Chapter 6

Chapter 5

“Careful how you

play your

cards…

When you have

a queen

in your hand”

Riddhima went to meet Mishra’s house to inform them that they will be late tonight as they are going to her sister’s office party and gave them an extra key in case of an emergency. When she returned, she went to see her sister in her room. Her sister used master bedroom previously used by her parents. Sejal was getting ready since four in the evening, she called a beautician home for makeup and stuff. She informed Sejal about the keys and left to get ready.

“How do I look?” Riddhima turned to see her sister and smiled complimenting her “beautiful and attractive, the dress looks good on you”

“Isn’t it?” saying this Sejal came in front of a mirror and looked at herself again. Riddhima smiled looking at her antics.

Sejal wore an evening silk party gown. It was a little revealing than what Riddhima would have favoured. When she asked Sejal to look for more options her sister informed her “This dress is a replica of what ‘Megan Fox’ wore during one of her film screening, I want this…” The dress Sejal wore was deep red in colour, a one-off shoulder, it had a little cut near her waist and had a high thigh split. From the backside, it left her half back open. The beautician did her job well with makeup and with her hair tied at the back leaving few tendrils loose in the front of her face, Sejal’s look was nothing less than that of a model or a celebrity.

“So, let’s see what we do have here?” Sejal turned to Riddhima and gave her a once over

Riddhima wore a simple light peach colour evening dress gown. The dress was off-shoulder with her back on little display with the knee-length cut on the left side. She applied an eyeliner, painted her lips light pink in colour. She wore a bracelet in one hand and a light chain with a pendant around her neck.

“You look cute!” Sejal praised her. “Now sit let me style your hair”

“I have already styled it don’t you see” Riddhima looked in the mirror to recheck, she half curled her hair from below and left her hair open

“yeah but that is a so common hairstyle, don’t you want to something different? Come here I will help you…” saying so Sejal moved towards Riddhima.

“Common is alright, I don’t want to change it and anyway it’s already half-past six, book a cab or we will be late for the Party, and then you will leave party late which is not happening…”

“Yes Boss” saying so Sejal gave her a mock salute and booked the cab

The whole ride Sejal kept ranting about ‘Vansh Rai Singhania’ his style, clothing, cars he uses, he is so hot…so much so that Riddhima wondered if she could stuff a handkerchief in her mouth to shut her up… she did not understand Sejal’s and many of her friends' fascination with VRS, she often found Sejal’s friend whenever they would visit home this would be the hot topic for gossip between them.

Finally getting fed up of nonstop VRS Jaap, Riddhima said: “But if news and articles are to be believed he has too many female partners…”

“They are all the rumours Riddhima” Sejal dismissed her and continued “aur vaise bhi what if he has too many girlfriends? You don’t expect man of his stature a to select a wife from a few available girls, do you? Obviously, he will take his time…”

“Wife?” Riddhima laughed “ye wife kaha se ayi Sejal? If you ask me, I don’t think he is looking for a wife varna he would have gotten married by now or at least ek toh stable girlfriend hoti uski but, whatever photos I came across he always has a new girl with him and for your information it never looked like there were only a few girls around him.”

Sejal scowled at her and changed the subject “what is your progress with Kabir?”. She hit a nerve there.

“Nothing…he is busy…”

Saying so Riddhima once again checked her phone no text, no call. Now she was sure he was angry with her for cancelling out on him last time. He has been avoiding her since then. She called him twice, but he did not answer his call and when she sent a text he replied with dry “Busy, talk to you later”

“We are here,” Sejal said as the car stopped in front of a lavish hotel. There was too much security. They showed their passes. Even the cab driver was given a pass to enter and exit. Both got down passed a lady’s security checking point and were directed to another set of doors. Light music was playing in this room and two desks were placed, where a man and woman handed out the face masks, there were different types of mask. Some covered only eyes made up of lace which was Sejal’s choice and Riddhima chose a silver-coloured mask which covered her eyes and part of her nose. Again they were directed to the next set of doors, two guards opened the door for them to enter.

This was out of the movie experience that is what Riddhima felt, everything was beautiful and magnificent. Sejal excitedly dragged her to the group of her friends. After exchanging a few words, a man came and asked Sejal for dance. Sejal beamed at her left with the man and suddenly Riddhima felt awkward she hated crowds and especially if she did not have any known person with her. A guy came and asked her for dance. She declined politely and moved to find a place to stand in a corner.

*****

Vansh was standing in a darkened corner a floor above. He was observing the crowd below.

“There is too much crowd compared to our usual parties” Aangrey commented standing beside his boss. A waiter came and passed them drinks. Aangrey took two glasses and offered his boss one.

Vansh took a sip of his wine and replied “This is what happens when you give an open invitation to a large crowd. Most of them must have never attended the parties like this. This was bound to happen. At least it is not a total fish market”

“Are you joining the party?”

“No, you go join the party. Just play my thank you message clip for everyone, I hate so much crowd”

“Sure Boss” saying so Aangre left his boss alone to his thoughts.

Vansh kept observing the party below when suddenly his gaze settled on a girl, who stooped to take water from one of the waiters. Compared to all the ladies present at the party she wore a simple peach coloured off-shoulder dress making her delicate neck visible to his eyes. She was petite, she had a silver mask on her face which was hiding half of her face. She gave the glass to passing waiter and was about to move when her mask slipped from her face and was about to fall. She quickly grabbed the mask, looked here and there to see if someone noticed this and hurriedly tied it across her face.

But that one moment was enough for Vansh to get a glimpse of her face. The girl was beautiful no doubt but there was innocence on her face which he had not seen in any women. He felt irritated as she tied her mask back obstructing his view.

He could hear in the background his own voice, it seems Aangrey played his thank you message for all. It was a video message where he thanked all of his employees for their continued hard work and success, and how he wanted to be present in the party but could not due to circumstances, etc. He felt his voice fed as his gaze was fixated on the little creature below who had captured his attention which has never happened before. He saw her clap with everyone else once the video was played. Vansh suddenly felt very proud of himself. As the message finished playing the girl moved to another corner of the room.

He gripped the baluster tightly……

Note:

1. Thank you all for your likes and comments 

2. I know this is not the exact Riansh meet but it was something right? 

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