THE BEGINNING
Rita was nervous. It was the interview which she had mostly in mind. Humidity was the second thing she had in mind. It was so hot in the city and she thanked herself that she is leaving for her hometown in a few hours. In a first class compartment. She was initially excited, but was worried about the person she might be sharing the cabin with. She was also worried about the interview which had been scheduled so untimely, exactly in her travel time. She had no other option than to attend the video interview in the running train. She was all prepared with her laptop, dongle and headphones. All charged up. She did not want to risk asking the HR team for a reschedule, as she feared they might forget her if she did so.
She boarded the train sometime before the departure time. Her half excitement for the first class journey was quickly cut short once she boarded the train. The AC was not working. She half expected that it would work once the train got moving. But it had been 15 minutes since she had been literally boiling in the closed cabin. The Ticket Examiner (TT) came and asked for her ticket. She showed and asked about the AC. His reply had been vague that they are facing some technical issues and that it will be fixed in a few minutes. That frustrated her and made her moody.
"Get lost you bald TT," she murmured, but loud enough for the TT to hear when he was about to exit the cabin.
What is technical in a bloody AC? she thought and cursed again.
A plan came to her mind. She thought of taking off her shirt and pants if no one else boarded her cabin before leaving the city. It's not like I would be in my undies, I would still have my slip and shorts, she thought, pacifying herself.
Once the train crossed the city, she removed her blue striped shirt revealing a yellow slip to the empty cabin. She also removed her track pants to just be in a pair of red shorts. She took out her laptop and began brainstorming for her upcoming interview, and just when she was feeling better she heard a knock from the cabin door.
Rita quickly wore her shirt and pants which were spread out vainly in an effort to make it dry of sweat. She opened the door asking,
"Now who is it?"
The TTE had a wide grin, which was almost terrifying to Rita.
"Sorry to disturb you miss," the TTE said without 1% of apology in his face and tone.
"This is Mr. Mathew," the TTE continued and moved aside to reveal a young looking man. He was tall, brown and lean. Too lean. He just had a little smile.
"He actually had a ticket for second class, but the seat was damaged there. It is festive time, and this is the only seat which is empty," he completed.
"What? So nobody is supposed to come here? And you bring one from the Second Class?" she asked, stressing on the class, forgetting in the heat of the moment that she herself had gone to the second class not two years back.
"Sorry mam, this is the only seat which is empty," the TTE tried to reason.
"But what if I don't want him to be seated here where no one was supposed to be here?" she asked, hoping the TTE would agree to her demands.
"Sorry mam, but the decision is in my hands and not in yours. You have the ticket for your seat and do not have the right to decide on other seats in this train," he spoke calmly.
Rita stayed quiet and sat in her seat. Well I can't look good in the interview now. Thanks to his lean bastard, she thought grudgingly.
Mathew sat opposite to her after the TTE left. He had neatly pushed his suitcase under his seat. He took his mobile out and started browsing reels. Rita gave a sigh, hearing the audio from his mobile. She easily guessed it was reels that he was watching. She resumed focusing on her laptop for the interview. Mathew looked up after a while and looked at her.
"Are you preparing something?"
"Not your business, kid."
"Sorry," he quickly put his head down.
After a minute, he looked up and got an idea.
"I think something is leaking down there," he said pointing down when Rita looked up.
"What?" Rita bent down and Mathew got a sufficient view of her ample breasts from the top angle, majorly due to the top two buttons which were open.
She came up and stared at him angrily, buttoning her shirt up and cursed both him and the heat.
After another five minutes, Mathew began removing his tee and shorts.
"It is too hot in here. Wonder why the AC is still not back," he said casually in just his blue boxers which were covering half of his thighs.
Rita looked up shockingly at him for sometime, but she did not expect his body to be muscular. His thighs were not a match to hers, but it was not a match with his upper body as well. He had a four pack in his stomach as well. She stared in awe for half a minute, after which she changed the reaction to disgust. She rejected the idea in her mind to complain about this to the TTE due to two reasons: one was obvious and the other was her waste of time. She had so much to skim through before the interview.
At times she looked up at him (his body mostly) and he was simply browsing through his phone, as if he was not sitting almost naked in front of a strange girl. For a split second, she thought of going back to her old state of clothing before the TTE knocked the door. She forced herself against the thought, but only the thought lasted for more than a precious 15 minutes.
If he can do it, why can't I be casual? Is it because of my gender? Is this more important than me looking presentable for the interview? Is that such a tough thing to get? And it's not like I am stripping to the bare minimum like him, all these questions and thoughts raced her mind. She took her time and finally came to the conclusion of removing her shirt and pants.
Rita removed them while looking keenly at Mathew. To her surprise again, he just looked up once at first when she was in her slip and smiled. He even nodded in a respectful manner. This encouraged Rita to continue with her undressing.
Just after a few minutes, the AC got powered up with both of them giving a sigh. Mathew internally cursed the TTE, train and everything in the universe which conspired against him to miss a wonderful opportunity.
Rita quickly dressed up relieved, and threw an expectant look at Mathew waiting for him to dress up. She was surprised that she did this. When did I get connected with him? she thought doubtfully. But he did not seem to be moved. He seemed to catch her thought when he spoke,
"I will do it after my tee is dried up," he said.
Rita shrugged, and thought: Seems your underwear is all wet too? She smiled again to her surprise. Too many surprises today.
After around 30 minutes, Mathew finally wore his tee and shorts. But he did not stop with that.
"How about a game?" he asked casually.
