At length, as he instinctively turned his gaze towards Sandhya for an unintended comparison, he found her talking to Roopa animatedly. He felt the smooth contours of Sandhya’s delectable frame gave waviness to the sari she wore. It seemed to him that his wife’s rosy face glowed even more by the radiance of the lightning. The delicacy of her demeanor made him envision the evocative charm of a bunch of seedless grapes in the midst of the season.

‘Individually they picture contrasting charms but together they symbolize beauty itself,’ he analyzed his own state of mind. ‘My cup of life would be half empty till I have Roopa as well. Oh, what a marvel of a woman! And imagine she’s infatuated with me! Nevertheless, how painfully sweet love is in anxiety. That’s the charm of it, isn’t it? But as the urge surges, so would the pain for possession in the pangs of passion. Only her soothing embrace can bring solace to my troubled soul. Well, even if she were attracted, would she be inclined to bestow her final favor on me? In spite of her proclivities, won’t it be a big hurdle for her to cross, to enter into a liaison with her friend’s husband?’

‘Why am I allowing myself to be distracted by her charms when my bride herself is so fresh?’ he thought in wonderment. ‘Isn’t it said that love increases in proportion to the possibility of possession. That way, Tara is no mean a charmer either; any man would gladly put his soul on the line to win her favors. Oh, how these sexy women move me! Anyway, is there a way I can possess Tara? But for that who knows I might have been daydreaming about her. Thankfully, it’s all different with Roopa for her friendship with Sandhya might as well usher in our love affair.’

Even as he felt hopeful of possessing Roopa one day, her enamored eyes and suggestive gestures he reminisced, had only fuelled his passion for her possession. ‘Possession, to be meaningful, should be timely,’ he reasoned, as he increased his pace to come closer to the women. ‘When we would meet next time around, who knows, she could be carrying. Won’t it then turn out into a regimen of seeing a bloated Roopa belatedly? Then, with nothing left to inspire possession, and having gained to make it difficult, won’t she leave me pondering over her past contours in her rotund presence? Well, holding her child in my lap, won’t I be left wondering as to what it would have been like had I possessed her before? Wouldn’t the hoped-for possession on a grand scale passion end up a damp squib in a platonic fashion? It would for sure and sadly at that.’