It was a late Saturday afternoon. My work had wound up early and I was returning home earlier than scheduled. Meera had not yet got any job and she had been bored to death since we moved into Bellary, a small town outside Bangalore. My company had set up a new plant there and the job kept me for long hours and in spite of us being married for only three months, I had to spend a lot of time at the office. We have had a few arguments due to the same but by and large, Meera was understanding and was willing to make some sacrifices for which I was very grateful to her.
It had been an arranged love marriage i.e. our parents had fixed up our alliance and we had fallen in love over the days of our engagement and subsequent many meetings, lunches, dinners, phone calls, text messages etc. I was absolutely smitten by her beauty and considered myself extremely lucky to have her in my life. She was 5' 6" tall; slim with an oval face that accentuated her facial features very beautifully. She had beautiful brown eyes, long eyelashes, curly hair that fell down to her waist and bounced up each time she laughed, a laugh that ever so slightly and very slightly jerked her whole body into a momentary animation of a shudder. She worked out in he gym and had an amazingly well toned body with beautifully shaped breasts, a flat abdomen and a bountiful of hips below the waistline. I on the other hand was the nerd between us- tall, lanky, a bit on the thinner side and a face that was very forgettable. But looks were far more compensated for by the fat salary that I drew from my job and that ought to have kept us both happy. And happy we were.
Meera's cousin brother Atul, who was a distant cousin of hers and stayed about 25 kms from our house, dropped in occasionally in the weekends and sometimes spent the night over. We didn't mind because he was good company, very jovial, and very mild mannered in nature. He was 4 years younger to me, about the same age as Meera. He worked at the local newspaper and did a lot of field work. That explained his fitness levels probably. He was muscular and nursed a six-pack abdomen that would be the envy of many a cine artistes! He had helped me with my car repair and together we had toiled on for 6 hours to set the damn thing right. He occasionally took Meera out for movies or dinner if I was caught up with work at the office. I was thankful of him as that kept Meera some company and the poor girl had some fun amongst the desolation.
Coming back to the afternoon in question, I had wound up my work early as the assembly line roller blade had broken down and production had stopped that afternoon. I was excited that I was returning home early and wanted to surprise Meera and then maybe take her out for the movies and dinner in the evening. I came up the stairs of our house and reached the door of our house. I had a key with me as I had to return lat on occasions and did not want to disturb her on such occasions. Today afternoon was hot too, the temperature soaring to an unprecedented 42 degree Celsius. I was about to ring the bell but then stopped, thinking that Meera must be asleep, taking a nap in the sweltering afternoon. I inserted my key in the lock and gently opened the door careful not to make any noise. I stepped in gingerly and placed my briefcase and coat on the sofa in the drawing room. The house was unusually quiet and dark and I guessed Meera was fast asleep. I opened the refrigerator, drank some cool water and went for the newspaper lying on the sofa.
As I sat down to read the newspaper, I heard a giggle. Clear and unmistakable, it belonged to Meera. Oh...so she was not asleep after all. Maybe she was watching TV upstairs in our room. She could watch cartoons for hours on end and never go tired of even the reruns!
I dropped the newspaper o the couch and went up the stairs to our bedroom. As I was about to push open the door, I heard his voice.
Atul's husky voice.
'Meeru! You are so hot...! Oh Meeru...I love you darling..'