Page 63 of That Same Old Love

After they were done, she slowly told him a little about her marriage.

“My ex-husband called me a whore when I wanted to please him, or wanted to be pleased in return. He wanted me to lay on the bed like a lifeless sack while he had his five or ten minutes with me.”

Samrat listened to her quietly as she also told him a little about how critical Dinesh had been about everything.

“He wanted me to be model thin and called my hair uncivilized. He always made sure I straightened it all the time. Well… I was in my uncivilized hair when he saw me at a wedding and wanted to marry me.”

Samrat hugged her close. “I love your curves and your hair. It was the first thing I saw when we were eighteen.”

She smiled. “Really? All that I remember was some dorky neighbor staring at me holding something in his hand.”

“I was holding my first prototype of a solar heated lunch bag. Anyway, this dork stared at you and had some extremely dirty dreams that involved me fisting your hair, and pulling it closer to me.”

Mahi laughed. Lying on his chest, she thought about how Samrat satisfied her both physically and emotionally. Even though they hadn’t made any promises or commitments to each other, he was always receptive to her emotional needs.

“Do you still hate me for what I did to you and Ananya during our college days?” she asked softly.

“Do you think it’s fair to ask me that when we are naked in bed and I’m completely worn out and relaxed?”

Mahi didn’t reply back with a joke like he expected her to.

Samrat sighed. “I don’t hate you, Mahi. I’m old enough, not an impulsive boy driven by his hormones. I have been attracted to you for a while, but I wouldn’t have done something about it if I still hated you. Over the last few months, I have reluctantly come to respect you, and acknowledged the fact that you are no longer destructive like before.”

Instead of being content with the answer, she got up and turned on the night lamp and then looked at him seriously. “It was Tarun who was cheating that day. I knew it because I saw it, but I deliberately accused you since you were sitting right next to him and I held a grudge against you. I was mad at you because I felt humiliated when you told me that you would never like someone like me.”

“Mahi, you don’t have to do this now. I told you, I let it go. It was years ago. We were both too young.”

She shook her head and paced about in the bedroom. “No. I ruined your life. Even if you eventually ended up being a successful entrepreneur, you could have achieved all thisafterhaving acquired your PhD like you wanted. I feel you receivedthe raw end of the deal here, while I got you in spite of my past behavior.”

“Come back to bed you crazy woman. I told you I have forgiven you already,” he told her, frustrated.

“Well you shouldn’t!” she replied. “Okay wait. Maybe there is something we can work out… How about I grant you a wish that you can use on anything you want me to do? Obviously it has to be something that is possible. It can be a big or a small wish, you get to choose.”

He sat up on the bed with his arms folded behind his head and smiled. “You mean like some sort of magic lamp genie wish? Only sexier?”

She rolled her eyes. “For that you don’t have to squander your wish, whatever we are doing with each other is already covering every possible sexually deviant base. No, something bigger… like apologize in a national newspaper or… to quit my job at your company… Anything you want. I will do it without asking a lot of questions, even if I hate it or don’t want to do it.”

Samrat thought about what she was offering. “I would never ask you to quit your job. But maybe you are onto something with the wish. I’ll use it sometime soon. Now get back here,” he ordered.

She went to him, and slowly climbed on top of him to run her fingers on his unshaven scratchy face. “I like how your dirty mind was thinking about the sexy genie wish,” she said in a sultry voice. And then she kissed him gently on his lips. “I really hope we can indulge in all of my remaining fantasies during whatever brief time we have left,” she said softly, thinking of their really short time ahead.

Samrat was about to roll her on her back, but he paused and looked at her. “Brief ? Is that what you want? You want this to end soon?” he asked her intently.

She looked uncertain. “No. Not even close. But I thought that’s what we agreed on.”

“I want this to continue until both of us are satisfied and one of us wants an out. Right now, I want all of you. We spend all of our spare time together either in bed or outside it,” he stated gruffly.

“Yes sir!” she answered him with a smile before she got flipped on her back.

***

On their last night in San Francisco, Samrat lay on the bed next to Mahi, stroking her back gently while she held him.

“Mahi… Don’t ever change. Not for your family, not for you career, not for the society. And most definitely, not for me. You are perfect just the way you are,” he said softly.

Mahi smiled sleepily and hugged him closer, feeling content, but also scared inside. Samrat’s words slowly wiggled into her heart, creating a want and need that she wasn’t prepared for. And even though he was right next to her, she was already missing him.

Missing his closeness, his talks, his quirks, everything. And for her, it was slowly changing from being an uncomplicated friends-with-benefits deal to something more.

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