The Puppet Master

Dear readers,

You guys have been a great support and I feel the need to apologize again for being so late with my story updates. I'm receiving angry feedbacks from people who loved the How the Tables have turned story series and want me to continue (I might be one step away from a death threat 'lol'). I'll continue for sure, the tables will turn again but it'll take some time to complete that story. So here's something to fill that gap. This is a single story with two parts. Part 2 will come as soon as part 1 is posted. Once again, this will be bizarre but will follow basic logic rather than bend and bang. Like I've said many times before, my stories are for a more intellectual audience who like to read logical stories. Hope you guys enjoy.

NOTE: AKSHAT AND LEO ARE THE SAME IN THIS STORY

Ellie sat on the toilet seat swiping her phone reading the previous messages. Early in the morning, the bathroom flooded by the characteristic orange tinge through the frosted glass window looked nothing short of a sanctuary where the toilet seat was the throne. Indeed, the messages made her feel like a queen.

***

In his bedroom, Sunil sat on the king-size bed with his forehead supported by his palm. He'd just woken up from a beautifully painful dream. He swiped through the previous messages and tried to make mental notes in his foggy head. While swiping through his Whatsup conversation with Ellie he felt a needle in his heart, a chill down his spine that meant that he was both excited and nervous. The messages from him like "Baby, why don't we buy you some lingerie? You'd look dashing in them!" and her "blushing" emoticon reminded him of the old days when he had met her online 8 years ago. Those were good old days when things were not as complicated as they had become now.

He typed in "Let's meet tonight"

***

"Darling! Are you gonna stay in the bathroom all day"

Ellie's train of thoughts was broken. She looked at the door with a mixture of emotions. On the other side of the door was Sunil, her husband. They had been married 6 years ago after a great relationship of 2 years. Nobody would believe their story of randomly meeting online on omegle.com and becoming couples in just 2 years in spite of living miles apart! He was from India, she was from China and an earnest proposal from Sunil had won her heart and they spent 2 years in a long distance relationship before Sunil moved to China and married the love of his life- Ellie.

"Yeah, baby... I'll be just a minute. Hang on. "

She quickly punched into her phone "Sure, tell me when and where. I gotta go. Bye. Xoxoxo"

She hastily wiped her ass with strips of toilet paper and pulled up her night pants and panty. Sunil could hear the rustling sounds. This got him quite excited even after 6 years of marriage. He knocked again and said

"Why do you need to pull up your pants? Not like they're a secret to me", he chuckled.

"Perverted baby! Don't talk like that!" she meowed.

The door unclicked. Sunil walked in and hugged Ellie from behind poking her ass with his morning wood.

"You look great even minutes after getting up from bed. Are all Chinese girls gifted with such grace?"

"Don't even think about other Chinese girls!" she elbowed him in the gut playfully.

"Honestly, your skin is so smooth... I guess this is why I slipped and fell in love with you"

"Really? You could feel my skin through the computer screen? What about my intellect. You said my intellect attracted you the most"

Sunil felt a pang of emptiness and broke off from her.

"What happened baby?" she asked turning around

"Nothing Ellie... just feeling a bit dizzy" replied Sunil.

Ellie knew that when he used her name instead of a cute adjective, something was wrong. But it had been quite a long time since she made efforts to understand what was wrong. Nowadays she didn't even try. He was just too cryptic for her. The more attention she gave to 'his problem' the more he made a big deal out of it. So she just let it go and finished washing her face.

Sunil's eyes followed her in the mirror. Probably it was his fault that she had become like this.

***

Ellie saw her phone vibrate and make that low tone. It was his message. Leo. Her heart skipped a beat each time he texted her. She had that feeling in her stomach that English people call- having butterflies in the belly.

She unlocked the pattern on her phone and opened the message.

Leo: I've decided. Hotel Regent. 8:30 PM. Is it okay?

Ellie: It's too late! I need to have dinner before 8 and then go to bed.

Leo: Let's eat together at 7:30 and then we can have the fun ;)

Ellie: You naughty boy! I can't... really. Try to understand. Plz

Leo: Even on this special day you deny me :( heartbroken

Ellie: Come on baby... plz don't make that face. You know how much I love you.

Leo: Then come to the Spirit Dragon restaurant on Liushung Lu. You know that right? Okay, boss staring at me. gtg. See ya at 7:30. Bye.

Ellie: Ok

Why did she find it so hard to turn Leo down? She was not like this before. She used to turn down advances from men all the time. Because the only one she loved was Sunil. Somehow Leo had made his own little place in her heart in just 4 months. In just 4 months he had successfully broken her monumental love for Sunil and started building his own image in the sanctuary of her heart. How? There was something unique as well as something familiar with him. Something that drew her close to him in spite of her resistance.

At 7:30 PM that night she was going to meet Akshat, also known as Leo for the "first time". She always had a hard time pronouncing Indian names like Akshat. So she just nicknamed him Leo. She had a cousin named Leo. That was the whole purpose of naming him Leo. It was all brotherly affection at first. Without her noticing it had morphed into something different. Before she realized, it was too late.

She started thinking up excuses for Sunil. He was easy to deal with. She had stayed out on multiple occasions without any questions from him. It just had to be a believable lie. She went with the simplest lie of eating and staying at a colleague's home. She heaved a sigh of relief when she put the phone down without having to answer which friend she was staying at. It seemed like Sunil didn't care about it, which made things simple for her. He was going to watch a basketball match on TV he said.

Ellie: I've taken care of formalities. I'll be there at 7:30. Don't be late. I hate waiting. See you <3

Leo: See you my love. Remember to bring me the gift I told you about. It's my birthday after all ;)

***

She reached the restaurant 5 minutes early but found Leo on his seat already. He was facing the gate so he waved to her as she entered. He was immediately dazzled by the beautiful black gown she was wearing. It perfectly accentuated her hourglass figure. She looked so gorgeous in them that he wanted to just bend her over and fuck her out of her minds. But being a gentleman was the ground rule as instructed by his guru. He walked to her and helped her out of her jacket. Then he ushered her to the place he had reserved and pulled the seat out for her to sit. "Sunil never does all this", she thought to herself.

They had a fun time at the restaurant. Some words of love were shared.

Leo had no idea that Ellie was married. She had never divulged this information. For him Ellie was a hardworking corporate employee who had a comfortable living but lacked any emotional attachment to men. He 'knew' that she stayed with a roommate whom she didn't like to talk about. That's all that he knew. Ellie was an enigma for him. That's what drew him closer to her. And her smile was the most beautiful he had ever seen.

After about 2 hours they finished eating. Leo paid the bill and they walked out of the restaurant. Ellie in front of him. He felt hypnotized by her swaying ass. When Ellie turned her head he walked to her side with quick steps.

"Happy Birthday", she said

"Where's my gift?" he said in a whisper close to her ears.

"I'll give it to you in the hotel. Let's hurry."

"Are you so eager to give me that gift?" he said with a wink.

"No.. It's just... it's cold" she said blushing.

"Are you sure you don't wanna take in this amazing beauty of this city?" he tried to test her limits.

"Ok, take your time. I'm in no hurry." She said with a cross face looking away from him.

"Hahahhaaa... I'm just kidding. I'm much more eager than you are." He said bringing his face close to her. He turned her face towards him and placed a gentle kiss on her lips.

"This is my first gift, you are my first gift. Thank you for making my birthday special" he whispered in her ears.

"You make me feel special" she whispered back and placed her head on his strong shoulder.

They walked in the direction of Hotel Regent.

***

Akshat (Leo) had come to China just 6 months ago. He was a talented guy and the only Indian in the office; except Sunil that is. Seeing an Indian in a foreign land was a welcome change for both of them. They hit off a friendship soon and they had each other's back.

One day Akshat was spacing out on his desk. Sunil noticed this. It reminded him of his days when he was just beginning to fall in love with Ellie.

"So.. My guy from India has fallen in love with a Chinese beauty I suppose." Said Sunil.

"Not so much in love but you can call it an attraction."

"Tell me more"

"You know I attended that business meeting yesterday with my team leader. We were negotiating a deal with the East China Shipping Enterprises. And the team leader on the other side... " his voice trailed off.

Sunil boxed him playfully, "and the team leader blew your mind"

"God... she's such a beauty. What wouldn't I give to get a chance with her on bed?"

Sunil became serious. "Bro, that's where you draw the line. These Chinese people are very good at heart so you shouldn't talk so obscenely about them."

"But she flirted back when I flirted with her!" Akshat protested.

"Well I guess you can find sluts in all parts of the world. What's her name by the way?"

"I don't know her full Chinese name but her team was calling her Ellie. We shared a moment when we were having coffee on the break. She's single and looks hardworking. And I'll be damned... her skin... bro you gotta touch that skin to know what I'm talking about. Instant bang material!" Akshat imitated the doggy style.

"Shut your obscene mouth you scoundrel" laughed Sunil "Did you get her number?"

"Got her office number but I have no reason to call her. Probably this ends here."

And then they didn't talk about it for a couple of days.

Then suddenly one day Sunil found Akshat on his desk sitting dejected. Upon noticing Sunil he got up and grabbed him by his arms and said "Bro! You have to help me bro!"

"Whoa whoa... calm down, breathe, tell me what happened."

"I was hitting it off with Ellie quite well but you were right. I became impatient and she won't talk to me anymore. She's not a slut. She has certain standards bro!"

"This is where I tell you- I told you that smartass!"

"Now's no time to taunt me man... just help me out. I've heard from our boys that you had a start in your relationship with this chatting thing. You've the experience! Help me out!"

"God... who the fuck is spilling all my secrets. Never mind, show me the chats."

Akshat handed over the phone to him. Sunil scrolled through the past couple of messages to find the point where things got messy.

Leo: Hey ma'am. I must confess to you that day when I first saw you I couldn't concentrate on the bills.

Ellie: I know that silly. Otherwise no guy would compliment a girl's shoes unless he's gay :P

Leo: Oh! You're intelligent like I thought. But how did you confirm that I'm not gay? :P

Ellie: You just don't seem gay. They've a different flair. Thanks for the compliment though.

There were messages like this and slowly the affection seemed to grow as Sunil scrolled through the messages. Cute words started to be used just 2 days ago.

Leo: Hey babe, missing me?

Ellie: Not much. Just busy. What's up?

Leo: aw... that hurts. You sound dry. Last night on the call you seemed much more romantic

Ellie: I'm not romantic. That's my natural tone :P

Leo:

Is it so? Are you wearing the same shirt that you wore that day to the meeting?

Ellie: Ah! How did you know? Are you watching me? Naughty boy

Leo: Wow that must have been the luckiest guess I've ever made! So today I can imagine how sexy you look. Just like that day... ;)

Ellie: Hmmm... :)

Leo: I never asked you. Do you date men?

Ellie: I don't date women for sure ;)

Leo: Will you date me?

Ellie: Nope. :P

Ellie's flirtatious tone was evident from the chats. But she refused to date Leo. Later Leo had proceeded to be too pushy... too desperate and this had been a turn off for her and she didn't reply to his endless pleas.

"Bro, do you realize how desperate you sound in these texts?" said Sunil

"What? Isn't that how we're supposed to do it?"

"No wonder you've been single all your life"

"Hey, that's not true. I dated my sister's friend once for a week or so..." his voice trailed off.

Sunil typed a few words into the chat box and handed over the phone to Akshat.

"Here you go, this should do the trick"

"You sure?"

Sunil was already walking towards his own desk and waved at him without turning his back.

About 3 days later, one evening, Akshat rushed to Sunil's desk and thanked him for making things alright between him and Ellie.

"You're a life saver! Thank you so much!"

"All good? Show me your last couple of chats. Today I'll teach you how not to be desperate like an idiot"

"Sure. You can also see her and congratulate me for having roped in such a beauty. There's a picture in our last chats. She sent it this afternoon. God she's an innocent beauty"

Sunil snorted while he took the phone from Akshat.

He swiped down and reached the afternoon conversation. He saw the bottom of the picture that Ellie had sent to Akshat. He swiped down a little. The picture he saw made his heart stop. It was 'Ellie'... his darling wife.

For a few seconds that seemed like eternity he froze. His mind unable to make sense of it, his heart sinking rapidly. All the memories of his married life with her. Everything flashed in his subconscious mind.

"Bro... looks like you haven't seen such a beauty. Haahahahaa, but hands off! She's mine. And you helped me get close to her."

"Ha ha" Sunil struggled to find words.

***

The walk back to his apartment that night was the most difficult he had ever had. He was trying to wrap his head around everything that had happened. He couldn't help but imagine his Ellie typing those words to someone other than him. Coming to think about it, those texts reminded him of how Ellie used to be when he was trying to win her heart. Every thought in his mind was now trying to frame Ellie as an unfaithful wife. Thoughts that never dared to cross the threshold were now exploring aspects that he consciously cringed to.

He decided to confront Ellie about this matter but when he saw her asleep on the bed he couldn't bring himself to do that. "Tomorrow, he thought to himself". But that 'tomorrow' never came. Instead he discovered a change in his attitude. For some reason he was painfully enjoying all this. Whenever Akshat showed him the new texts that Ellie had sent her he would feel excited, but just as the excitement subsided he'd feel a pang of teeth bore deep into his heart.

Akshat believed that he had Ellie all within his grasp. Ellie was obliviously flirting with Akshat with no intention of taking things any further. Sunil was observing both of them like an experiment.

Ellie felt a surge of excitement flirting with guys online. She didn't consider all that to be cheating because it was all just fun, nothing serious. She knew how to handle boys. She knew that initially they're excited and she can derive some excitement from that phase. Later when things stagnated the boys eventually stopped responding and then she could easily find a new guy to flirt with online. She made it a point to never meet any such man personally. It was all just "chit-chat", nothing serious. Sunil had been the only exception and a really unique exception at that! He was from India and in spite of all the distance he never complained and never once did their relationship stagnated. Sunil was the first guy she fell in love with. He made her heart flutter even after getting married. He had that kind of charm. But her old habit of online flirting didn't die even after being married for 6 years.

Meanwhile Sunil didn't share this exact mentality. He had loved one and only one girl in his entire life and never once did he even think about flirting with another girl. This whole fiasco was turning him on. Eventually he realized that he had become a cuckold. He felt guilty but at the same time felt excitement that he had never imagined. His sex life with Ellie had also taken a major turn. He lasted longer and tired Ellie with his new-found vigor.

On one fine Thursday afternoon he walked to Akshat who was chatting with Ellie on his phone and said,

"Do you love her?"

"I don't know bro... I'm just seeing how far this can go" he smiled.

"Do you want to fuck her?" Sunil tried to sound as cool as possible.

"But Chinese people are so pristine right! You said that yourself."

"I asked, DO YOU WANNA FUCK HER?" Sunil repeated with a grin on his face.

"Sure bro, why not?" Akshat winked.

3 lives were about to get transformed. Sunil would be the puppet-master.

***