The Sin Of… - Part 1
The Sin Of…
by novelreadsss - Part 1
(1990s South Indian wife’s confession)
Today is the tenth.
I was startled when Sharma said, “I waited till the tenth, just as I promised you.”
I was even more surprised when he announced that morning that he would come home for lunch — something he never did. He arrived in high spirits, finished his meal quickly, and settled into the easy chair in the hall. The way he slowly began asking the question made it clear what was on his mind. But I had no answer ready for him. In a way, I myself was the reason this situation had arisen.
Two weeks earlier, one night after putting Sandeep and Archana to sleep, I was waiting for Sharma, who had said he would be late from the office. I was reading a romantic story in the latest issue of “Mayuri”. The subject was unusually bold. A young wife, living a happy married life, suddenly begins to suspect that her father-in-law is casting secret, hungry glances at her — while she bathes, while she changes clothes, when her saree pallu accidentally slips. She confides in her husband. Instead of getting angry with his father, the husband feels pity. “Poor man… ever since Amma died he hasn’t known a woman’s touch. Just ignore it, look the other way,” he advises. Shocked at first, the wife gradually begins to test him deliberately — letting her pallu slip in front of him, skipping her blouse sometimes — until one weak moment she finally surrenders her body to him.
Reading that story, a strange, intense desire suddenly flared up inside me.
The moment Sharma came home, bathed and sat down to eat, I casually told him about the story while we ate together. He finished his meal in a hurry, picked up the “Mayuri”, and sat in the hall reading. I cleared the dining table, put everything away in the kitchen, and was about to take a glass of water to the bedroom when he finished the story. He walked into the kitchen with his lungi loosened, one hand already holding and gently playing with his hardened cock. Before I could say a word he sealed my mouth with his, pulled me into a tight embrace, and began tugging my clothes off. For the next half-hour we made our own little heaven right there in the kitchen. Afterwards, when we finally reached the bedroom, he said, “Wowww, how beautifully we enjoyed ourselves… it felt just like our first night again.”
I nodded, agreeing that it was true. That was my mistake.
Seeing me nod, Sharma immediately put forward a proposal — the same one that now sat heavily on my head. He wanted me to do what the wife in the story had done: display my body in front of another man. “Just reading it made us so aroused,” he argued. “If we actually experience something like that, the excitement will be even greater, and we’ll enjoy ourselves even more.”
I stared at him in pure shock. We had been married for nearly nine years. In all that time he had never spoken like this. Thinking I must have misheard, I asked, “What exactly are you saying?”
He repeated the same thing.
“Have you lost your mind? Are you asking me to have an illicit affair and lose my chastity right in front of you? As long as I live, that will never happen,” I said firmly.
He answered, “I’m not asking you to have an affair or to lose your chastity, oy. Just expose that beautiful body of yours a little. Let those other men see it, suffer with desire, and if we still don’t get tempted, then you can stop.”
Nothing about his suggestion appealed to me. “Why do all this? Let our life go on the way it is. We’re not dissatisfied in that department, are we?” I said. But he would not let go of the idea. Finally I softened a little and said, “Anyway, my father-in-law died long ago. How can I do what the wife in the story did?”
He laughed. “Silly girl, there’s no rule that it has to be your father-in-law. Choose anyone — the milkman, the washerman, the kirana-shop fellow — anyone. After that I’ll tell you exactly what to do.”
Realising he would not drop it for the moment, I said, “All right, let me think about it a little.”
I thought he had left the matter there. But the very next evening, the moment he returned from the office, he asked, “Well, oy? Have you decided?” My heart sank. He was taking this seriously. Not knowing what to say, I pleaded, “I haven’t thought it through yet… please give me a little time. Don’t rush me.” Softened by my words, he gave me until the tenth.
After that he never mentioned it again. I even began to hope he had completely forgotten. Then, exactly on the tenth, when he casually asked the question, the world spun around me. Unable to think of any answer, I said, “I still haven’t decided.”
The disappointment on his face was complete. He turned to me and said quietly, “Look, Latha. In these nine years of our marriage I have never asked you for a single desire. Now when I ask for just this one thing, you’re making such a big issue of it. That isn’t fair. Still, I don’t want to hurt your feelings. So let’s drop this topic here.” He put on his slippers and walked out, looking serious. The pain on his face was unmistakable.
That evening when Sharma came home he tried to behave normally, yet I could still see the sadness lingering on his face. Seeing him like that, my heart clenched. I made a decision.
I fed the children, sent them to bed, and called Sharma for dinner. Looking at him I said, “I’m ready to do what you asked.”
For a second he did not understand. When the meaning sank in, a thousand lamps seemed to light up on his face. “Really?” he asked.
“Really. I’ll do whatever you say. But only for one single day. After that you must not force me again.”
“Only one day?” he repeated.
“Yes, only one day. Please don’t press me further. Even agreeing to this one day has taken a lot of thinking.”
He smiled. “All right, Latha. And if after that one day you find you like it and want to continue, tell me without any hesitation.”
“All right,” I answered.