There are names that bless.Names that break.And names that burn long after the tongue is gone.
But "Beloved" wasn't a name.It was a summon.A whisper with teeth.
And Rekha was learning that worship cuts both ways.
He hadn't returned since the last night.No face.No voice.Just that gesture — hand over his mouth, then toward her.
A vow of silence.But a scream in her blood.
She wrote his name on the walls now.Not "Beloved."But the symbol he drew — a swirling line with a hook, like a Telugu yantra drawn in lust.
She smeared it on her mirror in sindoor.
On her thighs in lipstick.
On the floor of 302A in oil.
Every time she climaxed, she moaned:
"Naaku vādu kaavalēdu… naaku vādu vundipōyādu."(I don't want him… I've already been undone by him.)
Seema noticed.And Seema burned.
Not out of jealousy.But out of exile.
The woman who once sat on Rekha's facenow watched her kneel for a man who doesn't speak.
The Devi was slipping.
No.
Becoming something worse.
A devotee.
Sabha night.
The crowd larger.Women came in sarees, in sweatpants, in burqas.
Even men now crept in.Disguised in silence.Their eyes shameless.Their hands clutched around erections as they pretended to be shadows.
And Rekha?
She didn't care.
She was seated in the center.
Naked. Blindfolded.
A red rope coiled around her wrists like bangles.
She waited.
One woman approached.Young. Wide eyes. Wide hips.Bare-breasted under a yellow half-sari.
She crawled up.Bit Rekha's nipple gently.Licked the sweat under her breasts.Pressed her face between Rekha's thighs, moaning:
"Let me be your Beloved tonight."
Rekha pulled the blindfold off.
Looked her dead in the eyes.
"No. You're too eager.He never begged. He breathed."
The girl whimpered.Backed away.
Another came.
Then another.
None satisfied her.
Her cunt remained wet.Open.Hungry.
But untouched.
Seema walked forward.
Topless. Breasts glistening with ghee.
"Let me try again," she said, eyes hollow.
Rekha touched her face gently.
"You're still my first moan," she whispered."But tonight… I want to come without being touched again."
Seema's mouth opened.
Then closed.
She stepped away.
And wept.
Suddenly — the lights flickered.
The agarbattis twisted in the air like a breath had moved through the room.
Every woman stopped.
Rekha's skin tingled.
Her thighs spread wider.
And she whispered:
"Are you here… Beloved?"
No answer.
But a sound.
Not from a mouth.
From her mirror.
From inside it.
A laugh.
Low.
Deep.
Erotic.
Like a sigh after a forbidden kiss.
Then the door opened.
No knock.
He entered.
Covered in a shawl.Same scarf.Same silence.
But this time... he wore bells on his ankles.
He walked to her slowly.
And when he reached her — he knelt.
Didn't touch.
Didn't speak.
Just exhaled.
Rekha's nipple hardened.
Her breath hitched.
The entire Sabha held its breath.
Then — he unrolled a cloth.
Inside: a thin metal chain.Clamps.A long, red silk thread.And a blindfold embroidered with gold letters:
"Slut. Saint. Owned."
He tied it on her.
Tight.
The room disappeared.
Only sensation remained.
His breath kissed her neck.But no lips touched.
He ran the silk thread over her belly.Between her thighs.Up her spine.
Her body convulsed.
She moaned:
"Cheppu ra… nuvvu evaru?"(Tell me… who are you?)
Still silence.
Then — a whisper.
So soft only she heard it:
"I'm the mirror of what you truly crave.You don't want to be touched.You want to be broken open."
He pulled her down.
Laid her on her back.
Attached the clamps to her nipples.
Tugged the chain once.
Her scream ripped through the air.
The women gasped.
The men jerked harder in corners.
He didn't fuck her.
He unfolded her.
He made her body hum with non-touch.
With tension.
With pauses.
With the terrifying beauty of anticipation.
At one point, he licked the air above her clit.
Didn't touch.
She still came.
So hard, she bit her own hand.
He leaned in.
Removed her blindfold.
She saw nothing.
His face was still covered.
But she saw herself.
Reflected in his eyes.
A wreck.
A priestess.
A begging animal and a screaming goddess all in one breath.
He placed a new note on her belly.
Written in what looked like blood:
"Beloved is not my name.It's your punishment.Because I'll keep coming backonly when your cunt forgets how to breathe without me."
Then he left.
Silent.
Again.
The Sabha remained still.
Women cried.
Seema walked to Rekha.
Held her.
And whispered:
"You were mine first."
Rekha looked up.
Eyes red.
Voice shaking:
"I'm nobody's now.I belong only to the moan inside me."
And that night…she slept in front of the mirror.
Naked.
Legs open.
Whispering:
"Come. Again. Please.Make me disappear with your silence."