A MAN TO LOVE
By Neel Anil Panicker
The phone rings and I am at the kitchen, preparing tea.
He’s just left.
That scumbag of a husband.
I am glad the pest is out of the house.
His staying stops my life.
With him around, every moment is a living hell.
I pour tea (black with no sugar), onto the cup, turn off the gas, and head to the drawing room.
On the way, I pick the phone.
100 per cent charged.T
I smile.
Slump onto the sofa, my fave corner.
The next moment Twinkle slides up to me.
I pull my legs up into yogic position and watch her snuggle in comfortably into the small mound between my thighs.
I peer down and pat her head, fingers running through her velvety silvery white fur.
She moans, turns around and rewards me with a kiss that lands bang on my lips.
I stab the phone keys.
The screen comes alive.
Three missed calls.
I know who it is.
Blue 1
That’s how I have saved Niladri.
I press the call button.
Seconds later, I hear him.
“Hi baby…good morning my love’.
His voice is soft and sure as morning dew.
My heart’s aglow with the warmth of a million earthen lamps.
My heart is aflame with the glow of a million Ganga artis.
We talk for the next hour or so.
Or, till such time either Niladri or I aren’t pulled away and sucked into performing mundane tasks.
He, to prepare to head to work.
Or, to busy himself with daily chores.
Banalities a man of the house needs to do to buy peace and ensure the wheels of family life keep rolling on smoothly.
Count amongst them buying milk, bread, butter, vegetables, occasionally getting chicken, fish or mutton et al.
Besides, running umpteen errands_ all duties a dutiful husband needs to do.
All tasks that Niladri, the man of the house does for his family.
All tasks that I do on my own as my ‘man’ of the house is no man at all.
He earns. That’s his job profile.
“I earn. I make sure you are alive. Have a roof and food to eat. What else do you have to do anyways?”
That’s how he lashed out at me many moons ago, the first time cracks developed in our marriage.
BASTAARD!
This was the man I fell in love with.
Gave my all.
Left my family. My parents, my entire world for.
To make his world.
And now.
Never knew men were such.
Never ever thought this was what my life would turn into.
Trapped in a luck less loveless sham of a marriage.
Niladri’s words break my reverie.
Yanks me away from my dark thoughts.
“Jaan…I need you. I want to fuck you. Fuck you from the bottom of my heart. Fuck you badly…badly…very badly”.
His words slide down my heart; swim down and enter my insides.
I feel a wetness in my thighs.
I am ready. Have always been ready.
Ready to love and be loved.
I whisper back, “Niladri, come over and fuck me. I am all yours”.
We kiss goodbye.
Another hour and I will be in Niladri’s arms.
A woman in love with a man, this time a real man.
#neelanilpanicker #shortstory #life #love
neelwritesblog 