13: International Conference of Social Sciences and Humanities, New Delhi, India: February AD2023
Bhanupriya and Hope
Anthropologist Dr Bhanupriya Gupta looked down at her notes and cleared her throat to deliver the final conclusion of her lecture. All around her the hum of the dark auditorium filled her ears with the sound of the air conditioning and the distant muffled whispers of her fellow scholars. Her eyes flashed to the dimly lit front row and there met the eyes of Dr Hope Meadows, staring up at her with determined adoration. She saw Hope give a small imperceptible nod and a sweet smile up at her. The two of them had spent all of last night together honing the last lines of this speech, even now she wasn't sure if it was right, but it was now or never.
'So, as we can see from the examples that I have provided, from the archaeological remains of Mesolithic women in shared graves, through the writings of Roman noblewomen and Japanese courtesans, all the way up to photographic records of Victorian 'old maids' and Soviet pilots, these instances of two women engaged in romantic relationships occur throughout the entirety of history and across the whole globe.
'These twelve case studies that I have provided you with are mere drops in the vast ocean of untold tales of past loves between women. I am sure that there are countless more that could be told. But sadly that is all the time I have with you now Ladies and Gentlemen. Therefore I will close simply by saying this; the lesbians are here, they have always been here, and we are here to stay. Thank you...'
With that Bhanu took a small bow, gathered her notes and swept off the stage. She was accompanied by a wave of polite applause, as well as a few whoops from her more overly-enthusiastic students sitting near the back of the auditorium. As soon as she had stepped down the last of the stairs which led into the audience pit, she was enveloped in a wide open armed hug from beloved wife and partner, Hope.
'Babe that was wonderful! You were amazing! They loved it!' She said happily into her ear as she planted an affectionate kiss on her cheek. Bhanu chuckled happily and quickly returned the hug before hastily disengaging herself, embarrassed to be showing affection in front of so many people.
'Thanks, are you sure it went all right? I swear, there were so many things in there that I should have said differently. Or maybe I should have included that one case study about the Byzantine noblewoman, or that one about the Malian merchant?'
'Save it all for the book babe,' Hope replied with a happy smile, as she swatted at her with a playful palm.
Already Bhanu could see there were several other academics and journalists gathering at the front of the stage to speak with her. She could see many of them were holding notebooks or phones in front of them, no doubt wanting to either congratulate or interrogate her on her work. All she really wanted to do was to take Hope's hand and run away, to flee through the fire-escape back to their hotel room and burn off all the bubbling stress in her body in the best way possible.
She looked over to where her beloved wife stood, her mousey blond hair tied up behind her head in a sensible ponytail with two loose wispy strands tucked loosely behind each ear. Her wide rose-tinted lips spread wide in a happy proud smile and her dark framed deep blue eyes creased adorably at the corners. She caught her own eyes glancing quickly downwards to Hope's cleavage, exposed by the neckline of the pale blue dress shirt that she wore. And then down further to her long shapely legs which led down below her knee-length pencil skirt.
Even now after years of marriage, Bhanu thought that Hope looked the perfect figure of the stereotypical sexy secretary and she found a small part of her quiver inside as she remembered that this gorgeous, smart and fun woman standing beside her was her one and only wife. She hoped that she would never lose that feeling. But for now, she had to finish the job at hand. She leant over and gave Hope a small peck on the cheek before whispering in her ear,
'This might take a while, why don't you go back to the room and I'll meet you there soon.'
Hope looked back at her with a coy smile on her face, one dark eyebrow slightly raised, before she returned the chaste peck, gave her hand a small squeeze and stepped away. Bhanu watched her go before she turned back towards the small gathering crowd, smiling at the first person with a notebook and putting on her 'professional academic' face.
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