He knew the very second their eyes locked that she desired him. And that she was his type, the adventurous one. No, they had never met before, never knew of each other’s existence until now. He crossed the whole length of the sprawling lobby, looking at her, smiling his mischievous smile. She took it all in shamelessly imagining what lies beneath his well-tailored shirt.
‘Shall we?’, he said.
‘Sure’, she replied swinging her laptop into its bag and got up to lead the way.
Her room, then. By leading, she had decided. Words were redundant when intention spoke louder.
She slid the card to light the room, dropped the bag on the floor but refused to let go of his lips that had stayed on hers from the time they alighted from the lift. His hands were where she wanted them to be feeling her up. She held him against the wall with her body while her hands searched for his zipper.
She knelt.
His moans egged her on.
He pulled her up, cleverly, not wanting to end too soon. His wet tongue played with her earlobes while his fingers efficiently unclasped her brassiere. She gasped in anticipation as his hands searched for more. Each clothing was discarded hurriedly.
They collapsed on the bed, she on top, when he let out a cry.
She unrolled away to find him clutching his chest, face contorted in pain. She ran to the bathroom and returned with a glass of water.
There he was! A stranger, in her bed, naked, dead.
It was hard to believe for her. She thumped his chest quite a number of times what she has seen on some videos. But nothing worked. He was dead and her plan failed this time.
Utterly puzzled about what to do, she sat helplessly on the sofa, thought of all the probabilities. Then quickly went near the flower vase where she has hidden the camera to record all the things and stopped it.
Tried to call Ramesh, the mastermind behind all these but his phone was not reachable. Ramesh utilized her beauty and elegance that was quite out of place for her chawl life, and above all, her helplessness to find a work, and made her a façade of his ill deeds, and Madhuri got what she longed for, the revenge from the opposite species.
It is not that they have operated from a single hotel every time, she has travelled to other cities too. On these tours, she was accompanied by Roshan, the only man whom she relied, her Rakhi brother. Though she met him at Ramesh’s den only, Roshan, an orphan also loved her like his own sister.
She called up once again and after a number of attempts, Roshan picked up the call.
“What happened Tai?” Asked Roshan anticipating her anxious voice.
Madhuri relayed the whole incident to him and asked him to come as soon as possible.
“But I am out of town, will take another two hours to reach there, Tai.” Replied Roshan.
“Try to come as early as possible, by the time I will try to contact Ramesh also.” Told Madhuri.
She disconnected the call and came near the bed. She took out all his things, the android phone, wallet and everthing. First, she tried to switch of the phone and then took out the Sim from it. She again tried to call Ramesh, but all in vain. She then thought of calling her mom, who has always been a savior for her. But then she remembered her mom went to Shirdi with Kamala Mashi.
She felt helpless and dejected, recollected the past 10 years. Suddenly, the face emerged before her, the man who led her to this life, Ajay. Both of them were in the same college when it started. Madhuri loved Ajay and could do anything for him, but her mom never liked the boy. She used to say, “Ekdin tujhko chhor dega woh, dekh lena tu!”
Madhuri knew whatever her mom said always came true. But her love for Ajay became an obsession for her and as a result that happened one day. Ajay ditched her when she was carrying his baby. Life became too difficult for them in the chawl. It was then that they were helped by Kamala Mashi, her mother’s friend in the chawl who took them to Kolhapur to a distant relative’s place to have that done. After coming back, everything was not the same. She was a drop out from the college and the parttime job she was doing at the Departmental Store was gone. It was then she met Ramesh, who was known in that area for his connection with different anti-social elements, and all these started. Ramesh groomed Madhuri with everything she needed to trap rich people, booked rooms in hotels and then they used to blackmail them by using those videos. But this time their plan failed.
She wiped all the fingerprints from his clothes and all possible things they have touched. She planned to dispose the body in some creek after Roshan comes.
By the time, she has finished doing all, there was a knock at the door. She guessed it was Roshan, still to be sure, she slowly peeped in through the eye hole. It was him and she felt a sigh of relief as she opened the door.
The plan was chalked, Madhuri will be wearing a burkha brought by Roshan and the man will be carried to the basement by Madhuri, from where Roshan will take them to the Thane creek where the body will be disposed off.
Madhuri quickly wore the burkha, but the body was too heavy for her. Somehow both of them managed to lift the body as Roshan put his hands around Madhuri’s neck so that she can push it through the corridor. His whole body was on Madhuri’s and his hands were clinging to her neck. Roshan rushed to the basement inspecting on everything on his way. It was clear. Only the security at the basement, whom Roshan offered a cigarette and he happily accepted the offer and went away to puff it.
Pulling the well-built man all the way through the corridor was a tough job for her, still she managed to do it and finally reached the basement. Roshan quickly opened the door. Madhuri tried to put the body inside the car, but the way it was clung onto her neck, she couldn’t let him off her. Fearing if somebody comes, Madhuri got inside the back seat with the body and asked Roshan to start.
Roshan took the Ghodbunder road as it was dark at that time and they could reach Thane quite early. All the way Madhuri didn’t say a word, she was out of words, she was recollecting all the past incidents. Ramesh was still not contactable. She couldn’t predict what was wrong with Ramesh.
It was midnight when they reached near the creek. Roshan found a lonesome place and asked Madhuri to come down as he helped her to get down with the body, but it was getting difficult for them to take the body off Madhuri’s shoulders. They tried hard but it was of no use. Finally, Madhuri tried to take her neck out of his arms to push him into the creek, but his body has stiffened. Fate played a trick there, while untangling the body, her legs slipped and she fell into the creek along with the man. Roshan tried to hold her hand but it was of no help.
Madhuri was going down into the dark water of the creek as she remembered one last time her mother’s saying, “Ye kaam chhod de Madhu, jo boyegi wohi payegi.”
Disclaimer:
“tai” means elder sister.
“Ekdin tujhko chhor dega woh, dekh lena tu!”—Means: He will leave you one day.
“Ye kaam chhod de Madhu, jo boyegi wohi payegi.”–Means: Leave this work Madhu, you reap what you sow.
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