When Priya came home from her evening classes that day she sounded quite happy and excited. She told her me that she had made friends with a new girl in her class. Her name was Jenny. Priya said that Jenny was a really sweet girl and they even went to have a coffee. I was really happy for Priya as she had finally found a friend in her class.

Priya was like any other typical Indian housewife settled in US. She was incredibly beautiful and sexy lady but just like any Indian wife she was quite conservative and never paid much attention to her looks or her clothes. Although I had tried many times to get her to wear some sexy clothes but she had stubbornly refused to wear anything other than all-covering ethnic Indian clothes or some loose pants and ill fitting t-shirts. She almost never wore any makeup and the only hairstyle I had seen on her was a loose center-parted braid. Initially she was quite happy and content to stay at home and do all the house hold chores but slowly as our married life settled in a regular but dull and monotonous groove she started to get bored. That is when I suggested to her that should continue with her studies and join some course in an evening school. This would keep her occupied and would even enable her to get some job later on. Priya liked the idea and after some research decided to join an accounting course in a nearby school.

It had been almost three months since Priya had joined the evening classes. She and Jenny were close friends now. I had often found her talking to Jenny on phone for long durations. Jenny had introduced Priya to few other people in her class and Priya had a nice little group of friends now. A few times I had tried to ask Priya about her friends but she always skirted the issue saying they were just a bunch of people in her class and they had formed a study group to enable them to share notes, discuss homework, solve assignments and stuff.

Although I was quite happy for Priya that she had found some company in her class but I had started to get a little worried about this study group. I knew there were at least two guys, named Mark and Josh, in her group because I had often overheard Priya and Jenny talk about them. Off late I had also started to notice a few subtle changes in Priya. She had started to wear some light makeup and her choice in clothes had also improved. The loose fitting long t-shirts had been replaced with slightly figure hugging tops and the over sized pants had given way to low waist jeans. When I complimented Priya about her new wardrobe and told her that she looks much sexier in her new clothes she just smiled and said that they were Jenny’s choice. I told her that she should invite Jenny home sometime because I would really like to thank her for doing something that I had not been able to do. She just laughed it away and said that someday she would definitely like Jenny to meet me.

Our sex life had also improved a lot and Priya had become far more responsive in bed. After one such incredible session on sex as we were lying on the bed Priya rolled over to my side and said in a serious tone that she wanted to talk to me. She had tears welled up in her eyes and appeared to be on the verge on crying. I asked her what did she want to tell me but she insisted that I first promise her that I will not get mad at her. Priya’s tone and tenor had my heart beating faster and I told her that whatever she wants to tell me she should tell me.

I could scarcely believe my ears when she informed me that she has not told anyone in her class that she was a married women. To compound the insult further she informed me that she has told her friends that I am just her roommate and she has known me just for a few months. When I shouted out on her how could she have been so stupid she said that everyone in her class was single and she would have felt odd one out if she had told her friends about her marriage. I told her that this was the most stupid explanation that I had ever heard and stormed out of the bed. She came running after me and said that she was extremely sorry and that she loved me more than anything in the world. I told her if she really loves me then she should introduce me to her friends as her husband and not lie about our marriage.

By now Priya was crying inconsolably and was begging me to forgive her. I told her that I needed some time to think about this and she should go to bed as I settled in my sofa bed. That night as I went to sleep I was feeling a bit apprehensive about what was going on in Priya’s life and yet in some corner of my heart I was feeling thrilled with all the changes that she was undergoing.

Almost three months had passed since Priya had told me that she had lied about her marital status. I was still angry at her but I had forgiven her. She had promised me that someday she will definitely tell her friends that I wasn’t just her room partner but her husband. Meanwhile she and Jenny had become even closer friends. Priya had even stayed over at Jenny’s place for couple of nights for combined studies. Jenny’s friendship was proving to be a blessing in disguise for me too as Priya was becoming increasingly sexy with her clothes and attitude. She was now regularly wearing hot-pants and halter tops at home and her t-shirts and jeans had become even more figure-hugging. She had even bought some strapless summer dresses and high heel shoes and sandals. Her sex appetite had also increased dramatically and we were having sex almost every day. She had started sleeping nude in the bed and had insisted that I should sleep naked. Of course I happily obliged her.

One such night after a hot session of sex, she told me that Jenny has been pestering her to get a makeover. I asked her what she had in mind. She said that she would like to get a new haircut and may even add a few highlights to her hair. She was also planning to have her thick bushy eyebrows reshaped. I was quite excited to hear this. I told her I would really love to see her in her new look. Next day when I came back from office I found a voice mail from Priya. She said that she was going from her makeover with Jenny and she would be reaching home late.

Just thinking about Priya in her new look, was giving me a hard-on. I was dying to see what her new hair cut looked like. I was thinking I should be really thankful to Jenny for bringing about all these changes in Priya. As the wait got longer and longer my excitement knew no bounds. Finally around 8PM I heard a knock on the door.

When I opened the door I could scarcely recognize the person standing in front of me. Priya’s makeover had been far more dramatic than anything I had imagined. Her sexy side fringe was completely covering her forehead. She had reduced the length of her hair slightly but they were still well past her shoulders. The layers on the front side were following her jaw line and were framing her face perfectly. I remembered she had talked about getting a few highlights but standing in front of me was girl who had colored her hair completely golden brown. But it wasn’t just the hair that was different. The most dramatic change appeared to be in her eyebrows. Her thick bushy eyebrows had been replaced with pencil thin eyebrows. The eyebrows were arched really high and were doing wonders to bring out the beauty of her large black eyes. All in all Priya had been transformed from a simple Indian wife into a glamorous model.

Priya just stood there in the doorway smiling and enjoying my reaction. She was perhaps waiting for me to say something but I was too dumb struck to even realize that my raging hard-on was now clearly bulging through my pants. Priya too noticed it and started giggling at my condition. When I finally came to my senses I smiled sheepishly and let her in. Once in the bedroom I started kissing her passionately and Priya too responded back enthusiastically. Within no time we were both rolling on the bed completely naked. After an amazingly hot session of sex as we lay exhausted in the bed I told Priya that she was looking incredibly sexy in her new look. She could give serious competition to any “Vogue” model. I even remarked in lighter vain that she was bound to attract a lot of male attention in her class. Priya just laughed at my remark and said she already has enough males attracted to her and doesn’t need any more.

Even in my super excited state I didn’t fail to notice that she used the term “males” rather than “male”. This rang a bell in my mind and I asked her jokingly if there are any boys in her class who try to flirt with her. This question immediately led to change in Priya’s tone. It was as if some shield had suddenly gone up. She told me that there is a particular boy in her class who had been openly flirting with her for some time. When I asked her if she too found him attractive she said that he was tall, muscular and blond and was indeed quite handsome. But she immediately clarified that she had never encouraged his advances. She said that I should understand that her friends think that I am just her roommate and she is a single women. Therefore many boys in her class have tried to hit on her. Not wanting to spoil the mood, I just said that I trusted her completely and I had no objections to anybody trying to flirt with her as long as she continued to remain loyal to me. She assured me that she loved me from the bottom of her heart and she would never do anything stupid to jeopardize our marriage.

A month had passed since Priya had undergone her dramatic makeover. She had started to look even sexier than before. Her sense of dressing had completely changed. She had completely reworked her wardrobe and had junked all her ethnic Indian clothes. She had started wearing hot-pants and daisy-dukes and miniskirts even while going for her classes. The changes had not stopped with just her clothes. She had joined some spoken English class to neutralize her Indian accent and had started to pick up the American accent. With each passing day she was starting to look and behave more and more like some hot American chick rather than a simple Indian wife.

There were some strange changes happening to me as well. I had found Priya talking to many guys over phone. She was having particularly long phone conversations with somebody named Mark. I was beginning to wonder if Mark was the tall, muscular, blonde guy that Priya had talked about earlier.

Normally I, like any other husband, would have been very upset if I had found my wife talking to other men and openly flirting with them but for some strange reason I was enjoying seeing Priya flirt with Mark. It was almost as if I wanted her to have an affair with Mark. Priya too had noticed my silence and had, rightly, construed it to mean that I was ok with her relationship with Mark. Indeed, she had thought that I wanted to encourage her to have a relation with Mark. I desperately loved Priya and did not want to lose her at any cost but the mere thought of seeing her with some other man was enough to give me a hard-on. One part of me wanted to stop her but another part of me wanted her to continue.

We had finished our dinner and were watching TV. Priya was wearing a tight t-shirt without a bra. Here nipples were clearly poking out of the t-shirt. Here tight t-shirt was perfectly complementing the tiny shorts that she had on. Her glorious legs were on full display and I was having a hard time keeping my eyes on TV. I was finding it hard to believe how my simple shy Indian wife had transformed into this sexy swan in such a short time. I could distinctly remember how I had to struggle to get Priya to shed her ethnic Indian clothes and start wearing some western clothes. At that time even wearing over sized t-shirts and loose pants was fashion enough for her.

She was clearly aware of the effect she was having on me, but somehow today her mind seemed to be occupied with something else.

“Is something bothering you honey?” I asked Priya.

“No, nothing much,” Priya replied. But judging by her tone I could clearly sense that something was weighing down on her and she wanted to discuss it with me.

Guessing that she might be facing some trouble in her school I took conversation in that direction “How are things going on in your school?”

She didn’t answer my question immediately. So something was indeed bothering her about her friends. She tilted her head back, closed her eyes, took a deep breath and then with some resolve in her voice said, “Listen Rajesh there is something I want to discuss with you.”

“Sure honey, what is it?”

“I am thinking on leaving my course midway,” Priya said.

“What!!” I was quite shocked to hear this. “I thought you were enjoying attending school. Why would you even think of such a thing?”

“Yes, indeed I am enjoying a lot. I have made so many new friends, learned so many new things, and seen a completely different world.”

And in my head I completed her sentence “…and in the process transformed myself into an utterly delicious sexy wife.”

“So what’s the problem then?” I asked her with some concern in my voice.

Priya said, “I sometimes feel I don’t fit into that world.”

“That’s utter nonsense,” I retorted, “Have you seen yourself in the mirror lately? You look better than any hot college going girl.”

“But that’s exactly the problem. My friends expect me to not just look like a college girl but also to behave like one.”

…and the penny dropped.

I didn’t know how to react to that. I knew where this conversation was headed next. Although I had always suspected that there was some hanky-panky business going on between Priya and Mark, and in a way I had even encouraged it by not objecting to it, but now when it came to confronting it head on I really didn’t know what to say. I had always dreaded this moment. I honestly didn’t know what I feared more – the possibility that my wife might have an affair with another men or the fact that without her new friends she might go back to being her old prudish self.

I labored on, “Can you explain what do mean by behaving like a college girl?”…as if I didn’t know what the answer was.

“There isn’t any defined list of behaviors for college girls,” Priya said with slight irritation in her voice. “It could mean a range of things – from having crazy haircuts to going out to late night parties, to getting tattoos, to smoking weed. But most importantly it means responding positively to male attention and making an effort to have a boyfriend.”

My heart skipped a beat when I heard the last part of her sentence. Words came out of my mouth in a strange tone, “And have you been subjected to any serious male attention?”

Priya looked at me with some confusion. She couldn’t understand if there was a sense of fear in this question or if I was feeling excited while asking her this. And I guess the truth was that there was mixture of both. Somewhere in the darkest corner of my mind I had, at times, fantasized about seeing Priya with other men but I had always banished such thoughts quickly. But now the time had come when I had to choose between either banishing them completely or allowing them to transform into reality.

Priya chose her answer carefully, “Well, there is this guy called Mark in my class. He had always been interested in me right from the day I joined the school. Till now I have been able to handle him tactfully and managed to keep him away but lately he has started to flirt with me openly. I have been trying to avoid him but it is becoming difficult now. My friend Jenny has also started to ask me uncomfortable questions as to why I am turning down Mark’s advances. According to her any girl would give her right arm to have a boyfriend like Mark.”

I stayed quiet for a long time, then I asked her slowly, “And how do you really feel about Mark?”

Priya said, “Had I not been married and if I was not in love with you, I would have loved to have a boyfriend like Mark.”

I knew the moment of reckoning had come and I had to make a decision. I thought for a long moment and then took Priya’s hand in my hand, looked into her eyes and said “Listen Priya, you know that I love you more than anything in this world. I cannot think of my life without your presence in it. For the past few months I have seen you beaming with such unbound joy and happiness that I honestly don’t want you to give up your school and friends and go back to the dull life that we had before. Therefore if you promise me that you will never leave me under any circumstances then I promise you that I will not come between you and Mark.”

Save for the noise from the TV there was pin drop silence in the room. Priya was looking at me as if she was in a trance. She could not believe that I had just permitted my wife to have an affair with another man. Tears were welling up in her eyes.

She finally said, “I hope you realize the implications of what you are saying. If I were to have an affair with Mark then…” she hesitated for a moment “…I may have to have sex with him.”

“Moreover it’s not just about sex. If I were to become Mark’s girlfriend then I will have to behave like a girlfriend which means going out on date with him, openly kissing him, hugging him, expressing love for him. In other words we will have to behave like a couple.”

I replied “Yes, I fully realize what I am saying. But as I said your happiness is of paramount importance to me and I have full faith that our bond of love is so strong that nothing in this world can break it.”

In one swift motion Priya just fell into my arm and started sobbing, “I love you so much Rajesh that I can’t even begin to express it in words. I promise you that I will never leave you, I will always remain your wife no matter what happens between me and Mark.”

I placed my hand over head and gently started to run my fingers through her hair. We stayed in that position for a long time. She finally lifted her arms from my shoulder and said “Rajesh I need to you to do one final thing tonight.”

“What is it honey?” I asked her.

“I have worn my Mangalsutra every single day since our marriage. It’s a sign of our divine and sacred love. I want you to remove it from my neck with your own hands because I will feel uncomfortable going out with Mark if I am still wearing it.”

To the uninitiated: Mangalsutra is a sacred necklace worn by Indian women as a sign of their marriage.

“Ok” was all I could say as I reached out with my hands and removed the Mangalsutra from around Priya’s neck. As I removed it from her neck the symbolic importance of my action dawned on us. As per Indian traditions and religion Priya was now a free woman. Although legally she was still my wife but symbolically I had released her from our marital bond.