Koel ignored Kader entirely….. not in really….. but in mockingly. Too much…. her husband Nispal thought, ‘she was trying too hard’. Ironically, it was the first sign Nispal had that she might go for it if he persuaded a little. That’s when the band started to warm up.
Kader didn’t know the others well, but was talking to Satabdi on his left. Occasionally he would glance sideways at Koel. Nispal was pretty sure that his wife would do it… he was certain that Kader wanted it too. Husbands could guess it when another guy is attracted to their wife.
It took a while, but after dinner and a couple of drinks, there was a break in the set and conversation picked up. Koel still didn’t talk to Kader, or even look over at him. At that moment, Shrabanti, Swastika and Satabdi got up to go to the bathroom as Koel followed them.
Three of the other guys went to the bar for another round of drinks for everybody. Another side, Koninica and her husband went to check with their baby-sitter. Meanwhile Kader and Nispal were alone at the table. Nispal had to decide what he was going to do.
“Do you like Koel?” Nispal asked him suddenly in the middle of their conversation….. might as well get to the point and find out. And once he had gotten that out, it got easier.
“Of course. She’s great and talented with lot of qualities…. I think she is a great asset of Tollygunge film-industry.” Kader praised a little too fast….. was he a little flustered?
“That’s not what I mean. I mean do you like the way she looks? Does she do anything for you?” Nispal queried looking at Kader’s eyes directly….as he leaned back a little in his chair and looked wary.
“Yeah, she’s no doubt a knockout….. you know that verywell. A classy lady….. you’re a lucky chap to have her as your wife…. sometimes I feel jealous of you.” He looked right at Nispal. Might be, he wanted to make it look, like he’d never had an impure thought about her…. Too deliberate…. He wanted her.
“I think you would like to see her in bed too ….. just like the other actresses, like Dolondi, Sreelekhadi, Rachanadi, Indranidi……,” Nispal offered.
“I bet,” he laughed, and then thought better of it. He rocked back again in his chair slowly, as if to get away from the idea. “Although we won’t go there!”
His laugh was supposed to be casual, but it was a little too forced…. a tad too strained. He picked up his beer nervously to take a gulp, but it was empty. He put it down and stared at it. Nispal signaled to the waitress for a refill by pointing to his glass.
“Why not go there?” Nispal asked. “Don’t tell me you’ve never thought of having my wife in bed.”
Kader jolted upright. “Whoa! Not me! Not something I think about!” but he had definitely blanched. And he tried to take another drink from his empty glass. He was a big-time nervous for sure.
“I doubt if that’s true, Kaderbhai, and I’m not sure I’d be happy about it if it were. Do you want to say you’ve never thought about fucking my wife?” Nispal had said the word ‘fuck’ so bluntly. He couldn’t misunderstand what they were talking about now.