I flew back to New Delhi after an overseas trip; can't quite remember from where. The monsoon season was at its peak and we landed in the middle of a very heavy thunderstorm. Parking bays at the airport seemed at a premium as a result of which there was a fairly long wait after touchdown till the pilot was cleared for an aerobridge. Although immigration and baggage clearance didn't take too long, I spent a fair bit of time at the Delhi Duty Free outlet trying to find a couple of bottles of good wine. While searching, I suddenly got the urge to buy something for Sunita. That took a while because I wasn't sure what I should get her, knowing her rather frugal habits. I decided on a small bottle of perfume, naturally French. By the time I got out of the airport and found Bahadur, it was almost 1 o'clock in the morning.
The heavy rain, and Delhi's unfortunate state of road drainage coupled to add another hour and a half before we finally reached my apartment. The rain had stopped and although I suggested that Bahadur could stay over, he insisted on returning to his home with a request for the morning off on the following day. It was Saturday in any case so I told him he needn't come in for duty till Monday morning. Bahadur helped me with my suitcase, placing it in the elevator, before we wished one another a good night. I pressed the penthouse button and leaned back against the walls of the lift, feeling very tired and exhausted.
I had promised to send my notes to some colleagues in Paris and London over the weekend so I knew I had a couple of hours work ahead of me before I could actually relax over the next couple of days. The lobby light came on automatically as I stepped out of the elevator and walked to the door of my apartment. Being as late as it was I didn't want to disturb my maid who was possibly asleep, so I fished out the keys from my briefcase and opened the door. The bedside lamp was on and partially illuminated the living room. Across on the other side I saw Sunita's bedroom door open just a crack but with no light on inside. I quietly pulled my suitcase in, shut and locked the door behind me, and went into my bedroom.
It took me half an hour to unpack, throw clothes for washing into a corner of the room, rig up my laptop, have a quick shower, pull on a pair of old faded jeans and a t-shirt, and make myself a Jack Daniels on the rocks. I decided to sit down and get as much of the work out of the way so I could enjoy the weekend without too much tension. I laboured for two straight hours and finished the report but chose not to send it immediately, thinking I would review it sometime later in the day after I had rested. It was almost 5 o'clock in the morning and I was unsure of what to do: should I go to bed and try and sleep? Should I go out for an early morning drive? I wasn't sleepy enough but I was too tired to drive around aimlessly. I stepped out on to my terrace and breathed in the cleanly washed air; the rain had stopped and it was relatively cool outside, especially if I could catch a breeze. I removed my t-shirt and felt the cool but damp air against my skin. The sun would start its journey across the sky in about an hour and a half, making the day muggy as it went along.
I stepped back into the apartment and slid into my leather recliner, pushed the backrest to an angle, raised the footrest and lay back. But I was restless, and unable to understand why. I didn't want to put on any music for fear of waking Sunita. I wasn't sure what time she normally got up but I suspected it would be soon. I got up and made myself another drink, still wondering what to do. I hadn't had a drink on the flight; in fact I hadn't had a drink for the last two days which had been extremely busy. The alcohol began to hit me; a nice buzz coming into my brain.
For the last week I had kept thoughts of my maid at bay; it was a conscious struggle because every now and again my mind would wander to her, sometimes thinking about what she might be doing at that moment, but more often to a place I wasn't sure existed. Ever since a particular episode some weeks, or was it months, ago I would contemplate the surrealistic hallucination that pervaded my brain. Or maybe it wasn't an illusion, maybe it had actually happened. It was driving me crazy trying to figure out the truth.
I had a not too vague recollection of the night. It had been an emotional day of sorts with Sunita getting strangely depressed and my own inability to fully comprehend her emotions. I had gone out that evening, got slammed with booze at a couple of bars and returned home to crash into bed. But beyond that my recollection is in the fluid phantom zone although I can almost still feel the physical pleasure that I enjoyed after that. I can still feel Sunita's nakedness against me, her large wholesome breasts on my body, her hands and mouth around the thickness of my penis, her tongue licking the underside of my testicles, my own hands running through her hair... It's all so real in my mind.
I even feel the huge explosions of semen gush from my cock into her mouth, her swallowing every drop. In fact my memory of the intensity of my ejaculation, the violence of my thrusting into her mouth, still amazes me with its reality. I even remember waking up with no sleeping clothes on, at least not the tracksuit bottom I generally wore to bed. Yet, I cannot say for sure that it happened, or for that matter what exactly happened. Maybe it was just a dream, another one of my many nocturnal emissions with Sunita playing havoc in my subconsciousness. And my maid had neither spoken nor hinted at any such occurrence; and I was simply unable to ask her about it.
Now, still restless and slightly on the edge, I walked with whiskey tumbler in hand towards her room and peered in through the crack in the door but couldn't see anything in the darkness. With the toe of one foot, I nudged the door in by a couple of inches but still couldn't make out anything. Whether as an excuse or some other reason, I convinced myself I was getting worried not knowing whether Sunita was in her room and whether she was alright. With my free hand I pushed the door open some more and in the very faint light made out a shape on the bed, covered in a thin printed sheet. The light from my own bedside lamp across at the other end of flat cut through the otherwise pitch darkness of the apartment. I stood in my maid's doorway and stared at the figure outlined on the bed, taking an occasional sip from my glass. Suddenly my throat seemed to constrict; there was a dryness and a thirst that I needed to quench so I took a large gulp of the whiskey and left all rational thought at the door.