Things were never the same again for us, as we both knew they would never be.
For the first time in my life, I had fallen in love.
At twenty-five, Shaila, my cousin sister, was almost seven years older than I was. But I thought, that love was a strange thing.
That it wasn't love, but plain and pure raw sex, dawned upon me in the following week.
I woke up pretty late the next day with a painful erection. I had dreamt quite a bit and of course, the dreams were all about her.
"Nice sleep, buddy?" My uncle was incredibly fresh considering how drunk he had been the previous night.
"Yes, thank you. And you?"
"Slept like a baby," he chuckled. He was at the dining table, reading the newspaper, already dressed in his suit that he wore to the college.
I had just brushed my teeth, sat on the pot and had showered. I was dressed in a plain t-shirt and jeans. As I took my place in front of him, I heard the noises in the kitchen, which meant Shaila was in there.
"I heard that you and Shaila had a nice long chat yesterday. Come on pal, you don't come to Mumbai too often. Hey, tell you what, why don't you come over to the college? The campus is great and what's more, I bet you will love those groovy chicks," he laughed.
I laughed. "Aw shucks, uncle, I really have no time for girls!"
Shaila entered the dining room with a tray loaded with his breakfast and a jug of coffee.
"What's all that laughing about?" she asked laying the tray down on the table.
If I had expected any awkward movements from her, I was wrong. She was cool, a lot cooler than me.
I looked at her out of the corner of my eyes. She had bathed and was wearing a plain and simple one-piece frock that had a pair of straps on her shoulders. It reached down to her knees and she had tucked the loose white blouse inside. The blouse was of course buttoned in front. I suddenly realized that the baby was gurgling in the crib she had obviously wheeled in from their bedroom.
"Oh, I was just telling Nikhil about the gorgeous girls he could get to see if he drops in at the campus," he laughed, picking up his toast.
"Oh yes, Nikki, why don't you go over there?" Shaila laughed.
"Nikki?" my uncle asked. "What kind of a wimp short cut name is that? It sounds like you are talking about a girl or some kind of a faggot."
"Oh come on, Salil. You know that everybody calls him by that name."
"And I always say that it sounds like a fruitcake name. Come on, now, Nikhil is such a good name."
"That's okay, uncle," I interrupted. "I'm used to it by now. In fact, back at college, there's a girl in my class called Nicole and everybody calls her Nicky as well. It used to bother me at first, but not any longer now."
He gave a short laugh and turned his attention to his breakfast while I poured myself a cup of coffee.
"Any coffee for you, Shaila?" I asked looking into her eyes.
"Oh no, thanks. I am trying to cut down on it."
I rose with the coffee in my hand and walked to the crib placed behind my uncle.
"Hey buster, how are you this morning?" I asked him, letting the back of my hands slide gently over his cheek. The guy gurgled happily and then yawned.
I looked up at Shaila who was just in the process of sitting down on the chair by the side of uncle. As she looked at me, I winked.
She quickly glanced at her husband, and noticing that he was engrossed in the newspaper, she quickly winked back at me.
I recalled yesterday night. He had walked in the apartment, swaying on his feet. Not talking too much, he had staggered into his bedroom, Shaila at his heels.
Much later, I had crept up to their door. It was shut, of course, but I could hear him grunting in time with the squeaking mattress.
I knew that they had made love.
I chatted with junior and I knew he was sleepy.
"Sure has an odd hour, huh?" I asked, coming back to the table. "I mean, the guy's sleepy already."
"Sleeps most of the time, like your sister here."
The sister part of it stung and I flushed. Was it true then that I was involved in incest?
Fuck it, I thought. If it was incest, then I loved it.
"Don't you have a holiday today?" I asked him.
"No buddy. Fridays and Saturdays are very hectic…"
"As are the rest of the days," Shaila interrupted.
"Very funny," he shot back, taking a bite of his toast, "Actually, Nikhil, I'm supposed to be off on Sundays. But with the approaching semesters, the students have requested me for extra classes on that day too. Mind you, I'm going to have a couple of days off so that we could all go sight seeing and perhaps take on a good dinner in a decent joint."
The baby began to bawl and Shaila hurried towards the crib, picking him up. "Oh, so sorry, baby, mama almost forgot. It's time for your grub and your sleep."
When she said ‘grub' she winked at me and I felt myself growing hard.
"You are leaving, Salil? Because I'm going to put junior to sleep," she told her husband.
"I'm waiting for a call from the office," uncle replied, washing down his breakfast with a glass of orange juice. "The dolts there are supposed to inform me which papers to bring today. So I don't really know when I'm leaving."
"Okay," she replied, walking to their bedroom. "Just shout out when you are leaving and call me because you are going to be late today as well."
"Very funny," he replied, picking up the paper again. "Anyway, Nikhil is here. So he will know when I'm leaving."
She disappeared inside, already unbuttoning the front of her blouse. This succeeded in getting my cock harder.
The dining room was an extension of the living room, so uncle got up from the table and had to walk about ten steps to reach the sofa and flop down on it.
Images of what Shaila and me did on the very same sofa, watching the TV flashed through my mind and my body tingled.
I went up to the chair and took my seat there, picking up the supplement of the newspaper. Again, the vision of Shaila, bent over this chair flashed through my mind.
God, but I was getting horny as hell and couldn't wait for uncle to leave.
To get to the guest room, I had to walk past their bedroom. I just HAD to see her breasts again. I fidgeted on the chair, making sure that the newspaper was draped across the crotch of the jeans I was wearing. I didn't want him to notice the bulge there.
"I'm going to try and solve this crossword," I announced, rising to my feet. "I'll get my pencil."
"Use that pen," he advised, not taking his eyes off the paper he was so engrossed in.
