Temptation..

It was Thursday evening, and looking out of the window, she was surprised that it was already dark.

She had been working on an article for the weekend edition of the daily that she used to write for, and had come home early today to finish it before dinner. But it looked like she had lost track and taken more time than she had intended to.

Aman should have been back by now, she thought. He was her live-in partner, boyfriend, best friend and family all rolled into one. Both of them had moved to Mumbai from different cities, each in search of their own dream. And had ended up finding each other.

She had always been a little on the wild side, running through relationships with the capriciousness of the fabled Mumbai monsoon. She had broken many hearts, and got hers broken too, but in Aman, she had found someone she could settle down with, at least for a while. With his thoughts running through her head, she dialed his number.



“Hello” he answered and then as if he knew what she was going to say, apologized in advance, “Sorry jaan am getting late again…” his voice trailed off.

“What yaar,” she complained, “you promised to come early for once. I am bored of having dinner by myself every day!”

Lately, they had been sharing less time together because of their hectic work schedules. She had to cover Page 3 events in and outside the country while he had a desk job under a boss who was a slave-driver. They had not spent more than a day by themselves in the past two months and she was getting edgy because of it. She would wrap up her work and wait for him to come home.. sometimes for hours.. but he was at work almost twelve hours every day and half of the weekends as well.

“I’m sorry baby” Aman said, “I was looking forward to spending time together as well but kya karun Maya ne hum sabko office me baandh ke rakha hai!”

She gave a sigh and let it drop. It was work after all and they could do little other than cursing his martinet boss. He kept the phone gratefully and she went back to sulking about his absence. She craved for the initial days of their relationship when their worlds were almost always revolving around each other.

She kept herself occupied with old friends and social media but it was his company that she was missing and nothing else could fill that void. She was a reasonably attractive woman and received enough male attention in her office, but was careful to deflect the same. She also got hit on by random filmy types while covering events but she knew how to handle them as well.

More than anything, her heart ached for companionship and she had started feeling lonely too often. Acting on a sudden whim, she decided to log on to one of the social media apps for casual dating. It had been lying unused in her phone since she had met Aman but she decided to use it to kill some time.

During the usual left and right swipes she realized there were too many attractive guys in the area. She and Aman lived in Lokhandwala so there was the usual good-looking struggler crowd. But even other not-so-good-looking guys seemed to have beefed-up suddenly. After barely a couple of minutes she found a match.

This will be interesting, she thought.



It was a well-built guy with a pleasant face, framed by the trimmed beard that seemed to have caught the fancy of half the nation's men. He seemed to be living not very far from their apartment. She checked his social media profile and liked the honest and down-to-earth description.

They exchanged pleasantries and the conversation moved to hobbies and interests quite fast. She was surprised with the ease with which he was handling the banter with a complete stranger and felt drawn towards his easy charm.

The doorbell rang.

Aman was here and howmuchever fun the conversation with the virtual guy had been, she needed to get back to her real life. She ended the talk abruptly, and told him she had to get back to her boyfriend. She opened the door and let Aman in, shoving him into the shower since he was stinking after the day’s work and travel.

She checked the app again while he was inside. Apparently the guy also had a girlfriend who had crazy work hours. He wondered if the two of them could get together sometime to take care of each other’s loneliness...

He had left his number and asked her to share hers as well.

Her breath caught in her throat. She heard the sound of the shower subside and realized that Aman would be outside soon. Her sour mood had lightened after the conversation with the random stranger, and she felt the same exhilaration she used to feel during her single days. Her heart was beating faster at the tantalizing offer from the hunk next door. She could end this conversation right now by removing the app once and for all. Or she could prolong the exchange and see where it took her..

She quickly typed her response and switched her phone off for the night.

The future suddenly seemed a lot less lonely than it had before..

About the author:

Vineet Aggarwal is referred by many as a doctor by qualification, manager by profession and artist by temperament. He lives and works in Mumbai and is the author of popular online blogs dealing with scientific aspects of mythology as well as three books on mythological fiction.

Blogs: DECODE HINDU MYTHOLOGY - http://decodehindumythology.blogspot.com/

FRATERNITY AGAINST TERRORISM & EXTREMISM - http://fateinurhands.blogspot.in/

Books: VISHWAMITRA - http://amzn.to/1hMpa2C

THE LEGEND OF PARSHU-RAAM - http://amzn.to/2qIzw8S

BHARAT - THE MAN WHO BUILT A NATION - https://amzn.to/2BZTDYU