Plan B Chapter 30

Around 4 pm Mathias  left for work. He was working as per US timings these days. Ashmi felt relieved.  ‘I will drop you till the parking,’ he offered. No, that wouldn’t be right, she said concealing her feelings. ‘We shouldn’t be spotted together,’ she reasoned. He found it plausible. Ten minutes after, Mathias, Ashmi left. She spent that time to retrieve all signs of her presence in her apartment. But, she was carrying his imprint, it had branded her soul. She was restless still careful and tucked the key below the floor mat of his flat. She ignored the elevator and took steps from the 10^th floor to come down. It was badly needed. She had to distract herself. As she came out of Maple Heights, there was a rickshaw waiting for her. She hopped on to reach the parking. Then, things went by in a haze.

‘Mom, all okay at your work,’ remarked Rajul. ‘What makes you think so?’ she asked.

‘You look so unwell,’ she said. ‘No, mom is tired,’ said Rhea and she needs love-infusion.

‘Yes, my darlings, I need love infusion and lots of it,’ she urged. Rhea left everything that she was doing and sprinted to her. She hugged her with painted hands and gave her sloppy kisses all over. ‘You two are too much,’ Rajul disapproved with a frown of their behaviour. Ashmi didn’t bother.

‘Mom, we need to buy a set of origami sheets and chart paper,’ Rajul ordered.

‘Didn’t we buy that two weeks ago?’ she said. ‘Yes, we did, but we need more,’ she said and rushed out to hop on her bicycle. Rhea followed her and so did Melissa to be with the girls.

She rang up Akhil to find out if he was on his way, and requested him to get the stationery for the girls. Then, she switched off her phone and broke down. After a while, she dragged herself to the shower. The thick stream of water wasn’t able to wash away his touch. She soaped herself vigorously to wash away all traces of his touch. Later, she ambled to the bed and struggled with a cotton dress. She looked in the mirror. A different woman looked back at her. Her eyes had changed. She sincerely prayed to get out of this mess.

Immediately, she texted Laily urging her to call up, when she had time. Laily was fixing her evening drink.  She called her. ‘Hi darling,’ she said.

‘Hi,’ she whispered. ‘Are you not well, or you had too much fun in the afternoon?’ she enquired with a  laugh.

‘I feel so cheap! I am trapped. Tell me a way to get out of this mess, please,’ she begged.

‘We have a remedy for it. It’s called the hair of the dog. To get out of this mess, you go for another fling.’

 ‘What?’ she almost shouted.  ‘This is like inviting complication,’ she tried to infuse reason.

I am so scared. It’s not hard to find Akhil’s whereabouts. Almost everyone is on Linked in these days.

You are right, said Laily. She sounded sober.

Start ignoring Mathias, she said as she tried to fumble with ideas. There was no fool-proof solution.

‘What if he came home? He is acting obsessive these days,’ she gave words to her fears.

‘What made him change all of a sudden?’ Laily was curious to know.

As if I know the answer, may be it’s a mix of lust and love? She said vaguely.

I am sure that he will not come to your home. He isn’t that courageous, had he been so, he would have fought with his parents for his girlfriend, Laily reasoned with her.

It sounded plausible, but right now to Ashmi’s heart nothing was convincing enough. She herself wasn’t able to rein in her feelings. Mathias began as a distraction for her, and may be the same was true for him too. But, it was getting out of hand now. If Akhil knew about it, she would lose everything: family, home, respect and dignity. If people got a whiff of it back home, there was too much to lose. Her heart began to thump wildly as she thought of the possible predicaments.

 ‘Should I ask Akhil to look for an overseas opportunity? May be a change of place could work, she spoke to Laily.

Laily shuddered at the thought of her going away, but it would do good to her.

It sounds like a good idea, correction it is a great idea, she said.

Ashmi looked at her reflection in mirror once again and defined her almond shaped eyes with a deft stroke of kohl and eye-liner. She put on her lipstick and pouted at the woman who looked back at her from the mirror. It still looked fake. Akhil could recognize it.

She consciously thought about Rhea’s love infusion. The smile gained life. Tonight, she would talk to Akhil about it.