Chapter 7

Chapter 6

“Every breath you take

Every move you make

Every bond you break

Every step you take

I’ll be watching you”

Riddhima sat on a stool near the open bar sipping her cola and enjoying the party. She saw her sister dancing with a third or was that fourth boy now…It’s not like nobody asked her for dance but she refused all because of two reasons. 

A. She was not a good dancer and 

B. She will feel uncomfortable dancing with strangers. 

And hence her current location where nobody will notice her much, but she can enjoy the party. Few couples who came for a drink gave her a look but hey who were they to judge, everyone enjoys in their own way and she liked it this way. More than dancing she would have liked it if the security of this hotel allowed her to explore this place. This place was extraordinary so she can only imagine what remaining place will look like…

A while ago her mask slipped she quickly tied it back because if it did fall she was sure it will get trampled under someone’s feet and she will have to ask for another now that will be embarrassing. This place was too much crowded. She observed people with a different mask. Most people had a similar type of mask with different colours but few of the people had an entirely different mask style. These masks were covering persons whole face except eyes now why would someone use this mask? Won’t it be suffocating? She frowned as she tried to remember if these kinds of masks were available outside. But she could not recollect it.

Suddenly she felt someone’s gaze on her. She tried to locate the source and her eyes stopped on a man who was leaning on one of the walls looking at her. When their eyes met Riddhima gulped, his gaze was too intense, he wore the full mask which hid his face except for eyes. They looked at each other for a few seconds before the man started moving in her direction. Suddenly she felt nervous for no apparent reason. She could not understand what she should do. She decided to move just as she stood up to get lost in the sea of people, however, the man was quick. He took long strides and reached near her but at the last moment, he turned and joined some other lady beside her. She took a sigh of relief and decided to move regardless.

She felt like an idiot as she murmured to herself “This is what happens when you binge-watch thriller movies.” yesterday she spent her day watching thriller movies back to back. Oh, Sejal is so going to laugh at her when she will tell her about this. She felt like laughing.

As she took a few steps someone called her from behind.

“excuse me” she turned to find the same man from before, his voice was very deep.

“yes?” Riddhima questioned

“I think you forgot your purse...” saying this he forwarded his hand.

It indeed was her purse. When she tried to rush away, she must have forgotten it on the counter.

“Thank you” Riddhima gave him a polite smile and she stepped forward to take her purse. She took the purse. Once again said thanks and was about to leave when the man asked, “May I dance with you?” and extended his hand towards her so that she can give her hand to him.

Riddhima gave a feeble smile, he was being polite, helped her with her purse, she can’t downright reject him. She looked at him, his face was not visible aside from his eyes hence she could not pinpoint his expression. His eyes were entirely too focused on her which gave her an odd feeling of unease. She hesitated “Umm…”

“Are you waiting for someone? Do you have a partner? Are you here with your boyfriend perhaps?” The man asked

“No, I tagged along with my sister.”

“So, what is the problem?”

“nothing, but maybe your partner will feel bad” she tried to reason with the man, he seemed persistent.

“The man moved closer to her as he said, “I don’t have anyone with me, so shall we?” he gestured towards the dance floor. Riddhima tried to look for the girl with whom he was standing previously. But he was a foot taller than her, so to look for the girl she will have to sidestep him. Which will be rude...

Seeing him so resolute finally, she told him “I would love to, but I don’t know how to dance… and even if I tried, I would end up stepping on your feet”

“I can dance and I will make sure you don’t step on my feet or don’t trip, and how will you know if you can dance or not if you never try?” he questioned her.

"Umm.. sorry but you see my sister is dancing and I have both of our stuff with me I can't leave it" saying so she showed him her sling purse which he returned to her a few moments ago

"Don't worry, the man over here will take care of it for a while, won't you?" he waved his hand towards the man behind the bar.

The person nodded his head at them. He was not backing out at all, and he helped her. This was her problem she could never say no to a polite person

“Alright,” Riddhima acceded as she could not see any other way out. Riddhima got startled as he suddenly took a hold of her hand instead of waiting for her to give her hand in his, passed her purse to the other man behind the bar and started moving towards the dance floor with her.

As soon as they reached on the dance floor, he turned to her, took her right hand in his one hand and placed her other one on his shoulder and pulled her towards him by her waist. As the lights dimmed more than before and music changed some other song started….

*****

Vansh knew the moment he saw her he had to meet her, he wanted to know if she really was as intriguing as he felt. Because of her, he felt the need to change his decision, of not attending the party and that has never happened before. He stood in a corner staring at her, he needed to be sure if she was here with her husband or boyfriend. That thought did not settle with him… After a while when she realised, he was staring at her. He saw her panic and started to move so, at the last minute he changed his course and joined some other women at the bar. As she was leaving he dismissed the woman and was looking at a way to stop her when he noticed her purse…..

He could clearly see how reluctant she was to dance with him before she could change her mind, he guided her to the dance floor and held her close. No ring, no vermilion he observed. He felt a surge of adrenaline, there was a strange sensation flowing through him. “take her…steal her” were his thoughts as he held her in his arms. He tried to control his thoughts, he could clearly see she was too rigid and uncomfortable.

“Relax, I told you right I will manage both of us if you stand like this, it will surely look like I am dancing with the pole,” he said trying to lighten the mood. She giggled a little as but relaxed and that voice warmed his heart.

“So why the full mask?” she questioned curiously.

“Well I do not like it if people stare at me too much, I am a very private person”

“Hmm, I understand,” she said as she became quiet. He wanted to hear her speak, her voice was soft. He twirled her before pulling her close to him again. His hold on her tightened a little more as he asked, “You work at VR Corporation?”. He needed to know to set his plan accordingly.

“No, my sister works there. Do you work at VR’s?”

“Hmm…something like that” he replied nonchalantly, he wanted to speak about her not him.

“can I ask you a question?”, she asked

“Sure”

“Don’t you find it odd that Vansh Rai Singhania did not attend his own party?”

“Why did you want to meet him?” 

he was curious to know if she was like any other women, he has come across so far, who will agree to anything once they learn about him. Till now she has not shown any signs like that, but you can never trust women altogether. They can be scheming if they want to be. The reason why he never stayed with one girl for more than a day. That and his past experience combined, he did not have much high regard for this species.

“Oh nothing like that, it’s just that I find it highly inappropriate that he did not come to greet his own people, I mean surely he must be busy or something but when you throw a party for your guests...Doesn’t he have the courtesy to greet all as a host, but no look what he did just released a thank you clip”

He felt very amused did she just reprimanded him?

Suddenly colour drained from her face she is speaking so freely what if the person works for Vansh or worst knows him personally after all his clothes did look expensive and the way he carried himself. “Stupid Riddhima, bas yahi karna baki tha…bad mouthing Sejal’s boss. She will surely get in trouble for this” Riddhima cursed herself and to salvage the situation she said

“Please I don’t mean anything like that, it’s just maybe he is busy. What do I know to comment like that? Please don’t tell this to anybody” she tried to appease him.

Vansh grinned as he realised what she was doing. He once again pushed her only to pull her closer than before. They were almost glued to each other. She looked up at him innocently trying to gauge his thoughts, but she lost her comfort, her smile dropped. He could see her panic internally.

So to comfort her he brought his head near her ear and whispered: “Don’t worry your secret is safe with me”. Still, she didn’t look too convinced, so he further added: “everyone says something about the boss even I do”. She smiled softly at that.

"Don't you like Vansh Rai Singhania though?" he asked seriously

"I Don't know him enough to like or dislike him"

"Good point" Vansh nodded.

Suddenly she asked, “You didn’t tell me what your name is?” Maybe if she could get his name, she could ask her sister. She may know him.

“neither did you”

“What?”

“I mean even you did not give me your name” he explained.

“Oh right, I am Riddhima and you are?”

“Riddhima…” he whispered her name as she waited for him to give his name. He bent her backwords for a moment where she could see chandelier and decoration above, he stared at her lips for a moment before he once again pulled her towards him and replied, “What is in a name... Riddhima?”

The song came to an end. He took her hand in his and placed a kiss on the back of her hand and backed out without giving his name…

 ******

Note:

1.The song which I imagined for Riansh dance is, "Ab mujhe raat din", from Album: Deewana, Singer: Sonu Nigam. You can imagine the song of your choice. 

2.Thank you all for your likes and comments