Adultery The Aarogya Wellness and Intimacy Clinic

[prasannas2001]

 
Scene 4 – The Clinic
 
The Aarogya Wellness & Intimacy Clinic
 
The clinic was not what Naveen had expected.
 
He had imagined something clinical, white walls, fluorescent lights, the smell of antiseptic.
 
He had imagined waiting rooms and paperwork and the quiet humiliation of sitting in a chair while strangers walked past.
 
He had braced himself for all of it.
 
Instead, he walked into something that felt like a spa.
 
The reception area was warm and softly lit, with wooden floors and potted plants and a faint scent of sandalwood in the air.
 
The chairs were upholstered in cream linen.
 
There was a small fountain in the corner, water trickling over smooth black stones.
 
Instrumental music played at a volume just below conscious awareness.
 
The whole space seemed designed to lower the pulse, to slow the breath, to make you forget, for a moment, why you were there.
 
A young woman sat behind the reception desk.
 
She was in her early twenties, pretty in a quiet way, and she smiled as they approached.
 
"Mr. and Mrs. Naveen? Welcome to Aarogya. Dr. Rao will be with you shortly. Please, make yourselves comfortable."
 
She gestured to the seating area.
 
Naveen and Seema sat down on a sofa that was softer than anything they owned.
 
A tray of tea appeared, small cups, steaming, arranged with precision, and Naveen took one without thinking, just to have something to do with his hands.
 
He looked at Seema.
 
She was sitting very straight, her hands folded in her lap, her eyes moving slowly around the room.
 
She had worn a simple kurta today, pale green, nothing special, and she had tied her hair back in a way that made her look younger, more vulnerable.
 
He wanted to reach for her hand, but something about the space made him hesitate.
 
It felt too quiet, too composed, for something as messy as need.
 
"It's nice," he said, quietly.
 
She nodded.
 
"It's expensive."
 
He almost laughed.
 
She wasn't wrong.