It was Monday afternoon when Arup had driven to work, parked his car and headed to the front door of his office building. As was his usual ritual, he stopped outside for a cigarette. As he had walked up, he had noticed Rasika standing in the window. It reminded him of their unexpectedly wild night together. It had rejuvenated his sense of self-confidence. On Saturday, he had covered for her at work. No one in the office suspected anything when he said Rasika had to take the day off for health reasons. As he did a lot of the work she was supposed to do, he was tempted to message her or call her, asking how she was doing. But he knew she would be with Nitin. And did not want to interrupt.
When Veena returned on Sunday, he had picked her up at the airport, and as soon as they walked in the door, carried her to the bedroom. Veena was delighted. She had also been feeling very horny, having spent all these days away from her dashing husband. And she was happy that he was raring and ready to go. They had sex six times that day, without Veena knowing that this sudden increase in her husband's libido was due to his having banged some young colleague under the roof she had paid for.
Just as Arup lit the cigarette, Rasika opened the door and walked out.
"Hi." she said giving him a half smile.
"Oh hi."
"Could we...talk?" she sounded nervous.
"Sure."
"Over there by the side. I don't want other colleagues walking by to overhear."
"Sure."
He walked with her to the side of the small grassy patch in front of the building. As they did so, a couple of other colleagues walked by waving at them. He took another puff and waited for Rasika to start talking. But she was having trouble finding the right words. So he asked a question that had been on his mind.
"Did you...tell Nitin?"
She looked up into his eyes.
"No. I did not." she said. She had been meaning to confess. But as soon as she saw him, her resolve weakened. Nitin had been so sweet and so understanding, it was just like it used to be in their initial days of dating. She liked how homely and nice it felt to be hugged by him. She liked how he fussed over her when they went to lunch. And later, when he took her home when his parents were out and made tender love to her, she loved the emotional intimacy they had regained. He truly did make her feel better about having failed. He did not berate her or make her feel bad about herself. So she could not bring herself to sour their nice time together by admitting what she had done.
"Ok." he said, feeling a little relieved. He had been half-scared all Saturday that the guy would show up at the office and confront him.
"Did you...tell your wife?" she timidly asked.
"No, I did not." he said. His logic had been much more straightforward. This young hot colleague had thrown herself at him. He was but a man. He had given in. If Veena found out, she would kill him. So he did not tell her.
"Arup...you are a good friend. What happened...it was a mistake, right? Just a momentary lapse of judgment from us both. I mean...I love Nitin. And I know you love your wife."
"Yes, very much." he said.
"I don't blame you. It was all my fault. I was feeling depressed and bitter and angry...and I needed some relief. And I reached out to you. And you...helped out. And we did what we did. But it was a mistake."
"True." he said, partly agreeing with her. The emotionally intelligent and mature part of him knew that she was right. But the primal male in him was disappointed.
"Can we just...forget it happened, and go back to being friends?" she looked into his eyes again with her usual earnest puppy-dog look.
For a moment, images of her curvy naked body flashed in front of his eyes, including how she came. He felt a sudden urge to grab her and mount her right there on the grass. But it passed.
"Yes, I think it would be for the best." he said, telling himself that one night of unexpected bliss was better than nothing. A couple of other colleagues walked by and waved at them. They waved back.
"Thank you. I don't want your wife to hate me." she said.
"I understand." he said, his cigarette almost completely finished.
"Thank you again. I will...I will go up now." Rasika said, turning around.
"See you...can you collate the articles for today?"
"Will do."
And the two of them got back to work.
That day passed without incident. They were back to being boss and employee. Working together on the proofs, the layouts, and so on. A few more days passed, and it started seeming like that one night of passion was truly a mistake that they had treated as an aberration and moved on. For the most part. Arup did find himself glancing at her a bit more than he used to. Even though she still dressed in that unstylish frumpy way, he had gotten a detailed look at what a dynamite body she had. So occasionally when she bent over, he found himself remembering her huge creamy tits or her full ass. And he felt like dragging her to the office bathroom for a quickie. He just shook those feelings away.
Rasika herself also did her best to forget about that one night. Things between her and Nitin were better than ever. No fights and no arguments. Her loving boyfriend was being very cautious and compassionate in helping her deal with the aftermath of her failure. He took care of the paperwork for filing re-checking, although she was not optimistic about it. And he never pushed her on it or on her entrance exam prep like her used to. The next weekend, she went to Mumbai and spent the time with him, having sex in his apartment, and eating out.
One tiny thing Rasika noticed was the general attitude and behavior of the other girls in her PG. She felt like many times, the other girls, including Neha, were whispering something and they would stop right as she walked in. It made her suspect they were talking about her. And sometimes she got the feeling that even aunty, who had been otherwise very nice and non-judgmental about her and Nitin, was looking at her differently. And she was right. Neha had talked to the other girls about what she had seen. And those young college girls, like many college girls, were gossiping about Rasika. One of them had even mentioned this to aunty, who had no problem with one of the PGs having a boyfriend, but was scandalized at the idea of adultery. The general consensus was, no, she is too nice and simple to be two-timing her nice boyfriend. But still, they did discuss the whole thing a lot. Everyone likes salacious gossip and they were no different.
What fed the gossip was the fact that Arup, as he had decide before, still dropped her home every night after work. Rasika mentioned once that he was her boss and he dropped her home because it was too late to walk home. So the girls were satisfied with that explanation. But still, every time he dropped her home, the girls would stand hidden by the window, and try to observe if there were any telltale signs of something salacious. Even aunty would observe from her room. They never saw anything untoward. And as days passed by, the PG girls and aunty started thinking that Neha had unnecessarily started a baseless rumor about the very nice Rasika. Clearly, that guy in the car was just a protective boss dropping her home. Nothing more.
