Benign Flame: Saga of Love - BS Murthy (best way to read an ebook .TXT) 📗

“It feels nice that you’ve a lover for me in your mind,” said Roopa winking back at Sandhya.

‘It’s up to you to woo him as I stand performance guarantee,” said Sandhya pushing Roopa in the right direction.

“Oh, lovey, how sexy,” said Roopa.

“You’re welcome to voyeur to have the true picture,” said Sandhya heartily.

“It’s some way away anyway, but isn’t the way he derived Saroja’s name thrilling?” said Roopa, winking at Sandhya.

“Don’t you think he’s creative?’ said Sandhya. 

“Hope Saroja imbibes some of it,” said Roopa reminiscently.

“How I wish she shapes up well,” said Sandhya, as they went back to Saroja.

“Why not, with a craftsman of a man as father,” said Roopa in admiration.

“Is it about me?” said Raja Rao, who overheard Roopa, as they reached him by then.

“Who else we talk about?” smiled Roopa.

‘I feel flattered to interest the loveys,” he said with a smile.

“Roopa he stole it,” said Sandhya in jest.

‘I better leave before you wish I had left, but isn’t it too early to wish you good night,” said Roopa in jest to him.

“You naughty,” said Sandhya smacking Roopa’s bottom.

Feeling elated, Roopa left the sprawling compound to get into a cycle rickshaw.

‘She showed me the green light, the dear thing,’ she thought in excitement. ‘But won’t she be hurt if she comes to know that we already jumped the signal? Oh, why didn’t I wait a little longer? But then, didn’t we make it rather providentially; could I’ve conceived a better way of bringing about that? What an exceptional time we have had! If I were in Sandhya’s shoes, would I be as generous; surely, not as much as she is.’

That night, the thought that Sandhya more than reciprocates her love pleased Roopa no end, and as she dwelled upon their love triangle, she had a sneaking feeling that her lover could be craving her even more than his better half.

What with her self-worth enhanced by her own feelings, Roopa sank into deep sleep, such as which only a true fulfillment would occasion.

-----

Next morning, as Ramaiah goaded Janaki to get ready to attend the wedding of his colleague’s daughter, pretending a headache, Roopa stayed put in bed.

“Why not I stay back,” said Janaki in all concern.

“Don’t make me feel guilty; I might even come for lunch. Who wants to miss a pellibhojanam?” said Roopa goading her parents to go.

Having seen her parents’ back, Roopa waited for her paramour in contemplation,

‘Surely it’s the weird fate of illicit love to cohabit with lies. But what a paradox it is that a noble sentiment like love needs the prop of a base instinct for its survival! And it’s as if the pleasures of a liaison act as intoxicants to help dampen the sense of guilt in a woman’s heart!’

The thought of guilt made her feel odd about the rendezvous she had chosen for her sexcapade.

‘Am I not violating the sanctity of my parental place?’ she began to think. ‘How would my father react if ever he comes to know of it? But then, isn’t he guilty of brainwashing me into an untenable marriage? Given that, I’m more of Sathyam’s wife than his daughter, am I not? Oh, how marriage alters even the fundamentals of a woman’s life! Whatever, whether he likes it or not, he’s bound to shroud my secret; who wants a scandal on his hands? So be it but I won’t let these silly sentiments spoil my party with Raja dear.’

Though she breathed easier on the fatherly front, she continued to feel choked in the friendly arena. As her guilt of seducing her mate’s man lingered on, in spite of the nobility of Raja’s love, she was insensibly gripped by an urge to confess to Sandhya and seek her consent to carry on with their man.

‘Why get bogged down by guilt when I can soar with the threesome wings that Sandhya provided? But I need his nod for that, don’t I? Well, I’ll make him understand that we’ve no right to wrong her anymore,’ she resolved at length.

Thus, Roopa waited for her lover, more for the sake of his wife than for her own self. At length, when she spotted him at some distance, she felt at ease, as though he were coming for her deliverance, so when he took her into his arms, she sank in his embrace as if to deliver her soul to him. As he lifted her head to envisage her visage, he felt that it looked aesthetically beautiful, and thrilled by the charms of her frame; he wondered whether the purity of emotions rarefies one’s soul to surface onto the face to enable the fusion of the inner beauty with the outer grace. Won’t such demeanor get imprinted in the minds of those who espy that visage then?

“She’s all set to form our love triangle,” said Roopa in all eagerness.

“Tell me what happened,” he was taken aback by her manner, but as she pictured the magnanimity of Sandhya’s soul, he felt immensely relieved.

“Roopa, I can understand your feelings and I love you even more for your sensitivity. Baring your heart might lighten your burden, but have you ever thought how that would affect her mind,” he said, hugging her.

“You know how Sandhya loves me,” she said ecstatically.

“It’s stupid to destabilize it before she sets it, isn’t it?” he said.   

“I agree,” said Roopa.   

“If we get caught in the act now, though shocked, she would be happy for you, but then, won’t she suffer for her own sake?” he said persuasively.

“Sorry, I’ve got carried away! Why I didn’t I think from her angle?” said Roopa apologetically.

‘Roopa, have patience for happier times. Let her slowly get used to our closeness, and prepare herself for our intimacy. As we three go along together, let things lead from one to another. Only that would be smooth on her, and not your dramatic confession. Don’t we love her enough to care for her feelings?” he said assuredly.

“Then, in the meantime, let me bear my own guilt,” she said overcome by emotion.

‘What guilt when she gave the go ahead? Be assured, sooner than later, we would suck her into our embrace for our threesome romance,” he said, after kissing her, as though to suck out her guilt.

‘Won’t that strengthen our love?” she said dreamily.

“In three fold ways,” he said as he motioned her.

Then, Roopa in tranquility led her Raja to her bed, to let him solace her body and soul.

“I’m glad our love isn’t a spoiler either way,” she said fondling his back after he satiated her urge to be mated by him in her parental home.

“It’s precisely because of that our unique relationship cannot be branded as a liaison with the tag of an infidelity attached to it,” he said thoughtfully.

“Oh thank you, by the way don’t you find her sexier, being a little plumpy?” she said.  

‘Now she’s handier to fondle, and with both of you carrying equal weight, won’t that make it more of a balancing act?” he winked at her, fondling her.

‘Won’t her figure auger well for me too?’ she thought of her lesbian libido.

“Whom do you love more?” he asked her, finding her lost in her thoughts.

“But for her, I wouldn’t have my savior in you,” she said in all earnestness.

“But you waste the output of our ardour,” he said a little disappointed.

“I’ll be on pills before you’re there but for now, so be it,” she said, ardently going over him once again.

“Roopa to be honest with you, often I delve into my heart, to gauge if the levels of my love for you both are any different. As I realize to my relief that they are even, I probe my mind to monitor your emotional currents that stir my soul, and how synchronous they both seem. Then, I check my conscience for dichotomy, if any, only to find it is filled with equanimity. So it feels soothing that as my heart scores equal music, you both sing the song of love in tandem,” he said, holding her in his arms, as they felt satiated at length.

‘Raja, give her more of your love for she is the better one,” she cried in joy.

“Roopa, now I realise why she loves you as she does and I shall love her all the more for that,” he kissed away her tears.

“I’m dying for our orgies dear,” she said ecstatically.

“Come they will be darling,” he said in all assurance.

Long after Raja Rao had left, Roopa kept wondering whether her urge for orgies could be the manifestation of her need to expiate her guilt in a sex triangle with her mates.

Chapter 32

Chat at the Bar

On the eve of Saroja’s barasala, Raja Rao’s clan, including the Thimmaiahs, made it to Kakinada in drove that is not to speak of Sandhya’s relatives. However, as Sathyam arrived only on the appointed day, thanking him for coming, Sandhya said that he and Roopa would soon give her an opportunity for reciprocity. What with his dormant desire coming to the fore as he took Saroja, Sathyam looked at Roopa in hope.

At length, the elaborate ceremony got underway in the sprawling hall.

“Christen her with your ring,” said the purohit to Raja Rao at length, handing him a silver plate in which he fashioned a rice-slate.

As that raised the curtains for the naming ceremony, Raja Rao went through the exercise with Sandhya by his side with their baby in her lap, and even as the purohit announced that Saroja was the chosen name, Sathyam said in excitement,

“What a lovely name.”  

“Thank you, please do stay, I want to talk to you,” said Sandhya affectionately.

After the function, even as Roopa was cloistered by Hyma and family, closeted with Sathyam, Sandhya briefed him about the idea to rope in Roopa in Integral Architects, the name Raja Rao has chosen for their enterprise.

“I take it as a brotherly duty to concede to you?” said Sathyam genuinely.

“I’m glad but Roopa was doubtful,” she said taking his hand.

‘‘I’ve learned from my mistake. Had I obliged her then, perhaps, we wouldn’t have missed what we had missed all along,” he said ruefully.

“Why rue over the past, let’s hope for happier times,” she said, pressing his hand.

“Now I’m happy as she’s warming up to me,” he said seemingly happy.

“I heard you’ve been drinking like a fish,” she sounded dissuading.

“But I’m trying to cut down now,” he said.

“Nice to hear that, let’s congratulate her,” she said leading him to Roopa.

As Roopa was visibly happy at the development, Sathyam felt as though he could shed part of his burden of guilt, and later when Raja Rao said he would like to spend some time with him, he proposed a discourse over drinks.

----

At the gates of the Eagle Bar that evening, Sathyam was impatient for Raja Rao’s arrival. When he spotted him at last, he went halfway in welcome, and as Raja Rao apologized for making him wait, Sathyam turned boisterous.

“You’re not late but I was early for Bacchus tends to beckon his devotees ahead of others?” said Sathyam, taking Raja Rao’s hand that was extended to him.

“I won’t I grudge his partiality?” said Raja Rao smiling.

“I’m glad you’re soon joining us, Roopa is delighted to say the least,” said Sathyam, having in the meanwhile ordered one large Bag Piper each with soda for them.

“Generally speaking, marriage constrains girls’ friendship, but they make it an exception,” said Raja Rao.

“Let’s toast their camaraderie?” said Sathyam, raising a glass, as by then the bearer brought then the drinks.

“Three cheers for them,” said Raja Rao, raising his glass.

‘To be honest, I used to be jealous of their closeness but now it feels divine watching them together. But I feel bad that I didn’t have a like childhood,” said Sathyam.

‘Thankfully, I’ve had a great childhood though the memory of it is hazy,” said Raja Rao dreamily.

“It seems happiness loses its focus in memory, even as unhappiness remains vivid in our minds,” said Sathyam in all bitterness. “Unfortunately for me, I was handed out a bad childhood, what with my father believing