“Do you still have that dress with Rupali? The one you had worn then?” Paritosh asked after Asim’s car had picked Mouli up in the evening and they were left on their own. They were in Rupali’s room.

“When?”

“On our first dinner,” he said with some hesitation, hoping that she understood.

“Of course,” she said without realizing which first dinner he was talking about. “I am not a celebrity. I can wear a dress many a times,” she joked, “Where would it go away so soon?”

“Which one are you talking about?”

“The one… Oh! Which one are you talking about?”

“Our first dinner…”

“Oh! Oh God! I don’t know. I don’t remember what I had worn. You do?”

“All too well,” he smiled, “It was a cream dress, with red dupatta…”

She felt guilty about lying. She remembered the dress as well as he did. But she continued her pretence, “I don’t have it now. I gained weight. It didn’t fit any longer.” She had shredded the dress into pieces in one of her depressive fits.

“Hmm…”

“Why were you asking about that?”

“I was just wondering. Never saw you in it again. It looked good.” He also lied. He wanted her in that dress that evening. But there was no point making an issue out of it. “And anyway,” he continued, “It is a thing of past when I had to live with the memories of your dresses, your old exam papers, your project reports, the taste of a piece of fried fish etc. Now I have you, right?”

Rupali smiled shyly and nodded. Paritosh encircled her in his arms and pulled her close. She pressed and ran her palms against his chest. Her eyes were lowered and voice low as she spoke, “I’m probably supposed to resist… at least a little, to act unwilling, to run away, to say that we should wait…  or whatever… But I won’t be able to do any of that Dr. Khanna. I am too much in love to do any of that. I have thought about you, waited for you, and wanted you for too long to be able to do any of that. I don’t know if I am spoiling things for you, but I am just helpless…” Her fingers were toying with the buttons on his shirt and she had unbuttoned one.

“Are you?”

She looked up puzzled.

“I doubt you are that helpless, Rupali.”

The colour drained out of her face. Was so much of honesty a mistake?

“There is something you have been resisting for long.”

What on earth did he mean? Her throat went dry.

“Aren’t you going to ask what it is?”

Rupali was thoroughly confused. She felt like she was being asked humiliating questions in a court. She tried to step back and get away from him. But instead of letting her do that, he tightened his arms around her even further.

She was now forced to speak. She tried to use her saliva to restore some function to her parched throat. “I don’t know what are you talking about, Dr. Khanna. Just now I probably said things that were inappropriate…”

“Of course. Hadn’t I told you long back that among colleagues, we are on a first name basis here?”

“Excuse me?”

“And between fiancées we definitely are so.”

“Dr. Khanna. You…”

“Paritosh!”

“No. I can’t do that. And let me go. You scared the hell out of me. I hate you.” She struggled to be freed. But he was stronger.

“Too much of resistance for one evening, Dr. Banerjee,” he was amused and liked this game.

She stopped struggling, grew completely still. She wasn’t looking at him. He was surprised with his lack of reaction. He continued to hold her with one of his arms and used the other hand to lift her chin. He was surprised to see that her eyes were full of tears.

“Hey! What happened? Why are you… I…” he brought up his other hand and cupped her face with both his hands, “I am sorry, Rupali. I was joking. You know that. Why are you crying?”

“Don’t. Ever. Do. That. Again.” That steely voice! She assumed it rarely. The last time she had spoken like that to him was when she was worried that her mother’s health would suffer because of him.

“It was just a joke, Rupali,” he tried to explain miserably.

“Do you have any idea how terrified I am of the possibility that you would go away if I did anything wrong? In a moment of weakness I decided to be utterly honest with you and the next moment with you talking the way you did, I thought that I had made a mistake. And I had lost you. Again and forever!” Tears started flowing freely from her eyes.

He did not say anything, but his eyes reflected her pain. He led her to the bed, sat down on it with her and cuddled her until she had calmed down. He repeatedly kissed her hair and forehead and caressed her upper arms soothingly in that time.

“The only thing,” he finally said in a husky whisper, “That your honest confession had done to me was – and I have no better or poetic words to convey it – to arouse me excessively.” She didn’t lift her eyes to him, but he felt her shiver. “Allow me to prove it,” he said as he gently made her lie down on the bed. Rupali forgot all about her tears and her anger at him as he started kissing her face. Gently, but with surety. With the knowledge that she wanted it as much as he did. He paid attention to her neck next and she arched her head back to give him access while clutching on to the bed-sheet to stop herself from thrashing around too much. The sensation was incredible. Suddenly he licked one of her ear-lobes and a moan skipped from her, even though she bit her lips to stop it. “I need to know,” he whispered in her ears, “That you are with me.” As his hands caressed her breasts and belly, she let go of her hesitations and lifted her hands to his head. She dug her fingers in his hair and caressed them urgently. Then she brought her hands to his chest again and restarted the job of unbuttoning him. When she rubbed her palms against his bare chest, he gave out a loud gasp of delight.

“Talk to me, Rupali,” he said as he rolled over on the bed so that she was now on top of him.

“I love you,” it seemed like the words had flown out of her mouth despite herself and her next words almost confirmed it, “Hopelessly and helplessly.”

“Me too,” he replied and let her take the lead in the kiss that followed, responding to her rhythm and pace. Then he rolled over again pinning her beneath him, undressing her to the extent he could without letting her out of his hold. “Let go, Rupali,” he hissed. And she did let go. Their passionate exploration of each other’s bodies was interrupted by the sound of a car stopping outside the house.

“Oh God! Ma is back!” Rupali exclaimed. Paritosh got up hastily, freeing her. Silently, but hurriedly they smoothened their clothes. Rupali had been wearing a cotton top. “This is too crumpled. I need to change,” she said, “You go out in the hall before they come in.” But as he made to leave, she noticed something on the bed. “Dr. Khanna. Keep this,” she handed him a packet of condoms. It must have slipped out of his pocket earlier.

“You can keep this somewhere here. I don’t want to be carrying it in my pocket.”

“What are you talking about? How would this packet look if discovered in my room? She isn’t going to check your pocket, is she?”

“Right,” he mumbled foolishly and went out.

—

Paritosh was in calm enough after stepping out. He greeted Mouli and Asim and they sat down in the hall.

“Where is Rupa?” Mouli asked.

“In her room. She is changing.”

“Changing? Why? Are you guys going out now?”

“No. Actually… I don’t know why she is changing.”

“I see,” Mouli said amusedly and Paritosh’ foolish reply, “You are the most non-interfering kind, is it?”

Asim laughed out loud. Paritosh felt that he guessed what was going on and tried hard not to blush.

Rupali came out by then. “So, why did you change, Rupa?” Mouli asked still smiling. She was in a good mood.

“I had spoiled my top, Ma,” Rupali had thought about it while changing and had the answer ready, “While eating.”

“Okay. So, you guys had your dinner?” Mouli was not interrogating, but it almost outed Rupali and Paritosh because Rupali replied in negative instinctively.

Paritosh gave her a what-the-hell look and she realized her mistake. “We were having some juice and snacks,” she added to explain her earlier insconsistency.

“Okay. Have your dinner then. It is quite late.”

“Yes Ma. Shall I get dinner for you and Mr. Sen too?”

“No. We had our dinner. I just invited him in for a cup of tea.”

“I will get tea for you and him.”

They sat on the dining table together. Asim having his hot and Mouli her iced, unsweetened tea as Rupali and Paritosh had their dinner. Mouli noticed some awkwardness between Paritosh and Rupali.

“Have you fought with Paritosh?” she asked Rupali after Asim and Paritosh had left.

“What? No!” Fight! Whatever happened to her mother’s perceptiveness? But for this misperception she was not complaining. It was for good that she didn’t realize what made them awkward.

—

To be continued