AURA

AURA
Tito sprawled on the sofa of his lavishly furnished living room. He didn’t bargain to ever be this fatigued. It was the reason he resigned from his initial job to come settle himself with something less boring, not so financially comparable though but hey! After almost two decades in the corporate world and having to lose all elements of fun to work, work and more hard work, it felt fulfilling being on one’s own, having to sleep till whatever time and choosing not to go work on other days. It has worked well until the beginning of the previous year. A young, writer had queried him with an incredible synopsis of what eventually turned out to be a fantastic well-read fiction that attracted a lot of awards, home and internationally. It had done a lot of improvement to both his bank account and to his name. Everyone, just about anybody wanted to associate his name with Tito Salvador Publications. Alongside fame came its challenges. They had even more work to be done. First, the office became a harem for aspiring writers and then notable editors from different journals wanted a chance to work with him.
He should have taken the offer of spending summer with his wife and the kids. However tempting it was, there was work to be done. He needed to increase the staff strength of his company and then read every single query letter that touched his table. A shower and dinner seemed appropriate. The latter more appealing than the former. He always ate late, that explained the slight bulge his midriff was now taking. Tito lay in bed, absently picking from the Pyrex bowl, diced fruits prepared by one of the hands when the soft voice from the radio infiltrated his room. She introduced herself to the host of the show as ‘Aura’. It was one of those radio shows where the callers needed to hook up with friends, families or even strangers and the host appeared to be having the time of her life from her hysterical screams. Tito had been contemplating changing stations when Aura came on air through the phone lines. In addition to her voice which was like melted honey, was the rather clever and smart way she sounded. All she asked for was a no-strings-attached friend. A genuinely humorous man bold enough to be her chat mate. Tito typed in her number just as she spoke them out to the public. He was mulling over calling her when sleep stole him away.
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“Hello.” She sounded like she didn’t appreciate being interrupted from sleep.
“Hi Aura.”
“One of them.” she whispered.
“Well you asked for it, didn’t you?” Tito flopped into his reading chair, inspecting the oranges that had been laid out for him as dessert.
“I also can remember using the words ‘intelligent, genuinely humorous man’. You can’t imagine the drunken callers that have been calling me since yesterday.”
They both shared a laugh while they dug into conversation after conversation- on his bill.
There was something about Aura. Well it wasn’t as if he had been without the ladies, even after his marriage. Tito considered them necessary evils but somehow he felt justified to date one with a brain and Aura was full of brains. The text messages she sent to his phone impressed him and made him hot and swell in inappropriate places. The messages were not deliberately erotic but a romantic woman could be told from the slightest of her moves. Another thing was the way she sounded when he called her. He always tried to make sure she’d have been in bed because it was only then she sounded like she was drunk on love making. It was crazy what a woman’s voice and her harmless messages were doing to a fifty something year old man. He had inquired everything about her background. Knowing the way rumour circulated with the speed of fibre optic, he couldn’t be too careful. Being some kind of celebrity, especially one known to be quite spiritual, it would be a disaster to get entangled with the wrong girl. He had learnt from a fatal mistake. Only a fool got burnt twice by the same candle. He didn’t trust anything she said, and well couldn’t hide it but she took it in good faith. Sometimes when he discovered they were getting too close, he’d just bring up unnecessary issues and create a wide berth until he gains some kind of momentum. He knew he was taking advantage of her but that wasn’t supposed to be a crime. She was an adult and from the look of things, she enjoyed his company. That was when he wasn’t touchy, grouchy or just being mean. He also knew a girl like her would love being spoiled from time to time, so he sent outrageous amount of call cards or sometimes organised that she picks up a parcel from his driver.
Tito’s phone rang at straight up midnight and he was surprised to see her name on the LCD. She never called. Truth is, he never gave her the opportunity and she didn’t seem to mind. He waited till her ring ceased before dialling her. Her voice was distant and after a few words exchanged, he could only but guess what was wrong with her. He settled into his bed, squeezed his legs together, clutched his phone to his ears and listened while she made love to him over the phone. It was an experience. She didn’t say much. She didn’t have to. Her slight whinings and the incomprehensible words she muttered did it for her and well, maybe him too for he had problems staying still. At the end of the phone call, his briefs was a mess and his face wore a frown for she had uttered a brief ‘thank you’ and got off the phone.
For days, they stayed out of contact until he could bear it no more. He had to see her, had to put a face to the event. Since she refused seeing him, he had to make do the phone way. She alone knew how to do it in a way that ate deep into him; she aroused certain sensations in him that in no time he became an active participant. In fact he put in more than she did, added a lot more spice to the act that after every phone call he was almost drenched. He decided on meeting her, even if it is to catch a glimpse of her from afar.
Aura had called him to say she was low on cash and so Tito fixed a meeting for her and his driver only that he drove himself to the Palms where they were supposed to converge. Tito had parked his car and was walking towards the mall when he caught sight of her amidst the tons of people trouping in and out of the mall. Her back was to him, she was punching something on her phone and somehow he just guessed she was the one. When she turned, her hair took a brilliant toss, giving him a perfect view of her face. He was awestruck. She had the loveliest pairs of breast he had ever seen in a long time. He gave her a once over. Make that long, long time. Breast slightly bigger than you’ll think she would be capable of bearing. But when she walked, sorry swayed, Tito lost it completely. He glanced at his ringing phone, drawing it to his ears.
“Just keep walking forward.” That was the only thing that fell from his lips.
He did an exaggerated shopping for her. She hadn’t recovered from seeing him in person and she was so shy to even utter one word without stammering. After shopping round for her and buying things he saw amazed her from the corner of his eye, he moved over to the boutique beside the mall to spoil her some more before taking her home. He remembered her saying she lived alone somewhere close to the University campus.
Surprisingly he wasn’t sceptical to eat when she dished out food for him and after a few glasses of wine later; it felt okay for him to place his hands over her. He held her with care, like he was so certain she would break apart otherwise. He wasn’t really into kisses, he had told her on one of their conversations so she didn’t go there. The other parts she tried going got him bursting up in flames. Suddenly there was no finesse to their love making. Fingers roved, his buttons gave way and then he ripped her clothes apart just to have her fill his palms. He trembled. She did too as their hands found places that had both intrigued them only on phone. He moved her towards her room but they couldn’t have made it to the bed before they experienced the sweet reality of being in each other’s arms and his flesh fusing ever with hers.
It was the first time in years he was sleeping out. He did not regret it.