The COVID pandemic changed the lives of so many people. My wife and I got affected indirectly by it in a different way. We were living a very simple and happy life before the pandemic.
My name is Gopal Raju. I had been living in Abu Dhabi since 2018. I had a decent job as an HR payroll associate in a medium-sized private company. Since I had a decent job, my parents asked me to get settled and arranged my marriage to Kiran for May 2019.
I was 27 years old and Kiran was 24 years old at the time of our wedding. We had planned for the wedding to take place when I went to India for my annual vacation. We had a quick honeymoon in Ooty (hill station), as I had only 30 days' leave.
Getting accommodation in Abu Dhabi is now very expensive. I used to stay in a shared apartment that had 4 guys living in it. After marriage, I needed to get a suitable apartment as I planned to bring Kiran to live with me. I searched, and most of the available apartments were beyond my budget. So I looked into sharing an apartment where you can share the apartment with other couples.
I found an ad on the internet for a shared apartment that was within my budget and in a nicer area. I went to look at the apartment. It was a one-bedroom apartment. The living room was converted into a bedroom by adding a partition. The main bedroom was occupied by a young Pakistani couple who had listed the advertisement. The Pakistani couple did not own the apartment. They were renting the entire apartment and subletting the living room area to reduce their share of the rent.
The vacant room was of decent size. There was a double bed already placed in the partition. There was room for a wardrobe and a small table.
The entire living room was not converted into the bedroom. The partition was placed in such a way that the room occupied 75 percent of the living room. There was a bit of room outside the partition, which served more as a hallway connecting the bathroom and kitchen.
The bathroom and kitchen had to be shared with the Pakistani couple.
I liked the room and asked the man if I could rent it. The man's name was Zaheer, and he introduced me to his wife, Shamia. The couple were of similar age to my wife and I.
I was not sure if they could let me rent the room as I am an Indian Hindu and they are Pakistani Muslims, but to my surprise, they agreed to let me rent the room. All I had to do was prove to them that I was married. I showed them my recent wedding pictures on my mobile, and they immediately agreed. Shamia even commented that I had a beautiful wife.
I quickly paid the small deposit as I did not want to lose the room. I moved into the room and brought the necessary furniture. Zaheer even helped me with moving and recommended a good furniture shop where I could find second-hand furniture.
Zaheer did not have a stable 9-to-5 job as I did. He used to work as some sort of middleman or consultant. Shamia was a housewife.
After I settled into the room, I quickly applied for my wife's visa and got her to come to Abu Dhabi within 15 days. Kiran was happy to come to Abu Dhabi for the first time. It was her first time visiting another country.
We went straight to our shared apartment. I introduced her to our roommates. Shamia had prepared a nice biryani dinner for us as a welcome to Kiran.
After dinner, we retired to our room and had sex. This was our first time having sex after spending 20 days apart. We had sex multiple times that night.
The next couple of months just flew by. Kiran got a job as a receptionist after many interviews. It was a low-paying job. 2019 was not a good year for the job market. But we were happy.
We got along well with Shamia and Zaheer. Shamia and Kiran had bonded a close relationship. Zaheer and Shamia were a cool couple. They were modern compared to us. They used to kiss each other in front of us. I used to find empty wine bottles and beer cans in the trash a lot of times. I also noticed that Zaheer and Shamia used to go out sometimes late at night. Shamia used to wear her full hijab while going out with Zaheer, but once I saw her coming late at night and she was wearing a short black dress. I did not get a very good look as I was sleepy and was hurrying to the bathroom in the middle of the night.
I also noticed some times Shamia did not come home the entire weekend, but Zaheer used to be at home. Zaheer said she was visiting her friends or family in other emirates (other states in the UAE).
We were living a good and simple life until 2020 rolled around. The initial days of the pandemic were fine; the infection cases were not so high, and we were all taking precautions. But in April 2020, the lockdown began for 2 weeks, and strict restrictions were imposed on the movement of the general public.
My company told me to work from home. I had to take a small pay cut because of the slowdown in business. Kiran's company just shut down completely. She was jobless, and with the current situation, she couldn't find any job. My wife was sad.
After 2 weeks of lockdown, we were just bored staying at home. The government had removed a bit of restriction on the movement of delivery guys so we could order food freely.
Zaheer and Shamia were celebrating their anniversary, so they ordered food for all of us. It was supposed to be a little party with just four of us. Once the food arrived, they invited us into their room.
Shamia was looking pretty hot in her red dress. The dress was tight and short. It showed a good amount of her legs. It was sleeveless, with just straps to hold it. It had a deep, plunging neckline that showed a good portion of her cleavage.
Shamia is a good-looking woman with a pretty face. She is 5.5 feet tall. Her vital statistics are 36-28-36. She has a very fair complexion and shoulder-length dark brown hair. She had light brown eyes.
Zaheer had even gotten alcohol for the party. There was wine, vodka, and champagne. I never had champagne in my entire life. They order seafood platters with lobster, crab cakes, prawns, oysters, etc. There was also a cake.
They cut the cake and gave it to each other. Zaheer and Shamia kissed each other after cutting the cake; it was a long, passionate kiss. Zaheer popped the champagne bottle, and we toasted and drank the bubbly sparkling white wine. We sat on the carpeted floor and started drinking the other alcohol and munching on the seafood platter.
We were all a bit tipsy. Zaheer and Shamia were exchanging kisses in between drinks. Some kisses were a bit too long. After one such long kiss,