Promised Love

15. Together But Still Apart

This charity dinner is grand. And even that is an understatement. I know what kind of people the Malhotras are friends with and after seeing Mr.Rai's mansion I was fully prepared for the grandeur but this is just out of the world.

Coming from a upper middle class family in Jaipur, I have never once been to such an extravagant event but I can't say this is a bad experience.

"Ma'am, would you like some more?" A young caterer asks me while presenting the plate filled with some prawn dish.
I smile sweetly and shake my head no. Abhimanyu lets out a disagreeing grunt. The caterer gives me one last glance and hurries away.

"What was that about? Any reason you've been making animalistic noises all night?" I ask raising a brow. Abhimanyu has been making these weird grunts since the one hour we've been here. Especially each time someone talks to me.

"I should put a placard around your neck that reads 'Taken'." He mutters. I shove him.

"And why would you do that?"

"Haven't you noticed? Most of those caterers have been hovering around you. I have faced all this 'hitting on my girl' many times with Shanaya but it's a whole other level of disrespect when they hit on my wife." He explains.

I can't help but snort. "Wife? I suddenly became worthy of you calling me your wife now."

He gives me a resigned expression, "It was never about being worthy. It was about acceptance and I believe both of us had not accepted eachother as spouses when we got married."

I shrug. "It wasn't as if you ever gave me an option. You told me you were never going to accept me as your wife because you loved someone else on our wedding day itself."

He turns his head toward me so fast I am afraid he pulled a muscle. "What is that supposed to mean? You wanted to give us a chance?" He asks.

Don't say it. Don't say it. Don't say it. "I guess we'll never know now. But I'll be honest, when you suddenly dropped the bomb on me that you had someone else in your life, I was really shocked. And naturally I wasn't going to act hurt so I said the first things that came to my mind." I regret the words the minute they leave my mouth. I shouldn't have told him the truth.

"Saanvi I-" Abhimanyu's words are cut off when a young couple  stops in front of us.

"Abhimanyu! Long time!" A young guy wearing a bright red suit says bro-hugging Abhimanyu. The girl on his arm wearing a midnight blue dress looks bored to say the least. However, the second her eyes fall on Abhimanyu she licks her lips with interest.

"Hi stranger." She touches his arm, "Good to know you are still alive." Her seductive tone isn't lost on me. As she hugs my husband I stare at them curiously. 

"Hi. It's good to see ya'll too.....by the way, this is my wife, Saanvi."

The flirty girl finally notices me and eyes me up and down. I size her up as well. She looks pretty in a 'i-take-two-hours-to-get-ready' kind of way. 

"Right....I have heard about you. You're cute." The way she says the word cute is like she is insulting me.

Infact I think I need to add I have never been described as cute in all my life. I have received my fair share of compliments but cute has never been on of them.

"I wish I could say I've heard about you too but unfortunately that's not the case." I smile tightly.

The girl laughs but it sounds more like a scoff. "Kashish. Kashish Goyal." She introduces, her tone has a note of pride.

"And I'm her brother Harsh Goyal." The red suit guy says extending his hand. So they are siblings not a couple...

I take his hand and he doesn't waste a second in flipping my hand and placing a kiss on the back of it. I hear another grunt from Abhimanyu.