Before I Fall Again... On hiatus indefinitely. - Page 20

aah 😍, the update was tooo good...loved it...made me hold my breath but that happens while reading almost every parts of all your stories...thanku soo much😊 😊

A beautifull setting so well described...that most of them here did visit those memories...Be the tranquil...of the environment or the buzz of talk and laughter among those who capivated listners(Mama n John)...As for the couple...here you go...

One brilliant storm. Power outage .and I read this part right before it.. To say that it was a prelude to it after a hot cloudy summer day..something intoxicating about it.

What will be the chances of Nirmala's family calling for luncheon.😍

D, is this only gonna be updated on wkends?

Chapter 24: Lust and Caution

[not proofed yet]

That evening things progressed at such a rapid pace that I had no way to stop it. Krishna mama had evidently told Abhi's father about the Kerala house-boating trip because my father-in-law brought it up halfway through dinner. I was thankful that I did not have enough appetite to eat much of anything and thus not at risk for spitting my dinner out onto my neighbors at the dinner table. They all talked about it including my mother-in-law and Kirti didi and it was decided at Johnny's suggestion that Abhi and I should accompany him via train until Madras on the day after. From Madras to Kerala was a much shorter train ride. Altogether, it would be a two-day journey. Johnny was to leave at 5 in the morning and I managed to find the courage to ask my father-in-law how we could manage to book two train tickets from Varanasi to Chennai under such short notice, all the while avoiding Abhi's gaze. My father-in-law assured me that it would be a bit difficult but not impossible and that we should both go and pack right after dinner because we would have to leave the house before four in the morning. It made me lose whatever little appetite I had.

After dinner, I tried to help in the kitchen, but Kirti didi urged me to go upstairs to start packing. I did go upstairs with a sense of foreboding and breathed a sigh of relief when I found the bedroom empty. I walked into the bathroom, my sole solace, and stood there for a moment inside the locked door thinking of what I could do now. After about five minutes of such useless pondering, I suddenly grew frustrated with myself. I had always wanted to travel and had always to see the South, especially Kerala. Here was my opportunity and all I could think of was how to avoid it because of a man. If I were to allow his presence to dictate all my choices, it would make for a very difficult life indeed going forward.

Having thus made up my mind, I rapidly splashed some cool water on my face to clear my head and walked back into the room to pack before I lost my clarity and courage. I didn't have time to find out if it was a genuine revelation that I would stick by or a bravado that was just passing through. Just as I pulled out my suitcase and opened, I heard a knock on the door. It was Kirti didi and she offered to help with the packing, although I declined. She had to put her children to sleep; it was already midnight and because of all the excitement with the guests, they were still awake. In fact, most of the house still was. She told me that she would send Abhi up soon as well as with all the packing and all, we would barely manage an hour of sleep before we would have to wake again to leave for the train station.

I smiled politely enough before I closed the door, but I prayed that Abhi wouldn't come up until I was done with my packing. This time God heeded my prayers because he came in just as I was closing my suitcase. I locked it and pulled it upright to roll it to one side and was about to turn to go into the bathroom when I felt his hand on my arm.

I looked up in surprise.

"I didn't think they would decide everything so quickly."

I shook my head waving the issue away and started to walk away, but he stopped me again.

"Don't you want to tell your parents and talk to your sisters before you go?"

This time I truly stopped and looked up at him, wondering how he had guessed. I hadn't said anything to anyone because it would be an utter impossibility at this point.

"My parents are likely already asleep and my sisters are back in their own homes." I told him. I had talked to Ganga didi and Madhu didi yesterday, although given my lack of information about the recent developments, I had said nothing about the possibility of an impending honeymoon.

"I can drive you over to your parents' for a bit if you want to see them now." he offered and now I was genuinely surprised. It would certainly draw the attention of his family if he were to do something like that and as much as I wanted to see my Papa and Amma, I couldn't dream of disturbing so many people at this hour in order to be able to do so. And so I shook my head finally before starting to turn away from him yet again.

"Nirmala..." I heard him call me now, his voice so deep and husky that my formal name sounded like an intimate one on his tongue, and I felt it once again... that pulsing deep inside my belly... it was a strange feeling and it made me feel as if I was betraying myself, which made me angry with him and I tugged my hand out of his grasp and took off to the bathroom without acknowledging him. He let me go this time.

I stayed in the bathroom for close to ten minutes as I heard him move around the room, packing.

When from beneath the door of the bathroom, I could see the overhead lights turn off in exchange for the softer light of the lamps in the room, I finally felt safe to walk out of the bathroom.

It ended up being a most unsafe choice... he was standing by the foot of the bed, changing... He was already in drawstring linen pants and was shrugging out of his shirt. For a moment, I could not move as I watched the play of muscles on his back with his movements, the indulgent glimmer of the lamplight giving him a sort of otherworldly look. I didn't realize that I had leaned against the closed door of the bathroom with my palm over my stomach until he turned around and rushed towards me.

"What's wrong?" he asked even as I fought my alarm and tried to make myself speak so that I could ask him to put a shirt on.

All I could manage was to turn away from him, shaking my head.

He misunderstood my distress and moved in closer to me, his hand going around me to place itself on top of mine over my belly.

"What's wrong?" he asked again, concern evident in his voice although I couldn't focus on anything else with his unclothed chest against my back.

"Are you in pain?" he asked, leaning forward to seek out my hiding face, which only pressed his chest more closely against my back.

I managed to shake my head, but that didn't pacify him as I felt his hand sneak under my own against my belly, the heat of his palm transferring directly across the think material of my sari onto my skin. "You can tell me, I may have something for it." he said softly now and I tried to fight off the mist swirling around me as my heart beat rapidly and my skin felt like it was catching fire.

"You don't know what's wrong with me." I managed to tell him as I felt the heat of his skin against my waist where my sari didn't offer much-needed protection.

"I wish I didn't..." I heard his whisper and for a moment I couldn't move or think... then his words registered and I felt a humiliation unlike any that I have ever felt before. It doused the heat inside me faster than ice and I turned around to face him.

"Don't think that you are irresistible to all women. I can hold you off until I die if I want to." My embarrassment turned into anger and I drew power from it like the starved at their first meal.

"If that's what you look like when you are aroused, I will die with wanting you much sooner and save you all the trouble."

His words were confusing as much as they shouldn't have been and I escaped from there, walking quickly to the bed and turning the lamps off.

I released the soft cotton mosquito netting around the bed and it fell like a shield around me... against my wishes, I watched him as he walked towards the couch and through the slightly open window and the moonlight coming in, I could see the contours of his hard chest and torso flex as he shrugged a t-shirt over his head.

I saw him take a last look at my form on the bed and squeezed my eyes closed, trying to will away his existence from my head as I had done so from my heart.

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Devi, I read that 3 times nd I am still confused as to whether he knew she was aroused or did he think she was genuinely sick. Like I have said in my earlier commnets, Niki is a goner if nd when Abhi decides to go all out and seduce (in the most positive sense) her.

Abhi's such an opportunist like I said last time.. And they're already leaving?!

There's a sentence there that says his heat transferred to her through the 'think' material of her sari.. I'm sorry.. Is it thick or thin?! ;-)

On a more serious note, i want to know what is on his mind.. When he spoke to Johnny of her.. And the way he is behaving now.. It makes us think the worst of him! But I'll wait.. Kerala might reveal something..

Great update! :-)

Like someone posted a few pages ago, this reads like a screenplay! Love it!