Xavier's Teachers - The Handmaiden Pt. 04

"Yes, yes," the lady said softly, a pensive look drawn across her face as she gazed into the distance beyond her perfectly manicured lawns. "He's a good looking boy; I hope he's intelligent as well," she continued after a long pause.

Bai-Ma stayed silent but kept wondering why Javi had suddenly become a subject of discussion.

"Devyani," the lady said, calling her handmaid by her real name again, "have you ever seen Xavier naked?" She turned her head to look directly at Bai-Ma who began to feel a burning sensation spread across her face.

"What!!?" she exclaimed in utter shock as the heated flush spread from her face to her neck and shoulders. "Of course not, Rani Sahiba. How would I ever see him na..., see him ... see him in that state?" she stuttered.

The lady spoke in a very unemotional tone as she responded "Well, I know you go for your housekeeping chores to the outhouse at 6:30 in the mornings, and I have also seen Xavier often returning from his run at about the same time. I'm sure he takes a shower almost immediately on his return, seeing how drenched he invariably is in his perspiration. And it's a small outhouse; you can't exactly hide from each other." While the entrance to the outhouse was not visible to anyone from the mansion or the servants' annex, the side gate which Xavier used was in the line of sight from the library balcony.

Bai-Ma was too stunned and embarrassed at the strange turn that their morning conversation had taken. She just shook her head and softly, deferentially, said "No Ma'am. I haven't seen Xavier without clothes on, Ma'am." She was worried that perhaps her surreptitious trips to the outhouse had been spied on but felt relieved as she gazed across the vista in front of her at that moment and saw that the pathway to the outhouse was not visible from where she sat.

"Have I offended you? I'm so sorry Devyani, that was not my intention. I was just being curious. Here, let me pour us another cup of tea and then we can get on with our day after that." They fell into a slightly uncomfortable silence as Lady Gayatri poured tea into both their cups and pushed the small milk jug towards Bai-Ma. They sat quietly for a brief while, listening to the morning sounds, before moving on to other subjects of discussion. While Bai-Ma would take a couple of nervous days to completely forget the conversation, the lady seemed to have dismissed it by the time they got up at about 8:30 a.m. and proceeded with their respective tasks of the morning.

***

During this hour that Bai-Ma and the lady had their morning tete-a-tete, Xavier had shifted mental gears and forced himself into action with the idea of dispelling the despondent state he had got himself into after Bai-Ma had chastised him. Despite the pouring rain, he had switched his jeans to a pair of light linen trousers and put on a long raincoat as he grabbed an umbrella and set out in a pair of rubber sandals. He walked to the bus-stop and was just in time to catch the 9 o'clock Route 303 bus that went past his college gate. Although he missed his first class again, he attended all the others and spent a full day on campus even though the evening athletics practice had been cancelled.

He waited at the college bus stop, contemplating the day and fighting a losing battle with his thoughts that seemed to invariably hone in on Bai-Ma and their brief time together that morning. Although the rain had stopped in the late afternoon, there was a dense mizzle like an aerosol spray of water that seemed to hang in the air, the beam from an overhead streetlamp refracting through the million droplets. When he saw a bus approaching, he realised it wasn't the one that would take him home directly but decided to get on to it anyway.

He hopped off the bus about two kilometres away from the estate that surrounded his little outhouse and went into a low-cost diner to eat. By the time he finally got home after walking the distance, it was approaching 11 p.m. Dumping the umbrella and raincoat outside the entrance to his lodgings, he walked in barefoot and made a beeline for the bathroom. After a pleasant warm shower, Xavier put on a t-shirt and his pyjama bottoms before sitting down on his sofa with his tablet device. He fell asleep on the settee a little after midnight, and didn't awake till 5:30 the next morning.

For Xavier, Friday went by pretty much in the same way as the previous day had, except that he had come home earlier and cooked his own dinner. He had then spent a couple of hours working on the paper that he had to submit immediately after the weekend. However, On Saturday morning, he altered his routine because he had decided he did not want to meet Bai-Ma when she came to do her house-keeping chores.

The reasons for that decision were both complicated and complex. After his extremely licentious behaviour a few days earlier when he had lost control over his ardour and practically forced Bai-Ma's hand, effectively compelling her to give him a handjob, he had felt somewhat sheepish and embarrassed. That had been followed by a small lecture from her which left him feeling admonished and berated. The embarrassment turned to anger over the next few hours, although it was more peevishness than a real temper. And finally he settled on feeling bitter and rancorous, deciding that he would avoid seeing her; more out of spite than anything else.

So on Saturday morning, he left his outhouse at 6:00 in the morning and ran at a steady pace along a circuitous route in the suburbs of the city for about 21 kilometres, covering the distance in a little under two hours. When he got back, Xavier had essentially run the length of a half marathon at a decent pace and was feeling elated and proud of himself, even though his legs felt heavy and his lungs were burning. He wasn't really a long distance runner; not beyond 2,000 metres usually. He sat down exhausted on the plinth that wrapped around his lodge, resting his back against a pillar as he pulled off his soaking wet t-shirt that was drenched in perspiration. He poured the remnants from his water bottle over his hair and neck, shook his head from side to side, and then just slumped against his back support.

Sunday, and the rest of the following week were a strange set of days for Xavier. He thought of Bai-Ma constantly but refused to budge from his rigid and perversely obstinate stance. He wished that she would visit him at night and all would return to normal by some magic stroke of a fairy's wand, but when she came on the next housekeeping day the atmosphere between them frizzled with tension. They were polite but neither of them said anything personal; in fact they barely said anything at all. Bai-Ma asked a few questions and Xavier replied blandly and to the point.

Bai-Ma knew what was happening; she realised that Javi had taken umbrage at the little talking-to she had given him the previous weekend and she thought that he may have also been embarrassed at his behaviour. She also realised that the incident and the aftermath would be festering in his brain, especially since he refused to talk about it to her and had nobody else he could discuss it with. She decided to let his stubborn mood play itself out; at the same time she was amazed at how headstrong and intransigent he could be. And then she thought how this must be the first time in his life that a person he was so enamoured with would have, in his eyes, hurt him so much. But she knew that he had needed that lesson to be learnt.

She also adjusted her timings a little on the days she had to do the house cleaning so that they didn't need to spend too much time together in the outhouse. More often than not, she arrived after he had left for college in the mornings. That week, and the next, went by in similar fashion and Xavier had almost settled into a routine where he went back to his days of sexual abstinence. But he craved for her every night.

On the third Saturday after the 'incident', he spent the day alone in his rooms through the most of the morning and the afternoon till his friend Axel came to pick him up. They sped along the short distance to the nightclub where their band, ΑΒΡΑΞΑΣ (Abraxas), played every Saturday night, Xavier riding pillion on the Honda with his guitar case slung across his back. As usual, they played three 45-minutes sets spread across from 8:00 pm till just before midnight; they generally overran the contracted time but didn't really mind. The band members had a good rap with the club owners and were plied with food and drinks during their Saturday gigs.

That night the nightclub seemed to be exceptionally packed with couples across the usual age spectrum, dressed in a wide variety of revealing as well as modest attire. They only allowed couples and had a very strict policy that was effectively enforced by the two bouncers. During the band's second break, Xavier was sitting alone at a small corner table because the other members were with their girlfriends and Axel was flirting with a woman by the bar counter.

As Xavier sipped his vodka martini, a tall beautiful lady came up to him and asked, "Are you going to eat all the olives in your drink, or can I have one?"

He turned his head to the side and looked up at her as she pointed one long index finger at the cocktail skewer in his martini glass, three green olives still untouched on it. Xavier stood up, gentlemanly as ever, and said "Please help yourself."

She reached out for the steel pin and brought it to her mouth, puckering her full glossy red lips and sucking one olive into her mouth. "Thank you. Do you mind if I sit down for a minute? My feet are killing me."

Xavier drew out the spare chair and watched her ease her buttocks on to the seat. He looked down at the waves of dark black hair tumbling down past her bare shoulders. She was wearing a long black dress like a sheath that hugged her body from the off-shoulder rounded neckline down to her ankles. The silken second skin showed off her bosom and the wasp-like narrow waist, the elegant swell of her hips and the tapered lines of her thighs. The dress was slit 12 inches below her right hip and revealed her entire right thigh as she crossed it over her knee when she sat down.

Xavier took his own seat and looked at her startlingly beautiful face, the doe-like brown eyes and long lashes, her red mouth on a fair complexioned oval face, and her cleavage that was covered by a sheer gauze six-feet long stole that he could see through. From the stage where the band played, he had spied her on the dance floor earlier because of her height, her head visible above the crowd. But sitting in front of her now, he was tongue-tied, trying to keep his eyes away from her breasts and not make his ogling too obvious. The woman was probably not wearing a bra under her dress because he was sure he could see the outline of her nipples etched against the dress under the thin diaphanous membrane of her stole.

"Have another olive if you like", he said.

She thanked him and sucked another one off the skewer before returning it to the cocktail glass in front of him. "I'd offer you a drink but I have to get back to work in a few minutes," he said, smiling at her. She was having a mesmerising effect on him which challenged his lack of social skills in such a situation; he always felt that the crowds which came to the nightclub were socially and financially beyond his status. Although people often walked up to the band during their breaks, it was invariably couples that came to talk about the music or get an autograph on a band brochure or club booklet. Alone with a woman so devilishly attractive, Xavier almost felt intimidated. He wanted the comfort of someone more familiar and less threatening; he wanted Bai-Ma.

His band mate Axel unknowingly finally came to his rescue. "Hey X-Man! How's it going? Who's this dream you're sitting with?" Xavier wasn't exactly able to introduce her to to his friend so Axel introduced himself.

"Good evening! My name's Axel," he said, sticking his hand out to shake hers. She looked up at him and smiled.

"Hi! I'm the martini olive robber," she replied. I go around stealing olives from anyone that's having a martini. And of course, you play drums. Pleased to meet you."

Axel pulled an empty chair from the neighbouring table and sat down next to the woman as Xavier made a quick exit, saying "I'll see you around; have to go check on some equipment." He took a last swallow of his drink and left the last remaining olive in his glass; then turned around and hastily made his way backstage. He sat on a wooden crate behind the wings, feeling alone and miserable, hating himself for allowing just the woman's presence make him feel so cowed and daunted. He knew it was no fault of hers, but mentally resolved to address this issue in the near future; he had no reason to display these symptoms of an inferiority complex.

After the band finished playing it's last number just before midnight, Xavier put his guitar away in its case and went in search of Axel. But the group gathered together with the owners of the club and the night manager of the hotel and headed up to the rooftop bar like they did every Saturday after the guests left. Just as they were getting into the elevator car, Axel rushed into the lobby from somewhere and sidled up to Xavier, whispering into his ear. "Sorry buddy, but can you make it back home on your own? I've got a date with Salma," he said, with an impish grin spread across his face.

"Sure! No problem," Xavier replied, realising that his friend was going out with the woman in the black sheath. "Enjoy!"

Xavier had another vodka martini and then made his excuses to leave, letting the nightclub owner know that he was leaving his guitar with the other equipment in the basement and that he would collect it on Sunday or sometime later.

He decided to walk home that night instead of calling for a cab. The monsoon had retreated and the weather had cooled already, portending an early winter perhaps. Xavier slipped on his light chamois leather jacket and set foot on the road back to his outhouse, wishing the bouncers and security staff good-night on his way out of the gate. The night sky was clear and the moon was almost full, lighting the streets with a bluish-white hue as he trudged along. By the time he got home, it was almost 2 o'clock in the morning. He showered, changed into a grey tracksuit bottom and a t-shirt of the same colour, and settled on the sofa with a drink of vodka on ice.

Xavier sat in his living room sipping his drink, uninterested in reading anything on his mobile devices or listening to any music. He sat in the silence, ruminating about the evening and the weeks gone by. He missed Bai-Ma terribly but was now concerned about whether she was angry with him and perhaps had decided to sever their relationship. He missed her body and the love-making of course, but more than anything he missed her company, even her mere presence in the same room as he. He stretched out on the settee and rested his head on a couple of cushions, letting his mind replay all the moments he had spent with her over the last few months, and especially the one week that had ended in such disaster.

He thought of how he had initially lusted for her, desperate for any glimpse of her cleavage or her waist or the shape of her blouse-encased breasts; he relived the experiences of his many masturbations thinking of her and picturing Bai-Ma when he did so. He thought of the first time she touched his penis and stimulated his genitals to an earth-shattering climax; he played short clips of her bare boobs and her hairy armpits in his mind. He took a deep breath as he recalled the taste and smell of her pussy, and the thick overgrown forest of her pubic hair. He recalled the moment he had brought her to an orgasm and also when she gave him his first blowjob, swallowing the humungous amounts of cum that exploded into her mouth.

Over the last three-quarters of a month, although it seemed a lot longer to him, Xavier had wanked himself on a few occasions, always picturing Bai-Ma. He raised himself off the pillows and sat on the couch with his feet on the ground, wanting to go and jerk off again as he felt his erection tent the tracksuit bottom. But instead he reached for his vodka and took a long sip, enjoying the sensation as the fiery liquid trickled down his gullet while his hard-on subsided. He took another sip of the drink and left the half empty glass on the side table as he stood up and walked in a desultory fashion to his bedroom. He pulled back the covers and slipped underneath, curling his long lean muscular body into a near foetal position and gradually fell into a lonely, empty slumber.

***

It was 3 o'clock in the morning when Bai-Ma suddenly woke up; she opened her eyes to complete darkness in her bedroom, lying supine on her back. She wasn't sure what had woken her up but her heart was beating faster than normal; she couldn't remember having had a dream or a nightmare. Although she had gone to bed early and slept for about five hours, she wasn't sleepy or groggy. She stared into the darkness till her eyes adjusted to the faint illumination that came in from the living section of her flat where she had left a table lamp on at night. She lay still, gathering her senses and realised that her mind was beginning to circle around the same subject she had fallen asleep with: Javi.

She had been concerned over the last couple of days and wished desperately that Xavier would get over his foolish stubbornness and talk to her. But he had been avoiding a meeting with her, leaving early in the morning before she went for her triweekly chores in the outhouse. Of course, she thought, she herself had adjusted her morning timings and was going an hour later than usual but even before she had done that, he had not been engaging in any meaningful way. He kept aloof and seemed to shy away from her when she was with him in the lodge. And now, it had been more than a week since she had seen him.

Bai-Ma turned on her side, trying to go back to sleep, but her mind was now hyperactive with thoughts of her Javi. She worried, wondering if he was alright; was he properly focussed on his studies and his sports activities? Was he concentrating on his college and not too obsessed with mental distractions about his relationship with her? Was he coping? Was he eating his meals properly? And of course she also wondered if he still thought about her; did he miss her the way she missed him? Was he desperate to meet her the way she longed for him? Did he still love her in the way he always professed, even though she always treated his feelings for her as a young boy's infatuation for a mature woman.

She tossed and turned for a while before finally giving up on the idea of falling back to sleep. She sat up in bed, raised a pillow against the headrest and leaned her back into it. Bai-Ma was picturing Javi sleeping in his bed; she knew he played music with his band at the nightclub in the hotel a little distance away from the estate and hoped he had not spent a long night drinking with his buddies. She thought of how they had slept one night together, side by side in the large antique four-poster bed in the outhouse, recalling their love-making at night.

Bai-Ma had continued taking the birth control pills that she had started more than a month ago, knowing in her heart that one day she and Javi would have 'real' sex. She had fantasised so often about his thick large penis penetrating her but had abstained from allowing him through that one final frontier, not quite sure why. And Javi, ever the gentleman, had never insisted or forced himself on her. Perhaps he felt that was something that only married couples did, she thought to herself, a wry smile touching the corners of her mouth.