Chapter 42: A Confrontation
He felt the most irrational urge to break something just then, preferably the hand that was holding hers. And then he reminded himself that he was 30, not 13. He was tired, his wife was obviously was having clandestine meetings with her ex-fiance, and he was tired... So, he ended up not breaking anything. Instead, he merely said "Excuse me, I didn't realize anyone was in here." - a blatant lie of course, but he had always been a good liar – and he walked out of the room.
She didn't run after him, but he hadn't really expected that she would anyways. As he walked down the stairs, he once again had the most irrational urge to walk straight out the front door and go back home, but that was childish and petty and he knew his mother would notice and worry. So, he stayed. He purposely avoided the foyer after that and it was good that Dhruv was there to keep him distracted. But then he really did want to be alone and he walked out of one of the side entrances of the house, hoping for some solitude. He wondered how long he would have to wait until his parents were ready to go home.
"Shiv…" he heard just then. He had been leaning against the wall and now turned his face to the door to see who had called him.
It was dark out, but there was a tiny light by the doorstep and he saw Thalia's long form step out of the house. He was surprised. How did Thalia know Sarala aunty?
"Thalia? What are you doing here?" Just what he needed, another complication!
"I am friends with your cousin, Lavanya. She invited me."
"I am starting to think you're stalking me, girl" he said with a grin.
"Maybe I am…" she smiled and he made a show of sighing deeply.
"Ah, well, I know that I am pretty irresistible, but you probably also heard that I am off the market." He winked at her.
"I didn't hear any such thing, actually… Isn't that curious? Here you are, one of the most interesting men that I have met in a while, but I met him too late, I find. He's married to a girl who does not seem to appreciate him one way or the other… in fact, not only does she not appreciate him, she seems to be having a little tete-a-tete with her spineless fool of an ex-fiance. Quite a shame, wouldn't you say?"
His grin disappeared now. This situation was a bit more convoluted than he had thought it was…
He looked away from her and heard her walk closer to him.
"What do you want, Thalia?" he asked now in seriousness.
"You, of course… I want you… and I heard through the grapevine that your marriage is a sham. You also seem to be married to the most clueless girl on the planet. So, I say, if she doesn't know what she has, there are others who are more than willing to take it away from her."
"Do you think such flattery or reverse psychology works on me?" he asked, looking back at her.
"What flattery? I was being truthful. Let's face it, Shiv. A girl like Gauri cannot handle you. You need a woman. And a girl like Gauri will never truly understand you, no matter how much you may want her to, or no matter how badly you want her for that matter. I imagine you can teach her the pleasures of the body… and you being who you are, you could probably get her addicted to you… but she still would never understand all of you… you know it's true…"
He didn't reply and she smiled at his silence, but then noticed that he was not looking at her, but behind her. She turned around to see his wife standing on the doorstep, the light hanging directly above her illuminating only part of her face while the other hid in the shadows. Thalia had to admit that there was a part of her that was jealous… while she was wholly satisfied with her own looks and knew that men found her beautiful, Gauri was almost the opposite. She had really no idea how beautiful she was, with her tall lithe form and the longest legs she had ever seen on a woman outside the ramp. And that was the girl's appeal too… the fact that she really had no awareness of her own beauty… even now, when she stood on that doorstep, giving nothing away with her completely inscrutable expression, Thalia could see how any man would fall quickly for her. Thalia looked back at Shiv. For a second, she wondered if she was wrong… she had never thought that a man like Shiv could look at a woman like that… with a sort of vulnerability that made her heart pinch… Rather than being put off by the fact that he appeared to be infatuated with his wife, his expression only made her strengthen her resolve. If Gauri did not realize what she had, she would be only too happy to relieve the girl off her gorgeous burden… and Gauri didn't look like the sort who fought over a man… which would make this all the more interesting…
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She stood there watching him… only him… not that persistent wench at his side… and realized that whatever bubble she had been walking on for the past week had burst just like that… how quickly he had run to another woman... no attempt to ask her why she was speaking with Shashank or any attempt to come find her after what he had witnessed or any attempt to do anything really… she was the idiot who had spent the past half hour searching for him in every corner of the house, while he had just moved onto the next available female. What the hell did she expect anyways? That sex had changed everything? She had momentarily forgotten who she was married to… this was a man whose definition of women was 'warm and available to use and discard at my pleasure'…
"I would never be addicted to him. That's for women like you. And Thalia, what's there that's so esoteric about him that it's hard to understand? That he likes sex? That he's good at sex? Yes, I agree with both. But correct me if I am wrong here with my limited experience and my pea-sized brain that will never be able to understand him fully, but I assume he's not the last man on the planet who knows how to pleasure a woman's body? Which begs another question… why are you so dogged in your determination to have him? You can't find any single men? Or have you reached the conclusion that you are the only truly enlightened soul on this planet who can understand him in all his unbelievable complexity?"
Shiv sucked in his breath as he felt rage sweep over him. How dare she? He had put up with enough of her shit.
He saw Thalia straighten up now as she turned to face Gauri fully. "What right do you have to question me about my morality when you are the one having secret meetings with another man in an isolated room?"
Rather than the chagrined look that he expected on her face, Gauri gave a short laugh. "Don't tell me you have been snooping on me just like my husband? I frankly didn't think my life would be so interesting to you, Thalia. And I don't remember talking to another man as constituting a morally reprehensible act the last I checked."
Thalia smiled now as she said, "If I have snooped, you have just eavesdropped on us. So, we are even on that count. And just like you said, talking to a man is not "morally reprehensible," so I don't really understand your little display of jealousy that I am talking to Shiv."
"Ah, touche. You are absolutely right, of course. Do continue talking to him. I have no opposition there. I only take offense to people who don't know me discussing what they see as my limitations. For example, I could say to someone that I think you are an oversexed bimbo who thinks that her face and her breasts are her only assets." Gauri heard Thalia's quickly indrawn breath as she continued, "But I am sure you would feel that's a gross misconception on my part. Wouldn't you agree? That was all the point I was making. Now if you will excuse me, I find that I have no interest in prolonging this conversation…" With that parting statement, she went back into the house…
Thalia looked back at Shiv and raised an eyebrow after a few moments of his silence.
"She is a tad bit more complicated than you think she is…" he finally said…
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Edited by sridevi27 - 14 years ago
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