My Women Ch. 02

When she finally picked up the phone I was in for a surprise. She was wearing the light blue off-shoulder top I had bought her for her birthday. Her hair flew about gently in the wind of the fan. She was smiling beautifully and it seemed like she had put on lipstick. What stood out the most was two red straps on her shoulders.

"Hi baby." She spoke sweetly. I felt a hundred butterflies flutter in my chest. This new phase of closeness between us was thrilling.

"Hi," I said smiling wide, "What happened to the ₹ 2000 strapless bra?"

"Wow... Men!" she scoffed mockingly.

"What?" I feigned innocence.

"Is that the first thing that came to your mind?"

"No... my first thought was; Is my baby wearing lipstick? " I teased again. This time she blushed.

"Yes," she said a moment later, "and the ₹ 2000 strapless bra is in the laundry basket... I had worn it today." She smiled.

"Why did you wear that at home? I thought that's for special dresses."

"I wore it coz I missed you." She said shyly. I felt something emerge from within me... it was so strong that I couldn't stop it from being expressed.

"I love you baby!" I said feeling so nervous that I was shivering a little. Even in the poor video quality I could see the moistness forming in her eyes. It told me that the feeling was mutual... but I had to hear her say it. She remained silent.

"Say something." I added. She opened her mouth gently and said the magic words.

"I love you too." My heart skipped a beat hearing her say it out loud. Both of us were quiet for a while, not knowing what to say. The moment was achieving an enormous proportion in our hearts. I attempted to lighten the mood.

"By the way, I like red too." I said bringing the focus back on her attire. I laughed at my clumsy attempt and in turn made her laugh.

"I'm glad you approve." She joked along.

"Do you remember that night in the car at the restaurant parking?" I asked her.

"I do."

"I can still picture it vividly... it was the most exciting moment in my entire life... my heart was beating out of my chest when you took off your top to squeeze out the water." I described how I felt.

"Even I was surprised by what I had done... there was just something magical in the moment... the way you grabbed my arm and ran in the rain towards the car... the way we got drenched." She said.

"It was so out of the blue, taking your top off... what made you do it?" I asked.

She contemplated a while and said, "I guess I was jealous. You were with me the entire afternoon. We went shopping. We watched a movie. I felt so loved and cared for. I felt a special connection with you. I was so happy. Then Swetha announced she was pregnant and suddenly she became the focus of your attention. I felt desperate to get it back."

"Baby listen to me... you shouldn't drag yourself in to this sort of competition for my attention. You have to trust me. I love you," I tried to assuage her jealousy, "you don't have to feel desperate for my attention... you already have all of it."

"Promise?"

"I promise." I said. That assured her.

"That said, I wouldn't mind at all if you did it again." I resumed flirting. My cock had been semi-hard for a while now.

"Ha! In your dreams mister." She shot back.

"Oh... in that case I hope you wouldn't mind if I went a little further in my dreams would you?" I said, not backing down.

"How much further?" she asked.

"How about if I hug you in my dreams... after you have taken off your top? I'll warp my arms around you and pull you into a hug. How about that?"

"Mmm... I don't know." She said, hesitant to expand the horizon of physical intimacy so soon, even if it was in my dream... but she couldn't deny my pleading face.

"Okay... you have my permission, but that's all you get for now!" she said and laughed.

"That's not enough!" I complained.

"Doesn't matter... that's all for now, take it or leave it." She said leaving no room for negotiation.

"I'll take it." I said. We talked for a few more minutes, but we both started yawning.

"Sweet dreams baby." I said as I hung up the call a few minutes later. I dreamed about Navya in my sleep.

I woke up late next morning. Breakfast was ready when I came down. Mom was waiting for me. She had prepared Upma for breakfast.

"Did you sleep well? How is your back?" I asked while we ate the upma.

"Not well," she replied, "the pain woke me up a couple of times in the night... Son, would you mind applying oil on my back after breakfast?"

"I was going to ask you the same mom... I'll do it." I said. I followed mom to her bedroom after breakfast.

"I'm really sorry about staining your churidar last night." I said when she handed me the bottle. She lay down on her front on the bed. I pulled a chair close to the bed and sat on it. Mom had on a green churidar. I picked up its hem and pushed it upwards. I pushed it past her bra this time as I didn't want to stain her top again.

"Is the pain still at lower back?" I asked as I poured oil on my palm.

"Mostly," she said, "but its radiating upwards a little." I placed my palms on her lower back and started massaging. I placed my thumbs on either side of the crease of her spine and pressed my palm out to her sides. I then slid both hands down on her back applying some pressure.

"Just tell me if the pressure is too much." I said. I continued with the same movement using the thumb to exert a little pressure near her spine and the other fingers working on her sides. I wasn't getting proper leverage massaging her sideways, but I tried my best to apply even pressure on both hands.

Minutes went by and I fell into a rhythm rubbing her back. I was doing it in a robotic manner with my mind elsewhere. On one rub up, my palms accidentally slid over mom's bra. I immediately drew my hand back down, feeling awkward at the contact... but my eyes hooked on the bra. It was red in colour. My mind instantly jumped back to last night's video call with Navya and her red bra straps showing in the off-shoulder top. The thought resulted in a stirring in my pants. I had worn loose track pants and had removed my underwear last night. My cock started to grow and cause a big tent at the front as my mind refused to let go of the image of Navya's bra straps.

I tried thinking of other things like kittens and puppies to make the hard-on go away. But every time I got pulled back to thoughts about Navya. My hard-on became bigger and more conspicuous... and as fate would have it, mom turned her head towards me before I could think of a solution to the dilemma. Her eyes fell on the tent at the crotch of my pants. I went red with embarrassment. She looked up from my crotch in to my eyes. I lowered my eyes in shame, not able to hold the gaze.

"I'm sorry mom." I apologized. I had no other choice. I could've pretended like nothing happened... but she would think I'm a pervert, and the thought might fester. At least now I was the pervert who apologized. She could forgive me and put it down to a mistake. Her face betrayed no hint of what was going through her mind. That scared me.

"I shouldn't have asked you to do this." She said, but she made no move to sit up or pull down her top. She lay in the same position, the back of her red bra still visible to me. The lack of reprimand in her tone took me by surprise. I was at a loss for words.

"I'm really sorry!" I apologized again when I couldn't think of anything better. The room fell silent again. I sat still, not able to move a muscle fearing further embarrassment of my cock swaying with my body movements. I willed it to shrink down, but to no avail. It still stood up straight straining against the cloth of my track pants. She broke the silence once again.

"Has Swetha been neglecting you since the pregnancy? You should know there is no harm in... in being intimate at such early stages of pregnancy." She spoke trying to sound nonchalant. Till then I had thought things could not get anymore awkward than mom catching me with an erection while I massaged her. I was wrong. I grew redder.

"No mom please... I'm embarrassed as it is... it's not Swetha's fault... please don't say anything to her." I tried to extricate Swetha from this situation.

One has to acknowledge the Indian mentality here. Son-in-laws are beyond reproach for most mothers. I can't complain though, being a beneficiary of the system. My totally inappropriate erection in the presence of mom was being ascribed to an imagined lack of attention on my wife's part. However, the situation was still awkward with no exit in sight. Mom looked hesitant at the brink of another question. I braced myself mentally.

"Uh... What caused it then?" she asked. I was caught between a rock and a hard place. I couldn't tell her that I was lusting after her younger daughter. I tried to reason in my mind that maybe I could tell her I was thinking of some movie scene that I had watched recently... but it didn't sound convincing at all in my head. I had to improvise.

"I have a thing for bras... its different colours and designs." I heard myself saying, "it's weird... and I'm sorry you had to find out... and find out this way." I waited for her reaction. Curiously, she still had not made any effort to cover up her back... but her facial expression softened and I breathed a sigh of relief.

"What exactly is it about bras?" she persisted. It felt strange somehow, the way she asked it. It sounded less like a question from a concerned mother whose two daughters lived with me and more like a question from just a woman curious about a man.

"I don't know... it just looks amazing... when a woman wears it," I spoke, "I don't know how to explain it... I think they're pretty... I guess it could be called a fetish."

Now, most of what I said here was the truth. I actually had a thing for bras... but never even in my worst nightmares did I think I'd be explaining it to my mother in law.

"Please don't think of me as a bad character... I'm really sorry about this." I spoke again, trying to get her to forgive me.

"I don't know what to say." She said.

"Nothing. Don't say anything. Can we just keep whatever happened between the two of us?" I requested.

"Mmm." I heard her voice. I doubted that it sounded non-committal, but I didn't feel like pressing further.

"I'll leave you then." I kept the bottle away and stood up. I turned and walked out of the room closing the door behind me. I was sure my hard-on had swayed awkwardly as I walked out.

Once outside, I kicked myself for being such an idiot. I paced around in the hallway, tense. I wasn't sure that she meant it... that she wouldn't tell anyone. I lost the hard-on. My dick shrunk as my mind went on overdrive... what would Swetha think of me if she heard what happened... would Navya start hating me... I realized that even then what would happen to Navya's love for me was what weighed on me more. I was scared. I found myself walking back towards her door.

"Mom?" I called softly and knocked on her door. No answer came from inside.

"Mom?" I called again. Still no answer. I placed my hand on the doorknob and pushed. The door swung open revealing the scene of mom standing in front of the almirah mirror, sans churidar top... only the red bra covering her breasts. She seemed to be lost in thoughts as she looked at herself in the mirror. I froze, my hand still on the doorknob. My eyes got attracted to her bosom tucked inside the bra. My cock reacted, fattening once again... but this time it was mom's body that caused it and not thoughts of Navya. Just then the weight of my hand caused the door to move further with a creak.

"Nitin!" she exclaimed as she snapped out of her thoughts at the sound of the door and saw me. Her eyes met my face first... then travelled down towards my crotch. I just ran out of there like my life depended on it. I ran inside my room on the first floor and closed the door... feeling embarrassed beyond measure. I had no idea how I would face her again. I lay down on the bed and buried my head deep in the pillow trying to erase the past hour from my memory... but I heard a knock on the door.

"Nitin... can we talk?" Mom called. I lay still, indecisive.

"Nitin, Son... open the door." She spoke softly in a motherly voice, "please!"

Reluctantly, I got up from the bed and walked to the door. I plucked up some courage and undid the latch. Gently she pushed the door open and stood in the doorway. She had put the churidar top back on.

"I didn't mean to barge in... I knocked a couple of times... you didn't answer." I said plainly, mentally too tired to evoke any emotion within myself. I walked back and sat on the edge of the bed. She followed me quietly and sat beside me.

"Why did you come back?" she asked.

"I don't know... I felt like apologizing again... it hadn't felt like you had accepted the earlier apology." I told the truth.

"But why didn't you leave immediately when you saw I didn't have my top on?" she questioned.

"I froze when I saw you like that... I don't know why?" I answered honestly once again, "but you didn't move either... you seemed lost, looking into the mirror."

She didn't speak for some time.

"Mom... we don't have to talk about this... it's better to just forget it." I said, almost pleading.

"Nitin, there is something I want to tell you... there's no one else that I can talk to... and if I don't tell someone, it'll keep weighing on my mind... I feel like you understand me... more so than anyone, since my husband's passing." Her voice got emotional. I looked at her and saw her eyes getting moist. I nodded, letting her know she could tell me what was weighing on her. She wiped a single tear trailing down her left eye before speaking.

"I have been terribly alone, and unhappy these past months. I tried so hard to move past the fact that my husband is no more. I really did... but I couldn't do it. He was not just my husband..." she trailed off as a sob broke out of her. I moved a little closer and put an arm around her, trying to console her. Slowly, she recovered her voice.

"He used to say he had not two but three babies," she smiled a little at the memory, "counting me as his first... he was right... I was all but a child, a girl of 20 when my parents married me off to him... I was scared... of everything... of the strange new house that I was supposed to call home... of the strange man I was supposed to share a bed with... but he was kind... he made me feel protected."

Her voice was getting strained with the effort it took to compose herself while talking about her late husband. She coughed and cleared her throat. I brought her a glass of water and sat back down beside her. She drank it slowly.

"I had never felt lonely a single day since then. I fell in love so much with him... I made him convince my father to let me stay with him even during the two pregnancies... my parents weren't pleased at being denied something so integral to our traditions... but couldn't be mad at him, he was just such a sweet man."

She regained her composure and voice little by little as she continued.

"I was so dependant on him... a lesser man would have been annoyed... but he was just a giver... raised his voice at me not even once in 28 years... loved me to the end." I listened as she let out the things that she had bottled up, having had no one to talk to till now.

"I was so lost the days and weeks after his death... missing his voice... his touch. Going to sleep alone in a bed was killing me inside. It was only when you made me realize that he wouldn't want me being so unhappy, that I got a little better. But still, I think about him when I'm alone in my bed... about our moments together."

She then turned her face to look into my eyes.

"I don't know what you'll think of me... but earlier, when it happened... when you had... uh... the erection, while you rubbed oil my back... to realize that seeing me that way... seeing my bra was what caused your erection... something stirred deep within me."

I heard her speak, anxious at the direction it was headed. She continued.

"I had been neglecting my body these past months, thinking... for whom should I keep myself in shape now.. the man I loved is no more... I had no reason to look attractive... Inside me, I had stopped feeling like a woman." She stopped as if contemplating how to say what she wanted to say.

"But when I saw the effect my exposed bra had on you... it felt refreshing... I was reminded of how my husband used to look at me... for a brief moment, I felt in touch with the woman inside me... after you left, I couldn't help it... I wanted to see myself in the mirror... I wanted to see my body... but when I saw it I felt sad... at how I had let it get deteriorated over the past months... I had put on weight... I felt ugly... I was lost in these thoughts when you barged in... and I saw you looking at me... and get an erection again... and I felt the stirring again inside me."

She stopped, anxiously gauging my reaction. I was stupefied. I had expected her to admonish me for barging in on her and instead she had laid her heart out in front of me. While my consternation at the situation remained, I felt a protective instinct inside me. The woman in front of me, my mother-in-law, was really vulnerable right now... teetering on the edge of despair... but what happened between us earlier appeared to have induced in her a ray of hope... a path that would lead her back to some semblance of happiness. She craved to reclaim the companionship and intimacy that she had lost with the loss of her husband. A lot seemed to depend on what I was going to say next. I cleared my throat to speak.

"Mom... I had no idea so much was going on inside your mind," I started, "but I understand how you feel.. and I want you to know this... you are still every bit a beautiful woman as you were when dad was alive... I truly believe that... and I think dad would agree if he could see you right now, from wherever he is."

I said and it was truly heartfelt, "I mean if Swetha is even half as attractive as you at your age, I'd be a proud husband."

My words had the intended effect. Her face relaxed and brightened considerably. I stood up and put my arms out offering a hug. She came into my arms resting her head on my shoulders. I wrapped my hands around her. But something didn't feel quite right. I had intended a platonic mom-son hug... but I was painfully aware of the softness of her breasts against my chest... my hands involuntarily traced the outline of her bra straps... and my cock grew in my pants stimulated by her feminineness. I felt like a new person. It felt like how it would be if her husband were hugging her.

I felt my hard-on lightly pressing into her abdomen... but she didn't say anything. As for me, the situation had gone too far to be acknowledging or apologizing for the antics of my penis. I let it be and hugged her.

When I boarded the train that night along with mom, I realized that I was bringing a new dimension of my life to Pune... and I was really concerned how it would fit in with the other two dimensions. I prayed to God for peace in all three dimensions... the man who loved Swetha, the man who has fallen in love with Navya and the man who felt emotionally and spiritually connected to Uma... I prayed for peace in my relationships with my three women.

I was woken up by the bright platform lights from the railway station the train just pulled into. The window blinds beside my bottom berth was stuck halfway down and light fell through it on to my eyes disturbing my sleep. I lifted my head and peeked out to see which station it was. Save for a few homeless people sleeping on the platform, there was nothing else in sight. I laid my head back down on my bag which I had used as a pillow and took out my phone from my pocket. It showed the time as 2.50 AM. I had kept an alarm at 3 AM for the train was supposed to reach Pune at 3.30 AM. I turned off the alarm. I opened Google Maps to check where we had reached. It showed that we were still a considerable distance away from our destination. The prospect of spending the next 40 minutes or so awake lying next to a stuck window got me annoyed. It being a sleeper compartment, I couldn't even sit upright due to the occupied middle berth above me.