The Wrong Woman

55. Mouna

I couldn't take it anymore.

Every time I was around him or his arm accidentally brushed against mine or I caught him staring at me, my heart fluttered and raced all at the same time that it made me physically nauseous.

He wanted to kiss me—Rani, I mean. He wanted to touch her! When he had asked me if I wanted to wait, I couldn't say yes. I don't know why, it was silly of me because that was what I wanted and it was the perfect opportunity.

But a part of me liked the way he looked at me and the way my body reacted to him without him being next to me. I had never felt like that before. The other part of me, the one with common sense, told me that if I said yes then after Rani would switch back, nothing else would change. And that would be bad, right?

The thoughts and images made me shut my eyes tight and shake my head back and forth. I needed to physically delete that because it was not me and it was not right. What would Rani think? I know that if Rani were doing these things in my body with...with Dr Arshan, I would die.

I needed to get back into my body as soon as possible. By no means did I want to. Going back meant dealing with new issues, such as Dr Arshan. I didn't get enough details about Rani and Dr Arshan being friends even though he was her ex boyfriend and in my body, she was spending a lot of time with him. Just the way they were looking at each other that night at the restaurant told me everything.

They had to be just friends. I hoped and prayed they were.

Again, I had much more important problems to be dealing with and that was avoiding Dhruv as much as possible so he would not touch the wrong Rani. Somehow I managed to do just that for the two days we were there; the morning we were leaving, I got up extremely early to pack and to make breakfast for his parents.

I hummed to myself as I got out the dosa batter Dhruv's mom had made the night before, carrots, capsicum and cheese to make the filling of a perfect vegetable-cheese dosa. This would be a perfect 'thank you' and 'goodbye' morning feast and would last me the couple of hours as we headed back. At the back of my head, I wondered why I hadn't switched yet. I did everything that I was supposed to do....or think I was supposed to do.

So why did it not work?

The silence in the house, the dark clouds still rolling over and providing a dark, eerie light made me shiver. I seemed to be doing that more than I would like. Not because of the cold...but because of Dhruv. I didn't think another human being could possibly have that effect on me. I stopped slicing the carrot to slap my cheeks in an effort to remove the thoughts.

"Stop thinking about it," I mumbled.

"Thinking about what?" The voice was closer to me than I imagined and I stiffened, as I did every time Dhruv was near me, shooting away from the cutting board as if I had sliced open my finger. Dhruv stood behind me, not too close, but close enough. He had gotten out of the shower it seemed as his hair was damp and his upper body was exposed. Trailing my gaze downward more, my saliva dissipated as I realised there was nothing on his lower half either! Yes, he had a small white towel but it was hung very low and threatened, if not careful, to drop soon.

Droplets of water fell from his hair down to his exposed, fit chest and the v-line stood out at me—I shook my head. My skin slowly prickled and a tingle ran from the ends of my hair to the bottom of my stomach. His pink lips formed a knowing smile and that made me feel even more embarrassed. I wanted to run to the bus stop right now, climb in and never come back.

"Thinking about the long ride home," I managed to say in the end.

"I'm sure you are."

I played with a carrot stick, wondering why he was still there when he stepped closer. I was leaning against the island so I couldn't move anywhere else except forward and I would not do that. He hooked his hands around my thighs and hauled me onto the kitchen island with startling strength. His shoulders rippled and the muscles in his arms flexed at the swift move and my vocal cords had been stolen.