When Prasad finally arrived, Roopa was all alone in her home.
‘What’s this vanishing act, mister?’ Roopa found herself asking him.
‘Didn’t Sathyam tell you that I had to rush to Delhi?’ he said staring into her eyes. ‘And you know I had no way to personally contact you.’
‘By the way,’ she said avoiding his gaze, ‘Sathyam became a fish out of water.’
‘And I felt miserable all the while,’ he said, making no effort to mask his desire. ‘Need I tell you why?’
As she felt that she could discern an uninhibited desire in his demeanor, she thought, ‘So, he wants me. Does he not look lustful to the bones? But then, how Raja’s passionate gaze caresses my frame conveying his craving for my soul. Why, their eyes portray the contrast between lust and love, don’t they? Am I not imagining things, strung by my craving for Raja? How does it matter really, when I’m clear whom I want? And to be clear is to be real, isn’t it? Well, how could one grasp the reality of life without clarity of thought?’
‘What are you thinking about?’ he smiled.
‘Oh, nothing,’ she said embarrassedly.
‘Haven’t you heard it said that the attributes of woman’s utterances have reverse inferences?’ he said mischievously, and dwelled upon the proverb to probe the proclivities of the fair sex. ‘The perception that women are ambiguous by nature is not unfounded for they tend to dissemble. But then, why should they, anyway? Won’t the male dominated society seek to straightjacket them as role models to self-serve man’s interests, and judge them on the scale of conformity? Since the male tenets are at variance with the feminine instincts, don’t women come to pretend? And, unable to comprehend women, won’t the confounded men end up according the benefit of doubt to them, at every turn. It’s thus men come to hoist themselves on their own petard, and deservedly at that, so it seems.’
However, before he could get Roopa’s reply, he felt Sathyam’s pat on his back.
‘Why man,’ said Sathyam, ‘what took you so long?’
‘You know,’ said Prasad, ‘a businessman’s time is not his time.’
‘Had you given us some inkling,’ said Sathyam complainingly, ‘we should’ve given Sandhya’s address for you to call on them.’
‘I would be often going to Delhi often,’ said Prasad, ‘but now we’re all going to my place for dinner.’
‘What’s the hurry,’ said Sathyam. ‘Can’t we make it leisurely?’
‘Rani won’t let me be in,’ said Prasad smilingly, ‘unless you both come along with me.’