INTIMACY CLINIC - The Conversations we AVOID

WEEK ONE: Saturday - Part 01

Seven girls and three boys were sitting in the living room of Charlie's flat.

As Aanchal had seen before, the living room was big enough for all of them to sit comfortably.

Charlie brought some snacks for all of them.

"He has such a lavish apartment, but he doesn't have a maid." Aanchal thought. Then she remembered, Veena told her not to think. Just ask.

"Don't you have a maid?" She asked, looking at Charlie.

Charlie put the snacks on the tea table. He went to his seat. He looked at Aanchal and said softly, "I do. But I have instructed her not to be present at the time of my sessions."

"Why?" She asked.

"Because I don't want any unwanted person in my sessions." He replied casually.

"Or because you don't want her to find out what illegal activities you do here while you pretend to help people?"

He smiled, "I don't do anything illegal. Yeah, you can say immoral or unethical. But not illegal."

"What immoral things do you do?"

"That depends on what your definition of moral is." He smiled again.

"Why are you speaking codes? Answer clearly." Aanchal said, getting irritated. She was fade-up of the puzzling answers from Veena for nearly a week. And now, she was not ready to get the same from Charlie as well.

"I do not talk in codes. You just need to open your eyes to see where you are and your mind to understand why you are here?"

"I know why I'm here."

"And what is that?"

She froze. She didn't expect her words to backfire on her. She didn't want to talk about her issues. At least not before she lets other guys speak and see if she is comfortable sharing her past with them or not.

She shut her mouth and looked down to avoid him.

She thought he might put pressure on her to answer his question. She started to think about the best possible way to avoid it. When. . .

"If you don't want to answer the question asked to you. You can simply say – I take the fifth. It's a code to let us know you are not comfortable answering the question." Charlie said.

Aanchal looked up at him, surprised. She had heard that word before and understood what Veena meant by it. But she didn't understand how casually Charlie relieved her from the pressure she was going through; just a moment ago.

Charlie looked around, "This goes for all of you guys. And remember, whenever someone takes the fifth, no one will insist that person answers the said question."

Aanchal was still surprised, but she decided not to say anything. She didn't want it to backfire on her again. "I shall wait before throwing more accusations at him." She narrowed her eyes at Charlie as she continued thinking, "There is someone very intelligent, with a good sense of crafting carefully chosen sentences, behind that simple personality. He won't be lured into spitting his secrets out so soon. I need to be careful."

Aanchal's thoughts were broken by something. She observed that the room was silent. No one was uttering a word. A room filled with 11 people was like there was no one present. She saw everyone looking at one particular girl. She turned her eyes in the direction of everyone else. She saw the girl. She looked beautiful, classy, rich. She must be in her early 20s. "Why everyone is staring at her?" Her thoughts diverted from Charlie to that girl and she continued thinking, "I can accept if boys stare at her. But why are girls blushing?"