Streak of Grey Pt. 01

Ali had a tough day. He was quite tired and looked forward to getting a refreshing chilled beer after handing over the bus at the depot and reaching home. Ali was a Muslim. However, like many Muslims, he indulged in the lure of the liquor, occasionally, when none of his fellows were around.

She was the last person in the bus to get down. He had noticed her when she had entered the bus quite some time ago. She was worth noticing. After that some more passengers boarded and Ali got busy driving through busy streets of Sydney.

He looked at her in the mirror. She sat relaxed waiting for the destination. She did notice the driver checking her out several times. She was too busy in her own thoughts to pay too much attention to that. She was quite accustomed to male stares. Arpi was 33 and if she was still able to keep her body in shape, it was thanks to her long walks and diet control.

She stared back at the driver. He too looked Indian. Ali, the driver, smiled and waved at her vaguely. When he stopped at a traffic signal, Ali looked back and said, "Hello! I am Ali. I am from Pakistan. You from India?" That was obvious with her wheatish look and a red dot gleaming on her forehead.

"Hi! Yes, I am Arpita. You could call me Arpi. I have just joined an office near the Sydney Town Hall and this was my first day at the office." Arpi replied. The signal turned green and Ali focused on the road and traffic, as the bus rolled on.

Ali drove daily on that route. He was pretty smart in spite of his middle age. He was about 44. Ali had a streak of light grey hair on his head. This caught Arpi's attention. Arpi was very fond of her father and remembered how she sat in her father's lap, when she was about eight or nine years old and played with the grey strip of her father's hair affectionately. She teased her father that he was getting old. Her father smiled and admitted ruefully that it was true. This simple conversation stayed in her memory for years and flooded back when she saw Ali.

Arpi boarded the bus from the same point at the same time. Ali's bus was scheduled at that very time. Arpi and Ali began exchanging hi and bye regularly. Gradually they started to talk. Arpi made it a point to sit right behind the driver's seat so they could talk. Soon they became good friends.

I am Pratik (Let it be Prat), Arpi's husband. We are from Delhi in India and lived in Sydney for more than a year now. Arpi had just got a good job. I was working with a reputed Software company at a decent salary.

Arpi told me about her exchange of pleasantries with Ali after the first few days of her new job. She told me that Ali was a Pakistani and was married. His wife was away in Pakistan looking after his parents.

When I asked her about Ali in greater detail, I could see a trace of blush on her face. She felt rather shy in telling me about Ali in some detail. It was obvious that he was handsome and smart and caught my wife Arpi's attention. Perhaps his age and that streak of white hair attracted her to him, I guessed.

Arpi and I had a very healthy sex life and after having been married for three years then, our sex life seemed to be stuck. We did enjoy sex. However, the charm was no longer there. I was crazy about Arpita.

Arpi had just one problem. She was suspicious about my character and nagged me all the time about my office girls. In one of the office parties, she saw me paying attention to one of my female colleagues and from that day she kept asking me about my antecedents at the office. Since she was attractive, my wife Arpi, was over cautious. Every day, after I reached home, she would ask how things were and most of the time, as if as an afterthought, she would not forget to ask me about her. It almost reached a stage of nagging. It was terrible for me. If I reached home late, I had it.

I was at a loss to explain to her that the divorced woman was fighting her battle all alone. Her husband had deserted her All her in laws deserted her and they did not spare any efforts to either defame her or make her life tough in whatever way possible. She got regular offending calls from her ex or his family members chastising her on one thing or another. I was trying to help her resolve the problems, I told her.

However, instead of pacifying her, this information inflamed her. She accused me of trying to seduce her under the pretext of helping her. She forbade me to develop any kind of closeness with her. I realized that our married life was getting a bit daunting, to say the least.

I understood her anxiety in a foreign environment far away from relatives. I kept pacifying her that I was true to her and will always remain so. I, however, didn't know how far I was able to convince her.

Arpi was well prpotioned for an Indian married woman. She made it a point to walk to the market (About two kilometres away) for buying groceries and controlled her diet. Her figure invited jealous glances from women and lusty stares from men. At first, she felt ill at ease, when someone stared at her.

I would chide her and say, "Honey, you are so sexy that they are helpless. Poor guys, let them at least strip you naked in their minds. They really can't do it actually. Can they? So what is the harm?" I pacified her. However, men glancing lustfully at my wife gave me a hard on.

Arpi had a figure that would certainly draw lusty stares. She was well filled. Not slim, but not fat either. She was five feet five inches. She had plum breasts and shapely ass. She might not pass as an ideal model, however, she looked sexy. When she put on the jeans, I just could not avoid slapping her ass and pinching her butts. She looked irresistible.

Ali was street smart and suave. He had graduated from college and was working hard as a part time driver to earn his tuition fees and livelihood. Arpi told me that he was appearing for an examination. If he cleared it, that would propel him for a senior position in some specialized field of which Arpi was not fully aware.

Ali could not resist getting attracted to my wife. Ali had a charm and said funniest things and jokes that made Arpi laugh. Arpi liked his style and manly personality. Routinely, Arpi sat in the front of the bus nearer to Ali, whilst returning daily from the office. They would talk through the half an hour journey until Arpi reached her stop.

One day, I saw Arpi talking excitedly on cell phone with Ali. Obviously, they had exchanged their cell numbers. She told me that Ali had moved into a new house and sent her the pictures of the new house on whatsapp.

She narrated her talk with Ali in the bus to me almost verbatim daily. Clearly Arpi had developed a soft corner for Ali as time passed. I felt quite comfortable and perhaps a bit aroused fantasizing of Arpi's developing closeness with Ali. I sure must have had a trace of voyeurism in my character. It also saved me from nagging I faced earlier.

I kept teasing her about her developing friendship with Ali and called him her close friend. Once, her phone rang late in the evening. I saw Ali's name and called her, "Honey, there is a call from your boy friend."

She snatched the phone away from my hand and ran into our bedroom out of my ear shot. They talked at length. Frequency of his calling Arpi began to increase as time passed. However, truthfully (or so I thought) she narrated a gist of all her talks with Ali. She told me that Ali was feeling lonely in the absence of his wife and felt better when she talked with him.

About a month later, Arpi came up to me and asked me, "Ali asked me to join him for lunch with his friends. Should I go?"

I said, "Why not? He will be there with his friends. You could go and enjoy."

She went and later told me later that they were nice and courteous and she had a good time. From that time, she kept telling me of her regular lunch invitations and her going there even without informing me in advance. I saw no particular reason to feel otherwise as she informed me later about her visits and what happened there. There was nothing in what she said was a cause to disturb me. On the contrary, I was rather disappointed that nothing exciting was happening between Ali and my wife.

Then one day I came home early from work and found Arpi at home. I asked her how was she so early? Was she ill or something? Arpi replied that she was ok. She said that Ali came by his car to pick her up from her office and dropped her home. She was conspicuous by her silence on what happened during that period.

Things started to happen faster from then onwards. Ali picked her up on weekends and dropped her home early, almost routinely. I was left guessing what happened in the interim. I had a feeling that she was beginning to hide things from me. However, there was one positive fall out of her rendezvous with her friend Ali. Her persistent nagging reduced considerably. Although her inquiries about my lady colleague did not stop, she asked about her in a comparatively tolerant manner.

One weekend, after Ali dropped her home, I reached home. It was rather late. She asked me about the reasons of my delay and I told her that I had to complete a presentation and we had to sit late and complete it. She then asked me, "Was that lady, your colleague, was there too?"

I told her that she was there. She and I were working on that project for a while and we had to submit the project the next day. Since she was new, I had to guide and help her at the same time, I had to do my job also. That was the reason for the delay. I was expecting a big brouhaha from her. Instead, she said, "It is good of you to guide and assist her. I think you are right in supporting her to get established in your company. After all, she is alone fighting the whole society. I was wrong in picking up fight with you for helping her." I was thrown off my chair, when I heard this coming from her. I hugged her for the understanding.

It was Friday. Arpi informed me that Ali and his friends were planning to go for a movie in the evening and she had agreed to join them. This came to me as advance information. She did not seek my permission. I again agreed that she should go. However, that time I told her to narrate all the things that went on between them explicitly.

That evening she returned at about 8 pm. She said that they went to a movie, which was rather erotic. In the cinema hall, Ali held her hand and pulled her closer to him. They watched the whole movie holding hands and with their heads and cheeks rubbing with each other. In spite of my repeated questioning, Arpi said that that was all. They did not have any closer body contact. I asked her if Ali felt her boobs, thighs etc., Arpi replied that he may have felt her breasts over her blouse, moving his elbows several times. However, she did not allow him to squeeze her breasts. In other words, she informed me that Ali was trying to squeeze her breasts (as per her statement, unsuccessfully).

The meetings on weekends continued. Long calls on phone became regular. I could see Arpi getting closer to Ali as each day passed. Ali and Arpi talking endlessly on phone increased. I continued to play my passive role. I did not have an opportunity to meet Ali until that time.

I had just come out of the shower and was getting ready to go to office, when Arpi announced, "Darling, I shall be out today evening, after the office. Ali is going to the beach side restaurant with his friends and their wives in the evening and he wants me to join him. There is a birthday party, must be one of Ali's friends. Ali has invited me. I have told him that I shall go, if you will allow me. I know you won't stop me. Will you?" I looked at her face to see her expressions. I was quite surprised at the pace of Ali's developing relations with my wife. I looked at her amazed and was silently watching her expressions.

She took my silence as my approval, she said, "However, there is one small problem. Ali said that he will not introduce me as a married woman. This is because in Islam, a man is not allowed to woo a married woman. When he told me that, I objected. I told him that I am married and he should introduce me as a married person. So he relented and said that he will introduce me as a married woman. However, he will bluff them and say that I was separated and seeking divorce."

Arpi paused to look at me and then said, " Do you mind darling? Is it ok?" She asked me hesitatingly.

I looked blankly at this woman, who had changed so much in the last two months. In that talk Arpi confirmed to me indirectly that Ali was wooing her. I kept listening to her like a cuckold.

I replied, "Well, Muslims are very conservative and it makes sense for him to do this."

Arpi interpreted my statement as my approval. She hugged me, kissed me on my cheek and said, "I shall return late tonight. There is food in the fridge. Please warm it and eat it. I shall have dinner outside with Ali and his friends." She left for the office saying bye to me. I kept looking at her beautiful behind, which perhaps I would have to share with Ali very soon.

The thought gave me a hard on. Had I become a voyeur already? I wondered. Was I not heading for an irreversible disaster in my married life? Was I not on my way to lose my wife to a Pakistani, whom we do not like much? However, I brushed aside my natural chauvinistic worm and started wondering about what Arpi would do with Ali that evening. I knew that Ali was certainly going to move a few notches forward. I was turned on with the thought and I felt my cock hardening. I wanted to shake it off. However, on second thought, I thought it better to empty my load inside my wife Arpi; when she returned late that evening after her rendezvous with Ali and his friends. Her narration would act as an aphrodisiac, I thought.

It became quite late. I had switched off all the lights in the house and was in bed holding my hard cock waiting for my wife; when I heard hushed voices at about eleven pm. I got up and walked to look out of the window. Ali was helping Arpi out of the car. He had something in his hands, which he gave to my wife. I saw Ali pulling Arpi and leaned on her to kiss her. I saw Ali rest her body on the car and let Ali kiss her. Their bodies joined. I had a very strange feeling. I did not know if I was jealous and angry at my wife or aroused seeing them kissing. Then Arpi turned her face and said something in low voice, which I could not hear from that distance. Perhaps she cautioned Ali that I might be watching them.

When I received her at the door, I smelled liquor. I saw that her face was flushed, with that small box in her hands. I asked her what it was. She excitedly told me that it was an expensive gold necklace. She said Ali had presented it to her. It was worth 400 Dollars she said. When she opened the box and showed me the glittering necklace, I saw her eyes twinkle with excitement,. The necklace was indeed expensive.

I looked at her. Her lipstick was smudged and her dress had many creases and folds. Her hair was tidied hurriedly. This was unusual for her. Normally, whenever she returned from office; her dress would look almost as if she had just taken it out of wardrobe. She was always meticulous about her dress and hair. It was obvious that the dress had undergone a bit of rough handling. I noticed the top two buttons of her blouse missing. Perhaps she did not realize it or was too excited to think about it. She was excited and yet embarrassed. I smiled at her. She smiled back and mumbled something that felt like an apology for her late arrival.

She changed quickly and came to the bed in about fifteen minutes. She was wearing the sheer gown that I had presented to her some time ago. That was the first time she wore it. it was obvious that she had anticipated that I would ask to fuck her. I was sitting on bed waiting for her. She knew that I was impatient to hear what had happened at the party.

She said, "Darling, Ali took me completely by surprise. I didn't know that it was Ali's birthday today. One of his friends had arranged the party. We all gathered at a beach side restaurant. Ali cut the cake in presence of his friends and their wives. Ali then gave me this beautiful gift. All his friends clapped. I was feeling so awkward not having bought any gift for Ali. Ali and his friends had drinks. They forced ladies also to drink. I refused to drink but the ladies surrounded me and insisted that I should give them company. I had to drink wine to assuage their feelings."

Arpi paused to take a deep breath and continued. "There was a disco in the basement. We went down. Ali asked me to dance with him. I said that I did not know how to dance. Ali took me to the floor and taught me some steps. We danced for a while. The atmosphere in the disco was highly sexual. All were couples and they were grinding their bodies. They all had beer and some liquor. It was so crowded that invariably couples bumped into each other.

Ali danced very close to my body. He rubbed his body on mine when there was a slow number. I could see that he was aroused." Arpi looked at me to see my reactions. She inserted her hand into my crotch and gave a hard squeeze to my cock, which began to harden with her narration.

I asked her to continue talking. She resumed, "Then one of his friends suggested that we should go out to the beach and celebrate Ali's birthday. When we reached the beach we sat on the sand. I was feeling acutely embarrassed as I did not know that it was Ali's birthday. I told them that I had brought no gift for Ali. Had I known that it was his birthday, I would have bought a gift for him. One of Ali's friend's wife suggested that since I had no gift for Ali, I should compensate Ali with a bigger gift. She said that I should kiss him. Ali's friends clapped and kept hollering, 'Kiss him, kiss him." My wife was hesitant to continue. However, I nudged her to go on.

She continued hesitatingly, "Suddenly impulsively, Ali turned to me, held me tight in his arms, placed his lips on mine and kissed my lips. I was shocked at his action. I did not react for a few seconds. Then I pushed him away from me. Ali and his friends were shocked to see my reaction. One of the wives came to me and asked me if Ali and I had any problem. I told her everything was alright. There was no problem." At that point Arpi stopped and looked at me. This was the first time; she talked about anyone else kissing her. She wanted to feel me for my reaction. I was terribly aroused and eager to hear what was to follow.

I saw remorse and sadness creeping up on my wife's face. She said, "He is married, I am married too. How can he kiss me? It was wrong for his friends to ask and it was wrong for him to do. Was it not?" She began to weep. This was a great turn on for me. However, this was a stage I had to handle delicately. I realized that if I did not defend Ali at that stage, their adventures might stop.

I sat on bed and took her in my lap. I kept caressing her back and wiped her tears from her cheeks and said, "It's ok darling. It happens. He is lonely without his wife. That is why he is taking you with him. In the heat of the moment, seeing the other couple shout and cajole him, he was driven into kissing you. He was helpless. Any man in his position would be. Don't you think? Otherwise, he is a nice man, isn't he?" I asked.

She nodded her head understandingly. Her grip on my cock tightened and she began to shuffle my lund under my pyjama slowly. She said, "Do you think so? Yes, he is nice. He is a good friend but... On second thoughts, I should have been the one to be careful. I got swept away... I am a sinner."

With tears in her eyes, Arpi looked at me with a penetrating stare. She wanted to be sure that I was not jealous or angry, she said, "Darling, I am sorry for hiding from you. It was just not a small kiss. There was more than that. I was afraid that you will get angry. I got carried away."