say goodbye, she held my hand, pulled me close, and bent my face. That's when I clearly saw it; my sister-in-law was about to kiss my cheek, but her lips were searching for my lips. But she quickly let go of me, perhaps realizing that I had seen it.

"Be careful, Hari."

"Yes, vadhina, I'll be back."

“I don't know why this doubt. 

Have I fantasised Sandhya into my mind too much? 

Is that why I'm feeling this way?”

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