Living as Four Bodies and One Mind - Part 1

I got married in an arranged marriage set up. Originally from a village, I'd moved to a big city after graduation for job. I tried to have romantic relationships with girls in the city, but found that I was too rustic to be successful. Frankly, I had no clue about girls. My idea of girls was too influenced by what I saw in Hindi movies, and were totally unrealistic. I can say all this now, looking back. In my early 20s and late teens, however, I really had no clue.

Besides, growing up in a conservative town in Kerala (Southern India), with hardly any opportunity to interact properly with girls meant I was bound to be inexperienced in wooing girls.

I found city girls too bold, or too money-minded, and needless to say, my romantic life was a total disaster. At age 28, I was still a virgin, though, to some extent, it was also a choice since I was adamant that I would only have sex with someone I love, and not just any one who was available.

There were opportunities, once or twice, with auties, but I couldn't bring myself to do it, though I would later regret my meekness.

Anyway, so I got married. Had ok sex-life for the first 1 year. Wife got pregnant and we had a kid about a year ago.

My story starts from there.

By now, I was in Bangalore. The kid was about 4-5 months old. Suddenly, one of my old friends from my village -- who was with me from kindergarten to class 10 -- relocated to bangalore with his wife.

Me and wife went to see them, since anyway we didn't have much to do on weekends.

His wife was smart, outgoing, confident and a 'modern woman' -- the complete opposite of my wife. My wife was traditional, conservative and sort of shy. Of course all these qualities are for outsiders. For me, she was just normal.

My friend and his wife too had recently had a kid, since both of us were of the same age and had got married around the same time.

We stay close to each other, about 1 km away. That meant that nearly every weekend we'd visit them or they'd come over. We even went on a combined holiday to Pondicherry once, spending three days there.

As days passed, our friendship also increased. Technically, it would be right to say the relationships between our wives became closer -- because both of us have always been pretty close, right from school days.

We never had any secrets between us and he knew everything about me and I knew everything about him. I know about his sexual escapades and he knew about mine (fewer.) I knew that he too was a virgin when he got married, though he had had skirmishes.

But like me, he too was pretty conservative, perhaps because of our village upbringing, and the fact that we were focused on studies as youngsters.

But both of us had strong sexual desires, though we had few outlets.

THE PROBLEM

The problem started after my wife got pregnant. When a woman gets pregnant and nurses a baby, it sort of turns off your sexual feelings for her. You start looking at her the mother of your child -- primarily as a mother and not as a woman or wife.

Initially, I think she also liked the fact that I was not disturbing her with my sexual advances. It was clear that she had not forgotten about sex, but to be frank, I felt no interest in her.

It may have also had to do with the fact that she was now more robust. Anyway, our sex life went from once in two or three days to once in a fortnight.

At the same time, I was as sexually motivated as I have ever been. Just because I was not interested in her did not mean that I was not interested in sex.

As a result, I started getting more frustrated. On the one hand, I did not find my wife attractive any more, and on the other hand, my sexual frustration was going up because I was not having enough sex.

It was in this situation that my friend and his wife came into our life.

Over time, the four of us grew very comfortable with each other. My friend was attractive (whereas I hardly was), my wife was sort of attractive while his wife was also sort of attractive. When four of us would sit around to watch TV or to chat, I found myself getting more and more attracted to my friend's wife.

My wife also seemed to believe that I was getting attracted to her and constantly criticized me saying I was paying too much attention to her.

But I could also see that she and my friend was also getting slightly attracted to each other. This was natural, as she was not getting much attention, love or sex from me, and my friend was attractive too.

At the same time, she was a conservative woman, though she and I did talk about sex and stuff openly.

One day, she said 'look at appu and sara (names changed), they are so loving. Why don't you learn something from appu?'

I said 'what should I learn'

'how to love your wife'.

'if you really think only he knows how to love a woman, why don't you go and live with him,' I said, to shut her up.

Anyway, a few more days passed and I started fantasizing about his wife. I felt that sara too understood my attraction towards her, but she too was playing the good wife. She'd look at me sometimes, but I was too nervous and shy to look at her in the eye. I felt she might understand how I felt about her.

Anyway, one day, me and my friend were sitting in a bar, having a beer -- which is what we had most of the time. And I said,

'do you still have the same feelings for your wife after the baby, as you had before?'

'what do you mean'

'i mean, doesn't becoming a mother change everything?'

'it does.. I mean, I think I know what you mean'

'for me.. We hardly have sex these days you know.. Not because I don't like sex anymore, but it just seems so boring. She seems so boring to me.. I think I no longer find her attractive at all. Having sex with my wife is like having a cucumber sandwich -- there's no thrill, it's very predictable and I can't wait to finish it.'

'oh, so it's for you too. I thought it was for me only' he said.

'no no, it's I think for everyone, after their wife has a baby, sexual interest falls off.'

'true. For us, we have sex only now and then, perhaps once a week now. She also seems less interested,' he said.

'you know what, I am thinking of joining one of these wife-swap clubs'.

'what!' he asked, clearly not expecting what I had just said.

'yeah, wife swap clubs. I don't think I have the energy or the inclination or the ability to maintain an extra marital affair, so only this option is left. Also, I think it would be fairer on my wife. It's better than pretending that neither of us have sex drives.'

'hmm'

'Actually I know that both of us have sex drives. The other day, I found her looking at our neighbour through the window when I was not in the room. When I walked in, she pretended not to look and closed the window. I mean, I am not faulting her, I know she has her needs and they have to be met. But I am just too bored with her. I think she is also bored of sleeping with me.'

'so how do these wife swap clubs operate' he asked.

We've always had this relationship, right from our school days -- I would do the research and he'd play the student.

'well, you find other couples in the city and pay a visit or invite them over to your house on weekends,' I said. Frankly, I had no clue about wife swap clubs, nor did I ever have any intention of sleeping with strangers or letting my wife sleep with them.

But this was the only way to approach the subject. I could not directly ask him if he wanted to swap his wife.

As expected, he threw a 100 objections -- what about disease, confidentiality.. What if they turn out to fake profiles or gangs or blackmailers. All valid concerns, of course. I knew these concerns and that is why I had no intention of going to any wife swap club, if indeed there are such things in Bangalore.

I got the idea from lovehelp, where a girl had made a post about her husband suggesting wife swapping to her. Her question was one of the most discussed on the forum and attracted a lot of supportive comments and I thought, if actual, real people are doing it in my city, why can't i?

of course, I knew it was unsafe to do it in the draw-lots sort of way, but I wanted to experiment with someone I was sure would be disease-free and not likely to blackmail us later -- a friend. But I couldn't be so forthright with him, he might think me desperate or think I was angling for his wife.

So I pretended to be confused about what to do. I said, 'yeah I know, but I just don't see what else to do.. How to revive our sex life and bring some zest into our boring lives'.

He looked into his glass and raised it to his lips, thoughtfully. "Hmm"

Then our conversation wandered off to other topics.

The next day, as expected, he pinged me on chat. 'so are you going ahead', he said.

'with what'

'with your swapping plans'.

'i don't know. I am scared'

'hmm..'

Next Saturday, we were standing on his terrace, away from others. He said 'did you discuss this with your wife yet?'

'No'.

'Do you think she'll agree? I don't think so'.

'I'll get her to agree'

'How'

'Well, I know she desperately wants sex'.

'Hmm..'

'It's just that she doesn't want to be seen as wanting sex, or love or attention. But inside, she wants attention from a man, she wants a man to make her feel special. She is being ignored by me.'

'Hmm..'

'Actually, I think she kind of likes you. The other day, she was telling me to be like you.'

He blushed. He didn't know what to say. I didn't look at him purposefully, but I could sense his discomfort.

After some time, he said with a smile, 'you know I could help you'

'doing what'

'if she wants a man, I can show her what a man really is. Show her what a loser you are.' he laughed out aloud as he does after cracking a joke.

'ha! and what do I get out of all this?'

'your wife is happy' he was still amused.

'fuck off' I said.

After a minute I asked, 'what about your wife'

He didn't reply.

'Is she happy?'

Still no reply.

'I think we should try.. ' I stopped mid sentence.

'Try what' he asked.

'what if we have a foursome'

'what? are you mad?'

'why?'

No reply.

'Think about it,' I said.

After a minute, I said 'chalo, let's go down'.

We went inside, to his living room. Both the kids were asleep and our wives were watching TV.

'Oh, where were you,' his wife asked him.

'we were up. Gone to catch some fresh air'

'Ohh..' she said, smiling.

We sat there again, for about two hours, talking this and that. I could see my friend's mind was not totally there. He was looking at my wife now and then, perhaps differently that before. He seemed to be evaluating her, sizing her up. I too was looking at sara. She's about 28 and sexy as hell. Perhaps all this talk has made me think she's more sexy than earlier.

Her voice was haunting me. Her laughter hung about me like a melody. She always laughed the loudest at my jokes. We had dinner and said good bye.

After three four days, he pinged again while I was at work.

'did you talk to your wife?'

'i will. But first you have to tell me if you are ok with it.'

'swap?'

'yes.'

'i think we may be able to do it'

'great, i'll talk to my wife. Have you spoken to sara'

'i told her that you guys were looking for partners'

'hmm'

'she seemed very surprised. Then, after some time, I said 'what if we do it with them''

'hmm'

'anyway, the long and short of it is that she may agree. She's not said yes or no to it. But I think she's inclined to agree'.

'hmm. I'll talk to my wife then.'

'ok.'

Now I was faced the question of how to introduce the subject to her.

I decided to take the same strategy as I had used with my friend -- swap clubs.

'what? what is wrong with you? what if someone gets to know? what if our relatives get to know?'

'how would they, we are all alone here in bangalore, how would they know'?

'anyway, I won't sleep with a stranger. Never.'

'what if it's not a stranger'

'what do you mean'

'i mean, what if the other couple was one we know'

'who?'

'will you agree then'?

'tell me who'

'first tell me if you'll agree'.

'i won't, unless you tell me who'

'i pitched this idea to appu'

'oh, so that's what you guys were doing on the terrace' I smiled, like a kid caught with his hand in the cookie-jar.

'so?'

'so what?'

'so what what?'

'do you agree or not?'

'go to hell'

But I knew she would agree, by the way she said 'go to hell'. This go to hell meant she didn't want to be seen giving in so easily.

'so what's up?' It's an instant message from appu, and it's been two days after I had that 'go to hell' conversation with my wife. It's Friday and the weekend is approaching. Appu wants to know what's in store.

'well. It's kind of hanging. Neither a yes nor a no. Could use some help.'

'what sort of help?'

'see. The issue is, she is not that keen on the physical side of things. I mean, I think it's something to do with female psychology -- they may be banging the gardener when you catch them, but they'll still deny that sex is important.'

'so she's not agreed?'

'nopes.'

'now what? sara is almost there.. Though she didn't want me to say that to you'

'hmm.. Look, I know my wife's also there, it's just a matter of getting her to see it. I think she's sort of in denial, or shy or something like that.'

'so?'

'well, do one thing -- get your wife to work on her when we are there tomorrow. Bring her in the mood somehow.'

'how?'

'first of all, don't mention sex as such. Try to use words like friendship, getting to know better etc. And certainly not swapping. Tell sara that we've decided to be more open about sex'

'hmm'

'and that my wife should try to relax. Tell sara to point out that it is much better if the two males remain within the group. Tell her to work on the fear angle. Point out to her that if she does not play ball, then the quest for variety will take the men elsewhere. It is better to keep them between the two of them only, instead of forcing them to look outside. Tell sara to say that that is the only reason she has decided to go ahead. And it is ok even if she doesn't enjoy all this, because she's doing it to prevent her husband from going astray. Men are wired to seek variety and choice. If they can't get it inside the marriage, they'll look outside. That is how all the extramarital affairs happen. In this case, we (the girls) can prevent all this from happening simply by agreeing to be more open about all this. We are not talking about sex, but just cuddling, being close etc.. If we don't like it, we can put our foot down anyway. And by the way, my hubby is anyway a gentleman, he won't do anything I haven't given him permission for. So the choice is yours, do you want them to do it infront of you, or behind our backs?'

'hmm.. She has to say all this to your wife?'

'yes.. In her own words. The basic thing is this -- my wife needs a reason to go along with all this, and your wife must give the reason. The real reason is happiness, attention, sex etc.. But my wife won't agree that she doesn't already have all these things. No woman will like to say that, because it makes them look like losers. Actually, they won't even admit it to themselves. So they need another apparent reason and that reason is the durability of the marriage. Your wife has to give this reason.'

'why don't you tell all this to your wife?'

'cause she will see through my intentions. She'll just say 'i know you are lusting after sara and you just want to get inside her pants at all costs.. So all this natak.'

'hmm..'

'so the plan is that we reach there by about 11 am.. And have lunch at your house.'

'ok'

'And then the two of us push off to buy a book or something.. We return by about 4 pm. By then, your wife should have worked on my wife. If she's been moderately successful, she would tell you.

'after that all of four of us sit down to watch tv. Also get a copy of the movie 'mrs singh mr mehta'. We'll see that movie. It's about a neglected, old-fashioned wife finding love in the arms of the husband of the woman that her own husband is having an affair with. It's there on youtube.'

'ok. That's it?'

'yeah.. Also have some bacardi or something and mix it with drinking water. Serve that water to everyone before the movie starts. Don't say it's vodka, just serve it as water, or better still serve it in sprint. But water should be there as backup cause my wife doesn't like soft-drinks and may refuse.'

'ok, what about the kids?'

'ideally they should both go to sleep by the time we start the movie'

'ok'

'also, remove all the chairs in your living room. Only the two-seater sofa and the divan should be there. Hope you have some condoms.'

'yeah, I have.'

'ok. And make sure both your bedrooms are clean and tidy.'

'done'.

Finally, the d-day was here. I was full of trepidation and kept fantasizing about sara all through the night. In fact, I could hardly concentrate at work on Friday and had a moderate hard-on at office throughout.

I opened her fb account and looked at all her pictures again and again. In particular, I liked one of hers in a saree, she really looked like a woman in that. Mature, grown up and damn sexy.

As it is, she is quite slim, despite being the mother of one. Surprisingly, going by her facebook photos, pregnancy seemed to have made hardly any difference to her overall appearance. She was reed thin before, and she is reed thin now, though her cheeks seem to have puffed up.

She had a fantastic smile that she seems to have infected me with. Wherever I looked, I saw her with her smile. It was a sexy, inviting, yet challenging smile. A smile that said 'show me what you've got.'

Perhaps her greatest asset was her sense of humor and her cool as cucumber approach. She never seemed to get riled by anything and always seemed to laugh and smile at things. This was the right opposite of how my wife was, at least of late. We were always fighting over little things. Even the smallest thing would lead to a full blown argument.

My wife seemed full of bitterness and see faults in me at every juncture. The funny thing is that this was mutual. I too did not have any patience for her. I too would snap at her. It was as if our marriage was in self-destruct mode.

May be it was nature's way of ensuring genetic variety in human species -- by ensuring that couples broke up soon after having one child so that they'd have more offspring with other partners, increase genetic diversity of the population and the chances of survival.

In all this gloom, sara seemed like an oasis, a symbol of promised happiness. Sitting in office, all I could think of was lying with my head in her lap, saying nothing, just looking up at her, while she looked down upon me with that smile of hers. I could just die in her arms.

Perhaps I'd fallen in love with her, and that's what was causing the tension between me and my wife, perhaps not. Because I remember I lost interest in my wife just before sara came into my life. Perhaps she would would no longer appeal to me like this after i've laid my hands on her once, I wasn't sure. Whatever it was, it was certainly not anything like i've experience in the last 6 or 7 years and certainly not something I got from my marriage.

All the looks and sights that I had been exchanging with her, all her laughs at my jokes -- they would all find their meaning tomorrow.

Anyway, such like thoughts kept me up all night and by saturday morning and in the morning, I was somewhat exhausted from the extreme anticipation. I'd not felt so tense in my entire life, even on the night before I got married.

I got up, trying not to show too much excitement to my wife. Contrary to my custom on holidays, I had a nice bath in the morning and put on some perfume, careful not to show my wife what I was up to.

She too took a bath, and I urged her to slap on some perfume. 'why do you want me to put on perfume?' she asked, slightly suspicious.

She still remembered my pleadings with her earlier this week to get in on the foursome business very clearly. I had to finally reassure her that nothing was on the cards before she'd agree to go to appu's house on saturday.

Anyway, I sprayed on some deo on her when it didn't look like she'd put on some herself. Not that appu would mind. Appu had been one of the hornier kids at school, and we've had group jerk-off sessions when were at high school. He was always the first to whip out his instrument and go to work, as we surreptitiously watched blue-films at a friend's place.

It was 12 when we arrived. I don't know if it is my imagination, but sara was glowing. Even appu had shaved and was wearing nice, ironed clothes, rather odd for a saturday.

Sara was wearing a pink t-shirt and jeans. I noticed for the first time that her breasts seemed to have grown. Perhaps it was just the tight t-shirt.

If she was abashed, she did a good job of hiding it.

The two seemed like they were welcoming the president of India to their house. As instructed, two of the sofa chairs and anything else that could be used to sit on had been removed. My wife, as was her custom, plonked herself on the divan, laying my sleeping kid out on it. Normally, I'd go for one of the sofa-chairs, but they were missing.

The atmosphere was festive. Both seemed overflowing with energy and enthusiasm. Perhaps they were just too nervous.

For the first time, I felt sara actually acknowledged me in a straighforward fashion. Till now, the maximum i've got from her have been some sly glances, making sure appu was not looking. Even then, the glances were very short, just enough to let me know that she'd noticed me. Perhaps she too was wary of letting me look into her eyes for too long.

Today, it was different. 'sit Sumon' she said, pointing to the sofa, and promptly set herself down on it. I immediately felt a tingling in the loins - not because of what she said, but the simple fact that this was the first time that she was really talking to me without looking at her husband for feedback. She seemed a totally different person, almost naughty, and the junior me seemed to recognize that.

I sat down and she started off with 'how was traffic etc..' She was slightly hyper. She was laughing more than usual, and looked at me eagerly as she asked all sorts of totally irrelevant questions. I too was in a different world, as if I was meeting a long lost lover. My brain must have been swimming in hormones.

I looked back and saw appu fussing over my kid. He had placed himself on the divan, in front of my wife and beside the sleeping child. He was patting my son on his cheek and was saying things like 'he's grown so much in a week' and all that.

My wife was also focused on him, partly because he kept on asking her questions. Normally, my wife would have been looking at me to figure out what I was up to. This time, appu played his cards perfectly and kept her engaged. He even went inside and got a plate of biscuits and placed it before her. Then he went in again and this time, came with four glasses of fizzy transparent water.

He gave both of us one each, since we were seated in front, and then took the remaining to my wife. She said 'oh, it's soft drinks'. He said 'why, you don't have..' 'not that I don't have..' 'it's fine, one glass of soft drink is not going to kill you or anything,' he said.

I was surprised by the way he was behaving. Normally, he would tinker around on his computer instead of playing a host. But this time, he was going hammer and tongs after my woman. What a difference, the chance getting inside a woman's pants makes in a man's perspective.

I remembered an observation one of my friends makes - beauty is availability multiplied by looks. Even if a woman is modest in her looks, if she's readily available, her beauty becomes multiplied by several times to a man.

Both me and sara were watching eagerly to see if she'd drink the vodka-mountain dew combination. Since my wife has never taken alchohol, and rarely drinks mountain dew, I was sure she couldn't tell if anything was mixed. Hopefully they'd mixed only an inkling of the vodka in it, or my wife will surely figure out something's amiss.

if she's like me, a little vodka will help her loosen up, put her at ease and make her relaxed and easy going. She would simply feel happy, and be happy about it. More, and she'd recognize that she's intoxicated.

She took the glass from him and held it in her hand. 'Don't let the fizz go out, have it,' he said.

She laughed, more to hide her discomfort, then took a small sip, and lowered the glass.

Meanwhile sara had taken two or three sips and was about to put down the glass on the sofa, between us. I put my hand on the glass too, touching her fingers, on the pretext of making sure the glass did not overturn. She did not pull her hand back.

Because of the way the sofa was placed (with its back to the divan), my wife or appu could not see what was going on with the glass. I held the glass too, for a minute, as we continued to make some sort of conversation.

Slowly I moved my hand along her wrist and sort of cuddled/patted her hand. My hard on was now in full force.

I realized that the excitement and thrill of an action was not dependent on how 'ground breaking' it was by itself, but on the how ground breaking it was relative to the circumstances. Here I was, sitting two feet away from appu, holding his wife's hand like a lover. That was an unbelievable thrill. I had never done pda, and this was quite heady for me.

Initially, when I put my hand on hers, she looked at the glass. When I started moving my fingers along hers, she slowly looked up -- a mix of curiosity, shyness, welcome and surprise.

I wanted to look back to see how things were going with appu and my wife, but I also wanted to give them privacy. So I resisted the impulse to look back and tried to think of more things to ask sara and keep the conversation moving.

She fleetingly looked at my pants.. It was obvious there was something going on there. She took the glass up for one more sip and moved slightly closer to me in one motion. This time, she put her glass on her jeans, on her right thigh.

While talking, I put my left hand on her right thigh, in front of the glass. Since she did not show any response, I started applying slight pressure on her thigh, over the jeans. She didn't mind again.

She raised the glass again to take one more sip. I took the opportunity to slide my hand up on her jeans, until it was wedged between both of her legs. She adjusted her position a bit, allowing me to put by hand in a bit deeper.

She was very warm, almost hot in there. I wished I had my right hand there, it would have been better. I tried moved my hand up a bit and placed it on her belly, under the t-shirt. It was warm, and soft.

She caught her breath, and seemed to have lost track of what she was saying. Her breathing was slightly, almost imperceptibly faster.

Suddenly, I was distracted by a loud laughter from the 'back benches', from my wife, as it turned out.

I turned around and she looked at me and said, ' really, you were such naughty boys at school, weren't you'. I was moderately embarrassed, perhaps because I saw my wife laughing so much at someone else's joke and also because I wasn't sure which of our old time secrets appu had just spilled to advance his agenda.

She seemed very happy. I was seeing her like that after a long time. I'd seen her like that in the months after our marriage, when she'd laugh and talk a lot. I looked at her glass, it was half empty. So was appu's.

Suddenly another noise came from one of the two interior rooms -- sara's little girl had woken up. 'Sara..' appu said, and sara went inside to get the baby girl.

I got up and went outside to the corridor/balcony. Sara also followed, with the kid.

I was standing against the railing, looking out onto the next building. Opposite was a flat, but there was no one outside on their corridor. She came and stood next to me, and placed her hand on my hand, on the railing.

I was tempted to put my arm around her, but I realized that at any time, someone can come from any of the other flats that also opened on to the same corridor.

Instead, I decided to eye-fondle her. Turning to her, I looked at her breasts, openly, defiantly, feeling no shame. I would never think of doing something like that ever in normal life. I never looked at women's assets, I always felt embarrassed. I don't know what got into me at that instant.

Then I looked at her face, she was looking at me, smiling that smile of hers, and I realized what heaven meant. I realized that I'd never fallen in love with my wife, ever. I felt young again. I remembered how I used to feel when I used to be in love, in college.

I wished life would stay still at that moment, so that I could savour it. After a while, she said she had to feed the baby and was going in.

She went in. I considered if I should follow her. I decided not to, for various reasons, including not wanting to destroy my wife and appu's privacy.

I walked down to the ground, roamed around the building once.. And after about 10 minutes, came back. I made sure my approach was clearly audible, and after hesitating a bit, walked in.. Appu was holding my wife's hand in his hand, he seemed to be reading her palm or something.

My wife looked up at me like someone eating a feast would look at an approaching stray dog - I could see slight anger in her eyes. She seemed to be asking me why I needed to barge in now of all times. Her cheeks were totally flushed, probably from all the excitement and laughing.

Perhaps for the first time since our marriage, I felt like an outsider, out of place. Like I was not welcome with her. For a minute, I was confused. I wondered if i'd made the right choice. Would I be able to go through with this? this wasn't as simple as i'd thought initially. I still felt a sense of ownership over her, and I wondered if she'd be able to see me in a similar position -- especially since she was much more sentimental than I was.

i'd thought whatever we did, we should do in the same room, all four of us -- one the same bed. That, perhaps, has to be re-evaluated, if this is how it felt.

Suddenly, she pulled out her hand from appu's grip and asked me where I was, almost angry. Perhaps she was angry at herself, for letting appu touch her.

I said 'just roaming'. I felt she might burst into tears next moment. This wasn't going as intended, I thought.

I looked at her glass, it was empty.

Meanwhile, sara came out and said 'everybody ready for lunch.' She bustled off to the dining area, to set up the lunch. My wife too joined in. Though it was my own idea, I just couldn't look at appu immediately. I felt uncomfortable, as if he was suddenly a competitor I must destroy.

I was confused. I sat on the sofa and took hold of the TV remote, trying to focus on sara as she scurried about setting up the dinner.

I thought about what is the best way to go forward. I mean, if I felt uncomfortable initially, would my wife be able to take it, or would she suffer what people call emotional trauma? I was sure I did not want her to do something if she hated it. I was as keen on her (and appu's) enjoyment as I was on mine.

If she did not enjoy it, what is the point? for that, I realized she needed to be made more open.

'what should we do?' appu asked, when we were sitting at nearby restaurant, while my his wife 'worked on' mine.

'see, there are two things here - one, guilt. Two - emotional trauma from seeing someone you love have sex with someone else. We need to get over both these things' I said.

'that is why I said initially that we should not have sex in the same room' appu said.

'yeah, but I thought it would make it easier for her and for your wife, if the husband was nearby. They would not get scared,' I said.

'yeah, but they would also see you making out with other women," he said.

I thought about it. The original reason for planning a same-room sex was that I didn't want to leave my naked wife alone in a room with a naked man. What if he forced her to do things she didn't like, like anal? I had to be careful, though I knew appu for long, I still didn't want to take that chance.

I thought they could be alone later on, when they are more comfortable.

So I said, 'we'll see.'

'so what do we do today?' appu asked.

'let's do one thing -- the idea is to break the ice. And we need to take one step at a time. So let's break the ice today with by having sex with our own wives in front of each other.'

'that's boring,' appu said, looking very disappointed. 'i mean, I can sleep with her anytime I want.'

'i know, but we need to go slow on this. If it works fine, we'll come back tomorrow, on sunday, and get more adventurous,' I said.

'ok,' he said, looking slightly more relieved. 'but what can be the impulse to start things off,' he asked.

'well, you have lots of porn, pick something indian, with a good story,' I said.

'yeah, I have one a woman neglected by her husband and having sex with a stranger who starts off by making a wrong-number call,' he said.

'great' I said.

'All the same, I am not totally comfortable with the plan,' I said, 'i think we are going too fast.'

'as in?' appu asked, earnestly.

'as in, suppose you wanted to have sex with a girl, how would you go about it. Would you straight-away reach for her boobs? '

'no... I mean, i'll try to take her out I guess, show her a good time.'

'exactly. That's what we are missing in our plan. We expect them to simply have sex with us because, being men, we would actually have sex with people we know only a bit. We need to approach them as they are, women, not slaves.'

'but I was not looking at them as slaves'

'i know, but the thing is that in our impatience for sex, we are forgetting the ground rules of approaching women, and how to treat them.'

'hmm. So are you suggesting that we should take them out and show them a good time? we already went to pondicherry didn't we?'

'not as a foursome. Our wives should be comfortable being with us alone. They should start trusting us, otherwise, I don't think at least my wife will enjoy this thing. She might agree and you might be able to have sex with her, but I feel she won't enjoy it. It might be unpleasant for her.'

'hmm. You are the expert on woman, so I guess you are right. To be frank, even my wife may be a bit uncomfortable. And i've only told her that it would be a foursome, and not with you alone, in a room' he said.

'so what I am suggesting is this -- let's the four of us go to a cinema, actually a multiplex. There, you and shama sit for one movie and me and sara sit for another. What do you say?'

'sounds ok, but what do we do about the kids?' he said.

Indeed, i'd forgotten all about the kids. I mean, there was no one in bangalore with whom we could leave our kids behind. That was actually a problem.

'then what about if we go to a park?' he asked.

Anyway, long story short, we decided to have a getting-to-know session in my house on the next day, sunday.

We reached appu's house by about 3 pm, after roaming around in a mall on old madras road to kill time.

when we entered the room, the mood was not as jovial as we'd left it. I looked at my wife, who was sitting in the sofa with sara in the sofa. She asked me 'what book did you buy?'

'the book has not come yet, they'd deliver it next week, they said,' I replied.

'oh' she said, still not betraying any emotion.

Appu walked in to one of the two bedrooms, the one that opened onto the living room. Sara followed him in.

I told shama we should probably leave now. She seemed surprised. 'really, are you sure', she asked, disbelievingly. She seemed to think it was trick and was looking at me cynically, like a teacher looks at a student who's just raised his hand after she asked a question she was sure none would know the answer to.

'yeah, let's push off', I said.

She still seemed to think I was joking. Anyway, the other couple came out and I said, 'we're pushing off now'

sara's face was serious-looking, though not exactly sad. She smiled and said, 'ok, we'll come tomorrow' I said 'ok. Shama, let's move'.

On the way back, I said, 'appu wants to take you to the movies' I guess she was not very surprised by what I said, because she did not say anything. She kept looking out of the car window.

'will you go?'

'where?'

'to the movies, appu wants to take you to the movies,' I repeated.

She looked me right in the eye. 'you want me to go?' she asked.

I was kind of nervous, but I didn't show it, I said, 'why not? he's my friend. He wants to take you to the movies. It'll be fun for you too.'

'so what will you do' she said.

'i'll look after the baby' I said.

She seemed satisfied with the answer. 'when' she asked.

'tomorrow, morning.'

'which movie?'

'whichever you prefer?'

the rest of the evening was tense. She didn't talk to me much, except the absolute necessities, such as 'are you having dinner now, or later' types.

It was like one of those times when we quarreled and refused to talk to each other for the rest of the evening. I called up appu and told him about the new plan. He was supposed to pick up my wife around 11 am, take her to a movie and generally pretend like he was out on a date with her. 'imagine this is your first date with my wife. Be nice to her, be a gentleman, don't do anything you would not do on a first day. Treat her with respect,' I instructed him.

'ok boss,' he said.

At night, she turned to the other side and slept. I too slept, kind of relieved. I thought this anger would be useful for her tomorrow, when she's going out with appu. It would help her be more comfortable with him, if she could be angry with me.

In the morning, appu called, around 9 am to confirm the final details. 'is it on,' he asked, I said 'of course.'

'ok great' he said.

'here talk to soma,' I said, handing the phone over to her. She was clearly not expecting me to do that.

she said, 'hi.. Yeah.. That will be fine.. Yeah, sounds fine.. Yeah.. You too. Yeah, see you' though she was gruff throughout the morning, during the call she started smiling, unknowingly, as she was talking to him.

As she hung up, she wiped the smile off her face.

she finished the daily kitchen chores, had a bath and walked in to the bedroom, where I was resting. 'what should I wear?' she asked.

The question was actually superfluous. She only wore salwar kameez, though she also had the odd saree.

I said 'saree'.

'saree? it's such a bother?' she said.

'well, you should look good. I don't want my friend to be disappointed. I want him to feel special. He should be proud of being with an attractive lady.'

'fine,' she said non-chalantly.

She picked out a red saree. Put on some perfume and took another half an hour to finally get in shape.

at sharp 11 am, the bell rang.

I told shama to get the door. 'hi' I heard him enter. 'hi' my wife was heard saying. 'sumon is here?' appu asked. 'yeah, he's inside. Come in' she said.

'hi. So what's the plan boss' he asked.

'well, the plan is for you to check out the movie,' I said.

'so, we come back here after the movie?' he asked.

'that's the current plan. I'll anyway give you a call if anything changes,' I said.

'ok' he said.

They pushed off in his car. Thankfully none of the neighbours were out and about when they left. They might wonder why she was leaving with him. The good thing about the city is that people don't really poke their noses into other people's business.

After about five minutes, I rang up appu.

'yeah sumon,' he said.

'don't tell her, but we'll meet at your place after the movie. I'll reach there.. You guys should be there by, what 1 pm?' I said.

'yeah, we should be there by about 2, I guess,' he said.

'ok, then see you there' I said.

'are you going there,' he asked. 'yeah, i'll go there after some time, perhaps about 12:30 or so. That's fine, right?' I said.

'yups' he said.

'don't worry. I won't overtake you. We'll go at the same speed' I said.

'ha ha ha', he laughed, relieved at that reassurance. He knew I always kept my word.

After about ten minutes, I called sara.

'hi'

'hi' she said.

'you'll be home right?'

'yeah, I am here only'

'ok, cause I was thinking of coming there'

'ok. I'll be here. You can come' she said.

'ok, then I think i'll leave in about ten minutes' I said.

'ok'

-- I scrambled to get ready. Put on some clothes and changed my kid's dress as well. I went out to the door and tried to open by car lock. I realized my hands were trembling. I somehow managed to open the car with one hand and put the child in first, came round and was off. I still can't remember anything about the drive. After about ten minutes, I was standing in front of her flat's door.

She opened the door virtually two seconds after I rang the bell.

'hi' she said.

She was wearing one of those bluish green silk nighties. Because she was breast feeding, the nightie was openable at the front.

The quality of the fabric was such that it hung over her curves.

'sorry, I was abbout to take bath,' she said, 'how are you baby boy?' she asked, looking at my kid, sitting at my hip. He stared curiously at 'aunty'.

'sorry. I'll just watch tv then, till they come,' I said.

'they've gone to the movies right,' she asked, hoping i'd say yes.

'yes of course' I said.

'i couldn't go, so I thought appu might as well take her. It will be a nice distraction for her,' I said.

'ok' she said, trying to make a straight face.

I plonked my kid on the divan, got hold of the tv remote and some toys lying around. I gave the toys to my son and lay on the divan, turning on the tv.

Sara went into the bedroom adjacent to the living room and I heard the sound of tap water falling into an empty bucket. Judging by the noise, I knew that the bathroom door was open. I was tempted, but also knew it was wrong to go far ahead on the route when appu was yet to catch up. But I thought, 'what the hell, I can at least look.'

so keeping some pillows around the kid, so that he wouldn't fall off the divan, I moved myself to one of the sofa chairs that was facing the bedroom door.

from there, I had a straight view right into the bathroom. It was narrow bathroom and she'd half closed the door. Now I saw her naked hand reaching out to put her nightie, which she had presumably removed from herself when I arranging the pillows, on to the hanger. I could see about a third of the bathroom area from where I was sitting.

I could see one wall, on which the hanger was fixed, while the other wall was hidden by the half open door. Not surprisingly, I started getting a hard on.

now, the sound of the water ceased and I saw the sprinkles from the shower on the other wall fall on the wall that was visible. Then I saw her butts -- literally, only her butts, sideways, as she moved about, trying to soak up the shower.

She was standing perpendicular to me, facing the shower-wall.

I could see about half her body, sideways, as she swayed about, enjoying herself.

Her face was never visible, but I could get a proper glimpse of her thighs and ass when she bent down -- pushing her ass back, and into my view.

her body was much 'longer' than I my wife's. Whereas my wife had rounded buttocks, she seemed to have rather muscular ones.

As she moved about, I could clearly see the outlines of her butt muscles, or perhaps it was just the falling water. Water was streaming down her back, covering her butts and some going in and falling between her legs.

her back was muscular and lean. I was very surprised because though my wife has never been very slim, she had put on some more weight after pregnancy. She was not exactly fat, but one could say well rounded, as most indian women tend to be.

My wife had wide hips, with full butts. But sara had rather boyish hips. They were not as wide as my wife's -- from what I could make out. Her butt was narrow and stuck out to the back.

On the whole, she looked lean, svelte and in the flowing water, she looked like a rippling snake.

now she turned around, probably to water her back and I caught a fleeting glimpse of her front. Her hair was on her face, so I couldn't see the face, perhaps it was intentional.

she was clean shaven in the font, which came as a surprise, because my wife never shaves down there. I thought most women didn't.

her boobs were neither big nor flat, perhaps on the smaller side. Again, they were different from my wive's. My wive's boobs really bloomed out after marriage and became really big. They must have increased two sizes.

Sara's boobs were now only as big as my wive's were before pregnancy. Perhaps that was fair, since sara's body structure was that of a snake -- sleek and slim. Though they were slim, her boobs were long and full. They had a slight sag to them. The right comparison would be like one of those long, full mangoes with pointy tips that you see on stalls at the market.

She took one full round and was now I was back to a side view of her back. She seemed to be doing something with her hair for a minute.

all this was driving me wild and I thought my rod was about to burst. I had never had such a raging hard-on in many months. My wife, even if she is totally naked and lying before me, would not give me any sort of hard on these days.

I would have to kiss my wife, rub and fondle her before i'd get some strength in my member. On top of that, if I really got excited, my penis would expand to be very large, about six-seven inches.

if it was in full bloom, it would be difficult to accommodate it in my wife's pussy. It took us about two months after marriage to finally enable full-length insertion.

the issue was both that of lubrication and lack of hole size.

the problem was worse these days, because our frequency of copulation had gone down to about two or three in a month. As a result, both her lubrication and diameter had gone down. As such, it was more comfortable to fuck her when I had only a semi hard on, rather than a full one. With half a hard on, I could push it all the way in, though I would have to give some hand guidance.

Anyway, right now, I had a full hard on, and I had to relieve the tension by 'adjusting' it out of the underwear and into the pant. I got up to relieve the tension, looked at my kid who had by now climbed down on to the floor, and walked towards the bathroom door.

I saw her take the towel and rub it on her hair and I could make out that she was soaking up the water from her body.

She then wrapped the towel under her arms and over her chest -- a traditional way of covering up adopted by mallu women. Suddenly the door was flung open and she stepped up, right in front of me.

She looked up at me - there was no surprise, no confusion, no fear, no happiness, no amusement.. In fact no feeling at all, as far as I could tell. Instead, on her face, was a question. She just looked at me questioningly, unflinchingly, straight, into my eyes.

Her hair wet hair lay over the white towel on her shoulders. Water droplets were dripping down from them. One or two were running down her face. I didn't think anything, I couldn't. I was in automatic mode. I put my right hand behind her back, pulling her towards me, and at the same time bent down, squashing my mouth on hers.

her mouth was wet and warm. I didn't use my tongue, nor did she. Instead, I sucked on her upper lip while she sucked on my lower lip. I put my left hand too behind her back and lifted her up to me. I sort of stumbled, dragged and carried her to the bed where her child was sleeping.

we landed on the bed with her under me. I opened the towel. Underneath, she was wearing nothing. I moved on to her jaw, and immediately down to her neck. I was about to bite down, the restrained myself. I didn't want to leave love bites. Instead I sucked and kissed her neck, all around. She started moaning. I then moved down further taking her left nipple in my mouth even as my hands enveloped her tightly. Suddenly, I realized she was leaking milk. I know there many who find this exhilarating, but I didn't like it. I was reminded of drinking raw cow milk as a boy, back in the village. The other breast too was now spilling, there was a spray, followed by dripping.

I thought it better not to leak it all and moved further down and to her belly. It was not as flat as I had thought, there was a bit of baby fat below the belly button. I sucked and licked the skin and she arched her body in my grip, saying 'aah, sumon'.

I made a circle with my sucking and kissing all around her belly button. I then moved down one step again.

her pussy was brown, slightly darker than the rest of her body. She had darkish lobes. My wife had yellowish lobes. However, unlike my wive's, hers were thick, there was much to chew on.

I sucked one into my mouth and sucked at it with force like I was sucking the last bit of ice-cream from a the bottom of a cone. She again arched her back said said 'sumooo, sumooo.. Aah.. Ah.. ' I now moved my mouth to inside her folds. I found her clitter. It was pronounced, again unlike my wive's which was more subtle. Sara's little one was big enough for me to kiss and fondle with my tongue. Perhaps because she had just taken a bath, there was no urine stink.

Instead, she was releasing copious amounts of cum. My nose and mouth was covered in cum, though most of it escaped to the bed. I worked on her pussy with my mouth for a few minutes. This was my favorite part, though my wife didn't prefer it. She never seemed to appreciate it, and she always had a slightly uriny taste down there.

But sara's pussy was well developed, a treat to feast on. If my wive's was a cutlet, sara was a hamburger, a big mac. Her pussy was also bigger.

She started shuddering. Every time I would bite and tug on her clitter, she would shudder slightly.

after about three minutes, her moans started getting louder. I remember thinking to myself 'what if the baby wakes up now'.

Finally her body shook for about 5 seconds.. I kept on, trying to make sure I took regular breaths and keeping the cum out of mouth as much as possible.

she shuddered again.. And said 'sumu.. Enough.. Stop sumu.. Pls.. Sumu.. Stop.. Aah.. Don't.. Please'.. But I was in no mood to stop.. And kept on.. By now my tongue and lips had been working overtime for 5 or 6 minutes, or what seemed like 5 or 6 minutes.. Could be have been less also.

After three series of shudders, I took my mouth off.. And she lay back. I looked up at her, my face wet with her cum, and she looked at me, smiling, and pulled me to her. She kissed me again, taking some of her own cum into her mouth.

I started unbuttoning my pants with my right hand even as I held her with my left. I finally managed to push my underwear and pant down to my knee and managed to escape out of it totally.. I felt my member oozing precum like i'd never seen it before.. I now lowered myself on her.

Though my stick was as big as it'd ever been, it slipped right in, and I pushed it all the way as she arched again and let out a loud 'aarhh'

her body suddenly felt hot and I could feel her sweat in my hands. She gasped when it hit the end. By end, I don't mean end of her hole, but rather the end of my pole -- the point at which my bush was squashed against her bush and I ran out of rod-length.

It was a nice and surprising feeling for me, because it had been a really really long time -- about 1.5 years -- since I had been able to insert a fully erect stick into a pussy, that too at one go like this.

I realized what my wife had told me once, after the pondicherry trip. She had said, 'i asked sara about the fact that we have so much pain when having intercourse'.. 'hmm' I said. 'she said she never had it. Not even on her first time.' I also remember how small appu's penis was, from the time we were giving each other handjobs in the river, back in the village. No wonder she didn't feel any pain.

Whenever I hit the end, I could feel a slight 'grip' or tightening at the root (not tip) of my rod. My wife's pussy is a pretty passive, but sara seemed to tighten her hole, at least the entrance to her hole, every time my thrust reached its limit. It wasn't a strong grip, but a subtle tightening that punctuated my movement.

I tried to take it slow. Enjoying the feeling of her velvety flesh gripping my member tightly. However, the traditional posture is not one of my strong points.

there was only so much holding back that I could do when doing it this way, primarily because I had to support my own weight. Since I am not that muscular, I don't have the stamina to keep pumping up and down like a horse.

Perhaps because of this, I started thrusting despite myself. Each time my bush would hit her bush, she'd gasp.

after about 8 thrusts, I knew I was about to lose it. I didn't know what to do. The rumblings had started.. I had no clue whether she'd come again, but I was ready to blow it.

I took two more quick thrusts making the most of my last moments inside her velvety softness and quickly pulled it out. I took the tip in my hand to make sure it didn't spill all over. I just collapsed over her and started jerking wildly as I came in sprouts. I jerked about 6 or 7 times, as she held me tightly to her body. I looked at her. She was smiling and she pulled me to herself, gripping me in a tight embrace. I could feel her smiling.

A lot of people think getting a woman in bed the is most challenging part. For me, it's always been the time immediately after you've crumbled, spent.

It's the moment at which the man's interest in the woman hits rock bottom. Unfortunately, it is also the point where the woman's love for the man (and her expectations from him) peak.

This is a part I hate, having to talk sweet little nothings lying in her arms as if I have nothing to do in this world, when what I really want is get up, clean myself and raid the refrigerator.

the other reason for this conflict is that a man is at his most satiated state immediately after coitus, I certainly am. Women's ass don't tempt for much.. At least for another 15-20 minutes till I recover my energy. Any wrongs or sins you've done on your way to the woman's embrace also come back to your mind, with a vengeance.

So it was in this situation that I lay there side-by-side, yet in sara's arms, looking her in eye. She was looking at me lovingly, but I felt guilt creeping up on me. I'd promised that I wouldn't overtake appu and i've overtaken him within an hour of making the promise.

On the other hand, I reasoned, his prize is also nearly assured, at least as far as it is in my hands to deliver it. If he really blows it by being greedy or tactless, that's his problem.

I was with these thoughts when the baby awoke. Sara put her hands over me and peered over to comfort the child. Her breasts were squashed against my chest -- one of the most wonderful moments in my life, thought they would have been even more wonderful I hadn't just had an orgasm.

She realized she couldn't manage the baby like that and sat up on the bed and lifted the baby over me into her lap and started breast feeding her.

I excused myself silently into the bathroom and cleaned up. She was still feeding the baby when I stepped out.

it was a moment that separated the selfish from the kind -- I could either dust myself off, get my pants and go and watch some tv, or I could sit with sara and look on with love in my eyes. I really didn't have to agitate to find an answer. Though I would have chosen the first option with my wife, with sara, there was still love. So I got back on to the bed and went behind her and planted a kiss on her shoulder.

'no somu.. Don't,' she said, pretending to be irritated by interference with her motherly duties.

yellowish sunlight was streaming in through one of the glass-paned windows, giving the smooth reddish-brown skin on her naked back a golden glow. I planted one more kiss on her shoulder, this time on the back side. Then I put one further down and one on the side of her belly.

She kept protesting, saying she can't feed if I distracted her like that.

I then put my head on the other side and continued to administer my kisses. Since the baby was feeding from the left breast, the right breast was free, and milk was dripping out of it.

So I extended my tongue and licked it, very lightly.

'sumu, stop it now or i'll tell my husband,' she said, playfully.

'oh really,' I said, and put my mouth on the breast and started sucking it. Milk started coming immediately and I stopped. I didn't want to deprive the baby of its dinner.

I climbed down the bed and squatted in front of her, on the floor - under the baby. I put my head in between her thighs and planted a kiss on the inside of the left thigh. She had stopped protesting. I turned and planted one on the right thigh. However, my further advancement inside was blocked by the baby.

So I had to be content with the thighs. I continued to plant kisses whereever I could for another two minutes, playing with her, until the baby's hunger was finally quenched.

'get dressed, I don't want you to welcome my husband like this,' she said, laying the baby back on the bed and moving towards the bathroom.

I remembered I too had baby. So I put on my pants and went to check on him. He was still playing on the floor, but I could see an upset flowerpot that proved his misadventures when daddy was also being a bad boy.

He said 'dada' when he saw me. I went and picked him up and sat on the divan. Then I realized he must be hungry too. I had forgotten to take his feeding bottle. There was only one thing to do.

'are you sure?' sara said. 'yeah.. It's all the same. If he can have cow's milk, he can have yours too,' I said.

She had just put on a pink panty and was holding a black bra in one of her hands, standing in front of the cupboard mirror. I realized that her svelte figure was not a figment of imagination. As she stood there turning back to look at me, I was reminded of deepika padukone.. Especially around the hips.

anyway, for now, I thought, i'd settle for milk for my infant. She kept the bra aside and took hold of my son and gave him the other breast -- the one that his father had been suckling on five minutes earlier.

My son sucked at it eagerly as the other baby sat on the bed saying incoherent things.

Then I realized one more person was hungry. I went off to the fridge to see what was there. There were apples, bananas and a half-eaten bar of dairy milk. I took an apple and the chocolate and went inside the room. I put the chocolate in her mouth and she took a bite of it. I then proceeded to finish it in two bites and then attacked the apple. After taking a bite, I offered it to sara, she just licked it.

so I took it back and bit off the part that she'd licked and resubmitted it to her. My son, who was in her lap, reached out for it, trying to grab it. But she managed to lick it again, and I ate the part she licked.

Soon, the apple was also finished. I went to the kitchen and buried the dairymilk cover under some of the other trash and threw the apple stuff on top.

I looked at the clock. It was 12:30.

After about five minutes, we were both cuddled on the divan. She was wearing a short flower-patterned crumbly skirt that reached only to her knee -- something i'd never seen her wear before -- and a tight yellow t-shirt. I had seen such skirts for sale at 100 rupees on commercial street.

Despite not intended to, we ended up making love once again, this time on the divan.

This time, I let her ride, since I get much more control when I am below than when I am above. I can hold it in longer and really enjoy when the woman's on top. Also, frankly it's much less work.

The fact that i'd blown my load just half an hour earlier also helped. That is one thing my wife also did very well. She was very good at riding, she knew how to keep the pace optimum so that i'd enjoy, but i'd also last long enough for her.

in fact, I was really surprised when I saw for the first time how really good she was at riding. She didn't need to be told much, except, 'now you go up' before she started riding my pony like a pro.

But sara wasn't far behind. She knew the angles, the side-ways moves and the to-and-fro. In between, I told her to rest a bit, so that I could 'calm down' and last longer. She lay on my chest, while I enjoyed being inside her. I hope she came too, though with women, it's slightly difficult to tell, especially when they are sitting on you and you can't really feel their body shudder.

we again cleaned up and I told her to wear a jeans, instead of the short skirt, I didn't want appu to think she was trying to seduce me. We also decided that we'd not get naked again before the other couple came back. We were still frolicking with little kisses and bites when someone rang the bell.

it was them and they were about half an hour early. Both seemed relaxed and happy, like two teenagers returning from a day out.

'how come you guys are early?' I said.

'she didn't want to see the movie, so we decided to go the ulsoor park. We sat there for an hour or more.. And then we had dinner at this place on church street,' appu said.

'ok'.

The ulsoor lake park is a lovers' hangout. You can see many couples there in all the corners, necking and kissing and cuddling. I remembered appu had taken a girl from his office to that park once, and told me about how he totally groped her out.

Anyway, I couldn't complain. Chances are he could not have done in the park what i'd done to his wife, certainly not twice. Anyway, there were no bite marks or anything on my wife's body. I could easily make out if someone had bitten her, because of her light, creamy complexion.

At one look my wife would look more attractive. She had nice shapely hips, full breasts, was very fair in complexion.. While sara was thin, boyish and of medium complexion.

however, sara had her own personality while my wife was a typical bhartiya housewife, with all the failures and qualities.

even if some one says my wife is chocolate and sara is only pop-corn, I am fine with it. Because, after living on chocolate for three years, pop corn is what tastes better.

They came in and appu sat on the sofa. I noticed that my wife too sat on the sofa, next to him. This was different. Usually she would have sat on a different chair or the divan.

'so what did you do in the park?' it was sara who asked the question that was playing on my mind.

'nothing. We just sat and looked at all the crowd,' my wife quickly said, before appu had a chance to reply. I looked at sara. I don't think she realized what sort of 'crowd' would have been there in the park and what sort of sights there were to look at.

Anyway, I was happy they didn't come back fighting with each other. Perhaps that happens only after three years of cohabitation.

suddenly my wife seemed to remember something, and said 'oh, I totally forgot, did you feed kuttan?' she asked me. Kuttan is the nickname for our baby boy.

'yes, sara gave him some cerelac,' I said. It was my turn to reply quickly, before sara opened her mouth.

'hm' she said and got up and to go to the bathroom. Appu was already inside, so she went to the other bedroom.

sara had, by now, started setting up lunch for me and herself, as the other two said they were full.

after dinner, I said 'now we'll play a game'

everyone looked at me quizzically. I said 'first we'll blind fold one person and then i'll announce the rest of the rules'.

Appu and sara realized it was part of the plan. Sara promptly came with a cloth to be used as the blindfold. 'i suggest we start with shama' appu said. My wife protested much, but finally relented.

'we have to go to the bedroom' I said 'sara, can you give something to my wife to wear? the saree will be spoilt, and I haven't forgotten how much I paid for it'.

Sara opened the cupboard and the skirt she'd just discarded was right on top. 'this'll do?' she asked holding it out, looking at everyone. My wife would never wear something that exposed her leg, especially in front of others.

predictably she said, 'no'. I said, 'that's fine. Give it to her. Do you have a t shirt or anything'

my wife looked at me pleadingly and said 'i can't wear that!' I said, 'why not? do you want to wear jeans?' I knew she hated wearing jeans because she felt her butts were very big and so she did not have a 'jeans body'. She looked crestfallen.

'it's ok, what's the big deal? when i, as your husband, have no problem, what do you worry about? trust me,' I said. She reluctantly took the skirt from sara's hands I and appu stepped out to give the girls some privacy. I told sara to also tie the blindfold and that my wife should be seated on the bed when we come in.

after about ten minutes, sara opened the bedroom door and led us in.

once near the bed I said -- 'the game is this -- we'll poke you with our finger, and you have to name who it is. If you've got five correct answers in a row, your turn ends,' I saw appu and sara stifle their laughs, while there was a look of alarm on my wife's face. 'the touch should be brief, otherwise she's figure out easily who it is.' I told my wife to sit with her back against the head of the cot and her legs stretched forward. Her legs were naturally hairless. Actually, unlike most mallu women, sara had very little body hair. I hated body hair, and I was happy she didn't have any naturally. Her legs were shapely, with her smooth yellow-golden skin unblemished by even a slight scar.

If I hadn't been her husband, I would have found it difficult not to stare at her legs. She had pulled down her skirt as much as possible. However, you could still peer in a bit.

Her breasts really stood out in the tight black t-shirt which seemed to be big enough only for children. Perhaps sara chose it intentionally, but you could also see the top portion of her white creamy breasts, as only one of the buttons were fastened.

Some of her midriff was also visible, especially on the sides and the back, as it was not that long either.

The sight of a voluptuous young woman in (relatively) skimpy costume is something people would look forward to. However, when you see a blindfold over her eyes and realize you could be naughty and she couldn't even see it, it can really turn on anyone. Even I was getting turned on, seeing her like that. She was distinctly uneasy, but I could also see that she was very excited and was breathing rapidly.

I indicated to sara to touch her first.. She sat on the edge of the bed and poked my wife on her leg, between her knee and her angle. 'somettan' she said. Somettan is short of soman-jyeshtan or soman-elder. Elder is a suffix used to indicate respect. Most mallu wives would add it to her husband's name to denote respect.

It is also added to denoted respect for others also, including for strangers. She calls appu, appuvettan. Sara, however, called me soman or somu.

'wrong' sara said gleefully.

Now I stepped forward, and to make it more fun, I touched her on her stomach, where more of her skin was showing because the t-shirt had rode up in the back when she crawled back to lean against the bed-head.

'she jumped and said 'this has to be somettan'' I said 'ok. You got one right'.

Then appu moved forward, but I held him back and motioned to sara again. She touched under her jaw. Now my wife was confused. She wanted to say appu, but she was not sure appu would touch her on her face. So she said 'somettan' again and sara jumped in joy, saying 'wrong again'.

Now I indicated to appu. He sat on the edge of the cot and touched the inside of her leg, near the knee with his finger' he took his time taking his finger off.. And dragged it a little before taking it off. 'appuvettan' she said.

'ok, one point', I said.

I told him to touch again. This time he used the back of his finger and gently caressed her neck, taking a few seconds to do so. 'somettan' she said, I said wrong.

'then who was it,' she asked, I said 'appu'.

'i knew it' she said.

'oh really' appu said.

I looked at sara, she came to the other side of the cot, sat down and put her hand on my wife's calf and dragged it along to her feet, before taking it off. 'sara' she said.

Now I used the same technique as appu and used the back of my fingers and dragged them on her stomach -- in the gap between the skirt and the t-shirt. She said 'somettan' I said 'fine'.

'now let someone else play,' she said.

'no, you have to get five correct ones', I said. She made a face.

As sara was moving for the next touch, I went out to the living room and got mine and sara's phones. I tip toed back in and gave sara's phone to her and indicated her to call me.

She called and after it rang twice, I cut the call, but pretended to my wife like I was on a call. 'yeah mom.. What.. I can't hear you.. What? .. Hey appu, I can't her anything here yaar'..

'you've to go out on to the corridor' he said.

'ok', I said, and walked out with loud footsteps.

from the corridor, I called sara on her phone.. She picked up. I said 'you come out, pretending like you are talking to someone on the phone'.

After about 15 seconds, she too walked out. I banged the door shut, so that my wife would hear her going out as well.

'not bad, somu' sara said. 'thank you', I said.

My wife knows that when I talk to my family, I am on the phone for at least ten minutes. So we stood outside for ten minutes, and I told sara how to go forward in the next 'phase' of the plan, and told her to tell appu to act accordingly.

She agreed.

after about fifteen minutes, I opened the door, making sure it banged against the wall as it did so, and called out to appu, saying 'appu.. Sorry man.. Mom called'.. And walked in.

I thought by now she'd have taken the blindfold off and the two would be chatting or something. Surprisingly I found the two as i'd left them, with him sitting next to her. However while he was sitting facing her when I left, he was now sitting alongside her now.

her blindfold was still on.. Though they were not doing anything when I walked in. I said 'you know how parents are'.. 'uh huh' he said.

So is the game still on?

'yeah' I said. This time, she cracked the five-question thing in about two minutes and I was also trying to end the game now.

'i have to go to the bathroom, one sec' shama said and lept off the bed when we'd untied her blindfold. I told appu to go out and talk to sara. I heard the sound of a tap being opened inside the bathroom and then splashing water.

After two minutes, she came out and I said, come, we'll watch some TV, and went to the living room.

sara and appu were in the other bedroom and the door was closed. After another minute both emerged. Appu said he'd got an urgent call from his office and there's been a crash in the software application that he is in charge of at a major client. He had to log in and try to troubleshoot the thing, he said, and started opening his laptop. He was immersed in his laptop from then on.

'this is how he is,' sara said, 'sometimes I think I am a hindrance to his love affair with his work,' she said. 'somettan is also like that only,' my wife said.

'what do you guys want to have for tea' sara asked. 'let's have adai' appu said. Adai is basically rice flour steamed with a filling of sweet inside -- usually jaggery and coconut. It would take about half an hour to cook and would keep the girls busy.

So I turned my attention to the tv.

after half an hour, as promised, the girls appeared with adai.. 'don't disturb me.. I really need to concentrate' appu said when sara asked him if he was not having anything.

So the three of us started eating. As we finished, sara looked at the clock and said 'oh shit, I totally forgot. Appu's supposed to take me to the hospital.. Appooo.. C'mon, let's go.'

'shhhh.. ' appu said from his perch on the sofa, still buried in his 'work'.

'but appu, you know the doctor wn't have another appointment this month.. We made the booking nearly a month ago. You knew I had to go there today. I even reminded you yesterday. He will be really angry if I miss it.. Come no..'

'i can't.. It's an emergency. You go alone..' he said.

Sara looked at me. I looked at appu and said 'how long will you take' 'about an hour... Can you do me a favor, can you take her to the doctor's. I have no idea when this is going to be over man. It's kind of far though, about 15km,' he said.

I looked at my wife. She said 'let's all go then.. Appuvettan will sit here and work'.

'go? who will take care of the kids?'

'we'll take them along with us'

'i am not taking two infants to the hospital. They'll catch some infection' I said.

'i don't want to put you guys into trouble' sara said.

'no no, it's fine.. Let's see what we can do.. How long will this take?' I asked.

'see.. The doctor's appointment is at 5.. He comes after making his daily rounds. We have to reach by about 4:45.. So we have to leave in about 10-15 minutes.. I think we can be here by about 6:30 or so,' she said.

'ok, if it's that urgent.. Let's go,' I said. "you stay here with the kids,' I said, looking at my wife.

'what if I also come' she said.

'look I don't want the children to catch some disease there, can't you understand' I said, showing some anger.

'ok ok. I'll stay. But come fast,' she said.

'get ready then,' I told sara.

'ok.. Thanks a lot.. Thanks a lot shama,' she said looking at my wife.

In about 20 minutes, me and sara were riding out of the building in my car. 'so what's the plan.. Sometta' sara said, leaning over and cupping my jaw with her hand. She said 'sometta' mockingly, as if she was my wife.

'you'll find out. Are you scared to ride with me' I said.

'you can't even scare a lamb' she said, pinching me on my arm. 'but tell where we are going no?'

'we are going some place where we can watch some more tv, like in the morning' I said. 'oh..' she said, smiling naughtily, as she understood what I meant. I took the turn that led straight to my house.

After about two hours of fun with sara at home, I called appu.

"How is it going? do you want more time?"

"No," he said, curtly.

"It's not worked?"

"No."

"Ok, then we'll come now," I said.

I conveyed the news of appu's misfortune to sara and set off.

Later that night, back at home with shama, I wondered what to do. According to appu, she didn't show any 'initiative', even though he gave a lot of signals.

'i sat close to her.. Touched her hands and even her thigh. Once I moved her hair from her forehead. She seemed to enjoy it, but I didn't get the signal that it'd be ok to pull her to me and kiss her,' appu told me as we sat at the coffee shop in his office complex the next day.

I didn't fully blame my wife. Appu was not the bold sort. Being a gentleman, he was severely restrained in his ways. On top of that, I had warned him strongly against trying to force the pace and spoiling his chances forever.

naturally, he was nervous. On top of that, he was frustrated.

'i don't know what shama wants yaar,' he said. 'i know she is excited and all that, but somehow, she seems to keep herself withdrawn away from me,' he said.

I thought about it. I realized that for the other three of us, it was easier because we knew what was going on. For my wife, however, it was an agonizing decision. She, in fact, thought she would be cheating on me by getting physical with appu.

But how do I tell her she won't be? if I tell her to sleep with appu, she'll think I am crazy, or she'll think I am testing her to see how loyal she is.

while we are normally frank in our discussions, our relationship also has certain limits -- imposed primarily by her conservative nature. I can be sexually very open with her, and we watch all sorts of videos and stuff, but adultery is a difficult subject to broach.

So my requirement was this - I had to let her know that it was ok for her to sleep with my friend and that I was sleeping with sara. At the same time, I couldn't say this out in so many words.

Also, I was not sure if she was sophisticated enough to take it if she saw me having sex with sara. So the idea of a foursome was difficult. On the other hand, if I was not there in the room, she would think I didn't know what was going on and would feel guilty about cheating me and appu was finding it difficult as well.

So there had to be a solution where I was in the same room, I was having sex with sara and appu was making his advances with her -- all this, without her seeing me.

Initially I thought of extending the blindfold game -- this time, taking it to the full sex level.

It wasn't a bad idea, but I wasn't totally sure if she would go along with the plan, or object in between.

So I decided to go in for a more nuanced approach.

'we are going on a trip to goa next week,' I told her. It was a long weekend, with monday also off due to may-day. Though it would be horribly hot in goa, we did not really plan on doing much sight seeing.

All four of us packed up our stuff and set off on friday morning, kids in tow.

From bangalore, we went to see belur and halebidu - the historical temples. By evening, we were in chikmaglur and planned to make our stop-over there.

By about 6 pm, we started hunting for lodges. After pulling up outside one, which looked neither too expensive nor too cheap, I told appu to go on and find out if they had vacancies.

he came back and said they don't. There was some big festival and all the rooms were booked. It was unlikely that we'll be able to find any rooms in the city, the lodge-owner had told appu.

At the third lodge, appu came back sort of relieved but also tense.

'they're also out of rooms' he said. 'the good news is that there is a suite available. It's probably costly and it's got a big bed. They'll also provide a folding bed.'

'how big is it?' my wife asked.

'the bed is king size. Plus the extra bed should do. I guess' he said.

'whatever.. Let's take it. We can adjust in the same room. We may not get another room even if we search,' I said.

'sometta.. What are you saying? how can we sleep in the same room as them? at least think of their privacy,' she said, in an oblique reference to our sexless lives.

'no, that's fine.. I think we'll be fine,' appu said.

'yeah, that's fine shama. After all, it's only for a night,' sara interjected.

'ok, so let's get our things then,' I said.

We went in, changed the diapers on the kids. We all changed into easier clothes in the bathroom. As is custom, both me and appu changed into mundus (dhotis). The women did not change, since we had to go down to the basement for our dinner.

The room was pretty big, with a 7 foot by 6 foot master bed in the centre.

We went down to have dinner, and to tell the caretaker to put in the extra folding bed.

So far, so good, I thought. I had told appu to check for lodges that allowed four people inside one double room and had a big bed. The 'festival', however, was his own invention.

When we came back, sara was the first to get into the bathroom, even as appu took a 'sandow banian' (the roopa ka underwear types) and was sitting on the edge of the bed. 'you can change here,' I said.

'ok,' he said and pulled off his shirt, revealing his hairy chest. He was more muscular than me, though by no means a rambo.

He put on the banian and started looking for a place to rest.

Now came the problem with the bed. The folding bed was only about two and a half feet wide and about 5.5 feet long.

Sara came out a little later, wearing a red, shiny two-piece nightie with a trouser-like bottom. The bottom piece stopped just above her knees.

My wife changed into two-piece cotton dress, meant for nursing mothers. The pant reached all the way to the ankle, but the shirt had buttons on the front all the way to the bottom. It was not very sexy, as it was made of cotton and was moderately loose, unlike sara's piece which was not very tight, but she had tied it in such a way that it seemed tight.

'you can take the folding bed.. It's too short for me,' I told appu.

'ha ha.. In your dreams. The kingsize is for me,' he said, and hopped on to the main bed.

I looked at shama in despair. 'we can adjust on it' she suggested.

'you know I won't be able to sleep on it. One of us will fall off' I said.

'ok, you guys take the main bed then,' sara said.

'what are you saying sara,' appu said.

'let's do one thing' I said. 'let's put the folding bed between the main bed and the wall and put the babies on it' I suggested.

'the main bed is big enough for four people' I added.

Now it was my wife's turn to look puzzled.

'it's ok. Me and appu will sleep in the middle, you guys sleep on the edges' I said.

Seeing no other option, everyone got round to the idea. Appu jumped in first and went face first on the pillow. Sara got in on the right side while I got in on his left.

ideally, the bed was good only for 3 people. I peeled off the blankets and gave the thin one to appu and sara and took the thicker one for ourselves.

after a while, shama also got in, turning off the lights.

appu turned on the tv as it was still quite early by our normal standards.

We watched an english movie on low volume. It was a 21 inch old fashioned tv kept on a wall stand, up, and the room was fairly dark. I could see appu and sara cosying up to each other. Under the blanket, I too put my hand under shama's shirt, on her belly.

'stop it.. They'll see,' shama said. 'so? it's my wife.. Anyway, they look like they are busy too,' I said.

After about half an hour, sara said 'please turn off the tv.. I'd like to sleep'

appu turned it off, plunging the room into total darkness.

As planned, appu and sara started getting more active. We could hear the rustling of the sheets and hear the two as they seemed to be struggling to remove their clothes.

Not wanting to be left behind, I kissed my wife her on the neck and moved my hands to up to fondle her breasts.

'stop it sometta.. What are you doing? they'll hear' she said.

'as if they have nothing better to do,' I said.

In between I felt appu's back hit my back, perhaps as he was maneuvering himself.

after a while, I moved my hand down her belly, into her panties. I realized I couldn't get a good 'angle', so I put my hand from behind her, taking it all the way to her hole.

surprisingly, she was already slightly wet. Normally, it'd take a lot to get her wet. But today seemed different. Perhaps the excitement of lying 2 feet away from a copulating couple, and the associated noises, had aroused her. I rubbed my fingers just inside her outer lips, but not inside the vagina.

she caught her breath. I had a feeling she had closed her eyes too. 'stop please sometta' she pleaded into my ear and tried to drag my hand out of her panties.

I continued to rub her just inside her lips, culminating each stroke at her tiny clit.

she was starting to sweat now, though she was whispering 'no, no sometta.. No'

after about two minutes, I moved my finger in to her vagina proper. Here I had to put in two fingers to adjust the girth.

as it is for sara, my wife too enjoys it more if I occassionally move in to the main 'hole' but concentrate most of the rubbing on the outer lips and clit. Every time I moved my fingers in, she'd catch her breath, arching herself.

Finally, I indicated to her to lay flat, so that I could climb on her. Till now, she was on the edge of the bed, with me lying between her and appu.

'no sometta, stop' she said. 'they'll see'.

Going by the sounds, they too were busy enjoying themselves. Just then, the cot began to shake slightly, as appu seemed to be roughly at the same stage as where we were.

'it's ok even if they see. They know what we do' I whispered back, and climbed on top of her.

my member was about 80% erect, as erect as it would be for my wife these days. I had pulled off my dhoti as soon as we put on the blanked on top of us. Now I pushed down my underwear and lowered my member. I used my right hand to make sure it went in the right place. We took a few strokes, but since I was on top, I knew only i'd get satisfaction.

Anyway, after about two minutes, I pulled it out and lay back on the side.

Normally, we'd get up and clean up. But today was different, so we just lay there. Going by the noise and creaking, appu and sara were still at it.

in another two minutes, the noise at appu's side also subsided.

I pushed down shama's pajama's from her knee level and pushed my thigh between her legs, forcing her to put one of her legs on top of me. We were still under the blanket and the room was pitch dark.

All seemed peaceful again as we slipped into a sleep with out naked bodies intertwining.

the next thing I know is someone shaking me. It was appu. Both our wives were still sleeping.

appu had turned on the scenery-painted night bulb and it was not pitch dark as before.

Shama was still sleeping with her leg on top of me and had also put her right hand over me. I moved aside the blanket and pulled out my leg from between her thighs. Then I gingerly moved my body from under her hand, placing it on the bed.

I turned around to appu's side. Like me, appu was totally naked. However, his cock was already fully erect.

I indicated him to slide under me, while I moved over him into his place.

My wife was wearing only the flimsy cotton shirt, that too in a crumpled fashion, and pushed up on to her breasts, and was sleeping on her side, facing us.

Appu lifted the blanket. Shama's right hand and leg were placed on the bed where appu was supposed to sleep.

He slowly lifted her hand and moved the upper part of his body close to my wife.

He then slowly lowered her hand on top of him, at the same time, pushing his hand under the blanket and over her. He moved his naked body close to my wife's own body. Slowly he lowered his hand, drawing her close to his naked body.

She stirred, and I caught my breath. Appu froze. Then she drew appu towards her, still asleep.

Now appu slowly started moving his right leg, trying to slip it under her left leg, which was lying on the bed on our side. Slowly, he moved his leg in, with his cock erect and up in the air, but increasingly in touch with my wife's stomach.

My wife moved her leg again, pushing it on top of appu's leg. Appu immediately put his left leg on top of my wife's right leg. In effect, they were intertwined with their legs between each other's thighs.

appu was now fully turned to the other side, away from me, and he tightened his embrace of my wife. My wife too adjusted her position, and I could now see appu put his face right in front of my wife's face. I bet he could feel her breath on his lips which were within 'licking' distance of my wife's lips. My wife's rather large boobs were now tightly pressed against his hairy chest.

I pulled the blanket over him, and reached out to turn off the night lamp. I didn't want her to wake up in the middle of the night and realize that the person she was cuddling with was not her husband.

Then I moved in with sara, hoping for some warmth and comfort.

I woke up and looked at the clock. It was 7 am and the rising sun was trying to make its way through the window curtains.

I had gone to sleep face down on the pillow, instead of trying to get naughty with sara, appu's wife. For one, she was fast asleep and besides, it would have been awkward to have sex with her when appu was lying next to me without doing much.

I had told him very clearly not to try to be smart as I wanted to break in my wife slowly, instead of forcing the pace.

Sara was still asleep. Of course she did not look as glamourous as before as she lay there, sleeping.

I turned my head and looked at appu.

My wife was sleeping on her back, with her face upwards. I could only see the back of appu's head as he was facing towards my wife. The blanket was still on.

I looked down and through the blanket, I could make out appu has his left leg on top of my wife.

my wife was lying with both her legs open. Her pussy must be open as well, I thought.

Then I realized why she was in that position. Appu's left hand was moving under the blanket, where her pussy would be.

So he was not asleep.

because appu's head was on the bed and not on the pillow, I had a direct view of my wife's face.

Suddenly I realized she too was probably not asleep. I could see minute changes on her face as appu played with her thing. Whatever he was doing, it was very subtle. The blanket was moving only slightly and he seemed to be focused only on her central organ, while leaving everything else alone.

I was intensely turned on by the scene and did not make any noise and kept watching my wife's face. She was still faced upwards, so I could only see it from the side. After about two minutes, I could see a change of expression on her face -- a mix of tension, pleasure and impatience.

Appu now seemed to be moving his hand faster.. Suddenly, she turned away to the other side, forcing appu to withdraw his hand from between her legs.

I closed my eyes just as appu was stirring, perhaps to look at me. After about two minutes, I heard a slight rustling of the blanket from their side and opened my eyes slightly. Shama was now again turning back to her original flat position, forcing appu to move back towards me, giving her space.

she again opened her legs and I could see appu moving his hand towards the 'centrepoint'.

before the evening, I had told appu that tonight was only meant as a test to see if she was comfortable with him, and not as a full blown experience. As such, he was only supposed to sleep with her and not have sex with her.

It looked like appu was not able to get much sleep since 4 am, when we had changed positions, and seemed to have been playing with her pussy for some time.

It was after 7 am and usually, by now, shama would have woken up, especially since we went to sleep early yesterday.

Today, however, she was still lying there, with her legs splayed apart for appu's hands to play with.

She also has a habit of half-sleeping. When you look at her, she would seem asleep, but if you asked her a question, she would answer it as if she was awake.

now I saw appu take his hand off and position himself on top of her, but without touching her body.

the blanket had lifted on appu's side and I could see some of what was going on. He was standing on his knees and hands, hovering over my wife's creamy white body.

Both his knees were placed inside my wife's thighs on the bed and he was supporting himself by placing his arms on both sides of my wife. I thought he was going to break the law and insert his thing. I could see a strand of precum stretching from his penis to my wife's thigh, where it had fallen.

Instead of lowering himself on her as I expected, he brought down only his head and took shama's right nipple in his mouth -- forcing shama to catch her breath with a slight and quick 'hm' noise and forcing her to arch her back upwards.

appu was careful not to touch any other part of her body, perhaps to make sure that he did not 'wake' her.

He continued to suckle at her breasts and seemed to be drinking her milk, moving from one breast to the other. By now, it was clear that shama was awake. Her face was a scene of torture, she was biting her lips, and an occassional 'hmm' escaped her mouth. She'd sometimes lift her chest up and then again relax.

I realized that appu need not wait much. I opened my eyes wider and slowly put my hand under my pillow and took out a condom, opened the cove and poked appu with my finger.

he gave a shudder, as he was fully busy in drinking milk and kissing her breasts.

he took the condom with a quizzical glance and I indicated with my head that it was ok for him to go ahead now.

He moved his body upright, thereby removing the blanket entirely from my wife's body. Her facial expression again froze in expectation. I raised my head slowly and looked at her pussy. Since she had kept her legs open, her pussy was open too, revealing the red inner lips and, I am sure, from appu's angle, the dark hole inside as well. The white bedsheet under her pussy was completely soaked and there were water droplets on her brownish pussy hair.

Appu put the condom on his member and again lowered himself on top of shama.

He slowly maneuovered himself so that his penis was hanging just above my wife's open pussy and his upper body was only two or so inches away from her body -- not touching.

He then slowly lowered his hips and moved about so that the tip of his penis grazed her pussy lips. The tension on my wife's face relieved a bit.

After about 30 seconds, appu was able to get his penis roughly at the entrance of her vulva and he pushed slightly, drawing a sudden gasp from shama. Shama closed eyes tightly now, unlike earlier when her eyes were closed normally.

The top portion of appu's member was now inside. He waited, looking at shama's face. His face was looking very strange -- a mix of fear and excitement.

He lowered once again, again drawing a gasp and 'arching reaction' from shama. I could see tiny sweat beads coming up on her forehead now.

Appu looked at me. My own feelings were mixed. On the one hand, I was turned on, and on the other, I would be lying if I said I felt no pang of jealousy and sadness, perhaps also anger.

perhaps that's why he looked at me. I put on a fake smile and showed the thumbs up sign to him.

He then lowered his hips full, fully going in. Almost involuntarily, shama raised both of her hands and gripped appu's back with them. She was trying to draw appu's body close to hers.

I saw her nails dipping into appu's skin as he began to thrust in and out and shama started moaning.. 'ah.. Ah.. Hm.. Hm..'

appu managed about 2 minutes and then collapsed on top of shama. Shama continued to hold him tight, digging her nails into the flesh on his back. I knew how painful that was, from experience. Appu convulsed four or five times as he emptied himself into the condom.

as appu's face landed on my side, my view of shama's face was interrupted. I have a feeling that she must have opened her eyes at least once to see appu. Appu himself was now looking down at the pillow, exhausted.

He lay lightly on her, with support from both his arms. After about a minute, appu raised his head from the pillow. Shama was now back to her 'sleeping mode' but there wasn't much tension on her face. She seemed kind of happy.

her hands fell off appu's body as he raised himself and pulled himself out of my wife's pussy. He was then about to get off the bed through the other side when I caught hold of him.

He looked at me and I indicated to him to lie there with her. So he came back to his original position. I nudged his elbow to indicate that I wanted him to put his hand on my wife. He complied. After about a minute, I nudged him again and indicated it was ok to leave.

He went to the bathroom and I could hear the sound of a tap being opened.

I pulled the blanket over my wife's body and she turned herself to the other side.

I now looked at sara. I wondered if I should wake her up to have sex. On the one hand, seeing appu fuck my wife had caused a big erection. On the other hand, I was emotionally shaken up as well, and did not really want to have sex immediately.

However, I realized that to completely help my wife get rid of any guilt complex, I will have to let her know that I had sex with sara, just as she had sex with appu.

So, with mixed feelings, I removed the thin blanket from sara's body. She was sleeping on her stomach. I pushed the blanket down, first to below her butts and then below her knee. She stirred, but remained in the same position.

I really didn't know how to start. Usually I would start on the neck, moving down to the breasts, stomach and the centrepoint. However, this was the first time I was faced with a sleeping body turned face down.

I first put both my legs on the sides of her thighs and lowered myself on to her. I then slowly landed a kiss on her right shoulder blade and then moved down to her back. I slowly bit her right buttock and then gave small bites on the back of her thighs.

I parted her legs with my hands.

I was not sure if she too was pretending to be asleep or really asleep. My intention of opening her legs was to explore the possibility of waking her up with my tongue on her pussy. However, when I opened it, I realized my mistake.

There was still some marks from appu's sperm from yesterday night. So I decided to use my finger.

Interestingly, the minute I put my finger in, I realized she was probably not asleep -- her cunt was pretty moist.

I started work with my fingers. Her natural wetness meant I didn't have to spit on my fingers. After about two minutes of rubbing she started stirring and turned over to the middle of the bed, just as I moved my leg out of her way.

now she lay open and exposed in front of me and it was smooth sailing from then on. I was still on her stomach when appu opened the door and walked in. He was surprised, and embarrassed. He looked like he wanted to just vanish from there.

He said 'sorry' and went back inside.

I took a condom, attached it and went in with my sword. She opened her eyes when I pushed my condom clad penis in and we kissed, tongue and all. The kissing must have been loud because suddenly my wife turned her head to our side, eyes still closed.

I ignored her and started pumping. The fact that my rather big penis fit very well in sara's hole meant that there was a sound every time my balls hit the base of her hole.

I could do no better than 2-3 minutes and collapsed on top of sara. As I did so, my glance went to the bathroom door, where appu was standing and watching us.

I nodded my head, indicating him to get inside and close the door. He did so and I slowly got up, giving sara a parting kiss. She hung on to me, not letting me go and tried to draw me to herself.

'stay no? where are you going?' she said.

I was surprised by her boldness. One feet away was my wife, probably peering at us through half closed eyes, and beyond the door was her own husband who could come any time. I decided to indulge her a bit more and suckled at her boobs, taking a share of her baby's breakfast that morning.

I was sure my wife was getting very jealous, so I didn't want to prolong her agony. I would have to pay dearly for any such mistake later.

So I broke myself away from her, saying 'let me see if I can get appu out of the bathroom'.

Sara lay back and I covered herself with the blanket and knocked on the bathroom door.

appu came out, wearing nothing and I stepped in.

After a minute of silence outside, I looked through the bathroom door crack to see what appu was up to. He had removed teh blanket from my wife's body and was admiring her form as she lay facing upwards. Slowly he bent down to kiss, aiming for her nipples. This time, however, my wife turned on her side, away from him.

he put the blanket back on her and went in search of his undies, t shirt and dhoti.

I too came out of the bathroom and put on my clothes. Slightly loudly, I told appu 'let's go downstairs for a tea'.

'ok' he said, and we closed the door behind us.

After about 15 minutes, when we came back, things were back to normal. My wife was feeding my baby and she turned to the other side when she saw appu walk in.

sara was in the bathroom.

'we leave in 45 minutes' I announced.

appu drove till lunch time, with me sitting beside him on the front seat.

Shama, sara and the two kids were at the back of our accent. After lunch, it was my turn to drive. Just as I was getting in to driver seat, sara said "i want to sit in front for a while."

so appu got in the back seat along with my wife and the two kids. After a while, he said he was feeling drowsy. 'you can sleep,' I suggested.

'but appuvettan doesn't sleep sitting up,' sara said. 'do you want me to sit at the back so that you can put your head on my lap' she asked.

'no no.. You wanted to sit up front. You sit there.. No problem' appu said.

'shama, let him sleep,' I said, looking at my wife.

She was slightly flabbergasted. 'what?' she said.

'he wants to sleep, just give him some space. Let one of the kids move here to the front,' I said.

'ok' she said.

sara brought her kid to the front seat, plonking it down on her lap.

'let mon (my son) also sleep alongside appu.. He looks ready to go to sleep as well,' I said.

So appu tried to fit himself on the seat, without putting his head on my wife's lap and holding monu alongside him. After about a minute, he sat back up. 'what happened' I asked, looking at the mirror.

'no it's ok' he said.

'shama, this is a bit too much. What is the big deal. Let him put his head in your lap,' I said, half joking.

'sometta, this somettan is quite shameless sometimes,' shama said, embarrassed.

'i think that is a yes' I said, looking at appu in the mirror. For some reason, I was starting to get an erection. All this talk was making me horny.

'no, no i'll try again on the seat,' he said.

So he tried again. After two minutes I was surprised that he had not sat up again. So I adjusted the rear view mirror to see what was up. He had now moved his head onto her left leg. It was not properly in her lap, but was resting on her left leg, over her kameez. He seemed already asleep.

in the front seat, sara was busy looking out of the window and showing road-side sights to the baby.

As I drove, I kept looking back to see what was going on.. After about two minutes, I saw appu adjusting his head, as if in sleep. Now his head was fully on my wife's lap. He seemed blissfully asleep. I kept driving. After about fifteen minutes, I saw appu adjust himself again -- his face was now facing up. If he was awake he would be staring at my wife's boobs -- currently contained under her blue kameez. The kameez was slightly tight since it was made before her pregnancy when her boobs were about two sizes smaller.

I could not see shama's face, so I adjusted the mirror again. She was looking out of the window. Did I see a smile on her face or was I imagining it?

the arrangement continued for another two or three hours, till we stopped for tea.

it was evening by the time we reached baga beach. There was a shack we'd rented in the past. Since it was early May, it was pretty hot in the state and we decided to rent two AC rooms for Rs 1100 each.

We had dinner, and I could see my wife looking at appu often, and appu returning her glances. They seemed like two teenage couples in love for the first time. My role was more like that of the girl's brother or father, I thought. As I was making these observations, I felt something on my foot, and looked at sara. She was giving that mischievous smile of hers, as if saying, why should they have all the fun.

After dinner, we walked to the beach. The froth shone from the reflected light of the tube-lights and CFLs at the various shacks. I sat on the sand while the three of them went forward, walking, and soaking their feet in the waves about 40 feet away from me. After a minute, I saw sara saying something to the other two, before running back to where I was sitting. 'why are you sitting here' she asked, sitting down beside me on the sand.

'i want to hold hands and walk on the beach' I said.

'so do it' she said, pointing to shama.

'not her hands,' I said.

it was sara's turn to blush. She sat there looking at the waves. 'you know it's just temporary, don't you' she asked.

'of course.. You know I gave appu the idea, don't you' I said.

'yeah, he told me.'

after a while, she said, 'but I am afraid,'

'of?'

'of falling too deep'

'hm... So what if we do? we are not going our separate ways or anything. We stay practically next door. Me and appu are best buddies. What's there to worry?' I said.

'i know,' she said.

'are you falling out of love with appu?' I asked, kind of concerned.

'no, not really. I mean, he's not just my husband, but also my friend, you know. We've been together for three years now. No, I am not falling out of anything with him. But I haven't felt like this with him for months, perhaps years,' she said.

'hm.. Same here. That's the deal, you know. Spice up a bit. I have a theory about all this,' I said.

'what'

'i think we have three types of love -- hormonal, genetic and pure. What we are going through, and what you must have gone through initially with appu, is hormonal. It's most addictive and perhaps the most enjoyable. Kind of like a drug'

'hmm'

'it's nature's way of bringing males and females together to ensure procreation and the continuity of the human race'

'ok professor' she said, smiling.

'the down side of this thing is that it's a very finite thing. For most people, it lasts only around 6 months. For some, it lasts for a year, but i've never met anyone -- married or in a relationship -- who said he or she was still as intensely in love with his or her partner as he or she was at the beginning. Sure, i've met people who've become very dependent on their partners during this period and now can't imagine life without them, but that's not the same thing.'

she kept looking out to the sea. Appu and shama had walked off further along the beach, though it was still possible to see them. They seemed to be in a discussion, and I could see shama now playfully pinching appu on his arm, as both of them laughed.

'so, me and shama, and you and appu have both developed dependencies between each other.. We've grown used to each other. We have shared memories, shared plans, a shared future.. And we don't want anything to disrupt that' I said, continuing on:

'in a way, you could say that's pure love, where you understand each other and you feel each other's pain. I am pretty sure you don't understand me as well as my wife does'

'hmm' she said, continuing to look towards the waves.

'to a large extent, I have the same feeling towards appu.. I don't know how much he feels towards me, but I do.. And to my wife..'

'to me?' she asked.

'well, to be honest, towards you, it's the hormonal love, I think' I said.

'only?' she asked, turning towards me, curiously.

'well, how long have we known each other?' I asked.

'hmm' she said, and turned back.

'so you are saying you have the hots for me, but don't really love me?' she asked.

I didn't reply, but I put my hand on her hand. She looked at me. I said 'what do you think?'

if it was a hollywood movie, this was the point at which the hero would lean forward to kiss the heroine, except that we weren't in a hollywood movie. We were on a goan beach, with our respective spouses playing in the waves within sight.

She looked away, I hoped, with some reassurance.

'the trick is.. Within this period of hormonal love, people get to know each other well enough to develop sympathies and empathies.. And usually pure love develops' I said.

'that means we still have time' she asked, again looking at me.

'yes' I said.

'what is the third type of love you were talking about?' she asked.

'genetic -- the one you feel for your parents, but more particularly for your children. That doesn't concern us right now' I said.

'i want you to understand what we are doing' I added.

'and what is that' she said.

'we are just trying to experience some hormonal love. We are not trying to replace our pure love that we have for each other's partners. We will perhaps never be able to do that.. Because it's not exclusive or jealous, like hormonal love is. I can love both my wife and appu, without feeling any conflict. But hormonal love is exclusive. If you are feeling it for me, that means it died out between you and appu somewhere along the way.'

'what if this also changes into pure love' she asked.

'so what? as I said, it's not exclusive. We'll be like friends' I said.

'what if hormonal love doesn't disappear' she asked with a triumphant smile, as if she felt she had me at that question.

'that would be a record. We would be a new phenomenon. Anyway, it doesn't really matter we'd be like two lovers living with their conservative families.. Able to meet only now and then,' I said.

'ha ha' she laughed.

'i hope you are right about all this' she said, tightening her squeeze around my palm.

'i am. I am the love guru' I said, and we both laughed.

'it's kind of chilly.. Should we go in, besides the children may be awake. It's almost half an hour since we lay them to sleep,' she said, pointing towards the shack/hotel.

'well, they seem to be having a good time' I said, pointing to the other two. They had walked further. I wondered what appu was talking to shama. I, for one, couldn't find anything to talk to her these days. All her topics bored me. She'd go on and on about her relatives, friends and what not. Often our conversations turned into arguments.

I would have given an arm and a leg to hear what appu and shama was saying to each other then.

I wanted to get their attention, but both were facing the other way. 'appooo' I called, but the wind was blowing this way and they couldn't seem to hear.

thankfully, appu did turn around after a while and I indicated to him to come back.

As we walked back, I wasn't sure which room to enter, the one in which sara's baby was sleeping or the other one. Shama went into our room first, while sara went into hers. Appu looked at me.

I indicated him to follow his wife in and whispered 'i'll knock'.

He went in, and I stepped in to my room. Shama was sitting on the bed and turned back expectantly. Perhaps she was a bit disappointed that it was me.

She turned back and started arranging the bed. The baby was going to be in the middle and we were both supposed to sleep on either side.

'put the baby on the side.. Keep some pillows' I said.

She looked at me. 'why?'

'it's better that way' I said.

'fine' she said.

In about ten minutes we were on the bed, lights off. The roar of the crashing waves punctuated our silence.

'won't we be late at this rate?' she asked.

it was true. 'we'll take leaves for tuesday, if reach too late' I said. We planned to set off the next day.

shama turned to the other side, where the baby was sleeping.

After about five minutes, I got up slowly, opened the door and went to appu's door. No sound. That meant they too were asleep.

I knocked very lightly and waited. Appu opened the door and I indicated to him to come out.

Just then, a family passed us by in the corridor. 'go, slowly' I told appu, and he moved towards my room.

Despite two 'love breaks' at night, I woke up pretty early, at about 7 am. Sara was still asleep, so I went back to sleep. I woke up again at 8:30 am to the sound of the bathroom flush. Sara was in the bathroom.

She came out clad in a towel, having just taken a bath. 'hi darling, slept well?' she said naughtily, dropping her towel and exposing her body to me.

'i think appu's going to be angry' I said, looking at my bite marks on her neck.

'why' she said, curiously.

'i think I damaged his property a bit', I said, dragging her down by her hand to the bed and giving her a kiss. She smelled good. 'i love fresh girls' I said, pushing her down further and parting her legs.

'i think i'll have my breakfast in bed today' I said, and went for her pussy. 'eeks' she said in mock disgust.

After about 15 minutes, I was standing in front of the door to appu's and shama's room. I had tucked sara to bed who 'went to sleep' (though appu's going to wonder why her hair was still wet)

appu and shama were talking inside. I waited for a pause in their conversation and then knocked. 'appu' I said, softly. Appu opened the door after almost two minutes.

he had a sheepish grin on his face, 'ok boss' he said, as he walked towards his own room.

I went in and as expected, shama was still 'sleeping' in bed. I went straight to the bathroom. When I came out, shama started stirring. 'what time is it' she asked sleepily.

'it's almost nine' I said.

'shit.. I slept so long' she said.

I realized appu wouldn't be able to complain about my 'damage' to his wife. Shama had love bites all over her neck. She sat up, searching for her clothes. Her normally yellowish nipples were red, perhaps from recent oral excitement. I could see more reddish patches on her skin all over.

she raised the blanket and found her undies, pajamas. She looked again and found her shirt near the head of the cot.

'what's the plan today' she said, strapping on her bra behind her. 'we'll roam about and then set off, either at night or tomorrow morning' I said.

'i want to roam on a bike' she said. I know she said that knowingly, as I don't know how to ride a bike, but appu did.

'fine.. We'll rent a bike.. Appu knows how to ride it' I said.

'ok' she said, without showing any enthusiasm or excitement.

We spent two days and three nights in Goa. We spent the days with each others' wives.. And kids were taken care of by the respective mothers. We maintained the policy of no-ask-no-tell - meaning that I didn't not probe her about details of what she did with Appu, and she didn't ask me about what I did with Sara.. At least, that was the understanding, but Shama frequently tried to break the rule by asking me "where did you guys go.." etc.

I did not answer her, or gave evasive answers, because I knew she would probe further, and I didn't want her to feel jealous either. The fact that she was enjoying with Appu did not make her any less jealous when she was asking me about Sara. And experience had taught me that it's better not to get sucked into the quagmire of feminine jealousy, by not feeding it at all.

At night too, we repeated the same procedure, swapping ourselves at night, and then again switching in the early morning.

The two days were simply superb. It had been 6-7 years since I'd had experienced love and thrill.. Even with my wife, I had never really fell in love, and I always thought it was because I was too old. I had simply decided that love is something that would never happen again in my life.

But being with Sara was different. I mean, the key word was different. We both were practically strangers, I didn't know much about her childhood, or what made her tick, her dreams or ambitions.

I only knew her from the outside, and frankly, that was what I was focused on anyway. Now that I look back upon the events, I realize that all said and done, Sara is not as beautiful as I thought at that time.. In fact, I remember that when I had first met Sara, I had thought nothing of her - neither beautiful, nor ugly.. Just a girl.

Slowly, I had started thinking of her as beautiful.. Everytime, we would meet at appus house, for social occasions, she started becoming more and more beautiful.. And I think her reaction was also the same.. I realized that she would look at me a little longer every time.. A little more often than last time.. She would put on make up when she knew we were coming..

All this increased my interest in her.. To the point of me almost falling in love with her.. It's true what they say, 'ishq ho jae deevar se, pari kya cheez hain'..

With my wife, however, there was no prolonged courtship.. It was an arranged marriage. I saw her two three times before marriage.. That's it. There was no time to fall in love. After marriage, after sex, there was a slight romantic feeling, but there was no thrill of trying to guess the meaning of fleeting glances.. Trying to see if she looked at me longer than usual.. Trying to guess the meaning of her actions, words.. This game was not there.

Perhaps love needs resistance for full blossoming. In case of Sara, there was resistance -- in the form of Appu -- and that ensured that love would develop fully.. Before sex would happen.

Premature sex is, perhaps, destructive of the full blossoming of love.

On our drive back from Goa, I had time to think over what had happened. I wondered how much I'd changed. I remembered an instance that happened a week before I suggested the idea of swapping to Appu.

To save on phone bills, I had bought a new Tata DoCoMo connection. They had this scheme of half paise per second, while I was using Airtel which was costing nearly double.

I gave the phone to Shama.. And while I was exploring their website two three days later, I found out that I could see the last ten call details on the website by logging on to my account. And surprisingly, the last ten calls contained 5 or 6 calls to a number I didn't recognize.

The time was also given -- and it looked like as soon as I left for the office, Shama was calling this number.. Some calls were short, some were very long 1100 seconds and all.. She would call that number 2-3 times a day..

As soon as I saw that, I don't know what got over me, but I became extremely furious. I felt like someone had stabbed me in the back.. I felt Shama had betrayed me, and all I wanted was to take revenge. I wanted to confront her as soon as I reached home.

It is difficult to describe my anger. I was confused as well.. Because wasn't really having a lot of sex with her.. While I couldn't wait to get the pants of some of the girls in the office. In other words, while I spent all my time fantasizing about how other girls would look and feel like, I realized with a jolt that I was trembling with anger at this apparent betrayal.

Thankfully, I had got my emotions under control.. And as if reading my mind, Shoma said, when I came back home that her aunt had taken ill and she had been on the phone with her.

Now, about a month later, I was driving back with my wife in the backseat with my friend, and I was busy cracking jokes and making everyone laugh.

Had I changed fundamentally, I wondered.. Perhaps I had, because the innate feeling I had for Sara was now full-blown, giddy, hormone-infused 'love feeling'.

Then I realized that the anger I felt was from a sense of betrayal.. I felt angry because my wife had apparently made a fool of me, and I felt cheated. I was angry at myself, for letting someone cheat me like that, for being a fool.. And I wanted to destroy the relationship in my anger, to take revenge.

Now, it was a different issue -- this was happening under my supervision. There was no cheating involved. The other person was my friend. Of course, I did feel jealous, but the fact that I was getting someone else in return made me put up with the feeling of jealousy.

When we reached our home in Bangalore, I realized how much we'd both changed. Instead of arguing and fighting as usual, we were both smiling a lot.. Shama was like a totally different person. Earlier, she would be irritable -- always on my case -- "you didn't do this, you didn't put the toilet seat back up, why can't you take water without spilling it all over, why don't you hang your clothes on the rack instead of throwing it around.."

Now she was a totally different person.. She seemed eager to show her love for me.. She wanted to make sure I was comforable.. "I'll get it for you" she said, when I said I was going to get some water. I was surprised, earlier she would say "Go and get it, you are not handicapped" or something, or grudgingly oblige, if I asked her to fetch a glass of water for me.

Here she was jumping up to get water for me, even without asking. She was overflowing with happiness.. Like a teenager in love.. Her eyes were happy and sprightly, her lips were forever smiling.. And she was even singing to herself.. She didn't seem to realize that she was showing all this emotion.

I saw all this with a pang of jealousy.. I mean, what did Appu do to her to make her so happy? Did she find true love in Appu? Was I a loser? Well, almost.. Because I didn't have time to dwell on such thoughts.. I thought of Sara, what she would be doing now.. Whether she too would be happy like Shama..

In the evening, Appu called.. I made some chit chat.. Shama realized Appu was on the phone and came out of the kitchen, where she was washing dishes, to see what was going on. I realized Appu was feeling awkward about the conversation.. He's never called me in the evening before.. So I said "here, talk to Shama" and gave the phone to her..

Shama took it with undisguised happiness, like a young child who is given candy.. And said "Hi" with so much emotion, I was surprised that she could talk in such a husky voice.. She walked into the kitched, and spoke in low tones, but mostly in short sentences or phrases.. Obviously Appu was trying to make conversation and Shama was not very good at maintaining it. After about a minute and half, they hung up.. Perhaps they didn't know what to say.. Perhaps they didn't know what to say when I was there.

I was kind of feeling happy for Shama.. A happy Shama is a totally different person, I realized. Life with a happy Shama was feeling very nice. The old Shama was bitter, always complaining, insecure and suspicious. The new Shama was effervescent, bubbly and smiley smiley..

I was tired, so I headed off to sleep.. And she came soon after, smiling.. She seemed to have sex on her mind as she climbed in.. But for some reason, I said "I am tired today.. Let's go to sleep." Perhaps I wanted her to sleep with Appu on her mind.. Or perhaps I was slightly jealous that Appu had made her so happy, while she was always bitter when living with me. I was tired too, from the long drive back.

Next day, I pinged Appu from office, and we met to take stock of the 'latest developments.'

"So, howz it going," he said.

"Good.. Actually things have worked out better than I expected.."

"Yeah.. I mean, I didn't think this is how it would turn out.. To be frank," he said.

"Yeah, me too.. I mean, this was pretty neat," I said, in a semi serious tone.

In fact, Appu was surprised by the tone of voice, and he looked at me with a solemn expression.

"Are you having second thoughts?" he asked, suddenly turning serious.

"Not really.. I mean.. But I think Shama's getting too involved emotionally," I said.

"So is Sara.. I mean, she's got you on her mind.."

"I know.. But Sara's different.. She's sophisticated, a working woman.. She's probably had a love affair or two before you.. I mean, she's not someone I would worry about."

"Then?"

"It's Shama.. The thing is, she's had a conservative upbringing.. And is very conservative.."

"Yes.."

"So, the thing is, I am not sure if she can keep her emotions under control.. What if she gets so attached to you that she wants to divorce me, and expects you to divorce Sara and marry her?"

Now, the Appu's face had become full of concern, so I said: "I am not saying that is what's going to happen, but that's a possibility that we'd be foolish not to consider."

"Yeah.. I mean, I don't want this to end up in a sticky situation.. I love Sara, you know that.. I won't give her up for anything," he said.

"Sure.. But we must make sure we know what we're getting into.. Women can't separate love and sex.. For them, both go together.. I mean there are only a small portion of women who can enjoy sex and not develop feelings of love and possessiveness along with it."

"Hmm.."

"With people like Shama, who are essentially inexperienced in matters of love, there is a chance that she might get very serious."

"Yeah.. I don't want that.. I won't ditch Sara," Appu said.

"I thought of what can be done, and I hit upon an idea," I said. "The idea is to basically not have secrets to ourselves."

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"What I mean is, don't call her when I am not there.. Don't have one-on-ones with her. Let's make a rule that whatever messages or emails or calls we make involving the other person's wife, will include all four of us.. That way, we will have our common memories to share.. Instead of private memories.. That way, I am always part of her experiences.. And you are always part of your wife's experiences," I said.

Appu looked more relieved now.

"I mean, initially.." I added, "untill we are sure Shama can be relied upon to keep her emotions under control."

"Yeah, that's a good idea," I said.

"So I'll tell her about the new arrangement, so that she won't wonder why you haven't called her," I said.

"Ok, I'll tell Sara too."

I wasn't actually interested in hearing what Appu was telling my wife on the phone. As far as I was concerned, he could totally impress her and win her over. But I was concerned about my child. I didn't want this end in a divorce because we all tried to have some fun.

Personally, and in private, I knew that Sara was a better life partner for me than my own wife.. She was more fun to be with, more intelligent and generally we seemed to have more in common. But I loved my son so much that the thought of divorce would never find acceptance in my life.

I also knew that after the initial hormones wore off, Sara may turn out to be just like my wife.

This restriction of private interaction was supposed to have two effects -- one was what I told Appu about -- the fact that I wanted all four of us to enjoy this thing together, and I didn't want the experiment to destroy or lessen my friendship with Appu, or my marriage.

The second reason was that life had taught me that some things are better enjoyed slowly, with resistance. Obstacles added to the enjoyment, and this restriction would also add to the overall experience, I reasoned.

In addition, though the thought of Sara would turn me on, and possibly talking to her, even on the phone, would give me a hard on, I didn't want the whole "why didn't you call today" argument with her.

That is exactly the sort of thing that me and Shama have arguments over. "You don't love me.. You didn't call me from office today.. You don't enjoy spending time with me.. You don't listen when I talk.. You don't talk to me much nowadays..," the list of complaints was never ending.

I mean, one wife was more than I could handle, I didn't want another one. I know lots of guys who 'maintain' more than one lover, juggling calls and attention. But I seriously had had enough of the demands of females for constant attention, complaints and nagging.

The thing that made Sara attractive was the fact that, right now, there were no demands and no expectations. She did not expect me to call from the office to check on her, nor did she expect me to make small talk with her.

And I could still have great sex with her.

I didn't want to change this, even though I was strongly tempted to call her.. I knew I would call her, and then she would expect it everyday. By setting a rule like this, I reasoned, I didn't risk going by from one unbearable wife to two.

I was useless to try to convince Appu of the same.. Because I suspected that Appu actually enjoyed speaking with Sara. He was, in many ways, more of a ladies man than I was.. I was also pretty sure that he might break the understanding we had just reached now and then.

Let him learn from experience, if he breaks it, I thought. It was not easy to fulfill Shama's demands.. And if he felt up to it, he was welcome to try. After all, it would lessen the load on me.

And meanwhile, the understanding would keep Sara from expecting too much as well. Perhaps I was being too selfish, and I should not see love as a duty and burden. But the fact is, my drive was primarily sex.. And my 'love' episode would probably last a maximum of 1 or 2 months. I was looking at this as a near permanent arrangement -- and wanted it to be stable and sustainable.

I mean -- it was only after marriage that I realized that women can be so demanding. Giving Shama something to think about gave me space -- to do my work, to sleep peacefully, and to not fight with her.

In addition, I wanted the thing to be a four-way relationship, involving Appu and my wife as well. 'We' was more important than 'us' or 'me'. Instead of a narrow concept of love, I was looking for a broader concept of love -- where me and Appu could both claim equal rights over Shama and Sara, and when I felt like, I could have sex with Sara, even in front of Appu, and with Shama, whether or not Appu and Sara were in the same room or not. Similarly, I could watch Sara get bitten by Appu and watch their plays and games, right in front of me. I wanted to break the boundaries that society had placed in between us.

In the coming days, I would learn whether my calculations were correct or not.