‘Oh,’ she said visibly embarrassed. ‘It’s all right.’

‘I won’t take anything less than your forgiveness,’ said Prasad looking straight into Roopa’s eyes.

‘What’s wrong with you?’ said Roopa all perplexed as Sathyam looked on amused.

‘I know how vexatious it is to wait,’ said Prasad to Roopa.

‘Okay my friend,’ smiled Sathyam, ‘you’re forgiven.’

‘You should know that I’ve skipped lunch,’ said Prasad, soaping his hands at the wash basin, ‘to savor my sister’s preparations.’

‘I too have a raakhi sister in her friend Sandhya,’ said Sathyam reminiscently. ‘What a sweet soul she is.’

‘Who can better my sister in any way?’ said Prasad looking into Roopa’s eyes, and turning to Sathyam, he added, ‘When does the next rakshaabandhan come up?’

‘That I’ll let you know,’ said Sathyam. ‘Though I regard Roopa no less, know that Sandhya is all too different.’

‘Maybe,’ said Prasad with apparent conviction, ‘but Roopa is Roopa.’

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Struck by his direct manner, Roopa looked at him in awe, and thought in puzzlement, ‘Isn’t he showing an uncommon interest in me. What is he up to? Though he calls me ‘sister’, his demeanor doesn’t reflect any brotherly sentiment, does it really? Why won’t his manner betray lust? Oh, what a hypocrite he is to get into this sisterly mess. Isn’t it proving to be awkward for him and embarrassing for me as well? Anyway, for me, he’s just a handsome man and an interesting company, that’s all. He’s like any other man in my life, is he not?’

After a couple of visits, Prasad failed to turn up for a week, leaving Sathyam in jitters, even as Roopa felt that she was missing him as well.

‘Haven’t I got used to his company,’ she thought many a time, during that time. ‘Or am I craving for his flattery? Hasn’t he developed the knack of praising me without alarming Sathyam? And, it’s not at all brotherly really, when Sathyam is not around, how he takes my name, with a certain emotion attached to it even! How longingly he looks at me, all the while holding his gaze at my bosom. Isn’t his carnal bother troubling his brotherly candor? What hypocrisy, worse still, is it his strategy to hide his designs on me? Am I indulging in his character assassination by merely surmising? But then, isn’t his want for me crystal clear to me. Whatever it is, it’s his problem, and I’ve nothing to do with him anyway.’

‘But is it as simple as that?’ she felt as she developed second thoughts. ‘Am I not missing him? And willy-nilly, am I getting attracted to him? But, how’s that possible when I’m in love with Raja. Can anyone ever attract me that way? Am I then flirting with Prasad? Oh, no, I just happen to enjoy his company, bored that I am. That’s all there is to it.’




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