“You had sex on the staircase! How?” Pallavi exclaimed, almost raising her head from his chest to meet his eyes. She quickly glanced at herself. “I hope I'm not heavy on you.”

“Nope. Not at all. I love it,” He smirked while squeezing her ass, earning her a surprise gasp. He further answered. “It was no problem. I told my batchmates to steer clear from the upper floor staircase. They were having a drinking party anyway so they didn't mind. It wasn't comfortable but good nonetheless.”

“By the way did you anticipate ‘this’ happening? You did bring a bunch of condoms.” She pointed to both of them but then realized something. “Oh my God, I hooked up with two men from the same office.”

“Hey, it's no big deal.” He chuckled at her freaking out. “As for us, I went for it thinking anything could happen. Honestly, with how adamant you were before, I wasn't really expecting much. I didn't think we would go all way but I'm glad we did.”

“I'm glad too,” Pallavi replied, mirroring his smile. For a brief moment, they simply laid down while running their hands across each other's body in silence. She raised her head to face him. “When can you come to Faridabad again?”

“Didn't I tell you that I'll be coming to Faridabad only for this time? I have my competitive exams scheduled up for the rest of the year.” He reasoned.

“For the rest of the year!” Pallavi repeated loudly in disbelief. “You never told me about this!”

“You never asked,” He added, sighing. “We never really anticipated this, you know.”

“Agree that.” She sighed along, eventually moving away to lie on the bed next to him. “So what now? Look Umang, now that we hooked up, I was hoping to do it with the same person again. Is it not possible for you to visit at least once this year? Try na, please.”

Umang exhaled a sigh which she didn't like. He went on to explain his stream of competitive exams he would be having each month. Perhaps he could conjure up another weekend but he wanted to concentrate on his exams and give his all. He could not afford to fail again. Pallavi had no choice but to woman it up no matter how disappointing it was. Career came first.

Although he did assure her he would visit Faridabad again at the beginning of 2023. So you're telling me to remain sexless for the rest of 2022. This suuuuckss!

“This is almost like a one night stand,” Pallavi voiced out, gazing at the ceiling.

“Correction, an evening stand.”

They shared a smile in agreement. Eventually she snuggled beside him with her fingers running on his hairless chest. He had shaved it off and she loved it. She shot him an innocent look. “It's unfortunate but I'll have to leave after sometime. Can we have one more round before that?”

He kissed her shoulder. “Sure babe. In fact, we would have done it two more times had you stayed till 7pm.”

“I could have stayed if my mobile was charged as then I'd have called my driver to inform that I'll be late.”

Henceforth, they proceeded to fuck once more, successfully breaking the record of the number of times Pallavi had sex in a day. It ended with a special service from Umang to Pallavi which made her moan with esctacy. Ah, she was going to miss this feeling in the months to come.

A couple of moans later, they stood up to wear their clothes while stealing sneaky glances at each other. She couldn't believe she was going to admit this but Umang looked hot while naked. Even hotter than Adhvik (sorry). His broad back and figure which was neither too skinny nor fat. It made her wonder if...

“Um, did I look sexy to you?” She plunged the courage to ask.

His lips curled as he faced her this time. “You looked fine, dear. You should learn to love yourself more.”

“Yeah, I should,” She said, her voice small. Was it her or did he dodge her question with that line? She looked down at herself. Never once did he compliment her on her looks like she did on some occasions. She quickly pulled up her leggings to dress up.

The walk from the room to the reception of the hotel was no less than a walk of shame for Pallavi. What would the hotel manager think seeing that she and Umang were only in the room for the past 4 hours? Surely he would have guessed what happened. Perhaps it was a normal thing for them. Thinking that she handed over the room ID to him while wearing her shades. Stupid Pallavi.

She managed another selfie together before heading to the cab. They didn't talk much on the way as Umang got busy on the phone. He even seemed disturbed for some reason but she didn't pry. The cab left her a little away from her office where her driver was already waiting for an hour. They soon bid farewell, not knowing when or if they would ever meet again.

Her thoughts were like an abstract painting on the way home. On one hand, she was elated to experience sex after a long time. Seriously, even she didn't anticipate this. Her horny self could finally sleep in content tonight. On the other hand, there was this inexplicable hollowness inside her heart.  Umang was great in bed, they lacked compassion. His touches reached her body but not her soul. He filled the hole between her legs but not the one in her heart. Of course he wouldn't, they weren't lovers. It was no one's fault.

Her memory went down the lane with Adhvik back when they were together. Indeed, in some aspects Umang was better at fucking but he couldn't tug her emotional strings like Adhvik did. Its like she could still hear their laughs, hugs and I love you's in her head. It was irreplaceable.

A sad smile escaped her lips. She realized that she had a different experience with both Adhvik and Umang. Both were good in their own regard. What should truly matter was she enjoyed both of them. She was grateful for it.

* * *

The next day was a smooth transition from ‘oh my God, what happened?’ to ‘ah, it happened’. At times, she felt slutty about hooking up with someone outside of love. Thankfully, her dear sister was there to bring some sense to her situation.

“Chillax!” Deepali told a worrisome Pallavi. “Just remember this one of those times where something unexpectedly good happened. You can atleast look at your twenties and fondly recall some of the craziest things you did such as this. Think of this as a short detour.”

“Yeah, you're right.”

“If one enjoys something without hurting anybody then there's no need to feel guilty about it, alright.”

Pallavi liked the sound of that. She was surprised how sportingly Deepali took the news of her hookup and even motivated her. She was grateful.

Her date with Umang definitely made one thing easier. See, whenever Pallavi envisioned her experience, she only recalled the times she spent with Adhvik. Now with the events that transpired yesterday, her imagination changed. Her sexy times with Umang was all she could think about for the next hazy days. Perhaps he was fastening the process of moving on.

So did you like
our sex?

I came 3 times.
What do you think?

Okay but you need to voice out these things, duffer. Pallavi thought but instead replied with an emoji. They chatted for a bit in which they inquired about their daily lives and flirted. She felt happy chatting with him since he replied to her after two days.

Alas, her happiness didn't last long.

Ever since they departed, Umang had been kind of MIA. He was yet to respond to the message she sent after their previous chat days ago. She felt like a woman who had a one night stand with a random guy only to wake up alone in the bed, the next morning. What happened? 

* * * 

One day Pallavi pinged someone she knew from Bumble.

“I need to ask
you something.”

“Shoot.”

“Do you message your
lady after you hook up
with her or do you
discard her like an use
and throw object?”

“Woah, woah,
where's this
coming from? 😳”

“I'm only asking
since you're well-
versed in this area,
Vineet. You had
hookups before. What
do you do after that?
Do you message her?
Answer honestly.”

The reply came in after a minute.

“Ofc I do. We are
not machines. Sex
is something that is
over in half an hour
or so. Rest is all
communication. The
world is run by
human connections.”

Well, that was unexpected from a playboy like him.

“I agree 💯”

Pallavi then described how after her hookup with Umang, he stopped messaging her. Sure, they chatted briefly for one time but that was only because she initiated it. Was she dumb to think that two people expressed how they felt after the act, what they liked, disliked, etc? Unless hookups were normal in their world. It had been ten days and not once did he ping her ‘Hi’ when he was doing just that everyday before their meet. Wasn't that selfish?

“It depends on the
other person. Also
this is a hookup.
Maybe the guy has
nothing to do with
you now that the
deed's over.”

“I know this was a
hookup & I know
there's no commitment
of any kind but not
even saying ‘hey, that
was good’ or a simple
‘how are you?’ after we
shared such an intimate
moment is such a d*ck
move on his part.”

“Oi, no need to sensor
anything in front
of me. It's chill.”

“I thought the app
would sensor it
or something. 🤣 Some
chatting apps do.”

“Don't worry, Bumble
doesn't even sensor
nudes, forget words 😆”

“Heh, what? Lol!”

“Just telling, not
suggesting anything.”

“Also, let him be.
You said you enjoyed
your time right. Bas
kaafi hai itna. Be
content with yourself.”

That wasn't such a bad advice. They chatted for a bit until Pallavi excused herself to make fried rice. The man she was chatting with was Vineet who she found on Bumble a month ago and would chat with him occasionally. He was the perfect candidate to ask since he was only into casual relationships and hookups.

Initially, it was difficult not being able to chat with someone whom she chatted with on a daily basis but then life engaged her with her current job and family affairs. Getting over that habit was an easy feat considering the heartbreak she endured for a certain someone before. She even even met Adhvik on one ocassion and talked their worries away. Eventually on one such Sunday, Umang messaged her after she had sent a random reel on Instagram.

The chat started as usual until they both ventured into the saucier route and expressed what they liked during their meet a month ago. Pallavi certainly didn't expect him to say that he liked her ass the most. When they were comfortable enough, she plunged up the courage to ask why he hadn't contacted her. Apparently, Umang had some personal things going on which disturbed him and that's why he didn't feel like messaging her. Things were fine now.

Umang and Pallavi didn't return to chat on a daily basis. None felt like it. But they did chat from time to time. Often it turned to R rated chat with saucier pictures or video call. There was nothing more to it.

* * *

On the job front, Pallavi was making steady progress by the day. Even though Karan- her superior was shifted to another building, he was still her manager. She would still be called to meetings by him to review her work or assign her a new task. By this time, she was promoted to Social Media expert in Utopian Adverts. Someone who handled social media accounts of two entities and also handled some of the graphic designing tasks.  For a while, she was all alone in the cabin until a young man joined as a graphic designer. It was a good burden off her shoulders. Sometime later, a slightly older man joined as Digital marketing expert and thus, a new team was formed.

It was yet another day when she was exiting the office premises when a bald looking man greeted her. She went along despite having no idea who he was. The man looked at her with inquisitive eyes.

“You don't remember me, do you? I used to work here before.”

Pallavi's eyes squinted as she tried to remember. “Sorry, I don't...”

“Actually, I need to talk about something,” He spoke, making her curious. He ushered them to stand somewhere away from people. Her brows furrowed but she did as told. He continued. “I'm a manager of an organization in the same city. Right now, I'm building a team.”

“Okay...”

“I'm in need of a social media expert and graphic designer. Pallavi, I've seen the social media of this company. Your graphics are pretty good. If you are on a job lookout, then you can consider working in our company. We'll give you a better package than what you're getting here.”

“O- okay, which company?”

It took some more convincing for the man to reveal the company he was working in. While she didn't hear the name, she did hear him say ‘a child company of Birla’ making her eyes go wide. She was at a loss of words. Was she getting a job offer  without looking for it? Was her luck high?

“Look, we'll talk about the rest later. Save my number first...” The man said, swiveling his head around. She agreed since she also needed some time to think. Albeit, a lot of time to think.

After a round of telephonic interviews, a thorough discussion ensued about the package they were ready to offer. Pallavi thought the job was good but it lacked variety. Plus, the salary they offered was the same salary she was about to obtain in Utopian Adverts when her one year term would be over, which was soon. There was no point.

To be honest, Pallavi didn't feel like leaving her current company. Despite some occasional work pressure, her job was fairly good. The people were friendly, too. It had been this way ever since Ms. Sakshi left the company to dedicate her time to interior designing. That woman used to be a pain in the ass. Good riddance indeed.

Most importantly, she had settled down. It was comfortable here.

But as months passed, Pallavi would fall into a monotonous routine. It was boring doing the same task again and again. How people survived in the same company for several years was beyond her. Scratch that, her life was boring. There was no one to talk to— no boyfriend, no girl-friend, everyone was busy. Her office also did a good job of making her lonely as she often ended up working alone. One would think Pallavi's life was mildly exciting but remember, her meeting with Umang was only one eventful day out of 100+ regular days. She had little to no social life outside of it.

This was probably why she abided by Karan's advice to give interviews to check where she stood in the market. Little did she know that she'd come across some decent job offers. She would probably refuse or fail them all until she'd come across an offer she wouldn't refuse. That, in a few months, the atmosphere around her office would change, leading her to move on as well.

However, that was something in the future. For now, she was content working in her own space. Presently, it was the month of June 2022- seven months after her breakup with Adhvik.

* * * * *

Thoughts? About Umang and Pallavi's life in general. Should she look for newer opportunities or stay in her current job? Do comment.

I posted this early because I want to get to the next chapter fast. Look forward to the next 3 chapters. I had fun writing them, I hope you have fun reading them too. It's a surprise 🎉 😊

PS- Keep an open mind while reading this story. I guess you already are by this point.

PSS- I know this chapter was hardly romantic to post today. Happy Valentine's Day to all singles and committed ones too. ❤💕