Kajal had woken up late that morning and was just having her morning tea when something made her walk out to her balcony and look out across the yard. The neighbouring apartment complex was pretty close, and she could see right through some of the windows. One of those scenes captured her attention - a young boy was walking into the room, and something about his behaviour screamed of guilt. It seemed to Kajal that the girl was irritated or tense about something.
Kajal stepped back away from the balcony so that it wouldn't be obvious that she was watching. "This could be entertaining," she thought to herself, "anything to take my mind off my situation." Kajal had just gotten through a long and difficult break-up with her boyfriend of 9 years. She'd thought that he was the one that she'd be spending the rest of her life with. Over the last few days, it had sunk on her that at 35, she was probably too old for the dating scene, especially in a conservative city like Chennai.
"Damn the jealous bastard," she thought to herself, "he just couldn't bear the fact that I was much more successful that he was. I'm definitely better off without him dragging me down!" She took another sip of the now lukewarm tea when she realized that something had changed in the flat that she'd been watching. The girl had shown the guy something on a phone, and Kajal could see that he was sobbing and seemed to be begging the girl about something. The girl, on the other hand, seemed to be yelling at the guy, and at one point actually slapped him.
"Just what I needed! Another couple breaking up just to remind me!" Kajal cursed herself for giving in to the voyeuristic urge that had made her look out. Disgusted with the weakness that she felt within herself, she just dumped the rest of the tea into the kitchen sink as she tried to figure out what to do with the weekend that would get her mind away from break-ups and boyfriends.
"Shopping! I should go reward myself for my latest promotion," she decided, "just because that jerk of my ex couldn't handle my success, I am not going to let it get me down. Shopping, and maybe a trip to the beauty parlour for a facial and massage would be the best remedy." She had to get her t-shirt from the clothesline on the balcony, and she'd almost turned around without taking another look at that window. Almost.
This glimpse though, was enough to make her drop the t-shirt and just stare! The guy was actually half-naked and masturbating, while the girl seemed to be doing a slow striptease! Kajal could see the girl teasing the guy and flashing her breasts at him. Her half-naked body seemed even more arousing because of the hide-and-seek. "Wow! This is a weird break-up," Kajal thought to herself.
She stepped back in away from the balcony door and continued to watch. She could clearly see the guy's frenzied masturbatory movements, and the girl's slow, almost languid striptease just stood out because of the contrast. Within a minute, the guy was done, and the girl just seemed disgusted as she put her clothes on again. "All guys are the same! In a bloody hurry to get theirs!" Kajal thought to herself with a smirk.
"They are definitely not a couple," she told herself, "but what on earth just happened here!" She was trying to figure that out when she saw the girl smack the guy on the head, make him clean up his own mess and then note down something on her cell phone before she kicked him out of the house.
"Hmmm. Interesting. Looks like she has a hold on the guy somehow," Kajal told herself, "and she doesn't look too bad herself. I wonder what it would be like with a girl..." Kajal's view got cut off as the girl finally went into a different room and that broke her chain of thought. "I wonder if I can use what I saw to my advantage and get some relief out of this. God knows that's a need I now have to fill because of my stupid ex!"
Kajal's day and weekend seemed to be improving...
**********
Deciding that it would probably be easier to insinuate herself with the girl while she was still potentially off-balance and excited from what just happened, Kajal quickly freshened up and got ready to go meet her. Deciding to play it safe, she dressed somewhat conservatively in a salwar and jeans and walked over to the neighbouring aparment complex. She carefully made sure that she was at the right door, and rang the bell.
"Hello, how can I help you?"
"She looks even younger from closer up!" Kajal thought to herself. "Hi, I am Kajal, your neighbour. I have seen you around over the last few days and I wanted to come over and introduce myself," she said to the girl, "Do you live alone?"
"Hello Kajal. I am Ramya, yes I live alone, I just moved her for my Ph.D.," Ramya said.
"Oh that's great. I live alone as well - my window is directly across from yours in the next apartment," Kajal responded, "Is there any chance I can get some water? It's so hot already!"
"Of course, I am so sorry to keep you standing outside, come on in please"
As Ramya went to the kitchen to get her a glass, Kajal quickly looked around the spartan flat. It was minimally furnished, and she could see no decorations, photos or even an air conditioner. "Must be tough to be a student on a budget," she said to herself.
"What do you do, Kajal?" asked Ramya as she came back and offered a glass of cool water.
"I am a VP at Westside, I run marketing for South India." Kajal said as she took the glass.
"Wow, that's great. I am sure it's not easy being a woman, that too so young, in such a big position," Ramya was obviously awe-struck.
"Thank you," Kajal responsed, she was used to such reactions and could take it in her stride. "What are you studying?"
"I'm doing my Ph.D. in statistics," Ramya said as she sat down next to Kajal. Ramya hadn't made any friends in the neighbourhood apart from introducing herself to her immediate neighbour, Vandhana so that she could keep a spare set of house keys with them. It was good to be able to talk to another woman who also seemed to be career-oriented just like herself.
"That's nice, Ramya. Good math and statistical skill will always be in demand. Thats good. Tell you what, do you have any plans for the day?" Kajal asked, deciding to try to take Ramya out of her house and to try to get Ramya to start confiding in her.
"No plans, why?"
"Well, I was planning to go to the beauty parlour to pamper myself and celebrate, and then to the mall. Why don't you come along? It'll be nice to have company, and we'll have fun. My treat.." Kajal offered.
"No, I have some chores to do, and besides I can't impose on you, we just met," Ramya said, but Kajal could see that she was interested.
"Don't be silly. I can well afford it, in fact, I won't even notice it. Let's go. I have a car, so we don't need to worry about the heat or trying to bargain with auto guys. I insist," Kajal pushed her again.
"Are you sure, Kajal?"
"Yes, come on now."
Ramya went inside and quickly freshened up. She was ready to go within 5 minutes and Kajal took her over to her apartment complex so that they could get the car.
"Why do you live alone, Kajal?" Ramya asked, "Do you not have any family here?"
"No, I just finished going through a long break-up, and my family lives in Delhi," Kajal responded, "what about your family? Didn't you just move here?"
"Oh! I am so sorry for bringing it up. I didn't know!" Ramya seemed embarrassed.
"Don't worry about it."
"Sorry.. My family is in a small town near Salem. I only moved to Chennai 3 months ago. I don't have many friends here yet," was Ramya's response as she tried to think of a way to change the topic away from Kajal's breakup.
Kajal decided to bring up the topic while Ramya was still in the car and couldn't do much. "I saw you with that boy, you know," she said. "Was he your boyfriend?"
Ramya seemed stunned. She was blushing hard, and didn't know how to respond. Kajal seemed like a nice lady, very successful at such a young age, and she'd seen Ramya's intimate secrets. "Oh my god! What would she think of me!" she thought ot herself while trying to come up with a response.
"Don't worry, I am not judging you, and I am definitely not going to tell anybody else," Kajal could almost read Ramya's mind. "It'll be our secret. I saw what went on, I just wanted to make sure that he wasn't hurting you or anything.."
"No, Kajal, " Ramya decided to tell her everything - while she'd felt horny and excited, she'd also been feeling very guilty and decided that talking to this older woman would help. "That was my neighbour's son, Adarsh. I caught him spying on me while I was taking my bath. I wanted to punish him, but it somehow got out of hand.." her voice faded off as she tried to think about how she could logically explain why she'd made Adarsh masturbate in front of her.
"Oh! How cheap," Kajal exclaimed, "but why was he, emm, you know, jerking off in your living room?"
"I wanted to punish him," Ramya started again, "and then somehow I also got excited and I wanted to see what he was doing when peeping at me.." she said sheepishly.
"Are you a virgin, Ramya?" Kajal asked gently, and Ramya nodded.
"Haven't you foold around? No boyfriends?" she asked again.
"Well, no, I lived in a small town. It would have become a big scandal if I had a boyfriend, and my father is very strict." Ramya responded.
"Well, you live in a big city now. Don't worry about what happened. It's natural for a young, beautiful girl like you to have urges."