[Ramesh_Rocky]

If it had been limited to just teasing and some fondling, I guess it was fine. But was that it? Was she lying? I needed to find out. So I stood up, left the house and walked down the street to confront Balram uncle. I tried to remain calm. I did not want to create a big scene. Just verify a few things.

In a couple of minutes, I was ringing his doorbell. The door was opened by his man-servant.

"Can I see Balram uncle?" I asked.

"Sahib just left." he said.

"When will he be back?" I asked.

"Don't know. He asked me to pack a bag for him, and said he was going to his sister's place in Calcutta for a few days."

I turned around and started walking back. Balram uncle, unable to face me, had fled town. I wondered when he would come back. But until he did, I had no way to verify if Shilpa was telling the whole truth. I went home and Shilpa was still locked in the bedroom. I could hear her sobbing. I knocked on the door asking her to come out, but she asked me to leave her alone. And I did.

After that I started getting calls from clients and I got busy with them. I called up my secretary and told her I'd be working from home. I sat on the dining table, opened my laptop and got busy answer emails from clients. A couple of hours later, Shilpa came out of the bedroom and came to the kitchen. She poured herself a glass of water and drinking it asked me,

"Do you want some tea?"

"Yes." I answered, still looking at my laptop screen.

She made tea, we drank it silently. Then I worked some more as she started cooking dinner. The whole day went without too many words being exchanged between us.