Adultery Priya Didi

[shailu4ever]

The Movie: Unspoken Tension
 
The movie glowed across the massive screen, shifting light, drifting shadows, explosions of color. 
It felt loud and distant at the same time, as though the world inside it had nothing to do with the world inside Ravi’s chest.
 
He sat still.
Too still.
Breathing slow, deliberate.
Trying to pretend the film was the thing holding his attention.
 
But it wasn’t.
It was her.
 
Priya Didi.
Beside him.
 
So close he could feel the faint warmth of her body seeping through the cool theater air, wrapping itself around him like a quiet pull.
 
Her saree rustled softly when she adjusted her seat, a sound that somehow echoed louder to him than the movie’s entire soundtrack.
 
She had chosen a dark color tonight, a shade that glimmered only when the screen flashed bright. The soft border of the fabric rested near his arm, brushing it every now and then in a way that made his breath catch.
 
She looked calm.
Composed.
The picture of someone watching a movie with her husband on her right side and a younger “brother-like” figure on her left.
 
But Ravi could see the subtle details.
 
The faint tension in her jaw.
The quick, almost hidden swallow.
The way her hands stayed perfectly still on her lap, as though she was holding something inside.
 
Amit, her husband, sat on her other side, relaxed, comfortable, unaware. 
He laughed quietly at a comedic moment on the screen, leaning slightly forward.
 
And that gave her a second.
A single second where the shifting light from the screen revealed something in her eyes.
 
A flicker.
Soft.
But unmistakable.
 
Not fear.
Not guilt.
Something else.
 
Something she tried to bury immediately,
blinking too quickly,
forcing her focus back on the movie.
 
Ravi felt his heartbeat stumble.
 
He shifted slightly, trying to steady himself, but the movement only brought him nearer to her arm, nearer to the warmth she radiated.
 
He inhaled, and there it was again, the jasmine, the sandalwood, the scent that had lived in his mind far too long.
 
“Don’t think about it. Don’t be stupid. Just watch the movie.”
 
He tried.
He really did.
 
But his hand rested on the shared armrest, 
Fingers relaxed, and the space between his skin and hers felt unbearably small.
 

Invisible.
Electric.
Alive.