Episode 1 -- The beginning
Hello guys, this is a fantasy story that just came in my dream one day because I would never think of anything as such when I am sober. So, here goes. Hope you like this.
To begin, my name is Ashok, I am a 30-year-old guy living in Chennai with my parents. I am an only child.
I had a limited set of friends in my area where I grew up since beginning and even though Chennai was so hot, we played outside all day long and would become sun burnt and dark but never worried about it.
We used to meet every day post school and played till dark and on weekends barely came home. Always in the ground or in some friend's place.
We were very thick friends and supported each other through all hardships.
Fast forward 20 years, life totally changed for all of us.
Most of my friends got married and started having kids, I got a good job and was earning well and couple of my friends were also planning on getting married.
We made a few more friends as time flew and they became our closest gang who drank together, went on trips together and we were all present for everyone's wedding and child births too. We all considered us one big family.
One day disaster struck my life as I got married and then got divorced as we were not compatible with each other.
Nothing much to talk about the wedding or married life as it was a big mistake and it should not have happened.
We were all of a similar age group except one senior who was way older to me(us) in the gang. His name was Shankar and he was from Bangalore. We knew each other for many years as he had married his girlfriend from Bangalore and came to Chennai for work and settled here.
His wife was 5 years senior to me but we always had a good bonding as we both knew Malayalam and Shankar did not understand any malayalam at all.
We used to speak in Malayalam in front of him and irritate him playfully and she liked the kind of person I was. Soft and caring and always making her comfortable whenever we used to meet.
Anni means brothers wife. She likes me calling her anni.
Soundarya anni: "Ashok, you're going to be a good husband ra."
Me: "how can you say that anni?"
Soundarya anni: "hey, I see you talking to women and the way you respect them and making us feel comfortable always, I can tell clearly that you are a gem of a person and will take care of your future wife very well."
I used to blush and say thank you anni and slightly hit her on her arms and she used to hit me back playfully saying -- "oh, someone is blushing" and everyone would laugh.
I learnt a little Malayalam from my Ex and so I was able to communicate with her little bit and she liked that unique quality in me and made us a little closer as none of our other friends knew Malayalam. And we were pretty close as she always took extra care for me.
But after my ex-wife applied for divorce, she avoided me for almost a year as we did not meet often after that incident.
After almost a year, I slowly came out of my depression.
I spoke to my parents and wanted to stay alone for some time. After a lot of convincing, they agreed and I rented a house few kilometers away from my parents place and stayed there and used to visit my parents on weekends.
So, after few months of my guy friends coming to my place, one day while boozing someone said lets all have a get together some time soon. Everyone was high and agreed instantly.
So, we fixed a date and everyone went over to Shankar's house as it was spacious and could accommodate more number of people.
My friends cooked chicken gravy and rice at their house and fried kabab and everything was set by evening.
Everyone arrived one after the other.
Everyone greeted each other and sat down and made themselves comfortable.
We talked, laughed, made fun of each other, and had a good dinner and everyone started leaving.
Me and a few guys stayed back to help clean everything in his house before leaving and left pretty late.
I reached home and was going through the day in my mind, the kids were making a lot of noise and having fun. Everyone saw some sadness in me I guess because they all had a little pity in their eyes when they saw me.
Suddenly I realized that anni was observing me a lot, she obviously felt sorry for me but since she did not speak about this to me for a year, she felt really bad and kept looking at me throughout the get together.
I used to see her sometimes and make eye contact, smile and turn away.
One time I even saw her dusky cleavage and she caught me and did not say anything.
It was weird why she was looking at me so much that day.
Exactly one week later, anni and shankar came to my house as a surprise visit. They had come in car and they honked from below and I was shocked but invited them over along with their daughter Sushmitha.
I greeted and welcomed them inside, offered cold drinks and was playing with the kid for some time.
Me: "what is this surprise visit for?"
Shankar: "why? Should we not visit you?"
Me: "no, not like that, just asked if you had any work this side and decided to drop by or something."
Shankar: "since it's a weekend, we had lunch outside and thought of visiting you and a couple of folks nearby and head home at night."
Me: "oh, that's what I thought, why would you visit me on purpose, you came to visit some relatives house and thought to just drop by and check on me? It's ok. Understood."
Shankar: "hey, nothing like that. Our daughter wanted to visit her friend who stays in the next area, so thought will see you too."
Me: "hmmm ok, for few minutes you made me feel special, thanks for that. (I said sarcastically)"
Till now Soundarya anni was silent, which was not her usual behavior. She is very playful and jumps at any chance to defend herself or her husband.
Then, I turned towards her to loop her in the conversation, and she was signaling Shankar to go out. I did not understand and ignored as I thought some communication/telepathy between husband and wife.
Then he suddenly told,
Shankar: "ok Ashok, we are leaving, we will go to Sushmita's friends house and come back."
Me: "ok, carry on. We can meet some other time."
Shankar: "No, we will meet in a few hours"
Me: "I don't understand"
Shankar: "will you drop my wife home?"
I had a confusing look and looked at both of them and did not know how to react.
Then shankar interrupted me and said,
Shankar: "only me and Sushmita are going to her friends place, your anni will be here only, she needs to talk to you about something it seems. so I will be back in few hours to pick her up."
Now I really did not know how to react and by the time I reacted, they both said bye and left the house and drove off.
I then looked at anni and told,
Me: "I don't understand, why did you not go, what do you want to talk to me about?"