Binodini looked at the clock while lying on the bed. It was 10 o'clock. She was not always very fond of waking up late in the morning. But when a person has nothing else to do, he usually starts doing things that he has never done before.

Binodini was thirty six years old and unmarried. Her parents passed away when she was studying in college. So she had no husband, no children or no other family member for whom she could feel responsible. She did have a job. But she was a teacher and it was a vacation after the Unit Tests. Who could blame her for being lazy?

She took a deep breath and got up from the bed. Rubbing her eyes with her hands, she walked towards the only window in her bedroom and stood there. It was spring and the flowers were blooming everywhere. But she was not standing there to look at the flowers. She stood near the window to look at 'Mandaar'. And when I say 'Mandaar', I am not talking about the red flower, but a man who lived next door.

Mandaar was everything a woman could desire in a man. But unfortunately, Mandaar was married. However, it did not stop Binodini from fantasising about him.

Binodini stood quietly, with her eyes on the balcony of Mandaar's house. She knew that he would arrive there after some time. As expected, Mandaar came to the balcony with a cup of tea. He sipped the tea while looking at the Palash tree that grew in his backyard.

Binodini kept staring at him without blinking her eyes. After some time, his wife came to him. The balcony faced their backyard and so, no one could see them. Also, they had not noticed Binodini. So they did not care to hide anything at that time. Mandaar pulled his wife and made her sit on his lap. Then he kissed her lips.

Binodini rushed to her bed. She threw herself on the bed and closed her eyes. The scene kept playing again and again in her head. Slowly, her hand reached the strings of her pajama and untied the knot. Her hand removed all the barriers swiftly and finally, her hand made contact with the bare skin of her womanhood. The folds of skin were wet with desire and they welcomed her fingers with eagerness. She continued to pleasure herself and when she peaked, her hand stopped and she opened her eyes.

She took some fresh clothes with her and entered the bathroom. Before letting the cold water touch her smooth skin, she discarded her clothes. When the cold water washed her, she rubbed her body vigorously. That was the only thing that calmed her. She was not a young girl anymore. She was thirty six and unmarried. No man had ever touched her and perhaps, no man would ever touch her the way she wanted. How nice it would have been if she did not need to care about what people would say, or how she would answer God! But has she not tried? Truth to be told, no man had ever wanted her.

Whenever she thought about Mandaar, she would imagine herself in his wife's body. That was because, she knew that he would never look at her how she wanted him to. His eyes, his hands and his kisses were reserved only for his dear wife.

She came out of the bathroom and cooked rice and dal lazily. She had heard that non-vegetarian food increased sexual desires in people. So she used to eat only vegetarian food, preferably dal and rice. But that did not seem to help her. Why? She did not know.

That day passed and so did three more days. Binodini's days were monotonous. Nothing exciting or wonderful ever happened to her. Even the weather did not seem to change. But it was different that day. It was raining very heavily. The clouds were thundering and some branches had fallen from the trees.

Binodini was eating Pakoras in her bedroom when the doorbell rang. "Who could it be?" she thought and opened the door. To her utter surprise, it was Mandaar, drenched in rainwater. Binodini was too stunned to speak.

"Nisha has gone to the post office. She locked the house and I do not have the keys. Can I wait in your house till she returns?" he asked.

Binodini nodded her head and opened the door widely so that he could enter. She watched as he took off his shoes and entered the house. Mandaar looked around and saw that the entire house was in a mess.

Binodini said to him, "I have been quite busy and so, I couldn't clean the house. You can sit in my bedroom. It is clean."

Mandaar followed her to the bedroom. She pulled out a chair and asked him to sit on it. Then she rushed to the kitchen to make tea for him. After a few minutes, the aroma of ginger tea filled the kitchen. She served him tea and sat down on the bed to have a cup of tea herself. Mandaar looked at the cup and gently blew it before taking a sip.

An hour passed without a word between them. Binodini did not know what to do. The embodiment of her desires was sitting right in front of her and yet, she could not do anything. She excused herself and went to the bathroom. She closed the door, quickly took off her pajamas and started pleasuring herself. She came out after half an hour.

When she returned to her bedroom, Mandaar was still sitting on the chair, looking outside through the closed window. He was staring at the balcony of his house.

"So this is the window through which you look at me everyday," he said.

Binodini was shocked. She could not believe her ears. She said, "What are you saying?"

Mandaar stared into her eyes and said, "Do you think that you go unnoticed everyday?"

"You are mistaken. I just stand here and look outside because I feel like doing that. Well yes, I see you sometimes but that's because it's your house and you keep coming to the balcony every now and then," Binodini lied.

"Is that why you hide and peek at me?" Mandaar asked.

Binodini could not find words that she could use. She was shivering. "So you know?" she asked.

"I do," he replied.

She walked away from him. Facing a wall, she said, "It was just a harmless way to pass my time. I don't really have anything else to do. So I spend my time looking at your balcony."

"Is it so?" Mandaar asked and chuckled.

Binodini sighed. Clenching her fists, she asked, "What do you want me to do?"

"What do YOU want me to do?" Mandaar asked her instead of answering her question.

"Nothing," she replied.

"Is that why you were pleasuring yourself after rushing to the bathroom?" Mandaar asked.

Binodini's throat dried up. She said, "How do you...."

Mandaar said to her, "I stood outside the door while you pleasured yourself. You imagined me, did you not?"

"I was not imagining you," Binodini said, denying the allegations.

Mandaar smiled and said, "You are still lying."

He stood up from the chair and approached her. He looked into her eyes and said, "You were imagining me and you desire me. I have seen how you look at me."

Binodini's heart was beating fast. At that moment, she could not think of anything better. She cupped his face and kissed him passionately. To her surprise, the kiss was reciprocated. Mandaar's hands roamed in her body while his lips kissed hers. He put his hands inside her kurti and unhooked her brassiere. One thing led to another and very soon, they were on the bed, copulating.

Once they were done, Binodini placed her head on his chest and said, "This must be a dream."

"You felt the pain, did you not? And you felt blood oozing out of your woman parts. And yet you refuse to believe that it is not a dream," Mandaar said.

Binodini said, "You don't understand. It feels too odd. I have always desired a man's touch but no man ever showed any interest in me. Being unmarried and lonely is more difficult than you can imagine. Talking about you, I have desired you for years. But you seemed to only love your wife. How can I believe everything that was so unexpected?"

"So you refuse to believe this encounter because you think that I love my wife?" Mandaar asked.

"Don't you?" Binodini asked him in return.

Mandaar sighed. He gently stroked Binodini's head and said, "When a man beds another woman behind his wife's back, can you really say that he loves his wife?"

"You don't love her?" Binodini said, surprised.

"I like her," Mandaar replied. "She is a good wife and looks after my needs. But you are a woman who desires me and stalks me. That is...a completely different matter," he added.

If it was the old Binodini, she would have hated Mandaar. But it was not her. Time had hardened Binodini and made her bitter. At that point, she could not see anything beyond her personal desires. So she closed her eyes and tried to take a nap with her head on Mandaar's chest.

Mandaar's wife arrived in the evening. Binodini greeted her and asked her to come inside her house. But Mandaar's wife politely refused. She returned to her house with her husband.

By that time, the rain had also stopped. So after half an hour, Binodini decided to throw away the garbage. She opened the back door and saw something which completely shocked her. She quickly closed the door and held it slightly ajar to observe the things that were taking place in front of her. Under the Palash tree in Mandaar's house, she saw his wife getting kissed by another man.

Binodini's heart skipped a beat. What was Mandaar's wife doing with that man? And what did Mandaar do with her? She had thought that they loved each other and she had envied them for that. But it seemed that it was all a lie.