I have always been loyal to friends and buddies and have never taken advantage of anyone. But as I said sometimes life and destiny have a funny way of turning itself on to us.
I remember that evening very clearly, I was sitting on my living room sofa and reading a novel. It was raining heavily. I received a call on my land line phone (I didn't have mobile phone then, only a pager).
I answered the call and heard a man's voice on the other side. For a moment I thought it was a wrong number, but when he introduced himself, I realized he was one of the my colleagues from another team from my work place.
"Hello Rajeev, I am Vivek Dixit from commercials department, can you help please, we have an emergency, we need immediate help." He said.
I was taken aback a bit, "oh, tell me how can I help you." I asked a little confused, what help did he want. Vivek said, "You know Pankaj from the commercials department right?" I replied in the affirmative. "He has been hospitalized some hours ago and we need money for his treatment, the Doctors are not admitting him unless we pay 1 lakh, we some how managed 80000 we need 20000 more. These people at the hospital are not admitting him, and he needs immediate treatment or he will die. Please help." His voice did sound desperate.
I responded back, "OK OK tell me which hospital are you guys at?"
"Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, please help, I beg you to help please" he pleaded.
"OK OK I am coming, the hospital is not far from my place I will be there in 15 minutes. Tell the doctor that your friend has arranged the money and to admit Pankaj to the hospital immediately and page me at this number XXXXXXXXXXX OK? Be right there." I assured him.
I reached RML within 10 minutes, met Vivek and a couple of other of Pankaj's friends who were there, paid the remaining 20000 rupees and got Pankaj admitted to the hospital. While I and vivek were speaking with each other on what happened to Pankaj, one of Pankaj's friends Parul came to us and introduced herself. Parul is an average looking girl with attractive face and full bodied, about 5'5" in height, vital stats were maybe 34, 30, 34 (like I cared at all lol ).
In her sweet voice she introduced herself to me and then asked vivek, "Vivek, What did the doctor's say. By when will Pankaj be well? His parents are calling me regularly, what do I tell them?" I excused myself while Parul and Vivek were speaking with each other. I said my good byes to them and headed home for the much needed sleep.
I was at work the next day, I totally forgot about Pankaj, as it is now that he was admitted to the hospital he will be well in no time. Just after lunch I received a call on my extension number from the reception. I answered the call and was told by the receptionist that there is a lady visitor for me, I asked her name and was told PARUL. I pressed my mind hard to think how do I know this lady, must be a client, so I told the receptionist to ask her to wait in the meeting room and offer her coffee or tea and that I would be out in about a minute.
I reached the meeting room and saw the same PARUL sitting there who was also there in the hospital last night. A smile flashed on her face seeing me walk into the meeting room. She stood up seeing me walk in. I extended my hand for a handshake and said "Hi, what can I do for you?"
She looked puzzled, "I am Parul Singh, Pankaj is my fiance. I came to thank you for what you did last evening. If you wouldn't have helped in time god knows what would have happened."
I recollected the lady from last evening and replied, "Its a pleasure, no need to thank me for anything. How is Pankaj now?" I asked genuinely concerned.
"He is out of danger. The operation happened on time. But he will have to have bed rest for the next 3 months, most importantly there is no danger to his life" She said in a satisfied tone.
I smiled at her and before I could say anything more the peon came inside with our coffees.
She finished her coffee while we chatted briefly and said "I have to leave now but I have to return you the 20000 rupees that you spent last evening for Pankaj."
Before I could say anything to stop her from paying back she took out an envelope from her purse and offered it to me. I reluctantly took it with a polite thanks.
She then surprised me by asking, "Would you be free for dinner tomorrow evening? I want to treat you out for the help you extended. Please don't refuse, please."
Stunned by the offer, "I wanted to make an excuse but thought better of it. What is with a dinner, I as it is have nothing to do after work, a pretty company at dinner is what I need, I thought, and accepted the dinner offer, besides Meghna (with whom I was having a torrid sexual affair for the past 1 year was out of Delhi to meet her parents).
Before leaving she gave me her pager number and asked me to page her as soon as I get off work and we will meet at a restaurant. She also said she would call me the next day afternoon to confirm the meeting.
She stunned me further with her affection when she quickly hugged me. That was not a hug by the way, that was something intimate because she kissed me softly on the cheek and walked out of the door with me standing there holding the door in daze.
That night, surprisingly, I shagged my self twice fantasizing about Parul before I slept soundly. Why surprisingly? Because I hardly shag fantasizing about any other girl except Meghna who has been my lover and soul mate all this while and to fantasize about another woman was surprising to me.
At dinner the following evening, we had a good time chatting. Parul was smart and enthusiastic about life, making her a real kick to hang out with quite aside from her remarkably simple yet attractive looks. I had absolutely no idea what she wanted with me when she was already engaged to a colleague of mine, but she seemed to be having as good a time as I was.
We finished dinner, I settled the bill and walked out of the front door towards my parked motorcycle.
She said "Thanks for a lovely dinner Rajeev, I don't remember having such a good time ever before. You sure are a charming man" There was a glint in her eyes when she said it.
I responded with "It was a pleasure. You are an awesome woman. Pankaj is very lucky to have you as his fiance" After a pause I asked, "Would you like me to drop you home?"
I felt Parul shiver slightly and blush when I appreciated her and offered her a ride home. She nodded a "Yes please, I don't know whether I would get an Auto rickshaw for Patel Nagar at this time of the night" (Patel Nagar is an uptown area of New Delhi in India).
I said, "Hop on, I will drop you home." Before she could sit I quickly offered her my jacket as it was slightly cold that night and we had a long drive ahead of us. She took it and wore the jacket without hesitation.
I started my motorcycle which roared to life, she sat in the passenger seat the old fashioned way. I completely understood why she sat that way, one reason being she was wearing a knee length skirt and another being a more moralistic reason that we were just two acquaintances and not actually friends so it made sense for her to sit at the passenger seat the way she did.
She kept one hand on my shoulder all the way. It was a cool breezy night as it had rained in the evening, but the sky was clear the entire night. Though I was shivering slightly due to the cold breeze but I felt it was alright. I also felt a slight warmth on my back as Parul was sitting close and her body was warm because of the jacket.
The ride home was quite, we didn't talk at all except for directions to her home when we reached Patel Nagar. She got down from the passenger seat, took off the jacket and hugged me again with a "THANK YOU" and a soft kiss on my cheek and walked off towards her home. I saw her entering her home and I drove off.
That night again I shagged twice fantasizing about Parul (this time I clearly fantasized about her light brown sexy smooth and strong legs wrapped around my waist while I was pounding roughly inside her).
The next few days were as usual busy with work and the dinner night was totally a haze in my mind.
A few days later, towards the evening a couple of hours before I ended work for the day, I received a page on my pager from Parul. She was close by my office and wanted to check if we can catch up for a coffee. The message woke me up from my busy mind and made me think. I quickly paged her back with a YES, with the details of the coffee near by and the location. She promptly reached there at 6 in the evening, I had reached couple minutes earlier and I was waiting for her near the entrance of the restaurant.
We hugged and walked into the coffee shop. Comfortably seated, we ordered coffee and talked generally. She told me a few things that made me realize that this woman was onto me and wanted affection so badly. This fact was confirmed when she said, "I feel very lonely these days, Rajeev. Since Pankaj's operation he keeps to himself and becomes irritated about petty things. Sometimes I feel like crying. I take care of him so much, I have always been there for him, yet he treats me with disrespect these days."
Before I could say anything, she spoke again "Please don't take me wrong if I insist on meeting you regularly. I just want to share my feelings with someone. I have friends but they don't seem to be bothered about what I am going through. If you think I am interfering in your life please do say so."
I heard her out and replied, "Relax Parul, you need to give Pankaj some time to recover and get back to his former self. And don't worry about anything, call me or meet me anytime you want to talk, this is my residence land-line number and address (I wrote down on the tissue paper) you can reach me here anytime."
She smiled at me. Her face showed satisfaction, she relaxed and sat comfortably. We chatted for over an hour and then headed home. I dropped her off again to her place, though I had to take a detour from my regular route to which she protested and wanted to hire an Auto Rickshaw, I flatly refused in mock anger, she agreed and we were on our way.
That evening she sat behind me with her legs on either side of the seat since she was wearing a salwar kameez. Both her arms were on either side of my shoulders and she sat behind me closer than she earlier did. Her body pressing on my back. Her head close to my helmet (earlier I thought she did that so she could talk with me, but she had actually done that to softly blow air behind my ears and on my neck. This seemed to me rather odd as only lovers do that and not acquaintances), however I did not object to the way she sat or what she was doing behind me.
Half way through she changed the position of her arms, earlier they were on both my shoulders now she moved them to hug me locking her arms from under my shoulders to keep her hands on the front of my shoulders, which prompted me to ask her, "Parul are you alright? Hope you are not feeling cold?"
"I am alright, in fact I am feeling warm, thank you" She replied.
I completely understood her intentions but didn't object still.
She moved her face closer to the side of my face near the ear and said softly, "You stay alone in Delhi? No family, wife, girlfriend?"
I replied with a laugh, "Family is in another city. No girlfriends for the past 3 years (i lied, I was fucking meghna's brains out and she was my girlfriend), so yes I stay alone for the past 3 years."
