A single woman in her thirties

In another part of the metropolis, a single woman in her thirties is trying to recover from a love affair with a gigolo who happened to be her trainer at one of the city’s posh gyms. He was popular with other women, and it began to bother her. The last time she saw him, she was so upset that she gave him an ultimatum. “F*** me, but don’t f*** with me,” she recalls having shouted at him.

There are women with libido, and money, and loneliness, and they aren’t shy of paying for sex. They have their referrals, and they have their connections. As Gabriel Garcia Marquez wryly observed, ‘Sex is the only consolation you have when you can’t have love.’

The single mother, who works in publishing, and walked out on her husband with a young child, says she knows she needs to find a man who can support her. She had given herself a year to settle down, and was scouting online dating sites for potential matches. She wanted social mobility, and maybe love.

It is partly why she worked out at the gym with a vengeance for a size-zero figure. She says the trainer made the workouts fun… and then came other kinds of fun. He would call her, and text her, and she couldn’t resist the attention. At first, she demurred, but later, as she streaked her hair, got a new set of clothes, prepared to start dating again, she decided that there was no harm in a little fling.

But it all ended in a mess, she says. She had even visited other cities to meet men, most of whom were merely looking to bed her. They would even ask her if she was good in bed. She was bored, and tired. The beautiful man at the gym with his abs and charm, she figured, would do if she could convert him.

Then the fling too turned to heartbreak.

She knew he wasn’t only sleeping with her but with other bored housewives with their manicured nails, and polished skin, and money that helped him take care of his family in Himachal. Then he said he was going to get married but would continue sleeping with her. But by then she had grown bitter. She would see his photos with other women, and would wonder if they too were lonely like her. And if he’d promised them the moon, as well. The gigolo who spoke love, but meant business.

Source: SEX ON RENT: THE STRANGE AND DESPERATE LIFE OF A GIGOLO