Falling In Love With You

Chapter - 21

The stars twinkled and the waning crescent moon accentuated the darkness of the night. The citylights burned along the highway, trying to cast away the tenebrosity of the night. The constant honking of the cars , the heat emitted by the headlights of the fashionable bikes , the motorized autorickshaws , faint whistles coming from the MTC buses , all pervaded the expanse of the road making it impossible for everyone in their driver seat to move even an inch towards their destination.
Pallavan didn't mind the nighttime traffic , instead his mind was preoccupied with the events of the past few days , especially the events that transpired today in his office. No matter how much he tried , he couldn't take his mind off of what his cousin said about Vasudha and Karthik. He couldn't understand why it was bothering him so much. While the traffic jam cleared slowly , his mind tried to come to terms with the happenings of the day. He didn't want to go into any conclusion about Vasudha's character just because his cousin told him so. He wanted to give Vasudha the benefit of doubt. Pallavan never believed in trusting someone blindly , even if it was someone whom he had known all his life , so as he sat waiting in his car , with his hands holding onto the steering wheel he analysed the situation of what probably could have happened in his mind .
' Maybe I am worrying too much about this. Maybe its nothing more than a few minutes of conversation with a fellow employee. Maybe she didn't know who he was and what was his personality.Could it be that Saravana misunderstood the situation? Am I reading too much into something that is not even worth worrying ? But why does it bother me so much ? And why does it bother me so much that she is not wearing her mangalsutra and sindoor ? Not even her toe ring was visible... She wore shoes to office for god sake! She is careful about whatever she does . What exactly is she trying to do ? What is she gonna gain from all these ploys? Its all so confusing for me... Oh dear lord ! This woman...! This woman is going to be the death of me! '
These thoughts swirled in his mind and as the nighttime traffic loosened up , the doubts that plagued his mind cleared away. Pallavan decided to observe and understand her rather than to jump into judgement about her character, because somewhere in the depths of his heart he believed that Vasudha was not like those girls who would get easily swayed just by good looks and charming personality , something told him that Vasudha was much more than that and he didn't believe ....he didn't want to believe his cousin's words. So as he neared his apartment building and drove through the parking lot he came to a conclusion that what he thought initially to do would allow him to know about her better . He also realised that being a loving and caring husband would break her when she would come to know that it was all an act from the beginning. So with this thought in mind Pallavan walked towards the elevator and pressed the button for the elevator to reach the basement , since it was late at night the parking lot was devoid of any humans.
The elevator reached the basement and the door opened with a ding. He entered the elevator and pressed the button to his floor. After the exhausting day at work , he looked forward to lying in his bed and sleeping off the weariness of the day. It was pretty much the same routine for him everyday , he would wake up in the morning get dressed for work , grab something to eat for breakfast on his way to office , have his lunch at the cafeteria and when he would reach home he would be so exhausted that he would go to sleep the moment his head hit the pillows , forgetting completely about having his dinner and he thought that would be the scenario that night too.
Since it was almost half past ten in the night Pallavan didn't think Vasudha would be awake , so after reaching his floor Pallavan fished about in his pocket for the house keys. He unlocked the door and entered his house, after removing his shoes and socks , Pallavan went straight into the living room. After the altercation he had with Vasudha in the morning Pallavan didn't know how she would react to him , he didn't know if she would be upset with him , he didn't know if she would even talk to him. He thought she would be angry at him after how he behaved with her in his cabin , he didn't even expect her to be awake at this hour of night.
After travelling for more than an hour , Pallavan was dehydrated from exhaustion, so he thought of going to the kitchen to grab a water bottle from the fridge. While placing his backpack down on the coffee table Pallavan heard a faint tinkling sound, as if a metal being nudged softly against the floor , when he looked up he saw his wife coming out of the kitchen.
He remained rooted in his stance, forgetting to even blink his eyes upon looking at his wife.
She was wearing her casual nightwear , a pair of grey coloured sweatpants and a loose fitting black colored crew neck T- shirt. Her hair was still braided but a few tendrils of her hair fell over her eyes , her face was flushed as if the house was hot like that of a sunny day , the sheen of sweat that covered her skin reflected the dim light of the living room , bathing her in a golden glow . For a moment Pallavan was mesmerized by how beautiful she looked without any makeup , without any extravagant jewellery but just in a simple nightdress with all her womanly curves on display.
Pallavan didn't know for how many minutes he stood there like a statue gawking at his wife , only when he heard her clearing her throat did he come back to reality. Suddenly he remembered that he needed to ask her something the moment he saw her coming out of the kitchen so before Vasudha could say anything he asked his wife, " You are here?" Although he didn't intend the words to come out rudely , his question came out rather sharply, he realised that his rather unusual question had gotten his wife off-guard , with a perplexed look on her face , Vasudha replied in a sharp tone ,
" Where else would I be?" Saying this Vasudha folded her hands beneath her chest and the process caused her breasts to bunch up above her folded hands. Seeing this Pallavan's breath hitched and he gulped down sharply , he had a hard time keeping his eyes focussed on his wife's face ' what would it be like to hold her close? What would it be like to feel her...? How will she respond when I caress her voluptuous breasts... Those curves ....Man ! They are to die for ... Fuck it ! She looks so alluring when she gets angry.... Oh god! What is happening to you Pallava ! Come to your senses you idiot ! This plan isn't working the way I wanted.... Hmmm .. What you asked her came out the wrong way ..It seems that she got offended . I have to be careful about how I speak to her from now on ...' As his mind coveted these lecherous thoughts, Pallavan shook himself mentally to control his treacherous mind and tried to focus on their conversation.
"Oh...! I'm sorry Vasudha! didn't mean to be rude or offensive... Its just... I thought you would be asleep. Its almost eleven and I didn't expect you to be awake at this hour." Pallavan replied softly. Hearing this Vasudha loosened up a little and she let her hands down , Pallavan let out a breath he didn't know he was holding in. Vasudha sauntered towards him slowly and stopped a few steps within his reach , she looked up at him and asked him softly ," Did you eat?". Of all the questions he thought she would be asking him , he never imagined she would be asking him this in particular. Her question caught him off-guard , but he concealed his momentary surprise and simply said ,
" uhh... No actually! I didn't eat anything on my way and I really don't have any energy left to prepare anything to eat . So I'm thinking of going to sleep and call it a day..." Saying this Pallavan turned towards his bedroom.
" Ummmm.... Wait a minute !...
I prepared dinner for the two of us .... Will you have dinner with me? I won't be able to eat that much food and the leftovers would go into the trashcan." This stopped Pallavan mid stance , he turned towards her with a smile on his face and when he looked at her he saw something yellow in color slightly peeking out of her crew neck T-shirt onto the side of her neck.
When he tried to look closely without being obvious to know what it was, he realised that it was the mangalsutra he tied around her neck yesterday. Suddenly he remembered the faint metallic sound he heard when Vasudha came out of the kitchen , on an impulse he looked at her feet for a mere millisecond and he saw the silver toe ring glimmering in the dim lighting of the living room. Seeing that and knowing that she's wearing her mangalsutra and toe ring , an unexplainable warmth spread in his heart , he couldn't pinpoint what that feeling was but it made him happy. He stood there just looking at his wife without saying anything with an amused look in his eyes , but suddenly he realised that Vasudha was looking at him expectantly as if waiting for something from him.
Pallavan was embarrassed as he didn't remember what she asked of him , " Uh... I'm sorry Vasudha... What were you saying?" He asked her sheepishly. " I was asking if you would care to join me for dinner?" Vasudha told him in a plain tone. " Ohh....! " Pallavan said out aloud but he didn't say anything more in response to her question, instead his mind remained circling around the fact that she was wearing her mangalsutra and the toe ring . After a few seconds of silence Vasudha again asked him " So will you...?" Slightly irritated at his wool-gathering. " Ohh ... That ! Yeah ...! I very much would like to join in for dinner with you Vasudha! But give me a few minutes , I must get freshened up first." Saying this Pallavan walked towards his bedroom to take a cold shower!