The Inconvenient Wife - Chapter 6
She glanced quickly at him again and went to her cupboard, took out her night suit and went into the bathroom to change. Her night suit was a pale green shirt paired with a green pyjama bottom, very boring she thought. She went to the dressing table and started taking off the accessories she was wearing one-by-one.
Rohan was sitting on the edge of the bed trying to concentrate on ‘How Reindeers Migrate’ but was looking at her at the same time hoping she didn’t notice.
Sneha was blissfully unaware of the fact that he was watching her. Her necklace got tangled in her hair and she tried to get it loose but couldn’t figure out quite how to do it. She felt a hand come over her neck to help her out with this minor annoyance. Not used to this kind of behaviour, she quivered and her first impulse was to remove that hand. But she realized that Rohan was standing behind her to help her out! She blushed a pale pink.
Rohan took great care in removing hair from her necklace. It was tangled up pretty badly; perhaps she might have to cut her hair a little bit. It took almost five minutes to clear the mess and she thanked him and offered to make coffee for this sweet gesture that she was not used to and was rather stunned he did it. He agreed and went to the bathroom to change into his night-suit.
He went back to his side of the bed and started reading the magazine again. This time it was even harder for him to concentrate because his mind kept going over the events of the evening again and again. ‘What’s happening,’ he wondered?
While he was trying to decipher his emotions, Sneha entered the bedroom with his coffee in hand.
“Won’t you have one?” he asked.
“No, I don’t think my stomach could hold another morsel,” she replied with a smile.
She gave him the coffee and went to the balcony to watch the rough sea. She could see well-lit boats twinkling far inside the bay – fishermen who fished at night. They caught the fish and sold them fresh early in the morning.
It was such a simple life with no ambitions and no worries… ‘God, make me a bird in my next life, I won’t have to worry about anything then,’she sighed as she thought to herself.
The wild sea was in harmony with her emotions. ‘Where will my life take me now?’ she wondered.
Rohan followed her to the balcony and watched her for some time before interrupting her thoughts.
“Do you love watching the sea?”
Sneha turned to look at him. What is wrong with him today? Perhaps he’s not sleepy. “Yes, I love those small, brightly lit dots floating on it,” she said referring to the fishermen’s boats.
He came near the parapet and stood a little bit away from her. He watched the boats and also started admiring the view. From the twelfth floor, the view beneath was breathtakingly beautiful. City M roads were never empty and there was busy traffic all the time, even now at this time of night… leaving the brazen red and yellow lights… The palm trees lining the sea were swaying gently back and forth from the sea breeze. The clear sky above was showing off its stars, they were shining so bright it made the night seem almost magical.
He came out of his reverie to say something back, but before he could say a word, he realized that Sneha was gone.
She was feeling sleepy and went to bed and snuggled into her comforter and was soon fast asleep.
Rohan closed the balcony door, switched off the lights and followed her to the bedroom. He slid in beside her. The moonlight was coming in through the windows and fell on her face. He gaped at her flawless face, porcelain like skin, her features straight from his dreams. He stared at her in admiration for a long time without uttering a word. He leaned closer to her and was driven by desire to embrace her; however he could muster enough courage to steal a kiss on her lips! Sleep was hard to come by and he fell asleep a long time after.
The next day he woke up early and found Sneha still sleeping. He didn’t disturb her because he didn’t want to wake her so he got up quietly and headed toward the bathroom to get dressed. When he came back to the room after shower, he saw that she was still sleeping. He dressed and left home without disturbing her.
He was feeling somewhat different today and didn’t know what that was all about but he felt like dancing all the way to his office.