Greetings!
My first ever PaRud OS and it's based on the party coming up. Please read and tell me what you think!
He knew tonight was going to be a disaster. The kind of disaster that left destruction and wreckage in its wake and scars that resonated for years to come. What he had not foreseen was that the biggest casualty would be him.
Ever since he'd seen her dressed up as a bride, he would be lying if he said he hadn't imagined her in a setting like this. Far removed from dunes that shifted like dreams, and winds that blew more than just secrets and lies. Where the air reeked of tragedy and the only water that flowed without restrain was from eyes that had seen far too much for far too long.
Here though, amongst walls that stood towering and majestic, proud of their heritage and witness to more grandeur than one lifetime could behold, all those memories seemed like a mirage, a folktale from another era, someone else's life.
The clinking glasses, the loud baritone laughter, the hushed excited voices and the occasional tinkering giggle; if he closed his eyes and let his mind wander far enough, he could almost convince himself that everything was alright, was normal, that things were just like they had always been. That it was just another one of those balls he was always cajoled into attending. That it was just as plain and boring as he remembered them to be. He hated these affairs but tonight it was different. Even with his eyes closed, he just had to turn a little to his right and feel the soft satin against his skin to tell him as much.
For all his feeble attempts to maintain distance, to stay aloof, to have nothing to do with her, he felt himself tensing up every time she inched a little away. He didn't have to look up to know Aman was probably looking at him with barely hidden glee on his face. He longed to pull him aside and wipe that grin off his face but they were at a formal event away from sanctity of their headquarters and he had bigger fish to fry.
Like the one who sat at the bar ogling his wife as he sipped his drink. Or the one who stood strategically across the hall and pretended to be interested in whatever the woman he was with was saying as he blatantly stared at Paro. Then there were all these random officers who kept coming up to them under the pretext of congratulate him, just so they could take a better look at her upfront.
He was slowly losing his mind. And he was sure his fingers would leave marks on her arm, but she just stood there smiling, not a glimmer of pain on her face, attentively listening to whatever it was Aman was talking to her about even as his fingers dug in deeper.
He knew this had been a bad idea. In fact as bad ideas go, this was fast turning into a colossal catastrophe. And he had only himself to blame.
He would have blamed her but she was past reason. Like he had always known her to be. There had been a very specific reason he had wanted to have nothing to do with her and this had been it. She was a dormant volcano and he had inadvertently been the flint that had woken her up. And now there was no controlling her.
When she had come to him concerned about the ball, he had vehemently told her how important it was to attend it. How important it was to look in place, like they belonged, like she did. That she was going with him and he had an image to hold up. Maybe if he hadn't said all that, had just told her to dress nice and left it at that he wouldn't be in this situation right now. But he hadn't so he wasn't and she didn't. Look nice, that is. She looked ethereal. And that (she) was a major part of the problem.
The other part was all him. He was in half a mind to just stomp out of here but felt a sliver of anxiety crawl down his spine at the thought. He could always drag her along and as always she would willingly comply. But if he did, her questions would follow at their heels so will Aman's knowing eyes and their waging tongues and he didn't know which was worst.
So here he was. Stuck next to the most gorgeous woman in the room who was completely oblivious to a room full of smitten army men while he battled the urge to cover her up in his jacket and break a few bones while he was at it.
And to make matters worse (if at all that was possible) every now and then, when someone new came over to greet them, she would move closer to him, her bare back would brush against his arm and side and he would feel the hair at the back of his neck rise.
It was going to be a long night.
Shiv Shakti
