A Dark and Terrible Beauty – Part 4
Ah, where to start…
Where to start indeed?
The beginning of the evening was simple enough… well, by beginning, he meant, the opening and closing the door part. From then on, things became rather complicated.
Just like Shakespeare said in A Comedy of Errors, Every Why Hath a Wherefore… every single one of them… even the villains had their reasons… but the trouble was that it was a different why for every one of the key players. He had a feeling that not only were each of their why's not understood by the others, but they were poorly understood by they themselves.
Why had he gone to Goa? Why was he at this party? Why couldn't he get Thalia out of his life? Why wasn't he married to Gauri?
All why's with reasons that were not all that clear to him…
Once inside the party venue, Thalia went her own way, which was fine with him, as he really needed to regain his objectivity, something that was always in short supply when she was nearby.
Dhruv had certainly looked surprised to see him, but aside from greeting him and quickly looking behind to scan the crowd already amassed in the room, Dhruv didn't remark upon his uninvited presence at the party. Shashank was sure that Dhruv was searching for the whereabouts of Shiv, although what he thought Shiv would do was a mystery. Shashank didn't think Shiv would make a scene; the man just didn't seem the type to experience possessiveness or jealousy, even over a woman like Gauri.
The room was lit with that sort of bar/lounge lighting that was meant to mask any flaws and enhance what were not; it worked to his favor as he wandered the room in relative anonymity. He needn't have worried much; he did not spot that many people there who knew him. Once he made several rounds, he decided to get a drink and leaned against one of the side walls to watch the scene. That was more in line with his comfort level anyways; parties, certainly those involving dressed-to-impress folks, were hardly his thing.
A half hour passed before he saw Gauri. She was coming straight his way, although he was sure that she hadn't seen him yet. Before long, she was just a few feet away and then she did see him. There was an expected look of surprise that passed over her face, but unlike Dhruv, she did not look back at the crowd to scan the area for her husband. He admired her for that. The woman was not in the least bothered by anything she did or didn't do, for that matter. She relied on and trusted her instincts entirely and screw what anyone else thought. Her initial surprise was followed by a look of genuine pleasure, but then quickly masked by a lack of any discernible expression as she approached him slowly.
"Hello Shashank."
"Hello Gauri."
"Imagine running into you here. I didn't know that you knew Dhruv well."
"I don't. I came with someone else…"
This time she did scan the crowd quickly to see if there was anyone here whom she recognized; she knew most of his friends after all.
"I don't think you know this person…" he lied.
She looked back. "Oh… alright."
"You look great." He said then, not just to say it, but because she did. She always looked great.
She looked down at her dress and then back at him and this time there was a slight smile on her lips.
"Thank you. So do you."
He looked down at himself and looked back up with a chuckle. "Gauri, I am wearing plaid and khakhi in the most uninteresting and dull combination of colors. There is nothing great about this."
"I wasn't talking about your clothes."
"Oh…" he didn't know how to reply to that and after an awkward moment, he smiled. He missed her.
"How are things?" He asked.
"They are good." She smiled again.
"He must be a good husband if you can say that after what happened that evening at Sarala aunty's house."
Her smile disappeared, but she didn't appear glum or solemn… just thoughtful, actually, as she pondered what he said for a few moments.
"It's a bit of an unacknowledged agreement to…" she started, but did not get a chance to complete her sentence as a group of people passed directly behind her and one of them accidently bumped into her, consequently, knocking her into him.
It was natural instinct to grab her around the waist and for her to hold onto his arms to steady herself.
She was a very striking woman, with eyes that always had a fire in them, even when she appeared calm. But now the fire was a bit different. Whereas when they were dating, that fire had been about how passionate she was about every topic that was of interest to her, now he could see that the fire had morphed into something more. This was the fire of a woman… a woman who truly knew her power. It was a dangerous thing, he decided. This was the fire that Thalia pretended that she had, but she really lacked. This was the fire that women were fortunate to recognize that they possessed at some point in their life, forget this early. This Gauri, he knew, would be both thrilling and devastating to deal with. And he had a feeling that Shiv was up for the task.
She was looking at him in a strange way now, in a way that she hadn't looked at him before, almost as if this was the first time that she was looking at him as a man…
There was something in the way that they gathered new knowledge of each other that made them both forget that they had not let go of each other. In fact, it wasn't until there was a commotion in the crowd that they both became aware and she quickly backed away from his arms. But the crowd wasn't looking at them. They were looking at something else. There was a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach as he worked his way through the crowd to see the spectacle that was garnering such attention, Gauri right behind him.
But even that feeling didn't prepare him for the molten lava that erupted inside him when he saw what everyone else was looking at…
Thalia kissing Shiv.
---------------------------------------
comment:
p_commentcount