Read Again!!
As expected, well, nobody expected her to be gone that evening.
But she was, nothing about his information caused her to make that move
But she left home when the cook showed up to cook dinner, she made multiple trips to the store. Each time sighing audibly as she passed by Trisha's room
She made herself a sandwich and eggs ate at two and left home
"MIL" was nowhere to be seen she realized as she let herself out.
There were no run ins in the morning either. Mandira was busy with her spa tech until 11 AM
Trisha left home to buy toileteries for herself and when she returned the lady was gone.
She went to Bangalore University first at Nagarbhavi and took an auto to a Cafe Coffee Day and parked herself until 10.
The three articles she was struggling to red for two weeks now, finally making sense as took notes.
Her friends were told not to disturb, but they did, after much giggling over how Mandira Narang does not
wear socks with pants, and how gorgeous her skin looks and how expensive that chiffon floral blouse must be, she told her friends she was wearing a ruby the size of Trisha's eyeball.
How Ashvin always wore blue jeans and white shirt in the evenings. He must hate colors! The girls concluded
Trisha nodded agreeing
The pinkest ruby ever she told her friends
She didnt even look like his mother, only a sister
She didnt tell them about the brief encounter in her room where her husband accused her of making him too old.
These people must think you are so unsophisticated
Trisha agreed wholeheartedly
"You should bring them to Ullal to our Thursday market and so they can watch us eat fried fish" Niru giggled
She will run towards the ocean Trisha promised
she turned off her phone and and worked quietly in a corner. circling passages, highlighting, marking "read Again!"
back in Indira Nagar, it was a full blown wine and dine event, Chirag, Pari, Malavika, Oscar, Ruben, Nissar friends galore
Two women known to mandira showed up
Elegant electric string lanterns bobbed all over the balconies.
From the street passers by could see it was a upscale home where the social elite were partying, just another Bangalore evening in posh indira nagar
"Where is Trisha?" Chirag enquired
"Must be around, maybe on her way home" Ashvin smiled disarmingly
"Does she not tell you?"
"If you mean do I keep tabs on her, then no" Ashvin was getting irritated
Chirag texted her, and after a half hour or so called her
The cook brought along two men to help.
"Where is she?" Oscar asked concerned as they leaned on the fiberglass wall in the balcony, looking down from the 10th floor
"I am not sure" he said sipping his craft mocktail with a mint leaf sticking out
"You didnt invite her?" he asked quietly
"Umm.. no... but she is usually home in the evenings" Ashvin realized he might have implied something
"Your Mom intimidated her you think, just like she would Mallika?" Oscar sipped
"She seemed fine last night, chill, unaffected. My Mom was shocked. She goes "She doesnt fear me" Ashvin exploded in laughter
Oscar grinned
"Aunty is funny"
"Yes, she can be" Ashvin agreed
"Are you still mad at her?" Oscar probed
"I was never mad at her" he spoke too quickly
"Kidhar hai yaar?" Chirag returned
"U shud call her" Ashvin suggested bluntly
"I did... TWICE" Chirag was not happy
Chirag's persistent interest in his "not real wife" rankled Ashvin
"I am going to text her again" Chirag began to text
"You should drive around town and bring her home" Oscar did not like Chirag
"I might" Chirag said haughtily
Since the day after was a week day people started checking out around 11
The crew cleaned the house, put away the leftovers and took off
"Its not because of something I said?" Mandira asked as her son and her stood in the balcony
"Did you chat with her this morning?" he asked a question he had been itching to ask for 12 hours
"Umm... no, I stepped out after my facial at 11 she was gone" Mandira declared
"Oh" "Umm... she must have gone to Ullal" he said walking inside.
His mother went to bed, as he chatted with Riz on the phone
Trisha let herself in at 11:27
Found him on the couch
She was carrying two sacks of stuff and her laptop bag, wearing a sleeveless turqoise ikat maxi, tired and a little disheveled, her scent aroused him a coconut jasmine like combination
When she turned towards the kitchen he noticed she was wearing a string of it pinned on top where her hair was bunched, a strand fell on both shoulders
He realized suddenly the apartment smelled like his Mom and he didnt care for that anymore
"Hey" he said politely, winding up his call following her
"Did you eat?" he asked
She shook her head
She went into the kitchen and turned on the lights the hanging breakfast nook lights with glass shades came on, the white quartz glimmered
"Did you have a good dinner?" she asked
"We did" "where were you?"
"I have three articles I couldnt read even one in two weeks, they are 100s of pages long" she said washing her hands.
"did Prasad come?" (with his cat?) she turned to ask, her flowers in full bloom, the entire kitchen
smelled like flowers. the two strands fell to one shoulder when she tilted her head. He noticed she was wearing kohl, she looked gorgeous.
"No he didnt" he said
Leaning on the frig, wearing jeans and a white linen shirt his evening uniform.
"Hmm... I must be an unreliable cat sitter" she smiled waving her wet hands
Her curves bobbed for a brief second something Ashvin did not need to see
She opened the frig immediately when she realized she did that
Opened the neatly stacked containers and opened and inhaled each one, her nose twitching on some he noticed
"Dont like?" he muttered
"This one" she raised the glass container
She heated her plate of food
"You should have stayed"
"Thanks" "But... I dont party very much" "Only with Niru Lissie in Ullal"
Eating fish roadside and watching any hollywood movie that had a lead guy in a shirtless poster.
"Big parties?" he probed
"No... just Lissie Niru and I" she nodded
He wondered who she invited to hers.
"Chirag called you" he said
"I saw" she nodded "In the auto, on my way home. I told the cook where the coffee was" she smiled.
"Its not the preparer, its the coffee" she said proudly about the java from native Ullal
She wasnt even delusional about Chirag Ashvin realized
Acc to her, Chirag must want her only as a barista
That thought gave him immense pleasure.
Enough to trigger him unreasonably.
He walked towards her as her empty belly warned and rumbled
"You could have met the friends
"This is not a real marriage Ashvin" she said quietly pausing before she pulled the corner dining table chair "I dont expect party invites" she told him
She leaned on the wall as he was too close
"i said no cats, not no Trisha" he said
"You shouldnt feel obligated" she said breathlessly, "I am not your real wife" she said almost choking fighting for air.
"Ashwinnn" she muttered as warning but it was too late, he was already bent over.
He bend down and inhaled a spot on her neck where the floral string lay.
She felt his not so smooth skin on her collarbone, and may be even a moist lip... or TWO.
"You smell amazing!!" he groaned on her skin. raised his head to find her ginormous shocked eyes... the kohl defining the luscious pools.
She would lay awake all night that night... not able to sleep a WINK. She would take a marker and circle the spot on her neck "Read again!" she wrote on her skin
Not thinking about enzymes, valent covalent bonds, nitrogen, or Aanu or Jayadev...
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