(All characters are fictitious, and adults only)
It is past midnight when my phone buzzes on the bedside table. I take a moment to open my eyelids.
I look sideways at my husband. He has his back turned away from me and is snoring softly. I straighten up and take a gulp of water. A message is showing on my locked screen. "I have fever." It is from my sister-in-law whose room is just down the corridor outside our room.
It is almost 1 in the morning. My husband Lokesh has an early morning flight, meaning that I will be anyway getting up just 3 hours later. It is purely bad timing that Meghna has fallen sick. Did she get wet in the rain while coming back from work last evening?
I realize I didn't check on her, as I was busy packing for Lokesh. He was as usual on his laptop, finishing some last minute pending work. He has some big presentation over the next two days.
As I scramble out of bed, and adjust my saree, I vaguely remember Meghna mumbling something about having had dinner outside. So she didn't join the two of us at the table. My parents-in-law have gone to visit their other daughter, who lives in another city and had a baby just a week ago. It's just the 3 of us in the house now.
Maybe she is hungry too. Feeling feverish on an empty stomach is even more awful.
I come out in the corridor and gently knock on her door. "Come in Bhabhi..." calls out Meghna.
She is sitting upright on her bed. There is a dimly lit nightlamp in the room. On her bedside table, I notice an empty bottle of water and a strip of paracetamol tablets.
The fan is moving slowly. The windows are also bound shut to keep out the outside breeze. It is apparent that she has a temperature.
Perhaps the fever is not so high, as she is not wrapped in blankets. I sit against her side on the bed, and place my hand on her forehead. It is mildly heated up. "What is the matter Meghna? Are you hungry?"
"No Bhabhi... I am just out of water. And I am getting these body pains, like what happens during onset of fever or something..." she replies weakly.
I feel a stab of irritation. Only for this, I was dragged out of bed after midnight. She could have easily gone in the kitchen to fetch the water. It is not like she is burning with fever and unstable on her feet.
But I cannot be angry with her.
There is a reason for that.
I also wonder why she woke me up in the middle of the night.
"I will bring the water. You keep lying down. Take a tablet and go to sleep. You know your brother has to get up really early today because of his flight. I have to cook something before he leaves."
She mutters something apologetic, and I make my way to the kitchen downstairs.
The kitchen is dark, with the light getting suddenly fused just this evening. I switch on the purifier and start filling up the bottle.
I get a little lost in my musings. It is little over a month since my marriage with Lokesh. My life has taken a complete U-turn. It has been a while since I sat down and looked back at how I was before. Contemplated things around me. I actually love going down memory lane once in a while.
How did I meet Lokesh in the first place?
What was the type of marriage actually? Love... or arranged? Then in the second case, it would have been arranged by --
"Bhabhi?"
It is Meghna, who has come down silently, and is now standing near the opposite counter. The water from the purifier is overflowing from the bottle, and I hastily switch it off.
In the darkness, I can still make out Meghna looking directly at me, with a pained expression on her face.
I know I have it coming. I am fearing the worst now.
"What is the problem Meghna?" I ask her as much normally as possible.
"Can't you guess...?"
"I-I..." I am at a loss for words.
"I cannot sleep...I stay wide awake night after night... and it is because of..."
"Me?"
She blinks away angry tears now; I have not seen them coming. This is getting pretty bad now. But maybe I deserve this.
"How can you be so ungrateful? Especially after everything I have done for you... this is exactly what you wanted right?"
There. She said it.
I wet my dry lips nervously. I know this was supposed to happen one day. The waves of allegations will come crashing over me.
I look at Meghna. My Meghna. The girl I loved. And still crave for.
We happened to be roommates in our college. Which led to many more things later on. But we ensured not even a single whiff of gossip would fly around in our circle. Nobody suspected us. Yet we explored ourselves in newer ways each night. We learnt the language of our silent moans. I came to know myself through her.
We faced a harsh reality check as our college tenure came to an end. The placements sessions started in their own flow, and we understood soon enough that we would be away from each other in a very short span of time.
It was on her persuasion that I started approaching her brother for marriage. She was willing to risk everything, and was so adamant to have me in her own home. It was she who brought the two of us in the marital union.
She told me all the things he loved, his habits, his mannerisms, and his idiosyncrasies. Both Lokesh and I were at marriageable age, so when Meghna announced at her house that she knew a perfect girl whom her brother could marry, there was no objection raised. It was her best friend and former roommate! When his parents came over to my house, I had little else to do other than nod my head in approval.
Meghna remained in the background, and winked at me.
Although I will never forget the passionate kiss we shared in the corner of my rooftop. Her naughty hands were more than playful over my saree-clad body, and I was so worried that someone would come up any moment to see my tongue clasped tight in her mouth. But the forbidden energy was so enticing...
"Just a few days more... then we can do this all the time..." she whispered in my ear.
I was initially reluctant, as this was nothing but cheating on her own brother. But she remained stubborn. She always holds some grudge against him, which she doesn't disclose to me.
We were both sure that we wanted each other only. I couldn't imagine myself with anyone other than her in my life. My entire soul was absorbed with our moments and memories, and my deepest feelings, emotions and love for her. "This is the only way. Trust me please." She told me the night before the wedding. I didn't think about my sexual orientation or any such thing.
I got married in her household. Just like that. Meghna and I were completely normal.
It has just been over a month. I have been trying my level best to adjust to this new surroundings. There has never been any real opportunity till date where I found myself alone with her.
Lokesh remains busy in work. He does sex as a routine, and penetration is his only concern. The foreplay remains absent, and he quickly goes to sleep after his discharge. He doesn't even open my clothes properly.
Who am I to complain? I already was a traitor to him even before the marriage. His sister and I have conspired to bring him into the picture, so that he marries me and we two girls can continue our relationship within the very household.
I always carry this on the back of my mind. I am trying to balance both. I always will be doing it.
"You know things have been difficult Meghna..."I blurt out. "I couldn't come close to you even if I wanted to..."
"Don't lie to me Diya..." she snaps. She stops calling me 'Bhabhi'.
"The relatives stayed on for so long. You also know that. Then we went away to her honeymoon. You also went on your office tour. That puja was also arranged just a few weeks back... where was the time?"
She turns her face away from me, and says nothing.
"I want you and you only... I truly do..."
I walk up to her, torn between guilt and regret. I embrace her tightly, feeling the warmth of her. Our breasts crush against each other, and certain old tingles come rushing back to me. I do not let go of her. I notice that she does not have a bra on her.
Meghna now cuddles me tightly too. I welcome it as a hug of reconciliation. When we break apart, I see familiar bold passions lighting up her eager face and eyes.