02-10-2026, 11:09 PM
(This post was last modified: 03-10-2026, 11:26 PM by sharath841. Edited 5 times in total. Edited 5 times in total.)
After returning home, Padma changed into her usual comfortable casual clothes.
She placed the new outfits on the bed, looked at them for a moment, then pushed the shopping bag aside.
She was tired.
She lay down for a while and eventually fell asleep.
Later that evening, Mohan returned home after stopping for coffee.
He noticed the shopping bag almost immediately.
? Mohan: “You bought quite a few things, didn’t you?”
Padma smiled sleepily.
? Padma: “A few.”
Mohan picked up one of the outfits.
It was a stylish one-piece dress, modestly cut but much shorter than anything Padma normally wore, falling around her thighs.
He looked at her with a smile.
? Mohan: “Why don’t you try this one?”
Padma hesitated.
For a moment, Rajan’s face flashed through her mind.
She immediately pushed the thought away.
? Padma: “Now?”
? Mohan: “Yes. You were excited about trying different styles yesterday.”
Padma looked at the dress again.
Mohan was the reason she had started experimenting in the first place.
She nodded.
? Padma: “Okay. I’ll try it.”
She picked up the dress and walked toward the bedroom.
She still hadn’t told Mohan anything about what had happened with Rajan.
Padma closed her eyes.
Why is he repeating himself in my head when I never asked him to?
She opened them and looked at the mirror.
The woman there was dressed, composed and ordinary, nothing on her face to show what was running through her.
She wasn't thinking about him because she agreed with him. She wasn't even sure she wanted to think about him at all.
She was thinking about him because he had pushed himself so deep into her thoughts that she couldn't simply switch him off either.
She started wearing dress I'll give you two days. Just think about it. About what I feel. About what you feel.
Padma closed her eyes.
Why is he repeating himself in my head when I never asked him to?
She opened them and looked at the mirror.
The woman there was dressed, composed and ordinary, nothing on her face to show what was running through her.
She wasn't thinking about him because she agreed with him. She wasn't even sure she wanted to think about him at all.
She was thinking about him because he had pushed himself so deep into her thoughts that she couldn't simply switch him off either.
That was what irritated her. Not what he had said, but that he had left her with it.
? Mohan: "Padma? Are you ready?"
? Padma: "Coming."
She smoothed the dress once and walked out, her face calm.
After Mohan went to bed, Padma remained awake for a while.
She picked up her phone.
For a second, she thought about checking whether Rajan had messaged.
She stopped herself.
No.
She put the phone down.
Then picked it up again.
Nothing.
No message.
No call.
She placed it face down.
And strangely, the silence bothered her.
Not because she wanted him to contact her.
At least, that’s what she told herself.
But she couldn’t stop wondering.
The next evening, Padma was sitting quietly at home when her phone vibrated.
Rajan.
She hesitated before opening it.
Rajan: "Day one is over. So, what did you think?"
She stared at the screen, a bunch of coriander in her other hand.
One day. He had said two.
Another message :
Rajan : ‘ I couldn’t stop thinking of you ‘
Am obsessed for you.. am feeling like kissing you holding you… Padma .
Padma got anxious and trembling..
Rajan : Wanted to kiss you in the shop itself … I controlled..
Padma wanted typed Plz stop .. but didn’t send ..
Another message arrived.
? Rajan: “Anyway, leave that subject aside.”
She stared at the screen.
Then came another message.
? Rajan: “Did Mohan like the dresses you selected?”
Padma’s fingers moved toward the keyboard.
She stopped.
She didn’t want to answer.
She put the phone down.
A few seconds later, it vibrated again.
? Rajan: “You were really slaying in those pictures.”
Padma’s face became warm.
She read the sentence again.
She wanted to reply.
Something simple.
Those were just clothes.
But she couldn’t bring herself to type it.
Another message appeared.
? Rajan: “And you know something?”
Padma stared at the screen.
? Rajan: “You weren’t really posing for the salesgirl.”
Her heart skipped.
? Rajan: "And you were giving those poses to me actually. Not to the sales girl. You know that."
Padma immediately locked her phone.
That’s not true.
She told herself that firmly.
She had been following the salesgirl’s instructions.
She had been sending pictures to Mohan.
She hadn’t even known Rajan was there.
Yet his words made her replay the entire afternoon.
The mirror.
The outfits.
The poses.
The photographs.
The salesgirl asking her to turn.
And Rajan watching from somewhere inside the store.
Padma picked up the phone again.
She opened the chat.
Her thumb hovered over the keyboard.
She wanted to tell him he was completely wrong.
But instead, she closed the conversation without replying.
Heat climbed her neck. She pressed her palm over her mouth, not to stop a sound, but to stop a smile she didn't want to find there.
Say something. Be angry. Tell him he's wrong.
But he wasn't wrong.
The phone stayed lit in her hand, his last line glowing at the bottom of the screen. The little Typing… bubble appeared, hung there a moment, then disappeared.
He was waiting.
Padma turned the screen to the wall, and then the pillow over it, and lay staring at the ceiling with her heart pounding.
She hadn't answered.
But for the first time, she understood that not answering was also something he could read.
At 11:58 that night, the phone lit up on the bedside table.
She was not sleeping feeling uneasy and deep in her thoughts..
Mohan was asleep, one arm flung over his head. Padma slid the phone under the blanket and opened it.
? Rajan: "Two days are almost over it will be over tomorrow evening..!!
Rajan: "I only want to ask one thing
Rajan: "Just imagine for a second, Padma… if you had known I was the one choosing those dresses for you, and that I was standing right behind you while you were taking those pictures in the trial room… when you turned around and posed for that back picture, would you still have smiled like that?"
Padma stopped breathing.
Actually Rajan knew only about the pics taken outside the trial room so he only guessed if that happened inside ?
But Padma knew that she posed and taken pics ..
Then Padma immediately looked at her phone again.
She opened the photographs she had taken that afternoon for Mohan. She hadn’t really looked at them carefully before.
Now she went through them one by one.
The first showed her in the fitted outfit, standing before the mirror.
The next was from the side.
Then another from behind, where she had turned and smiled at her reflection.
She stared at that one for several seconds.
Rajan’s message came back to her:
“If you had known I was standing right behind you… would you still have smiled like that?”
Padma frowned.
She knew perfectly well that she had taken those photographs for Mohan. She hadn’t known Rajan was anywhere nearby.
Yet curiosity made her imagine the alternative.
What if he had been there?
For a moment, she pictured him standing a few steps behind her while she looked at the outfits, quietly giving his opinion and helping her choose between them.
She imagined turning toward him and asking:
“Which one?”
The thought made her immediately uncomfortable.
She locked the phone.
A few seconds later, she unlocked it again and looked at the photograph once more.
![[Image: 0-E56-A6-A5-71-E6-43-E7-8-D99-E17-E98787-EA9.png]](https://i.ibb.co/KpyPddn4/0-E56-A6-A5-71-E6-43-E7-8-D99-E17-E98787-EA9.png)
The open shirt. The bend. The thumb under the waistband.
curiosity made her imagine the alternative.
What if he had been there?
For a moment she pictured him a few steps behind her in the trial room, not touching, just standing where the mirror could catch both of them.
![[Image: 38-DDFD88-F0-BD-4-CC8-8-D81-3-EBFFC38-DF43.png]](https://i.ibb.co/BKF1BHCr/38-DDFD88-F0-BD-4-CC8-8-D81-3-EBFFC38-DF43.png)
After this the pictures of poses she taken and He would have seen the back pose—hips pushed out,if Rajan the one behind her he would have made nice compliments no dirty comments .. and he would not stay simply he would have done or act something
The thought made her smile for a second.
Then she caught herself.
[i]Why am I imagining what he would have done?[/i]
She placed the new outfits on the bed, looked at them for a moment, then pushed the shopping bag aside.
She was tired.
She lay down for a while and eventually fell asleep.
Later that evening, Mohan returned home after stopping for coffee.
He noticed the shopping bag almost immediately.
? Mohan: “You bought quite a few things, didn’t you?”
Padma smiled sleepily.
? Padma: “A few.”
Mohan picked up one of the outfits.
It was a stylish one-piece dress, modestly cut but much shorter than anything Padma normally wore, falling around her thighs.
He looked at her with a smile.
? Mohan: “Why don’t you try this one?”
Padma hesitated.
For a moment, Rajan’s face flashed through her mind.
She immediately pushed the thought away.
? Padma: “Now?”
? Mohan: “Yes. You were excited about trying different styles yesterday.”
Padma looked at the dress again.
Mohan was the reason she had started experimenting in the first place.
She nodded.
? Padma: “Okay. I’ll try it.”
She picked up the dress and walked toward the bedroom.
She still hadn’t told Mohan anything about what had happened with Rajan.
Padma closed her eyes.
Why is he repeating himself in my head when I never asked him to?
She opened them and looked at the mirror.
The woman there was dressed, composed and ordinary, nothing on her face to show what was running through her.
She wasn't thinking about him because she agreed with him. She wasn't even sure she wanted to think about him at all.
She was thinking about him because he had pushed himself so deep into her thoughts that she couldn't simply switch him off either.
She started wearing dress I'll give you two days. Just think about it. About what I feel. About what you feel.
Padma closed her eyes.
Why is he repeating himself in my head when I never asked him to?
She opened them and looked at the mirror.
The woman there was dressed, composed and ordinary, nothing on her face to show what was running through her.
She wasn't thinking about him because she agreed with him. She wasn't even sure she wanted to think about him at all.
She was thinking about him because he had pushed himself so deep into her thoughts that she couldn't simply switch him off either.
That was what irritated her. Not what he had said, but that he had left her with it.
? Mohan: "Padma? Are you ready?"
? Padma: "Coming."
She smoothed the dress once and walked out, her face calm.
After Mohan went to bed, Padma remained awake for a while.
She picked up her phone.
For a second, she thought about checking whether Rajan had messaged.
She stopped herself.
No.
She put the phone down.
Then picked it up again.
Nothing.
No message.
No call.
She placed it face down.
And strangely, the silence bothered her.
Not because she wanted him to contact her.
At least, that’s what she told herself.
But she couldn’t stop wondering.
The next evening, Padma was sitting quietly at home when her phone vibrated.
Rajan.
She hesitated before opening it.
Rajan: "Day one is over. So, what did you think?"
She stared at the screen, a bunch of coriander in her other hand.
One day. He had said two.
Another message :
Rajan : ‘ I couldn’t stop thinking of you ‘
Am obsessed for you.. am feeling like kissing you holding you… Padma .
Padma got anxious and trembling..
Rajan : Wanted to kiss you in the shop itself … I controlled..
Padma wanted typed Plz stop .. but didn’t send ..
Another message arrived.
? Rajan: “Anyway, leave that subject aside.”
She stared at the screen.
Then came another message.
? Rajan: “Did Mohan like the dresses you selected?”
Padma’s fingers moved toward the keyboard.
She stopped.
She didn’t want to answer.
She put the phone down.
A few seconds later, it vibrated again.
? Rajan: “You were really slaying in those pictures.”
Padma’s face became warm.
She read the sentence again.
She wanted to reply.
Something simple.
Those were just clothes.
But she couldn’t bring herself to type it.
Another message appeared.
? Rajan: “And you know something?”
Padma stared at the screen.
? Rajan: “You weren’t really posing for the salesgirl.”
Her heart skipped.
? Rajan: "And you were giving those poses to me actually. Not to the sales girl. You know that."
Padma immediately locked her phone.
That’s not true.
She told herself that firmly.
She had been following the salesgirl’s instructions.
She had been sending pictures to Mohan.
She hadn’t even known Rajan was there.
Yet his words made her replay the entire afternoon.
The mirror.
The outfits.
The poses.
The photographs.
The salesgirl asking her to turn.
And Rajan watching from somewhere inside the store.
Padma picked up the phone again.
She opened the chat.
Her thumb hovered over the keyboard.
She wanted to tell him he was completely wrong.
But instead, she closed the conversation without replying.
Heat climbed her neck. She pressed her palm over her mouth, not to stop a sound, but to stop a smile she didn't want to find there.
Say something. Be angry. Tell him he's wrong.
But he wasn't wrong.
The phone stayed lit in her hand, his last line glowing at the bottom of the screen. The little Typing… bubble appeared, hung there a moment, then disappeared.
He was waiting.
Padma turned the screen to the wall, and then the pillow over it, and lay staring at the ceiling with her heart pounding.
She hadn't answered.
But for the first time, she understood that not answering was also something he could read.
At 11:58 that night, the phone lit up on the bedside table.
She was not sleeping feeling uneasy and deep in her thoughts..
Mohan was asleep, one arm flung over his head. Padma slid the phone under the blanket and opened it.
? Rajan: "Two days are almost over it will be over tomorrow evening..!!
Rajan: "I only want to ask one thing
Rajan: "Just imagine for a second, Padma… if you had known I was the one choosing those dresses for you, and that I was standing right behind you while you were taking those pictures in the trial room… when you turned around and posed for that back picture, would you still have smiled like that?"
Padma stopped breathing.
Actually Rajan knew only about the pics taken outside the trial room so he only guessed if that happened inside ?
But Padma knew that she posed and taken pics ..
Then Padma immediately looked at her phone again.
She opened the photographs she had taken that afternoon for Mohan. She hadn’t really looked at them carefully before.
Now she went through them one by one.
The first showed her in the fitted outfit, standing before the mirror.
The next was from the side.
Then another from behind, where she had turned and smiled at her reflection.
She stared at that one for several seconds.
Rajan’s message came back to her:
“If you had known I was standing right behind you… would you still have smiled like that?”
Padma frowned.
She knew perfectly well that she had taken those photographs for Mohan. She hadn’t known Rajan was anywhere nearby.
Yet curiosity made her imagine the alternative.
What if he had been there?
For a moment, she pictured him standing a few steps behind her while she looked at the outfits, quietly giving his opinion and helping her choose between them.
She imagined turning toward him and asking:
“Which one?”
The thought made her immediately uncomfortable.
She locked the phone.
A few seconds later, she unlocked it again and looked at the photograph once more.
The open shirt. The bend. The thumb under the waistband.
curiosity made her imagine the alternative.
What if he had been there?
For a moment she pictured him a few steps behind her in the trial room, not touching, just standing where the mirror could catch both of them.
After this the pictures of poses she taken and He would have seen the back pose—hips pushed out,if Rajan the one behind her he would have made nice compliments no dirty comments .. and he would not stay simply he would have done or act something
The thought made her smile for a second.
Then she caught herself.
[i]Why am I imagining what he would have done?[/i]
![[+]](https://xossipy.com/themes/sharepoint/collapse_collapsed.png)