Rishabh was with his friends, rehearsing for the evening gig. They had selected a number of tracks which they would perform throughout the weekend, and if they were good enough for Trishna and her friends, Mr. Sultan Khanna had promised them more public shows in India.
"This song is really good, I hope it is enough to make an impression!" sighed Krish.
"Someone has already made a very good impression it seems, so chillax man!" said Danny while pointing to Rishabh with his drumsticks.
"What impression?" asked Rishabh with an innocent face.
"The bride-to-be! She had the sparkles in her eyes, you know," winked Jimmy.
"Oh shut up. She is so beautiful, so gorgeous. I am sure the man she is getting married to is filthy rich and deadly handsome to have won her heart," replied Rishabh with a sigh.
"Aaahh, the sparks are on both sides it seems," mocked Danny.
Rishabh held his neck and playfully gagged him till he promised to stop teasing him.
Meanwhile the girls were having a good time in roaming around the island. They took pictures of themselves in the wackiest of postures with any object they found on their way.
After a few hours of their leisurely stroll, they reached the beach bar and indulged them with some cocktails.
"Hmm, Sex on the beach! That was quite an obvious choice Madhu," commented Raika.
"Can't help my dear. I am feeling quite treacherous from the moment I stepped my foot on this island," winked Madhu while sipping in her drink.
"Hey, there's a magnificent sight of the sunset," pointed Preeti to the beach.
"Let's go there."
The girls went close to the crashing waves and sat down on the warm sands. They were marvelling the sunset with the myriads of colour plays on the sky when they heard some commotion from nearby. It was Rishabh and his friends playing with a volleyball in the sea. They were all shirtless, only in their short pants, jumping and shouting at each other on every move.
The girls looked with their mouth agape at the sight for few moments before Preeti spoke up.
"I wish I was not married."
"I wish I was not married with a kid," sighed Trishna.
"I wish I was not getting married in 2 weeks," sighed Madhu.
"And I wish I could stop myself from pouncing on those preys in front of me," sneered Raika and looked at the other girls.
There was a silent exchange of agreements and within a split of a second all of them were tugging at their dresses or shirts to get down to their bikinis and jump in the water.
Jimmy noticed the girls running towards them first but before he could alert the boys, the girls were already in and trying to get the ball out of their hands.
"Hey, hey, hey! Let's make teams to play it the right way," shouted Rishabh and before anyone could say anything he pointed at Madhu and Raika to join him and Danny.
Madhu was beaming with excitement and every time she could hit the ball right Rishabh cheered the most. Several times they fell on each other as it was difficult to keep the footing in the advancing and retreating waves.
"Hey I am so sorry, did I hurt you?" asked Madhu as she fell over Rishabh for the 5th time.
"No it's ok. At least I don't need to make any effort to get you ride on me," winked Rishabh and stood up.
Madhu was red with embarrassment and did not know where to look at. To her rescue Trishna announced to get back onshore as it was getting too dark.
All the girls went back to their room for a shower and change of clothes. Madhu and Raika were sharing a room. They were both in towels after their shower and deciding on what to wear.
"You wear this LBD tonight," said Raika and handed over a beautiful black halter dress to Madhu.
"Oh god, I look like a seductress in this dress!" exclaimed Madhu as she examined herself in the full length mirror.
"That is exactly what you are going to do tonight," whispered Raika close to her ears and sprayed her with the Be Delicious DKNY perfume.
"He is so young. Looks like at least 4-5 years younger than me," pouted Madhu while applying the burgundy lipstick.
"Are you serious Madhu? Who cares if you flirt with a guy half your age in your hen party! After your marriage you will be living the prim and proper life till your last breath," replied Raika while rolling her eyes.
"Yes Raika, you are absolutely correct. I may be forgetting this whole hen party episode in a couple of years and who knows in another 40-50 years I will be telling this to my grandchildren."
Madhu always kept this charade of looking forward to her marriage in front of her friends, although it hardly represented what she actually felt about it. She had her fair share of relationships in college and one unfortunate one at her workplace, but they never got materialised to marriage. She was very strict about her priorities and after her parents came her career. Everything else came later. And unsurprisingly very few men she had met were ready to accept her priorities in that order. But with time her parents were bogged down with questions from friends and relatives as to why they were not thinking of getting Madhu married.
Madhu's father Shamsher Malik was not so keen to pressurise his daughter but for Padmini it had become a challenge to face people in any family gathering or festivities. At Madhu's 28th birthday Padmini gave her an ultimatum that she would have to get married in that year otherwise there would be serious consequences. Madhu thought a lot about her parents and their health deterioration with age. So she finally gave in. But she had her conditions. No one would be allowed to parade her down the living room to show how she walked or talked and what culinary skills she had. And as fate decides, the first proposal they received was from Rahul Ratnani, son of Malik's boss. Rahul had been in Dubai for a long time and only recently returned to join his father's business. They were rich no doubt, and had very good reputation in the high society. Madhu did not think a lot before agreeing to the proposal, as she had accepted the fact that it was going to be some stranger definitely, then why not Rahul. But after meeting him a couple of times she understood that Rahul was a half-witted, pompous brat of a filthy rich family. There was hardly anything common between them. Maybe that was the thing that assured Madhu in a twisted sense that she would never need to connect to this man psychologically.
Madhu and Raika joined the other girls at a beautiful restaurant by the beach. As it was not particularly a tourist season, there were few other people around.
"So what is your plan for tonight?" asked Madhu looking at Trishna.
"A nice dinner by the sea with some music and drinks," replied Trishna smilingly.
"Girl, you know how to indulge me," said Madhu and blew a kiss at her.
As their table was laid with numerous lip smacking sea food delicacies and wines, the lights in rest of the restaurant were dimmed.
Madhu had decided that she would not show much excitement after Rishabh's last comment on "riding him". So she kept a neutral expression on her face when the Wavebass took on the small live music corner of the restaurant and started playing the music with a reggae beat.
"Roop tera mastana...pyar mera deewana...
Bhul koi humse na ho jaye..."
"If they keep on singing such provocative songs, then definitely something very wrong will happen," whispered Raika and all the girls started giggling.
Madhu was sipping the wine from her glass when Rishabh walked close to her and pulled a chair to sit beside her.
"Raat nashili mast sama hai...
Aaj nashe me saara jahan hai...
Hai yeh sharabi mausam behkaye..."
He stealthily touched Madhu's small of the back and traced his finger through her back and made faint circles. Madhu gasped and immediately looked around the table. As it was dimly lit and her friends already seemed a little tipsy with the generous servings of wine, they did not seem to notice what was happening.
Madhu stared at Rishabh sternly and nudged his hand away from her back.
Rishabh left the chair and pulled Madhu out of hers. As he was singing on a wireless mouthpiece attached to his ear, he pulled Madhu close to him and put her hands around his neck. He started dancing some easy jiving steps, leading Madhu with him. Madhu followed him on reflex, as she had been training for quite few weeks with Rahul for their upcoming sangeet ceremony, who was in fact a terrible dancer and had finally given up on the idea. In spite of her reservations, Madhu felt a smoothness in the whole atmosphere and her companion as well. So she also started swaying with equal vigour and style.
"Aankhon se aankhen milti hai aise...
Bechain hoke toofan me jaise...
Mauj koi sahil se takraye..."
The cool sea breeze along with the inward and outward intoxication caught up with Madhu and she slowly started tripping on the footsteps.
Rishabh understood that Madhu was a little tipsy so he brought her back to the table and made her sit. The song was over by the time and his friends were playing some soothing music to fill in.
Suddenly Trishna's phone started ringing.
"Hello Sultan. What is it? Oh no, I am coming online right now," said Trishna tensed on the phone.
"What happened?" asked Preeti.
"Riju is crying for me and is not going to bed. Sultan asked me to talk to him over Skype so that he does not feel restless. Preeti, if you don't mind can we two get back to the room?"
Trishna and Preeti apologised to Madhu, Raika and the band and left for the night.
"Hey drummer, will you teach me how to play drums?" Raika asked Danny seductively.
"Why not? My pleasure," replied Danny with a smile and pulled her to sit beside him.
"So typical of Raika, can't keep her hands off boys," commented Madhu.
Rishabh did not know what to say, so he stood up. All along he was putting up an act in order to impress the girls in his best way, but now he realised that Madhu was quite drunk and he should not make any inappropriate move.
"Where are you g-going?" slurred Madhu.
"Just for a walk along the beach," shrugged Rishabh.
"I will j-join you," replied Madhu and stood up.
Rishabh caught her from tripping on the chair and carefully led her out of the restaurant.
It was a lovely full moon night and the white sands on the beach reflected a serene brightness. The small crashing waves glowed with phosphorescence, giving a magical touch to the whole atmosphere.
Madhu and Rishabh walked silently for some distance. It was a comfortable silence, with the sounds of waves filling in between.
"You must be thinking I am a loose woman, don't you?" Madhu asked all of a sudden.
Rishabh was taken aback with such a question to break their silence.
"No not at all, I do not think anything of you," replied Rishabh hesitantly.
"Hmm."
"But I think you are very beautiful, and your husband will be very fortunate to have a wife like you," added Rishabh.
"Why is it that men cannot take me as I am?" asked Madhu as she stared at the sea blankly.
"Why do you say that?"
"My husband will allow me to continue my job, but I have an opportunity to go to our UK office for 1 year which he does not approve of. He says I should not aim too high. Who is he to define my limits?" said Madhu exasperatedly.
Rishabh saw tears in Madhu's eyes and he felt a deep hollowness within him, but did not understand why.
"I am sure he will understand you. That is what marriage is meant to be, isn't it?" asked Rishabh hopefully.
"How old are you?" asked Madhu.
"24, why?"
"You are still in the age when people can dare to dream. I have long passed that age," replied Madhu and turned to go back to the restaurant.
Rishabh did not understand what Madhu meant by that. She could not be a few years older than him, and God she did look very young and gorgeously beautiful. He followed her back to the restaurant in silence.
On reaching there they found it was completely empty. Danny must have left with Raika and the other two guys were nowhere to be seen. Rishabh was thinking of going to the reception as he had left his mobile phone in his room when he looked back and saw Madhu drinking wine directly from the bottle on the table.
"Hey, don't! You have already had enough!" said Rishabh as he tried to take the bottle away.
"Shut up! This is my hen party and I will do what I wish to do," shouted Madhu and took another big gulp of wine.
Rishabh stood there helpless as he saw Madhu settling on a chair and leaning on the table.
"Hey, are you ok?" asked Rishabh in panic and shook her by her shoulders.
Madhu had already dozed off and did not respond to Rishabh's call.
"Oh god! I don't even know her room number. This bloody Danny and Madhu's friend! I cannot leave Madhu here like this and if I carry her to the reception it will be a big scandal tomorrow."
Krish's father was the GM of the hotel and that was the reason Rishabh and his friends always tried to maintain the decorum.
Rishabh thought for few moments more and then lifted Madhu in his arms. He stealthily walked to his bungalow which he shared with the other guys. Fortunately his friends seemed asleep in their rooms and no one was outside. He managed to open his lock quietly and carried Madhu to his bed. As he laid her down on the soft bed, she moaned and mumbled some gibberish words. Rishabh took her sandals off her feet and pulled the cotton sheet over her. He stood there looking at the sleeping beauty for a few moments more before he headed out to their TV room.
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