“I wish you were here, right beside me.”

Suman felt his heart churn. He closed his eyes for a moment and then typed, “I am there. Just close your eyes and you will feel me.”

“Hmmmm…”

“Can you feel my breath on your neck and my kisses on your ears?” He typed into the chat window when a voice, from the next room, startled him.

“I just can’t understand how your boss can expect you to work so late into the night.” His wife’s roar was like a splash of icy cold water on his hot passion. The screen went blank the next second. There was no time for goodbyes, no time to fix up the next chat session and no surety that there will be a next chat session. He got up from his chair.

Monica heard his chair grate on their Italian marble. Now, he will go to the kitchen to have his customary two glasses of water before snuggling beside her in the bed. He had changed. She knew it but didn’t blame him. Three kids, and a stressful job to provide for the three kids, left no time for love and romance. Still, she had not given up. Her plan had worked. Things seemed to be brightening up in the last few weeks. Though he was on the computer for long, his passion seemed to have been rekindled.

He will enter the bedroom any minute now. She looked at her phone screen one last time before shutting it. ‘Can you feel my breath on your neck and my kisses on your ears?’Yes. She was ready to feel it. If she had to be an anonymous chat friend to revive their passion, so be it.