The Handkerchief

Malini and Salil peered through the darkness trying to locate their seats. The movie had already started and Malini knew that Salil was not going to be happy about that.

"If you had only gotten ready in time, we wouldn't have missed the beginning," she heard him whisper in her ear from behind.

"Shut up!" she whispered back. They had missed perhaps just about one minute of the movie. But she knew he would make a fuss about it.

The usher directed them to their seats. They were far to the side. In fact, Malini's seat was only the second seat from the wall. She sighed as she made her way past the knees in the dark and settled down into her seat.

"If you had bought the tickets early, perhaps we could have gotten better seats!" she whispered at him as he sat down.

"Just... watch the movie," he said and looked straight ahead. She smiled to herself. At least now she wouldn't have to keep listening to him ranting about the missed beginning.

Just then another person walked into their row, heading towards the seat beyond Malini's. She pulled in her feet to let him pass.

"See, we are not the only ones that are late," she whispered to her husband.

Salil put his finger on her lips and then pointed at the screen. She smiled and winked at him. He shook his head and gave her a a grin.

"Malini auntie?" she heard the shape on her right say. She turned around to look at him. The glow from the screen illuminated a familiar face.

"Rohan!" she said. It was their neighbours' son. She gave him a warm smile. He looked at her a little dazed. She felt slightly annoyed at being called auntie by someone who was perhaps just ten years younger than her. But then she just gave a mental shrug and decided she would have to get used to it.

"Salil, its Rohan," she said, turning around to her husband. Salil gave her an exasperated look. Then he looked over her head to Rohan, gave him a quick nod and started watching the movie again.

Malini smiled to herself. It was as if men never grew up. As if the world was going to fall apart if he missed a couple of minutes of the movie. She gave Rohan another smile and settled down to watch the movie herself.

It was a fairly good movie and she did enjoy the plot. But she could certainly see why her husband had been so eager not to miss even a minute of the movie. There seemed to be plenty of half-naked girls running around.

"So this is what you were afraid of missing?" she whispered into his ear.

He gave her a look and she gave him a mischievous smile. Without a word, he turned towards the screen again, obviously a little embarrassed. She giggled softly but reached out and took his hand in hers and squeezed it lovingly. That seemed to get his attention and he looked at her again. She winked at him and he winked back. They both knew what they were going to do once they got home. She passed her arm through his and let her head gently rest on his shoulder.

A little while later, she wondered if Rohan was starting to feel awkward about this show of affection right next to him and threw him a quick glance. However, he seemed to be quite preoccupied with the screen. That was hardly surprising considering the semi-nude actress on the screen, of course.

Then suddenly, she realized that he was doing something else besides watching the movie. His hand was moving in his lap in a discreet but unmistakable manner. She straightened up in her seat and out of the corner of her eye, she saw the hand stop. But she kept looking straight ahead and it started to move again.

Malini was intensely amused. She knew that men were silly, but this was the first time she had seen something like this. Here was this boy, sitting right next to his neighbour from across the street and he still could not keep his impulses in check. She wondered if he was stroking himself through the fabric of his trousers or...

Another covert glance shocked her even further. He had actually unzipped his pants and though she could not see it clearly enough, she knew that his cock was out. Perhaps he thought that it was too dark for anyone to notice. Or perhaps he thought she wouldn't even look in that direction. It was certainly true that given the location of his seat, no one except her was in a position to see what he was doing. But still, this was so reckless! She again asked herself, for the thousandth time, if all men were stupid.

Through the corner of her eye, she could see that the stroking continued for quite some time. In the interval, the lights came on and Rohan scrambled to cover himself. She almost burst out laughing at that time and quickly turned around to face the other way. Salil gave her a curious look.

"Something funny?"

She shook her head, though her face was contorted with the effort of trying not to laugh. Without a word, she just pointed towards the aisle, indicating that she wanted to go out. Salil shrugged. They went out and bought some soda.

When she came back and sat down in her seat, she deliberately avoided all eye contact with Rohan. She did not know how she would react if she looked at him. Of course, given her usually talkative nature, avoiding him made her feel even more awkward. Thankfully, the lights dimmed again and the movie started, temporarily solving her predicament.

After a few minutes, she again threw a quick glance to her right and then rolled her eyes. He was at it again. Of course, in a way that was only to be expected, given the way the movie was going. Attractive women running around half-naked. What else could the poor boy do?

She had to admit, it was kind of exciting for her too. She was hardly a prude and so she certainly did not think that what was happening next to her was disgusting. But it was very surprising. It was also very stupid of the boy. And yet, she had to admit that she was finding it far more exciting than the movie itself. She felt a certain moistness spread in a very tell-tale spot and she realized that there was no denying it. The stupid kid had managed to get her excited.

"What if I followed his lead and did what he is doing?" she half wondered and then internally laughed at herself for thinking that. That would be quite a pretty picture since she was dressed in a sari.

The girl on the screen was taking a bath in a pool. The screen was filled with the image of her bare back and part of her bottom. Malini sighed. She knew that the moving hand on her right was going to move quicker. It excited her and at the same time, the strain of noticing and yet pretending not to notice was going to make her brain implode. She turned to the left and saw her husband staring in rapt attention to the bare bottom on the screen.

"Mine is just as good," she whispered to him. He looked at her and winked. She grinned at him. He was trying to look relaxed, but she knew he was not. She looked pointedly at his crossed legs and he shrugged sheepishly. She patted his hand.

By now, on the screen, the hero had entered the pool with the girl and was holding her from behind. And thus began the inevitable love scene. Malini mentally raised her arms in surrender. She knew that she was sitting between two men who had hormones coursing through them, flooding their brains. And she had to admit that she had been affected to. So she just gave up on the thinking and decided that she might as well let herself get turned on by the scene.

And then something happened that perhaps should not have surprised her as much as it did. There was an almost inaudible groan on her right. In fact, it was not really a groan, just an extra loud exhalation. It took her only a moment to realize what had happened and she threw a shocked glance in that direction. Rohan was holding his crotch tightly and his hand was no longer moving. There was a faint but unmistakable smell in the air that roused certain memories in her brain...

That was when Malini did something that she would herself never understand. She found herself reaching into her handbag and pull out a hand-kerchief. Then quite discretely, she tossed it into Rohan's lap. And then she froze with horror. Why had she done that?! Was she trying to be funny? Or was it because she was aroused? Or was it because she was just insane?

She felt a cloud of awkwardness on her right. She did not have to look in that direction to know that the poor boy was probably shocked out of his skull. As far as she was concerned, the movie had melted away into nonsense. Her brain could no longer focus enough to understand what was happening on the screen. She just kept staring at it, until the credits started rolling. And then she just got up and left.

As they were walking out, Salil saw the look on her face and asked if everything was okay. She nodded at him, but did not say much.

A lot of thinking happened that night.

*****

The next day, in the morning, Rohan, who was still in a daze got an SMS from a number he did not recognize. It said: "I would like my handkerchief back please. Washed. Unless you want me to talk to your mother."

A few hours later, a trembling twenty year old was standing at the front door of the Gokhale residence, ringing the door bell. When the door opened, he looked up just long enough to see who it was hand held out a handkerchief in his hand.

To his surprise, a hand reached out, grabbed him by the arm and pulled him in. The door closed.