“That happens again and again when the sun comes up,” he left a soft kiss on her closed lips. “God knows who started it.”
Ritu smiled, and respected his restraint of not opening his mouth until she consented.
“Only one,” she found herself saying.
“Only one,” he agreed, and fused their mouths together. His body came over hers and she found her arms going around him, making space for him as his hard body met her soft one. She moaned, and his heart thudded over hers.
“Nilay!” She pushed him back.
“What? I wasn’t done. That will be counted as half…”
“How do you feel?” She asked.
His brow cocked, an evil smirk on his mouth.
“Not forthat! Any pain, pressure? Discomfort?”
“No,” his stance softened. “Although…”
“Although?”
“I should ask you that.”
Ritu stiffened.
She pushed him away and he fell to his back beside her. She pulled the duvet tighter over herself, even though she wore her loose tank nightshirt over striped pyjamas.
“Just because we have spent a night together doesn’t give me the right to ask you. But if you trust me with a little more than your body, I would like to know.”
Ritu remained silent. His breaths were the only sound. Hers were shallow and silent. She didn’t know from where but she felt a tear slip down from the corner of her eye. She was grateful it wasn't from the eye close to him.
“I never found somebody to do it with,” she uttered. “Never the time or the occasion. Ok?”
“Ok.”
She turned her head and glanced at him. His head was turned towards her just like hers, so much space between them on the bed. And yet their eyes connected and made words flow out of her mouth — “I left Mumbai, started at Harvard, and began to put on weight. Weight issues had started in Mumbai but I carried them with me into school life and then work life. Eating habits, stress, lifestyle… time was not a commodity I had either. This break is my first one in… forever. Ever since I left Mumbai. That’s 20 years. I never found myself attracted to this facet of life.”
“Not a boyfriend or a colleague?” He asked.
“A few tried. Maybe I have never had enough headspace until now,” she tried to laugh it off.
“You should have told me.”
“Ok,” she sat up. “Please. Don’t make this into some weepy virgin-and-the-wolf drama. I hadn’t experienced it before tonight. Big deal! Have you experienced holding a live beating heart in your hand?”
“No,” he smiled, sitting up and crossing his legs beside her. “But can we go back to the virgin and the wolf?”
She squinted disgustingly up at him.
“Why do I sense a Mills & Boons fan here?”
“I am shocked that you know Mills & Boons exists.”
“So you know what Mills & Boonsis.”
She stilled, caught. And he gasped. “Wow, Doctor.”
“Oh fuck you!”
