London:
Rebecca messaged Akshay.
Rebecca: Hey, how are you mate?
Akshay: Good dear and about you?
Rebecca: VGM. Thanks. I am also good. By the way, all sorted.
Akshay: What all?
Rebecca: Your Mom's call and that stuff?
Akshay: Oh oh. Yes. I mean not sorted but yes, finally I will have to repay my brother's loan. But let me tell you one thing.
Rebecca: Tell me, dear.
Akshay: Generally, most parents raise their children close-fisted when it comes to money but the sooner their son starts earning, they start expecting bigger monetary gains from him. Especially, the elder son is tortured and exploited. They have soft corners for younger ones. Irrespective of gender in many cases.
Rebecca: You type very fast and very big sentences. Great!
Akshay: Thanks.
Rebecca. But I feel sad about hearing this. What can I say? Anyways, there is good news for you.
Akshay: What?
Rebecca: Guess what?
Akshay: Is it about Sofia?
Rebecca: Rightly guessed.
Akshay: What is that?
Rebecca: She called me late at night after we left without you completing the conversation with her due to your mother's call.
Akshay: What did she say?
Rebecca: She said she started liking you and wants to meet you. She has a free pass at a five-star hotel on a terrace. I have given her your number. Now enjoy.
Akshay was very excited to hear this. His heart started beating fast in the same way when he was about to start a conversation with Sofia that day at the dinner table. It was beating the same way when he had met his wife Richa for the first time in college.
Rebecca: Hey, what happened? Suddenly silent?
Rebecca: Akshay?
Rebecca: I have sent you the Hotel location and other details.
Rebecca: ???
Akshay typed after hearing four beeps of notifications: Yes yes. Thanks a lot. You made my day.
Rebecca: Party?
Akshay: Definitely. We will go on someday. Deal.
Their conversation ended.
In the evening, he reached the Royal Guardian hotel and pressed the 7th-floor button in the lift.
On reaching the terrace, Akshay noticed that many people were sitting and enjoying dinner. A few couples were enjoying a musical concert. James young's "Infinity" song was sung by a female singer. It was one of his favorite songs.
He looked for table number 7 and finally spotted Sofia sitting. His heart skipped a few beats.
On noticing him, she rose and started coming towards him. She was looking stunning in short sleeve black wrap dress with yellow flowers printed on it.
She led him to his chair. Both ordered a red wine as Akshay also liked it.
Akshay started the conversation, "You look so beautiful in this dress. In any outfit, you look great and stunning. Since the first day when I saw you, I got attracted to you."
She was listening silently.
Sofia said in English, "Thank you. Rebecca told me. I also started liking you when you started visiting the hotel frequently."
Wine came. The waiter poured it into glasses. They cheered and started sipping.
Akshay appreciated the taste of wine and then continued, "I have a family in India and.."
Sofia cut him and said, " Let us not tell each other about our family background and all other stuff. I would also not like it if you asked anything about my family or my past. I also won't ask you. I am lonely and I guess you are also lonely. And we are attracted to each other. I think that is enough for us to be in a relationship. Let us see how it develops further between us."
Akshay was stunned by her direct approach and became speechless, but what she said was exactly what Akshay was also expecting from their relationship.
Akshay only nodded and said, "I agree, totally agree!"
Sofia smiled and said, "Let us not give any name to our relationship. No matter how much time we give to each other, if we enjoy it wholeheartedly, it is certain that we love each other's company. It doesn't matter what we do at that time. Be it lovemaking, traveling together to places, eating, dancing anything and everything which we can do together."
She was straightforward. Akshay liked it. He was looking exactly for the same kind of relationship. He felt that a married man cannot have sex with his wife in the later years of his marriage with the same newness as in the initial days. In his opinion, in the later stages of marriage, some inevitable factors and responsibilities make it difficult for a couple to maintain a healthy sex life. Women also lose their shape due to pregnancies. One cannot enjoy sex in that way. Or this was true for at least him, for sure!
And if one suppresses sexual desires, it can incite anger and frustration. Similarly, if one continues a sexual relationship with a marriage partner unwillingly, that incites more anger and frustration. '
Finally, he decided to cheat on his wife, Richa!
Sofia waved her hand and said, "What happened? You seem to be lost in thoughts?"
Akshay said, "No nothing, please continue with what you were saying!"
Sofia further said, which was a kind of soft warning, "Okay. so, if suppose in the future, one of us is attacking the other's freedom and personal space, we will have to discontinue the relationship."
Akshay agreed. She was saying things as if she was writing some terms and conditions in a written agreement.
She then asked him whether he likes swimming. Akshay knew swimming. He nodded.
Both went to a swimming pool area where ladies and gents were swimming together.
Though Akshay knew about it, he was going to experience it for the first time. She beckoned Akshay to the swimming area. They kept their belongings, including mobile phones in lockers.
Later, they got swimming costumes. Couples were allowed to change clothes together. Both went to a changing room. Akshay was feeling nervous to remove clothes in front of Sofia, the lady with whom it was just his first meeting.
Seeing his hesitation, she told, "If you are not okay, we can cancel this plan and will go for dinner. It's fine with me!"
Akshay said, "No no, It's fine with me. Let us enjoy swimming."
She removed her dress with ease. Now she was in a bikini. Akshay looked at her body without blinking his eyes. She had got a perfect body as if it was built by an expert sculptor.
Akshay also changed his clothes and wore a swimming costume.
Both dived into the water and slowly started swimming and talking to each other. She said, "I saw you were not able to remove your eyes from me!"
He embarrassingly admitted.
She said, "No need to get embarrassed or shy. Accept your feelings. Why hide? I like you and you like me. Minutes before we confessed that, right?"
She said and came close to him and started kissing him. She seemed to be an expert in kissing. Akshay was experiencing such pleasure from just kissing for the first time in his life. It was a long kiss. Then a silent moment and again she kissed him, this time differently.
After a few minutes, it was Akshay's turn. He kissed her a lot on her lips and ears and every part of her face while holding his hand around her.
With all the musical background, both felt deeply satisfied after kissing each other. After the kissing ended, they kept on staring at each other's faces, which reflected sheer joy.
A person standing nearby was taking photographs of Akshay and Sofia on a mobile when they were kissing each other madly inside the swimming pool with their eyes shut. However, the person ensured that no other person present there would notice it.
The person not only took photographs but also shot a short video of them kissing. Later the person slowly walked away and started enjoying the musical concert.
Now the singer was singing Alan Walker’s "Faded" song.
After kissing Sofia, a thought came to Akshay's mind that, now he has got an option for his wife Richa.
No more dependency on sex on Richa.
No more buttering her up for sex after the quarrels that she initiates purposefully after seeing Akshay's genuine interest in sex.
No more losing interest in sex till she gets ready for sex if at all she agrees! Does she do it on purpose?
Anyways recently Akshay noticed that somehow Richa had lost interest in sex.
When he was really interested, she used to make different excuses and when he was not interested, she demanded it.
Now he will be partially relieved from this situation. He has got an option to Richa in the form of Sofia.
In the locker of the swimming pool, a phone call from Richa was vibrating Akshay's mobile phone. There were five missed calls. She also sent him many WhatsApp messages.
Richa got annoyed as Akshay was not picking up. Already they had a quarrel over the repayment of his brother's loan.
And now Arpit was suffering from fever. He insisted on talking to his father. But his father was with another woman kissing her in a swimming pool. Richa had shown Arpit to the doctor and medication was going on but he was eager to talk to his father because in the past also, whenever he used to fall ill, it was Akshay who would sit near him and tell him stories and motivate him.
While Richa got frustrated after her call wasn't answered and Arpit was crying, Rohini was chatting with her new boyfriend in her room. She was engrossed in her virtual world, which nowadays almost every teenager indulges. The so-called social media.
Soon after the swimming and diving were done, Sofia received a call and hence she left. Both had a very nice time together during the very first meeting. Though not Sofia, Akshay gave his mobile number to her.
Akshay remembered the kiss again and again. It was something to cherish in his heart.
The next day in the morning he saw lots of missed calls and messages from his wife. Then he called her but she didn't pick up. He messaged back saying he had slept early due to a lot of work these days and hence he couldn't attend her call as the phone was kept silent.
