23-08-2026, 02:35 AM
I stepped out from behind the tree.
My yellow saree felt suddenly too bright in the fading evening light. The blouse packets were no longer in my hands; I had left them hidden among the roots. I walked slowly onto the path, each step deliberate.
Arjun was already looking in my direction.
He had seen me earlier. He had watched me standing with Sathyavathi and Malliga while the two women spoke to Muthu and Balu. He knew I had not simply appeared from nowhere. The knowledge was clear in his eyes when they locked on me now — recognition mixed with sharp, open suspicion.
“You,” he said, his voice low and hard.
“I saw you with those two when Muthu and Balu walked off. Why are you still here? What are you doing hanging around my vehicle?”
I stopped a few steps away from him, close enough that he could see the slightly loosened pallu of my yellow saree, but far enough that I could still step back. My heart was beating so hard I was sure he would hear it.
“I was returning from town with them,” I answered, keeping my voice soft.
“Muthu and Balu went into the trees. I stayed back.”
His eyes narrowed.
“Stayed back for what?” he asked at once.
“You watched my men leave and then waited around? That doesn’t sound innocent to me. I don’t have time for games. I need them back. We are already late.”
He turned his head and shouted their names again toward the forest, louder than before. The sound bounced off the trees and came back empty. When he looked at me once more, the suspicion was still dominant, yet his eyes dropped for a brief moment — just once — over the shape of my body under the yellow saree. The glance was quick, almost angry at itself, but I saw it.
That small crack was enough to keep me standing there.
I took one more step closer.
“They looked like they were going toward the caves,” I said carefully.
“If you want, I can show you the path they took.”
Arjun stared at me. The offer only seemed to deepen his distrust.
“You want to lead me into the trees now?” he said slowly.
“After I already saw you with the other two women when my men disappeared? You expect me to believe this is just help?”
The longer he looked at me, the more the years of wanting me seemed to press against his suspicion and urgency. I could see the conflict in the way his shoulders stayed tense while his gaze returned to my face, then lower again for another short second.
“I don’t need a guide,” he said, the words slower than his earlier shouts but still edged with doubt.
“I need those two fools back here so we can leave. And I need to know why a woman who watched them walk away is now standing in front of me offering directions.”
I let my voice drop a little softer.
“You look worried,” I said.
“And angry. Maybe… if you come a little with me, we might find them faster. The caves are close.”
He did not move toward me, but he also did not turn away. The black shorts sat low on his hips. I could already see the first slight change in the front of them — not a full erection yet, only the beginning of thickness that his anger and suspicion were still trying to suppress. He noticed my eyes flick downward and his expression hardened further, as if he was furious at his own body for reacting while his mind kept repeating that I had been present when his men left.
“Something feels wrong about this,” he said outright.
“You being here. Them disappearing. Now you offering to take me somewhere. I have something important in that vehicle — more important than anything else — and I don’t trust coincidences right now.”
The Goddess. He did not name her, but both of us knew what he meant.
I stayed where I was, the guilt of my broken promise to the Goddess sitting heavy in my chest, the unfinished heat between my legs still quietly pulsing, and the dangerous task of drawing this suspicious, angry man away from the ambulance now fully begun. His eyes stayed on me longer than he wanted them to, torn between the distrust of a man who smelled a trap and the older hunger of a man who had wanted me for years.
My yellow saree felt suddenly too bright in the fading evening light. The blouse packets were no longer in my hands; I had left them hidden among the roots. I walked slowly onto the path, each step deliberate.
Arjun was already looking in my direction.
He had seen me earlier. He had watched me standing with Sathyavathi and Malliga while the two women spoke to Muthu and Balu. He knew I had not simply appeared from nowhere. The knowledge was clear in his eyes when they locked on me now — recognition mixed with sharp, open suspicion.
“You,” he said, his voice low and hard.
“I saw you with those two when Muthu and Balu walked off. Why are you still here? What are you doing hanging around my vehicle?”
I stopped a few steps away from him, close enough that he could see the slightly loosened pallu of my yellow saree, but far enough that I could still step back. My heart was beating so hard I was sure he would hear it.
“I was returning from town with them,” I answered, keeping my voice soft.
“Muthu and Balu went into the trees. I stayed back.”
His eyes narrowed.
“Stayed back for what?” he asked at once.
“You watched my men leave and then waited around? That doesn’t sound innocent to me. I don’t have time for games. I need them back. We are already late.”
He turned his head and shouted their names again toward the forest, louder than before. The sound bounced off the trees and came back empty. When he looked at me once more, the suspicion was still dominant, yet his eyes dropped for a brief moment — just once — over the shape of my body under the yellow saree. The glance was quick, almost angry at itself, but I saw it.
That small crack was enough to keep me standing there.
I took one more step closer.
“They looked like they were going toward the caves,” I said carefully.
“If you want, I can show you the path they took.”
Arjun stared at me. The offer only seemed to deepen his distrust.
“You want to lead me into the trees now?” he said slowly.
“After I already saw you with the other two women when my men disappeared? You expect me to believe this is just help?”
The longer he looked at me, the more the years of wanting me seemed to press against his suspicion and urgency. I could see the conflict in the way his shoulders stayed tense while his gaze returned to my face, then lower again for another short second.
“I don’t need a guide,” he said, the words slower than his earlier shouts but still edged with doubt.
“I need those two fools back here so we can leave. And I need to know why a woman who watched them walk away is now standing in front of me offering directions.”
I let my voice drop a little softer.
“You look worried,” I said.
“And angry. Maybe… if you come a little with me, we might find them faster. The caves are close.”
He did not move toward me, but he also did not turn away. The black shorts sat low on his hips. I could already see the first slight change in the front of them — not a full erection yet, only the beginning of thickness that his anger and suspicion were still trying to suppress. He noticed my eyes flick downward and his expression hardened further, as if he was furious at his own body for reacting while his mind kept repeating that I had been present when his men left.
“Something feels wrong about this,” he said outright.
“You being here. Them disappearing. Now you offering to take me somewhere. I have something important in that vehicle — more important than anything else — and I don’t trust coincidences right now.”
The Goddess. He did not name her, but both of us knew what he meant.
I stayed where I was, the guilt of my broken promise to the Goddess sitting heavy in my chest, the unfinished heat between my legs still quietly pulsing, and the dangerous task of drawing this suspicious, angry man away from the ambulance now fully begun. His eyes stayed on me longer than he wanted them to, torn between the distrust of a man who smelled a trap and the older hunger of a man who had wanted me for years.
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