Ch 1: God, Have You Made Decision?

Authors Note: This series is a continuation of my original series, 'That Night on the Train', which brought Anjali & Sid together. I strongly encourage readers to read the original series first. It will help you connect with the characters, understand their journey, to truly appreciate what follows.

Additionally, readers may also benefit from reading, at the very least, the Prologue and Epilogue of the series, 'Sid & Rhea -- Love and First Sight'. These will provide some additional insight into Sid's life following his 'That Night on the Train' adventure.

Lastly, a million thanks to all my readers for encouraging me to take Anjali and Sid's story forward and giving me the opportunity to bring them together once again.

We pick up this story on the very same morning that the Epilogue of 'That Night on the Train' ended.

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Anjali

Anjali glanced at the clock: 9:30 a. m. Adi and Anshu had left about thirty minutes earlier, and she had gone straight for a shower. Dressed in a parrot-green Anarkali Kurta (long, frock style flaring tunic) with a matching Churidar (fitted ankle trousers), with her hair done and her makeup lightly applied, she was ready for her best friend Pinky--Pinks to her--to arrive at any moment. As the maid left, Anjali reminded her, as usual, to be on time the next day.

Leaving the kitchen with a cup of coffee, Anjali glanced again at the mandir. The Diya was still burning steadily, although the oil appeared nearly spent. On her way to the sofa, she picked up her purse from the dining table. She sat down, took a sip of coffee, set the cup aside, and began searching through the purse.

She found her phone and pulled it out, her eyes momentarily falling on her most prized treasure, her "Other Husbands" blood stained handkerchief. As always, she pictured his broad chest, strong arms, and mischievous eyes. She felt as if he had just hugged her from behind, kissed her on her the back of her neck and gently pressed her boobs, to which she playfully protested.

She smiled, a wave of comfort washed over her, closed her purse, the vision disappeared.

She was about to unlock her phone when she heard the key turn in the lock at the main door and Adi walked in, looking a little disgruntled.

"Adi, all ok?" Anjali asked, sounding concerned. He did not reply, removing his coat and throwing it on the sofa, he walked over to the accent armchair and sat down, pulling out his laptop.

"The meeting got pushed back by an hour," he said, looking harassed. "I got the call just after I dropped Anshul off, so I figured I'd come home and work for twenty minutes before heading out again."

Anjali got up, feeling relieved, kissed him on his forehead and said, "Want some coffee?" He just shook his head. "Going somewhere?" he asked, adding "you look nice."

Anjali smiled at him appreciatively.

"Yes, Pinks is on her way with our dresses for your work event on Saturday. We are planning to go accessory shopping."

He just nodded, mentally wondering how many more dresses and accessories she needed when she already had multiple closets overflowing with them.

Anjali's phone rang. "Pinks, where are you yaar (friend)? Mein kabse ready hu (I have been ready for so long)." As she walked around talking, from the corner of his eye, Adi noticed Anjali's expression changing from surprise to disgust to anger.

"Come on man, bitch you have been saying the dress will be ready since last week, the event is this Saturday, do you want me to go looking like some slut?"

Adi knew they were absolute besties but still sighed at her choice of words. Seeing her irate face, he made the wise decision to just keep working. More banter, Anjali getting angrier, she was pacing faster now.

"Pinks, I love you, but if are not here with my dress by 9 AM tomorrow, bitch I am going to fucking kill you and I mean it!!!!" and he saw her disconnecting the phone and chucking it on the sofa next to her purse. She looked at Adi, who spared her a glance.

She huffed, took off her Kurta, almost tearing it in her anger and threw it, in an instant her Churidar was being roughly kicked away, and she stood in her bra and panties, looking totally livid. Adi looked at her even as she was giving him a look of disgust as if all this was his fault, though he was admiring his view.

God, she is beautiful, he thought, looking at the perfect mounds in her bra, that toned mid-section, the gorgeous navel. The angry, livid look made her even more desirable.

She truly is a Goddess!

He felt himself harden under the laptop.

"WHAT ARE YOU STARING AT?" she barked loudly, giving him an angry look.

He quickly looked back at his laptop, wondering now if it was a good decision to come back home.

She stared at him for a few more seconds. She marched up to him, and to his surprise grabbed his laptop and set it aside. She grabbed him by his tie, yanking him up, her other hand grabbing his hair and pulling his face towards her. She kissed him hard on his lips, fighting to get her tongue inside his mouth.

He reacted automatically, his hands immediately grabbing her ass over her panties and beginning to squash them. She started pulling him towards the bedroom, still kissing him ferociously, now biting on his lips.

Pushing her face away gently, Adi said, "Anju, please, not now, I need to leave in 5 minutes," protesting on her pull, as she turned away from him, still pulling him hard.

Her other hand had already unclasped her bra when she screamed without looking at him, "BHAAD MEIN GAYI AAP KE MEETING (TO HELL WITH YOUR MEETING)!! You are not going anywhere till you have fucked this anger out of me. Fucking Pinks!"

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Sid

A few kilometers away, Sid Sharma rode in the back seat of a luxury car the Marriott had sent to collect him from the airport. He watched the streets of Pune pass by while the driver and his hostess, Mrs. Pinky Malhotra, sat in front. Pinky had just ended a call, and although Sid had barely heard the words, he could tell she had been arguing with someone.

Absentmindedly, Sid touched the small bulge in his jacket pocket, then traced the scar above his heart. The beautiful, familiar image in his mind suddenly felt so close. He glanced at the empty seat beside him. It felt as though she was right there.

Pinky turned around apologizing for the phone call, sensing that he must have heard the loud voice on the other end and informed him that they would be at the hotel in 10 more minutes. Sid merely nodded deciding against engaging in further conversation.

The JW Marriott in Pune was an impressive property. When the car pulled into the drive, Sid stepped out and followed Pinky toward the check-in desk while the driver and a bellboy handled the luggage. The lobby was unusually busy, as though the hotel were preparing for a major event.

Sid noticed the familiar stares from all around as he entered the lobby, including some of the ladies working the front desk, who seemed to be jostling to decide who would attend to him.

"Hello, Mr. Sharma," called a voice from an office doorway to the right. A broad, heavyset man in a crisp suit approached him. "My name is T. Subramaniam, but please call me Subbu. I'm the General Manager, and I'd like to welcome you to our hotel."

Sid shook his hand. "We have set up your conference room according to the instructions from your office," Subbu continued, "and it is my honor to upgrade you to our special Soho Suite at no extra charge for the duration of your stay." He nodded to Pinky, who immediately began speaking with one of the front-desk employees. "We hope you will find everything to your satisfaction."

"Looks like you have a big event coming up," said Sid to keep polite conversation, while waiting for his room key cards. He just wanted to get up to his room and prepare for his meeting in two hours. "Yes," replied Subbu. "We are hosting a South Indian Designer Saree Expo for two days starting tomorrow," he said proudly.

"You should definitely try and stop by if time permits," handing Sid a flyer. Just then Pinky came back, and Sid shook Subbu's hand again. Subbu thanked Pinky for coming in on her day off and asked her to escort Sid to his room. Sid now understood the possible reason for the irate call that Pinky had received in the car.

He unknowingly smiled at her, she blushed deeply and they entered the lift.

The suite was spacious, almost the size of a one-bedroom flat, with a large living room, a proper desk, a small four-seater dining table, and a separate bedroom with a king size bed beside windows overlooking the city. Sid suspected that Subbu's enthusiasm for the saree expo involved some kind of kickback, but after the unexpected upgrade, he considered buying something anyway.

He thanked Pinky, asked her to also thank Subbu once again on his behalf for the upgrade. He requested she come back in an hour to escort him to the conference room.

Once Pinky left, Sid sat at the desk, getting ready to start prepping for his meeting. He turned his revolving chair around to look outside the huge glass window and closing his eyes, tapped his fingers on something in his suit pocket, ran his fingers over the scar just above his heart and smiled.

As the warmth spread through him, he turned the chair back and got to work.

An hour later, Pinky knocked on the door, he headed out and she led the way to the conference room that had been setup for his meetings.

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Anjali

Anjali woke up with a start. She could hear her phone buzzing from an incoming message. Looking at the time it was close to 11 AM. She was naked under her sheets and could smell cum and felt stickiness between her legs. She yawned and stretched. Adi had relented and engaged in a literal fifteen-minute quickie and dashed out, which had ebbed her anger some.

Once he left, her Other Husband had stepped in and in conjunction with her fingers had ensured that she was able to completely calm down and then get a quick power nap.

As usual, her imagination had ensured her Kutta (dog), as she lovingly thought of him, had done all the erotically sluttish things she loved, from licking her pussy, tongue fucking her till she went insane and finally flooding her mouth with his delicious cum, always leading her to big orgasms.

She smiled, got up, walking butt naked to the living room, opening her purse and pulled out her most prized treasure. She caressed it lovingly, kissed it, and put it back in safely.

20 minutes later, showered, the same Kurta and Churidar back on, and with another cup of coffee in her hand, sat back on the sofa and looked at her phone messages. Pinks had sent her long message which had the usual sorry, got called into work, some big client from Delhi, boss insisted, blah blah blah.

Anjali, now a lot calmer, regretting her earlier outburst at her bestie, replied with a heart and kiss emoji and then a quick message saying, "PLEASE be here tomorrow!!" and another heart emoji.

A salute emoji came in response, making her chuckle.

A couple of minutes later, another quick message from Pinks came in -- "Babes, this client from Delhi is SO HOT!" followed by the usual heart swooning emojis. Anjali rolled her eyes and smiled.

Finishing her coffee, she picked up her purse and headed out on her own to finish up with her accessories shopping. She also remembered that Anshu had an all-day school field trip the day after tomorrow and one of the parent volunteers had sent a reminder of the things he needed to carry that she still had to buy.

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Sid

When Sid returned to his suite around 11 p. m., he was pleased with the day's work and felt ready for the big meeting the next morning. Mrs. Pinky Malhotra--or Pinky, as she insisted he call her--had been a great help. She had represented the Marriott well, playing the perfect hostess and ensuring that everything went smoothly.

Subbu had been helpful too, checking in periodically with Sid and Pinky to ensure that nothing was amiss while slipping in a reminder about the Designer Saree Expo whenever he had the chance. Sid had noticed him leaving flyers at regular intervals, hoping the other meeting attendees--most of whom were local to Pune--would pick them up.

He sent Rhea a quick goodnight message, asked her to give their daughter Pooja a kiss from his side, changed, and considered buying Pinky a memento before he left--or asking his office to send her one.

Then he dropped onto the super comfortable bed, one hand gently tracing the scar on his chest and the other holding a folded piece of cloth. The wonderful face floated into his mind again, and yet again, he felt as though she was very near, lying beside him. He drifted off imagining that he was cuddling her as she slept on his chest.

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Anjali:

It was just about 11 PM. Anjali was sitting on the sofa, just lazing. The day had turned out to be busy. Her shopping took longer than expected and she had picked up Anshu after school. By the time they got back home, it was almost 5 PM.

Adi came back around 9 PM and he looked exhausted. He had a quick drink, followed by dinner and had just gone and crashed. Anshu was also in bed by 10 PM.

The house seemed very quiet. She could hear Adi's gentle snores through the open bedroom door.

She heard the distant sounds of a jet going by, unsure if it was landing or taking off. If Anshu had been awake, he would be charging towards his bedroom balcony. She smiled as his face came to her mind. The sound of the jet reminded her of that blinking light and the feeling that had emanated within her on seeing it.

She again thought of the flickering of the Diya in her house and absent-mindedly opened her purse and pulled out the handkerchief, just holding it in one hand. Her mind wandered back to the first few weeks... well, months really after the train journey.

That initial period had been tough. What had bothered her the most were those "why & how" questions.

Why did it happen?

Why did I feel so terribly lustfully attracted?

Why that one person and no one else ever before or after for that matter?

How in the world did I have all those slutty feelings buried in me?

How did I even get them in me in the first place?

She thought about the mad, lustful raging sex that they had in the bathroom. The things they had done, the sexual acts. Acts she had never even known she could do. Words that had come out of her own mouth that she did not know existed in her vocabulary.

It was as if she had been transformed into a completely different person.

Even now, while her intimacy with Adi remained "clean", even though she had to admit, it was extremely gratifying, her dreams with her Other Husband were always sluttish and always suggestive of raw, dirty and lustfully mad sex. The even stranger part she thought, was that she truly enjoyed it.

Even after all these times, a basic answer to any of those "why and how" had eluded her.

She was still caressing the handkerchief. She got up and started pacing. Would she ever get an answer to those questions? Did she even need an answer? Did she even care?

She knew she loved Adi dearly and would never do anything that could impact her marriage, yet she also knew, in that parallel world she also lived in, she loved her Other Husband.

Love! The word felt strange. She had met him just once, for about 15 hours, spent about an hour in a bathroom with him focused purely on each other's lust. Her dreams were also lust filled.

Yet her heart was filled with love, whenever she thought about him, held his handkerchief, rubbed it on her cheeks and respectfully raised it to her forehead as if hoping that dry blood would once again come to life and she could wear it as Sindoor (vermillion).

After more than three years, it felt as if the desire to see him was not only just for crazy erotic sex, which she knew she wanted too, but just to be in his arms, to hug him, kiss him gently.

He had said it himself -- "If God ever decides that we are destined to meet again, make me a pinky promise that we will be passionate again, wild and crazy like today for sure, but also, we will make slow, deep and passionate love"

Wild and crazy, but also slow, deep and passionate love!

Was that expectation for slow, deep and passionate love the reason she felt love for him?

Since this morning, ever since she had seen that flickering Diya for some reason, she had felt as if her Other Husband was close, really close! It had been more than three years now, and yet, she still had this inner certainty, that God would decide when they would meet, if and only if, God was sure that both her worlds that she needed very dearly, would not explode if they collided.

She had not even realized that she had ambled over to the temple, the handkerchief still held to her cheek. Again, she felt his closeness, her eyes also falling at almost the same time at the small portrait picture of Adi, Anshu and herself just above the dining table.

Suddenly as she looked at the picture, the handkerchief at her cheeks, a realization seemed to come to her. The flickering of her Diya, the eerily similar blinking light on that plane... was that some sign from God?

Were her worlds about to collide?

Is that why she has been getting those strange feelings of closeness? Had that plane brought him to her? Was he just around the corner, about to bump into her?

She looked once more toward the temple, her eyes moist with expectation, fear and happiness mingling in her heart. Silently, fearfully, she asked in the smallest of a whisper.

"God, have you made a decision?"