Benign Flame: Saga of Love, BS Murthy [rainbow fish read aloud txt] 📗

drag on my life but hasn’t this throbbing pain of love activated my heart. When it is so pleasurable pining for him, how thrilling it would be to possess him? Won’t all this amount to consciously coveting Sandhya’s man?’

Shocked by that thought, she questioned herself in disbelief,

‘Why didn’t my conscience caution me when my infatuation began coveting her man? Is it because it’s love that’s at the root of my passion? Moreover, I’m not out to snatch him from her, am I? Why, I want to bestow my affection on the man whom she seems to adore. Given our lesbianism, what’s wrong if I want to augment her man’s happiness with my body and soul as well? How thrilling it could be for the three of us in a grand liaison!’

Having rationalized her proclivity thus, she began visualizing the ecstasies of their threesome orgies to her peculiar excitement.

Soon, the train halted on platform number two to unload its load of weary passengers, and when she saw him alighting from a first class coach at some distance, she stopped in her tracks.

‘Didn’t I guess it right? He looks so divine,’ she thought endearingly, espying him longingly. ‘It’s worth pining for him even though it’s paining. Isn’t pain better than the lack of any feeling?’

Though, in time, as Roopa spotted Sandhya descending from the train, her look acquired a new-found love, goading her to rush towards them even as she recalled the incident in that train journey.

‘If that weird episode could romanticize my gloom, wouldn’t his vivacity have overwhelmed her in a romantic whirlwind?’ she felt reaching them with arms outstretched.

When Roopa was at an arm’s length, Sandhya leapt towards her, losing her balance in the bargain, and as Raja Rao instinctively tried to prevent her from tumbling, his hands clasped Roopa’s arms calling the same bidding. Holding Sandhya in between them, as they looked at each other, his gaze portrayed longing and her look acquired the feeling of belonging.

Later, as he was arranging for a coolie, the friends were boggled with tears of joy.

“How’s my raakhi brother?” enquired Sandhya at length.

‘He’s Ok but away, been to Warangal before your wire arrived,” replied Roopa.

“How disappointing, will he be back before we leave tomorrow?” said Sandhya.

“I thought you would be staying a little longer,” said Roopa in all disillusionment.

“Honestly, we’re hard pressed for time, but still wanted to see you two,” said Raja Rao, who joined them by then.

 “Can’t you imagine what your gesture means to me?” said Roopa softly, after having thought amusedly,

‘He’s again at it with that ‘too’.’

“Given your hearty welcome where’s the need for imagination,” he said seductively.

‘He’s simply impossible, not even worried that Sandhya might guess,’ Roopa thought, thrilled by his audacity.  

Securing the rest of their luggage in the cloakroom, they exited with a suitcase that Raja Rao carried. Walking along with them, Roopa thought,

‘Surely, he heard about Sathyam’s absence but failed to voice the customary disappointment. Why, won’t he know it’s a godsend for him to make advances at me? It’s clear that he knows that I’ve fallen head over heels for him, with all my heart and soul as well. The fact that he kept mum shows he’s not a hypocrite, and how I abhor hypocrisy, though I was guilty of it with Chandrika then. Anyway, won’t Sathyam’s absence suit me as well, for the same reason? Well, it could be providential, couldn’t it be? Besides, Sathyam’s presence could have devalued me in Raja’s esteem.’

Gladdened by Roopa’s warmth, Raja Rao toyed with the idea of extending their stay but gave up in the end, fearing that it might give him away. Nevertheless, he made up his mind to delve deeper into her heart while further revealing his feelings to her mind.  

 

Chapter 17

Tentative Moves

 

By the time they came out of the Railway Station, the auto-stand wore a deserted look. So, moving away from them to locate an auto, Roopa hailed at a passing driver, who drove the vehicle between her and the couple. It was as if he wanted to form a wedge between them to show her, her place in the love triangle. However, as Roopa got in from the right side, Raja Rao stepped in from the left to place the luggage in the space behind, and even as he was about to step out to let Sandhya get in, he found himself pushed in by her, unmindful of the protocol. Soon, as Sandhya nudged him for more space for herself, he was pushed closer to Roopa that filled her heart and thrilled his senses.

Having thus posited between his wife he loved and the woman he enamored, as Raja Rao realized that his sex life would be dull without bedding the latter as well, the jerks of the journey thereon that jostled him closer to them only sharpened Sandhya’s sensuality and deepened Roopa’s desire. It’s thus, when the auto finally reached her place, reluctantly getting down from it; Roopa thought endearingly, ‘If a mere thirty-minute ride with him could be so exciting how exhilarating a lifelong journey could be?’

However, once they got into her penthouse, as Raja Rao went straight into the toilet, she pulled Sandhya into her embrace and crooned in her ears, ‘how’s that?’ Saying, ‘wait until dark’, as Sandhya reached for her lips, Roopa engaged them in a prolonged kiss that was before the new bride rose to show her marriage album to her old mate.

“I may be mistaken as photo-crazy,” said Roopa finding herself in every other picture therein.

“We thought you’re a value addition,” said Sandhya, affectionately leaning on Roopa’s shoulder.

“Who else?” said Roopa, sensing Raja Rao’s coming.

“Can’t you guess?” said Sandhya pointing to her man with her gaze.

“It appears that ma’am kept watch on me,” he said, making Roopa blush to the roots.

“I was measuring my mate’s fortune in the making,” said Roopa, composing herself readily.

“What a compliment!” he said, thrilled at that.

“Your gesture truly complements,” said Roopa.

“Wonder why it’s said that beauty and brains won’t coexist in the feminine frames for you both seem to have appropriated the most of both,” said a pleased Raja Rao.

“Thank you, but stop this ma’am thing, you know she has a beautiful name,” said Sandhya thrilled to the core.

“She may feel that sounds familiar,” he said, looking at Roopa.

“Roopa,” said Roopa, matching his gaze.

“Roopa,” he repeated, thrilling her senses.

“I’ll have a bath,” said Sandhya, and left.

“Roopa,” he said as she was savouring his picture in that album.

 However, as the ardency in his tone signaled a note of urgency, she shifted her loving gaze from the groom in the pictures onto him in her very presence.

“Roopa,” he repeated

“Hahn.”

“We’ll be leaving tomorrow,” he said with a feeling of disappointment that she grasped in the tenor of his tone.

“I know,” she murmured, constrained to express the desire of her heart, ‘how I wish you would take me too.’

Thereafter, she kept quiet, and staring at her in disappointment, he thought,

‘She could’ve easily said, ‘you could’ve stayed for a day or more’, without compromising herself that is and that would’ve enabled me to open my heart to her, inducing her to pour out in reciprocity. Isn’t it apparent that she’s attracted to me, there is no mistaking that. Won’t her heavy manner belie the burden of her love for me?’

The feeling that she loved him pleased him even more for her very presence.

However, finding him truant, she realized that she goofed up her chance, and thought,

‘Any commonplace comment could’ve kept the dialogue going, and who knows, what it would have unraveled. But why won’t he realise that it’s a mere slip between my cup of emotion and the lip of my expression?’

However, as blaming him didn’t appeal to her mind, she tried to rationalize his lack of forthrightness,

‘In his position, he can’t but be tentative, for the fear of offending my sensitivity.’

Thus, even though their lips were sealed in apprehension, their eyes continued their conversation without any inhibition.

Sandhya, meanwhile, felt refreshed while freshening herself in her bath thinking excitedly,

‘She likes my man. But then, won’t women find him fascinating if they happen to get acquainted with him? That way, he too turned fond of her, why not; can any man ever ignore her either? How lucky I’m to have a friend like her and a man like him!’

Soon, sailing to them on cloud nine and finding them both immersed in their own thoughts, she said in jest,

“Being sworn friends, why you are sitting like strangers?”  

“Being a gentleman, your hubby believes in ladies being first,” said Roopa smilingly, as she left for her bath.

While Sandhya laughed at the remark, Raja Rao was pleased with her innuendo.

When Roopa entered the bathroom, the very thought that he had his bath there earlier thrilled her sensuality, and as she undressed herself, she recalled his searching gaze that insensibly made her imagine him in that setting, which in turn, has induced pulsations in her frame that furthered her craving for his possession. So, showering herself leisurely and sighing for him longingly, at length, she reached for her soap, but seeing theirs, she was drawn to it impulsively. Thereafter, in her bath of fantasy, the soap became a fetish that freshened as well as excited her in equal measure.

Later, as they gossiped after breakfast, the topic of children cropped up in time.

“What’s your reading on her children?” said Sandhya placing Roopa’s hand in his.

“It would be a pleasure to speculate about the prospect,” he said, grabbing what was on offer.

“Mind you, don’t turn it into a farce,” said Sandhya reminiscently, pulling Roopa’s hand from his in jest.

‘What a lovely hand!’ he thought as he took it back, ‘Isn’t it a classic psychic hand with those shapely fingers in their full flow? How have I failed to notice the beauty of her hands all this while?’

Thus, espying her hand in wonderment, he found himself fondling it, more to communicate his love to her than to envision her future, seemingly in a trance. However, as the spasms of her frame woke him up to the realities of her allure, he felt,

‘Apparently enamored of the character of her main attributes, I became oblivious to the charms of her remaining features.’

Then, driven by the desire to espy her features, he mapped her feet with his caressing looks.

‘Oh, what an attractive lass she is! What a female form in such a fascinating frame? Won’t that make her deadly in lovemaking? What a woman she is really; could there be a better one than her to have?’ as he thought, so he gripped her hand ardently, further fuelling her passion.

“What are the indications?” said Sandhya, growing in impatience.

“It’s not clear as yet; as I told you, the lines are alterable,” he said, still holding Roopa’s hand.

“I’ve heard the lines here indicate offspring,” said Sandhya pointing at a sideline below Roopa’s little finger.

“They indicative of one’s affections for the opposite sex, as Roopa has only one line, she’s likely to have one deep affection in her life,” he predicted with hope.

“What about her?” asked Roopa, reluctantly withdrawing her hand.

“Do you mean affections or children?” he said naughtily.

“I know from her nature as well as her hand that she would’ve only one such affection in her life, I want to know about her children,” said Roopa indulgently.

“She could have two children,” he said.

“You mean, you would’ve two kids,” Roopa suggested correction.

“You see her hand indicates the prospects of her maternity and not the source of its paternity,” he said smilingly.

“Now I know how devilishly mischievous you could be,” said Roopa coyly.

“So, you can figure out my lot with him,” said Sandhya joining in the mirth.

Soon after lunch, as Sandhya proposed a game of caroms, and even as he offered to sit out to watch the friends at play, Tara came around.

“Here’s the godsend,” said Roopa enthusiastically.

Introductions over, Roopa asked Tara to join them to complete the quorum for a carom.

“It’s my pleasure, but someone is going to be sore,” said Tara.

“Who shall partner whom?” Sandhya thought aloud.

“Let it be the