When Lust Catches Fire — Chapter 6
Chapter 6
A month later, the next significant occasion in their private arrangement arrived with Madhuri’s annual corporate winter gala at the JW Marriott on Senapati Bapat Road.
It was an important event for her firm, attended by senior executives, major clients, and business partners. Madhuri had been involved in preparations for weeks. She had meetings to coordinate, people to follow up with, and several last-minute details to settle before the evening. By the time the event arrived, she had earned herself a place at the centre of the organisation’s client-facing activity.
Aniruddh knew the gala would be an opportunity for her to meet people she normally dealt with in formal business settings. Veer Mathur, one of her most senior client contacts, was likely to attend. He was the Senior Vice President of Global Marketing at a major multinational FMCG company, and Madhuri’s work brought her into contact with him regularly.
Aniruddh had been thinking about Veer ever since he had first admitted the fantasy to Dr Sen. The man occupied a different world from the familiar circle of Prabhat Road. He was older, confident, and accustomed to operating in rooms full of senior executives. He seemed comfortable with attention without appearing to seek it. Aniruddh had met him briefly at a previous corporate function, enough to form an impression but not enough to know him personally.
The gala gave him a legitimate reason to see the two of them in the same setting again.
They had decided to book a room at the Marriott for the night. It meant they could both have a drink without worrying about the drive home, and they would not have to leave the event early. Madhuri’s parents readily agreed to have Ishaan stay with them. As usual, they treated the arrangement as an ordinary family favour, not requiring any complicated explanation.
On the evening of the gala, Madhuri came out of the bedroom wearing a midnight-blue raw silk sari. The fabric had a rich, restrained sheen that caught the light when she moved. Her blouse was a very different choice from the conventional ones she usually wore for family occasions. Its cut left most of her back bare, and the front had a plunging neckline, displaying a generous amount of the pale slopes of her breasts. It was a deliberate departure from the more conservative clothes Aniruddh’s family and their social circle were accustomed to seeing her in.
He had encouraged her to choose it when she first showed him the design. At the time, he had thought she would look beautiful in it, and she did. Standing near the bedroom mirror, fastening an earring, she looked elegant and self-assured.
But now, as he watched her make the final adjustments to her sari, he became conscious of the fact that other men would see her just as he did.
The thought unsettled him. He felt possessive, then embarrassed by his own possessiveness, particularly because he was the one who had encouraged her to wear the blouse. He had wanted her to look striking. He had even imagined how she might draw attention at the gala. Now that the evening was about to begin, the reality felt more difficult than it had when it was only an idea.
Madhuri noticed him watching her in the mirror.
“What?” she asked.
“Nothing.”
She turned towards him.
“You’ve been looking at me for the last two minutes.”
“You look lovely.”
Her expression softened.
“Thank you.”
He came closer and adjusted the fall of the sari over her shoulder, careful not to disturb the pleats. She stood still while he did it, looking at him with the affection that came naturally between them.
“Is the blouse all right?” she asked. “You did say you liked it.”
“I do.”
“Then stop looking as though you’re having second thoughts.”
He gave a small laugh.
“I’m not having second thoughts. I just think you look beautiful.”
She held his gaze for a moment, then turned back to the mirror.
“Come on, architect. We’re going to be late.”
They left for the hotel together.
The Grand Ballroom was already filling when they arrived. The chandeliers threw warm light across the tables, and the conversations of several hundred guests blended with the music and the steady movement of the service staff. Senior executives stood in small groups near the entrance, greeting colleagues and exchanging the usual remarks about work, travel, and the year that was ending.
Madhuri moved naturally through the room. She knew many of the people there, and even those she did not know well seemed to recognise her. She was introduced to a few executives whom Aniruddh had not met before, exchanged greetings with colleagues, and spoke briefly with one of the event organisers.
Aniruddh was proud of the way she handled herself. She could move from a friendly conversation to a discussion about business without appearing to change her manner. She was neither overly formal nor so casual that anyone could mistake her position. It was one of the qualities he admired most about her.
They had planned to arrive later rather than spend the entire evening at the pre-dinner reception. After checking in, they ran into one of Madhuri’s close colleagues and her husband. The four of them spent some time at the bar on the mezzanine, talking about the event and exchanging stories about mutual acquaintances.
By the time they entered the ballroom, dinner was being served and the formal proceedings were well underway.
The evening went smoothly. Aniruddh enjoyed seeing Madhuri at work in a setting where she was so clearly in her element. He listened to her speak with clients, watched her make introductions, and occasionally found himself drawn into conversations with people he would not otherwise have met. The meal was good, the service was attentive, and the atmosphere relaxed as the formal speeches ended and the band began to play.
When the music started, Aniruddh asked Madhuri to dance.
She looked surprised, then smiled.
“You want to dance?”
“Why not?”
“Since when have you become so enthusiastic about dancing in public?”
“Since tonight.”
She laughed and took his hand.
They spent the next half-hour dancing together. Aniruddh was not a particularly accomplished dancer, but he knew enough to follow the rhythm and keep Madhuri moving comfortably with him. She was relaxed in his arms, laughing when he missed a step and leaning close to tell him when he was moving in the wrong direction.
He enjoyed the time with her. It reminded him of the early years of their relationship, when they had gone out together without having to organise every detail around Ishaan’s school schedule or their work commitments. For a while, he was simply a husband dancing with his wife, pleased to have her attention to himself.
Eventually, Madhuri suggested that she needed a break. Her colleague was nearby, and Aniruddh left her with the other woman while he went to the restroom.
He was away only for a few minutes.
When he returned, Madhuri’s colleague had disappeared into the crowd. In her place, standing beside Madhuri at a cocktail table, was Veer Mathur.
Aniruddh recognised him immediately.
He had wondered whether they would see Veer that evening. Given his senior position at Madhuri’s client organisation, his attendance seemed likely, but Aniruddh had not known whether he would have the opportunity to speak to them. Now, there he was, standing close enough to Madhuri that their conversation seemed private despite the noise around them.
For a moment, Aniruddh remained where he was.
He was conscious of the sari, of the bare curve of Madhuri’s back, and of Veer’s attention as he listened to her speak. They appeared completely at ease with each other. Madhuri was smiling, and Veer had angled his head slightly towards her so that he could hear her over the music.
Aniruddh had the sudden, almost childlike urge to walk straight over and join them. He wanted to know what they were discussing, whether Veer had complimented her, and whether there was anything in their manner that would explain why the sight of them together affected him so strongly.
Instead, he turned towards the bar.
He ordered a drink and stood where he could watch them without making his interest obvious. He told himself that he was simply observing the evening, that there was nothing wrong with wanting to see how Madhuri interacted with a colleague. But he knew his motives were not so innocent. He wanted to watch long enough to give his imagination something to work with later.
Since he had met Veer only briefly, Aniruddh took the opportunity to look at him more carefully.
Veer was around six feet one, broad-shouldered, and in his mid-forties. His hair was cropped short, with silver showing at the temples. He looked fit, as though he maintained a regular exercise routine, and he wore a charcoal bandhgala that suited him without appearing showy. There was a quiet authority in the way he stood. He did not seem to be trying to dominate the conversation or attract attention, yet people around him appeared comfortable approaching him.
He was very different from the men Aniruddh had grown up knowing. There was none of the careful social hesitation that marked so many interactions within the Prabhat Road circle. Veer seemed accustomed to moving between people and settings without worrying about what each person might think of him.
Madhuri was facing him, smiling as she spoke.
Aniruddh’s attention moved to Veer’s gaze.
The neckline of Madhuri’s blouse was low enough to reveal a generous portion of her cleavage. From where Veer stood, the view was difficult to miss. As Madhuri spoke, he repeatedly inclined his head towards her, apparently trying to hear her over the music. But Aniruddh noticed that Veer’s eyes kept dropping to her breasts. His gaze lingered on the exposed curve above the blouse before returning to her face.
It happened several times.
At first, Aniruddh wondered whether he was interpreting ordinary movements too suspiciously. The music was loud, and people often leaned closer to hear one another at such functions. But Veer’s gaze did not merely flick down once and return. It lingered long enough that Aniruddh became convinced he was taking advantage of their proximity to look at Madhuri’s cleavage.
The sight produced an immediate, unsettling reaction in him.
He felt a tightening in his chest, followed by the familiar surge of arousal that he had come to recognise with increasing unease. Here was a man looking at his wife as a woman he found physically attractive, not merely as a professional colleague. Aniruddh could not know what Veer was thinking, but the repeated downward glances seemed unmistakable to him.
He watched Madhuri closely, trying to determine whether she had noticed.
She continued talking. If she was aware of Veer’s attention, she did not show it clearly. She did not move away or alter the conversation. Instead, she stood comfortably in front of him, her expression relaxed.
Aniruddh was surprised that no one else joined them. Guests were moving between the tables and the bar, and several people passed close by, yet the two of them remained together, talking as though they had found a private space in the middle of the crowded ballroom.
Then Madhuri looked up and scanned the mezzanine.
Aniruddh thought she was looking for him.
Their eyes met briefly across the room. He could not tell whether she had already noticed him watching or had only just found him. Her expression remained composed, but he had the distinct feeling that she understood why he was standing at the bar instead of walking over to join her.
Before he could decide what to do, Veer offered her his hand.
Madhuri accepted.
She went with him to the dance floor.
Aniruddh remained where he was, watching them move into the crowd. He was surprised by how quickly she had agreed to dance with Veer. He knew there was nothing unusual about a married woman dancing with a colleague at a corporate gala. He would not have thought twice about it under ordinary circumstances.
But these were not ordinary circumstances for him.
He had just seen Veer repeatedly look down at Madhuri’s exposed cleavage. Now he was watching the same man lead her towards the dance floor, and he found himself wanting to see what would happen next.
He ordered another drink and stayed where he could observe them.
The first song was lively, and they moved with the crowd, keeping a comfortable distance between them. When the music changed to a slower number, Veer drew a little closer. He remained composed and courteous, moving in a way that did not attract undue attention. There was nothing obviously inappropriate in his behaviour. If Aniruddh had seen them dancing under ordinary circumstances, he might have thought nothing of it.
But he was not watching under ordinary circumstances.
He followed every change in their position, every brief exchange, every smile. He watched the way Madhuri responded when Veer said something to her, and the way she looked up at him while they danced. He told himself to be reasonable. They were two adults at a corporate function, sharing a few dances. Nothing more had been established.
Still, Aniruddh could not stop wondering what she was experiencing. Was she enjoying the attention? Did she find Veer attractive? Was she aware that Aniruddh was watching them?
He had no way of knowing. The questions themselves were enough to keep him standing where he was.
They danced through several songs, moving between faster music and slower numbers. Veer remained the gentleman throughout. He did not grab her or behave in a way that would have drawn notice. When the songs ended, they walked back towards the cocktail tables, both showing a light sheen of perspiration from the dancing.
Madhuri’s eyes found Aniruddh almost immediately.
She gave him a small smile.
There was something in that smile that made him wonder whether she knew exactly what he had been thinking while watching them. He could not be certain, but he had the uncomfortable feeling that she had noticed him at the bar and understood why he had not come over.
Veer accompanied her back to the table. Aniruddh joined them, and Madhuri made the introductions.
“Veer, this is my husband, Aniruddh. Aniruddh, Veer Mathur.”
They exchanged greetings and shook hands.
“Good to see you again,” Veer said.
“You too,” Aniruddh replied.
He expected Veer to make a polite remark and then move on to another group. Instead, Veer stayed. He was pleasant and articulate, speaking about the evening, the organisation of the event, and a few mutual business acquaintances. He asked Aniruddh about his work as an architect and listened with genuine interest when Aniruddh described the kind of projects his firm handled.
Aniruddh found himself liking him. Veer did not appear boastful or intrusive. He was pleasant to speak to, had a dry sense of humour, and seemed genuinely comfortable around people. The confidence that had caught Aniruddh’s attention from across the room was not an act he put on for Madhuri; it appeared to be part of his ordinary manner.
That made the situation more complicated for Aniruddh. It would have been easier to dismiss Veer as an arrogant man whose behaviour he could criticise. Instead, he found himself speaking to someone he could quite readily have liked as a friend or professional acquaintance.
Another couple joined them, and the conversation broadened. The group discussed travel, work, and a few plans for the coming months. Madhuri was relaxed, and Veer continued to take part without dominating the discussion.
Aniruddh listened for a while, then found himself thinking about how little he knew of what had passed between Madhuri and Veer while he had been away. He had seen them talking alone. He had watched them dance. He had noticed the way Veer looked at her and the way Madhuri had smiled when she returned to the table.
None of those things amounted to proof of anything. Yet he wanted another opportunity to see how they behaved when he was not standing beside them.
The desire was stronger than his good sense.
He turned towards Madhuri.
“Madhu, I’m going upstairs for a few minutes.”
She looked at him.
“Is everything all right?”
“Yes. I just need to use the bathroom.”
Then he turned to Veer, making his request in the same casual tone he might have used with any acquaintance.
“Veer, would you mind keeping Madhuri company for a few minutes?”
“Of course,” Veer replied without hesitation.
It was an entirely ordinary request. They were at a corporate gala, surrounded by colleagues and business associates. A husband asking someone to keep his wife company while he went upstairs was unlikely to attract anyone’s attention. Nothing in the exchange suggested anything unusual.
Madhuri gave Aniruddh a brief, questioning look. She did not challenge him in front of the others, but he could tell she had noticed something in his manner.
He gave her a reassuring smile and left the group.
He did go upstairs and use the bathroom. He washed his hands, checked his appearance in the mirror, and stayed away from the ballroom for another minute or two. He was not entirely sure what he expected to find when he returned. Part of him wanted to discover that nothing had changed, that Madhuri and Veer were still talking as two colleagues at a formal event. Another part wanted to see some small sign that would give his imagination something more substantial to work with.
When he came back to the mezzanine, he looked towards the cocktail tables.
Madhuri and Veer were alone again.
They were standing closer to one another than before, their heads angled towards each other as they spoke. The music was loud enough that they had to lean in to hear, but Aniruddh noticed that the conversation seemed more absorbed now. Madhuri nodded as Veer spoke. She replied, and he listened, holding her gaze.
Aniruddh stopped a little way from them, out of their direct line of sight.
He could not hear what they were saying. He could not tell whether the conversation was about the event, a work matter, or something personal. There was no obvious impropriety in their behaviour, and he knew that he might be assigning significance to ordinary gestures simply because he wanted to find it.
Still, he watched them for several more minutes.
Then he turned towards the bar to get drinks for himself and Madhuri.
*
“Miss me?” Aniruddh asked when he returned to Madhuri’s side.
He bent to kiss her on the cheek. She turned towards him, smiling, and for a moment he wondered whether she had been waiting for him to come back or whether she had been perfectly content talking to Veer.
“Of course,” she said. “Ready to dance some more?”
He knew what the right answer was. He took her question as an opportunity to take her away from Veer without making it look as though he was doing so deliberately.
“Absolutely.”
He turned towards Veer. “We’ll be back shortly.”
“Of course. Go ahead,” Veer replied easily.
Aniruddh took Madhuri’s hand and led her towards the dance floor. They had barely reached it when the band began a slow number. He drew her close, slipping one arm around her waist, and she rested her hand on his shoulder.
For a few moments, neither of them spoke. They moved slowly with the music, surrounded by other couples who had come closer together as the tempo changed. The lights were softer here, away from the brighter areas near the tables, and the noise of the ballroom seemed to recede a little.
Aniruddh lowered his face towards Madhuri’s neck. He could smell her perfume beneath the faint scent of perspiration from their earlier dancing. It was a familiar combination, one he associated with her after a long day or an evening out. He had always found her attractive, but now the closeness affected him with an intensity he had not expected.
He thought of Veer standing beside her at the cocktail table. He remembered the way Veer’s eyes had repeatedly lowered towards her cleavage while she spoke, and the possibility that Madhuri had noticed his interest without objecting to it.
He drew her a little closer.
“Tell me something, Madhu,” he whispered near her ear.
“What?”
“Are you going to let Veer have you?”
He had intended to ask the question casually, as part of the private game they had begun to play. But the words felt different once he had said them. He was asking his wife whether she might allow another man to become intimate with her, and he was asking while holding her in his arms on a crowded dance floor, surrounded by people who knew them as an ordinary married couple.
Madhuri did not look startled. She continued moving with him, her expression giving very little away.
“I’m supposed to meet him in his room later,” she whispered.
Aniruddh’s step faltered.
He pulled back just enough to look at her face. She was smiling, but he could not tell how seriously he was supposed to take her answer. It might have been another deliberate fabrication, designed to provoke the reaction she had already learned to recognise in him. Yet the possibility that there was some truth behind it was enough to make his thoughts race.
“Madhu…”
She rested her head near his cheek again, apparently content to leave him without an explanation.
He tried to recover his composure.
“What were you two talking about while I was away?”
She answered without hesitation.
“He was telling me how good my breasts looked in this blouse.”
Aniruddh pulled back and looked directly into her eyes.
“He said that?”
Madhuri’s expression remained composed. She did not blush, laugh, or offer any indication that she was inventing the conversation. If she was teasing him, she was doing it with a confidence that made it difficult for him to decide what to believe.
“And he wanted to know whether I… shaved down there,” she added.
For a moment, Aniruddh forgot the music and the people around them. He stared at her, trying to understand whether she was genuinely reporting what Veer had said or giving him a deliberately provocative version of their conversation.
“He asked you that?”
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“Yes.”
“And you discussed it with him?”
She looked at him without answering immediately. The slight smile on her face made the silence more unsettling than any direct answer could have been.
“Madhu, did you let him talk to you like that?”
She slid her hand more firmly around his shoulder and drew him close again.
“Isn’t this what you wanted?” she asked. “Isn’t that why you stayed away for so long and left me alone with him?”
Her smile was mischievous, but her eyes remained on his.
“You asked me to keep him company, Aniruddh. You went upstairs, and you knew perfectly well that you were leaving us alone. What did you expect us to talk about?”
He could not answer.
She had taken his own behaviour and placed it in front of him without making an accusation. He had arranged the circumstances, stepped away so that they could spend time alone, and watched them when he returned. Now he was asking whether she had allowed Veer to speak to her in a sexually suggestive way.
He could feel the contradiction, but he was too affected by her words to examine it properly.
Madhuri had not confirmed that Veer had said any of those things. She had not denied it either. The uncertainty remained, and Aniruddh found himself wanting to believe her even as he wondered whether she was merely feeding his imagination.
His mouth had gone dry. He was suddenly conscious of how affected he had become, and of the fact that they were dancing in the middle of a crowded ballroom. He drew her closer and concentrated on moving with the music, hoping the dance would give him time to regain his composure.
Madhuri seemed to understand. She did not ask him another question or press him to respond. She simply stayed close to him until the song ended.
By then, the intensity of his physical arousal had eased enough for him to feel reasonably composed again. He took her hand, and together they walked back towards the cocktail table where they had left Veer.
Veer was still there.
He looked up as they approached, and the three of them exchanged a few remarks about the music. Aniruddh studied him more carefully now. He wondered whether Veer was aware of the private conversation that had just taken place between husband and wife, or whether he had been standing alone, completely unaware that his name had been spoken in the middle of their dance.
Aniruddh had no way of knowing. Madhuri, meanwhile, behaved as though nothing unusual had happened.
He decided to invite Veer for a drink.
“Veer, we’re going to the hotel bar for a last drink before calling it a night. Would you like to join us?”
As he asked, he felt Madhuri squeeze his hand.
It was a small gesture, and he could not tell what it meant. Perhaps she was pleased that he had invited Veer. Perhaps she was warning him that he had already taken the evening far enough. He glanced at her, but she gave him no explanation.
“Certainly,” Veer replied. “I’d be happy to.”
He fell into step beside them as they made their way towards the hotel bar.
When they arrived, Aniruddh went to place the order while Madhuri and Veer chose a table towards the back of the lounge. The area was quieter than the ballroom, with softer lighting and less noise from the music. Aniruddh ordered their drinks and carried them over, expecting to find the two of them engaged in ordinary conversation.
Instead, the first thing he noticed was Madhuri’s position.
She was seated to Veer’s left, her body angled towards him as they spoke. As she had settled into the chair, her blouse had shifted. The low-cut fabric had fallen farther aside than it should have, leaving her left breast almost completely exposed.
Veer was looking directly at it.
He appeared so absorbed in what was before him that he did not seem to notice Aniruddh approaching the table. His gaze was fixed on Madhuri’s exposed breast, and his expression suggested that he had taken full advantage of the view.
Aniruddh stopped a few steps away.
For an instant, he simply watched.
He could have cleared his throat. He could have said Madhuri’s name or quietly told her that her blouse had shifted. It would have been the obvious thing to do. She was his wife, her clothing had slipped out of place in a public lounge, and another man was staring at her exposed breast rather than at her face.
But Aniruddh did none of those things.
He continued towards the table, watching Veer for another moment. Veer was still looking, seemingly unaware that the husband of the woman he was staring at had come within a few feet of him.
Aniruddh placed the drinks on the small table.
Only then did Veer look up.
“Thanks,” he said, reaching for his glass.
Madhuri adjusted her position almost immediately afterwards. Her blouse fell back into place, covering her breast, and she continued the conversation as though nothing had happened.
Aniruddh said nothing about it. He picked up the drink he had brought for himself and returned to the bar to collect something else he had ordered.
As he walked away, he wondered why he had not warned her. He knew she might not even have realised that her blouse had shifted. He also knew that he had deliberately said nothing, allowing her to remain exposed, if only for those few moments, because he wanted to see whether Veer would look.
He had seen exactly what he had wanted to see.
When Aniruddh returned to the table, Madhuri had changed her position enough to eliminate the exposure. She was sitting more squarely in her chair, her blouse in place, and Veer was now looking at her face as they spoke.
Aniruddh joined the conversation.
He wanted to find out whether Veer had really been speaking to Madhuri about her breasts and her pubic hair, as she had claimed during their dance. He did not want to ask him directly, which would have been awkward and would have revealed far too much about his own interest. Instead, he steered the conversation towards work and the gala, watching Veer’s expressions and manner as they spoke.
A few things became apparent quite quickly.
The first was that Veer seemed strongly attracted to Madhuri.
He did not say so openly. He made no crude remarks or obvious advances while Aniruddh was sitting with them. But Aniruddh noticed the way his gaze returned to Madhuri, the attention he gave her when she spoke, and the way his body remained angled towards her even when Aniruddh addressed him directly.
To Aniruddh, it seemed more than the behaviour of a senior executive being courteous to a client’s strategy director. There appeared to be a physical interest behind it, visible in the way Veer looked at her and in the care he took to keep the conversation going.
The second thing Aniruddh noticed was that Madhuri seemed uncomfortable.
She fidgeted in her chair, adjusted the fall of her sari, and occasionally glanced towards the ballroom. At times, she appeared reluctant to meet Veer’s eyes for more than a moment. But Aniruddh could not tell why. Perhaps she was uncomfortable because she had told him, during their dance, what Veer had said to her. Perhaps Veer had said something more explicit while Aniruddh was at the bar. Or perhaps the simple fact that she was sitting between her husband and a man she knew was attracted to her had made her self-conscious.
There was another possibility he could not ignore: Veer was one of the men who had become central to their private game, and Madhuri might be uncomfortable precisely because the situation was no longer an imaginary one they could discuss safely at home.
Aniruddh could not ask her without making the entire evening awkward. He also could not be sure that she would tell him the truth if he did.
He had hoped that the three of them might fall into an easy, flirtatious conversation, one that would allow him to learn a little more about Veer without making his interest obvious. Instead, the conversation remained stiff. They spoke about work, the event, and a few mutual acquaintances, but nothing developed naturally. Aniruddh found himself paying more attention to the glances and pauses than to what anyone was saying.
After they had finished their drinks, he decided that enough had happened for one evening.
He wanted to take Madhuri back to their room. He was eager to be alone with her, to ask what had really happened while he was away, and to discover whether she intended to tell him anything more about her conversation with Veer.
He stood and offered her his hand.
“Shall we?”
Madhuri rose immediately. She said goodbye to Veer, who wished them a good night, and Aniruddh gave him a brief, polite farewell. Neither man referred to the conversation at the table.
They walked towards the lifts.
The hotel corridor was quiet compared with the ballroom, and Madhuri held Aniruddh’s hand as they walked. He could feel the anticipation building in him. He wanted to know whether the remarks she had made on the dance floor were true, whether Veer had really spoken to her so explicitly, and whether she had deliberately allowed Aniruddh to witness his interest at the table.
He glanced at her, but she said nothing.
They entered the lift with several other guests. Aniruddh stood beside Madhuri, keeping his expression neutral while the doors closed and the lift began its ascent. They behaved like any other married couple returning to their room after a corporate function, exchanging the occasional glance and waiting for the other guests to leave.
When the lift reached the eleventh floor, they stepped out and walked towards their room.
They were almost at their door when Madhuri spoke.
“That’s his room,” she said quietly, nodding towards room 1125.
Aniruddh followed her glance. The number was clearly visible on the door.
“Convenient,” he replied, without slowing down.
He kept walking towards their room, but his thoughts had already moved ahead of him. The knowledge that Veer was staying just a few doors away, combined with everything that had happened during the evening, had left him urgently wanting to be alone with his wife.
*
As soon as the door to their room clicked shut, all the restraint from the elevator ride vanished. They didn’t even make it past the entryway before they were pulling at each other’s clothes. Madhuri seemed just as eager and worked up as he was, her breath coming in hot, ragged gasps as she yanked at his collar and worked his belt loose. He reached behind her, found the fastening of her blouse and helped her out of it, then freed the sari from its pleats until the fabric slipped to the floor.
She stood there in the dim hotel light for just a second, her chest rising and falling, looking at him with an intensity he hadn’t seen in years. Before he could say anything, she grabbed his arm, led him back towards the bed and pushed him down onto the mattress.
She climbed onto him, straddling his waist, her knees planted firmly on either side of his hips. Leaning down, she captured his mouth in a deep, passionate kiss. It wasn’t the sweet, familiar kiss of his high school sweetheart; it was the urgent demand of a sexually hungry woman, her tongue meeting his while her hands gripped his shoulders. Every trace of her usual polite, composed demeanour seemed to have disappeared.
When she finally broke the kiss to catch her breath, their eyes met. Her face was flushed, her dark hair slightly messy from the dancing downstairs with Veer, and her pupils were dilated. She reached down between them, drew him closer and guided him towards her.
“God, Madhuri, you’re so wet,” he gasped, his hands tightening around her thighs as she settled against him.
She paused for a moment, allowing herself to adjust to the closeness, her hands resting flat against his chest. She looked right down into his eyes, her expression steady, without a trace of hesitation.
“I need you, Veer,” she whispered, her voice low, throaty and dead serious. “Fuck me!”
Hearing her say his name sent an electric shock through him. It was the confirmation he had been waiting for all evening — or at least, what he wanted to believe was confirmation. She wasn’t just tolerating his dirty talk or humouring him to be polite. The game was officially on, and she seemed to be stepping into it with both feet.
His hands moved up from her waist, and he drew her closer. She threw her head back with a loud, needy moan, her nails digging into his shoulders as his touch sent a shudder through her.
“I know, Veer. I wanted you to. Suck on them,” she breathed, drawing him towards her.
He followed her invitation, kissing her with renewed urgency. Then, with a quick movement, he shifted them onto the bed so that he could take the lead.
He was surprised by how readily she was playing along. Usually, he was the one who introduced these fantasies, asking questions and trying to get her to participate. Tonight, she had started it herself.
When he shifted to settle her against the mattress, his hand instinctively reached towards the bedside table for a condom, feeling for the drawer. The ingrained domestic habit of twelve years kicked in — the unspoken caution, the practical dread of an unplanned pregnancy when their lives with Ishaan were already balanced on a knife-edge.
“Wait, Madhuri — we don’t have — ”
Her fingers caught his forearm, her grip surprisingly firm before he could pull away.
“No, Veer. Don’t stop,” Madhuri said, holding on to him. “I want you to come inside me.”
He froze above her, staring down into her face.
“Are you sure?” he asked, pausing to look at her. For a moment, he wasn’t sure whether she was still playing her role or telling him what she genuinely wanted.
“Yes,” she insisted, her breathing ragged, her eyes fixed on his without an ounce of hesitation. “Do it. Right now.”
Playing along with the fantasy was one thing. Having another child was quite another, and he wasn’t sure he wanted to take that risk. They already had Ishaan, and a decision like this couldn’t be treated as just another part of their game.
“Yes, Veer,” she insisted. “I want you. Don’t stop now.”
The sheer authority in her voice caught him off guard. All their previous games had felt like carefully negotiated territory, where she gave him just enough rope to play with while keeping one foot firmly planted in reality. But this wasn’t playful. The atmosphere in the room had shifted into something urgent and raw.
He leaned in, brushing his lips against the shell of her ear, letting the role-play take over completely.
“You want this so badly, don’t you? You want him to finish inside you?”
“Ohhh… yes… don’t stop. I want you to come inside me.”
A shudder went through her, and her back arched off the mattress as the words left her lips.
That was the moment the ground gave way beneath him.
Up until that night, he had managed to convince himself that he was the sole author of this madness. He was the deviant husband with the strange fantasy, and Madhuri was the devoted, tolerant wife merely playing along to humour him — a woman extending a generous favour to keep her marriage stable.
Dr Sen’s calm, clinical voice from their session in Koregaon Park suddenly echoed in his mind, cutting through the haze: “Madhuri, did you find the idea of sex with another man exciting?”
Back then, Madhuri had flushed crimson, cut the doctor off and refused to answer. He had taken her reaction as embarrassment, or perhaps preferred to see it that way. But watching her now, the possibility struck him with brutal clarity: perhaps Dr Sen’s question had touched something real in Madhuri, something she herself was only beginning to acknowledge.
He could no longer convince himself that she was simply pretending.
Veer seemed to have entered her imagination too. The man who had held her gaze downstairs, whose attention she had appeared to enjoy, had perhaps got under her skin. She might not be enduring the fantasy simply to satisfy him. Perhaps she was experiencing some of the same illicit excitement. He couldn’t know for certain, but the possibility was intoxicating.
“Madhuri… baby, I love your pussy,” he grunted into her ear.
“Veer… please… don’t stop…” she cried, her fingers gripping the sheets and drawing him closer with an intensity that took him by surprise.
He felt her body begin to tremble in the way he knew from experience meant she was approaching orgasm. Sure enough, less than a minute later, her climax came. She cried out his assumed name, her body responding with an intensity he had rarely witnessed.
It seemed to him that this was the first time she had climaxed while they were playing out the fantasy. Veer was clearly in her thoughts, or at least Aniruddh had little doubt that the idea of him was part of what had affected her so powerfully. The thought excited him immensely.
Seeing his poised, respectable wife so carried away by the imagined presence of another man broke whatever control he had left. Seconds later, he reached his own climax without withdrawing.
*
The thought of what they had just done stayed with him as he lay beside Madhuri. They had been so caught up in the fantasy that neither of them had wanted to slow down. He had let himself imagine being Veer, and she had responded in a way he had never seen before. Even now, he couldn’t quite get over how much she appeared to have enjoyed it.
They were both breathing hard, and it took a few minutes before he could speak properly.
“Wow. That was amazing,” he finally said.
Madhuri glanced at him, then quickly looked away. She seemed a little embarrassed by how openly she had responded. Instead of answering, she moved closer and buried her face against his chest.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
“Yes, I’m fine,” she replied. Her voice sounded a little stiff, as though she was trying to put the whole thing behind her.
“Are we going to have another baby?” he asked, with some worry.
She lifted her head and looked at him.
“No, honey. My period is due in a day or two. Don’t worry. It’s fine.”
He felt relieved, though he knew they couldn’t be certain about pregnancy just from when her period was due. The possibility had crossed his mind while they were caught up in the moment, but he hadn’t wanted to interrupt what was happening between them. He wasn’t sure he wanted another child, and now that everything had settled down, he realised how casually they had taken that risk.
“You got a little wild tonight,” he said.
As soon as the words came out, he wondered whether she might take them the wrong way.
“I liked it,” he added quickly.
She didn’t answer. For a moment, he thought she might be embarrassed and would prefer to leave it there. Then he felt her hand move down towards him. She began teasing him gently, her touch unexpected enough to make him turn and look at her in surprise.
This wasn’t something Madhuri did very often. Before Ishaan was born, she had sometimes been playful like this after sex, but it had become rare over the years and it had never occurred after she had experienced such an intense orgasm. Usually, when they were finished, they would cuddle for a while and then get ready to sleep. There had been a few occasions when she had taken the initiative after he had come too quickly, but tonight had been different. He had been completely spent, and she had seemed just as satisfied as he was.
Yet here she was, starting things again.
He didn’t complain.
Despite his own powerful climax, she soon had him aroused again and climbed on top of him. She sat up, moving slowly, which brought her breasts within easy reach. As they looked into each other’s eyes, he sensed that something was on her mind. He thought he knew what it was, but bringing it up would require some delicacy.
He just wasn’t sure how to ask her about it.
“What are you thinking?” he finally asked.
“How much I love you,” she replied.
It was a sweet answer, but he took it as a sign that she wasn’t ready to share whatever else might be on her mind.
He had seen her dancing with Veer. He had watched him flirt with her, standing close to her and giving her his full attention. She had seemed to enjoy the evening, and he had spent much of it wondering what she was thinking. When they had returned to their room, she had brought Veer into their intimacy herself and had asked him to play his part.
Now he wanted to know what that had meant to her.
“You had a nice time tonight,” he said, trying not to sound as though he was interrogating her.
She smiled.
“Veer is a good lover.”
He looked at her, surprised.
She had said it with a little smirk, seeming to enjoy the effect of those words on him. For a second, he wasn’t sure whether she was still playing the role she had started earlier or deliberately pushing the fantasy further. Either way, he felt a rush of excitement.
He had watched Veer flirt with his wife all evening. He had seen him make her laugh and had noticed how often his attention returned to her. Until that night, all of that had been something he could observe from a distance. Now Madhuri was bringing it into their bedroom, and he couldn’t deny how much he liked hearing her talk about him.
The next words came out before he had really thought them through.
“I bet Veer is still awake in his room,” he said. “Probably thinking about you. Maybe he’s jacking off to thoughts about you. Why don’t you go to him?”
Madhuri stopped moving and stared at him, her expression difficult to read.
He could see the surprise on her face. She seemed not to have expected him to take the game in that direction. For a moment, neither of them said anything. He wondered whether he had gone too far, whether he had taken something she had meant as playful role-playing and pushed it into territory where she wasn’t comfortable.
There was perhaps even a little shock in her expression, but he thought he saw something else beneath it. Her gaze had sharpened, and for a moment he thought he saw a flicker of desire in her eyes.
“Ani, stop it,” she said awkwardly, giving his arm a playful slap.
He laughed, but he didn’t miss the fact that she hadn’t immediately dismissed the idea. He couldn’t know what had crossed her mind during that pause, and he wasn’t going to assume that a moment’s hesitation meant she wanted anything to happen. Still, he wondered whether she had briefly imagined it too.
He decided not to push her. He had already learnt something important that night. Madhuri was willing to bring Veer into their private world, and she had enjoyed the fantasy far more than he had expected. But he also remembered what she had told him in earlier conversations: one of her fears was that these games might eventually take over their relationship.
He didn’t want that either.
So he let the subject drop. He pulled her close and kissed her, making it clear that he wanted her, not an explanation. She responded warmly, and they spent the rest of the night together without bringing Veer into it again.
He was still curious, of course. Had Madhuri enjoyed dancing with Veer as much as it had seemed? Had she liked the way he flirted with her and kept giving her attention? Was she simply enjoying the evening, or had his attention aroused her? What had made her bring Veer into their game so eagerly when they returned to the room? Had she been thinking about him all along? And when Aniruddh mentioned that Veer might still be awake in room 1125, had she actually considered the possibility, even for a moment? Or was he reading too much into her reaction?
There were so many questions he could have asked. But he knew there would be time for those conversations.
It turned out to be the right decision. They spoke quietly before falling asleep, and she remained close to him. Whatever she had been thinking when he mentioned Veer’s room, she had chosen not to discuss it further that night. He accepted that, even though the unanswered question stayed with him.
*
