For Better or For Worse

CHAPTER 5 - The Night of Neon Lights

Someplace Else was her favourite club in the town. Nandini loved it particularly because of the good music it played and the live bands that performed there. Although it was a Sunday night, the place was teaming with people and even the loud music could not discourage them from discussing their plan of action once they reach Rajasthan. None of them bothered to dance much at all. Before it was too late they decided to leave since they had an evening flight the next day to Delhi. They had decided that they would drive all the way from Delhi to Jaigarh, Nandini’s ancestral village in Rajasthan.

Out of the club they decided to go for a late night ice cream celebration. They drove to Nandini’s favourite ice cream parlour of the city. The Coffee World, or more famous as the Cream and Fudge Factory, this place was quaint and quiet and served the best ice creams in the entire city. After placing their orders they were busy planning when and where they would meet and then board the flight. Decisions were made that Anita and Nandini, since they lived quite close would go the airport together where they would meet up with the rest. Yosuf, who practically lived at other side of the city and quite close to the airport would reach their and Adi and Smapoorna would come together.

Everything was just absolutely perfect for Nandini and she was enjoying this reunion and the excitement of executing their dreadful plan was making her almost heady when a pang of feelings tugged at her heart. She quite did not understand what it was and tried to ignore it but she ended up realising that she was finally left all by herself. Watching the two couples, holding hands, stealing glances at each other through conversations, made her realise that although she had her best friends with her, she was an intruder after all. Not that she regretted being single. She never had time for commitments, but she certainly did feel like an intruder among them, and suddenly the thought of accompanying them in a car for three hours, from Delhi to Jaigarh seemed to have lost its essence.