A Brimming Romance

The next morning Roopa woke up at nine as if from a dream, and found Raja Rao still asleep, looking at him fondly, ‘Oh, wasn’t it better than all my dreams put together!’ she thought ecstatically. Impulsively as she touched him as if to confirm that her fulfillment was in the realms of possibility, for once, as the softness of her touch failed to excite him in his slumber, he continued to sleep like a log.

‘Oh, what a night it has been!’ she thought, withdrawing her hand though without taking her eyes off him. ‘Didn’t I know that it would be marvelous with him? What a lover to have. Can’t he be the one in a billion or maybe even in a trillion? Wasn’t all that longing worth for this sense of belonging? It’s as if he had pushed out all my frustration with his very first thrust itself! Haven’t I experienced the feeling of lovemaking in his passion? Oh, how fulfilling it feels! What a joy being a woman! I wish to be a woman in every birth if only for being his woman. Well, but for Sandhya, I wouldn’t have met him at all.’

‘Don’t I owe Sandhya in other ways too,’ she fondly recalled about her friend, looking at their man. ‘Why, some associations bring in happiness, and some, nothing but misery! Well, to start with, how I hesitated to befriend her! Can I imagine life without her now! Won’t he cement that bond even more? But how would Sandhya take to our affair? Won’t she feel betrayed at my seducing her man? One cold look from her, and won’t I die of shame then and there. Why, she knows how I’ve been suffering for want of love, doesn’t she? What if I beg her for his love? Won’t she push me into his arms without second thoughts? Then, as I cuddle in his embrace, won’t she as well caress me for my comfort?’

‘Until the other day, all I craved was for a corner in his heart, and no more,’ she thought amusedly. ‘But now, am I not yearning for orgies with him and his wife. That’s what human nature is all about, isn’t it? The more one gets, all the more one wants, doesn’t one? Strange that my life is, who knows, that too might come true. Why, won’t he like to bring that about himself? Surely he would love to see his women crawling all over him and on each other as well. Oh God, how maddening it is to imagine it even. How lucky I’m that I didn’t give in to Prasad to spite Sathyam. I could have revenged myself on Sathyam all right, but how could all this bliss have been mine. Oh, negative emotions could aid to avenge, but it’s the positive feelings that end in fulfillment, don’t they?’