The Vows We Exchanged

Chapter 10: Night of the Party

A week later...

Mayank combed his hair as he stood in the drawing room. The habit of not using any mirror to look at him was still intact. Instead he gazed out from the balcony towards the sea at the horizon. The sun had already gone down and the clock was ticking past seven now. Even so, he was still able to notice the dark clouds in the night sky. It seemed as if they were just looking for a spot to settle and pour down.

Mayank tapped his hair lightly, taking a feel of them to try and determine their shape and position. During his days of graduation, he was taught to take the feel of objects in his surroundings with only one sense. He thus had a good practice of feeling the objects and creating an image of them in his mind; something he found useful to escape from mirrors. Once satisfied with the waves of hairs he created over his forehead, he placed the comb back to its position and went to a small safe in his bedroom. He unlocked it and opened the vault.

Inside the vault were his spectacles, crushed and broken. Fortunately, the hospital had decided to keep them safe and to allow Mayank to decide whether to discard them of not. He softly caressed the edge of the frame, trying to feel each and every memory it had linked with itself. Once satisfied with fact that he clearly remembered everything, he wiped off any possible droplets which had formed in his eyes and lead his hand to the corner of the vault.

At the very end was kept a small pendent. He pulled it out and tried to admire his work; something he rarely did. It was a small transparent grass green coloured crystal attached to thin metal cap which held it in its place. There was a tiny sculpture of an angel inside the crystal. She was painted in dark black making it easier to spot inside the green casing. She seemed to be spreading out her wings, preparing herself to fly; a description he once used for Aaruhi. The metal cap of the crystal transformed into a hook at its tip and was thus attached to a silver chain matching with the colour of the hook.

He had carved this present during his second year of graduation hoping to somehow pass it on to Aaruhi. Although he never had imagined that his short little dream might come true someday, but here he was today. Aaruhi had turned 24 and he planned to give her the pendent as present. He tried to imagine her wearing it but wasn't really sure of what expression she might have on her face. "Do you think she'll like it?" He asked Aisha. "I do feel that she will, but just in case if she doesn't, then give it to me. I just love it." She replied with her eyes glittering in the admiration towards the small piece of glass.

A sudden change of the song playing in the background reminded Mayank of the time which was slipping away and he quickly tucked the pendent in his shirt pocket. Then once again sending his hands over his body, he made sure that was looking presentable enough. Dressing up was never in his to-do list but today was special for him. "Let's go." He said to Aisha and both of them headed out for Aaruhi's flat.

Mayank locked his flat and climbed down the stairs to find the door of Aaruhi's flat to already been opened a little. He noticed there were a few pairs of sandals, shoes and heels lying in front of the door. He slow steps approached the door and pushed it slightly to take view inside without actually being noticed. There were a couple of guys and girls inside along with Aaruhi and Tanuja. None of them he found familiar. 'Guess this is the friend circle she used to talk about.' Mayank concluded.

He noticed that the two girls and a guy from them gave a hug to Aaruhi and then the girls did the same with Tanuja. It seemed as if Aaruhi was introducing Tanuja to the guests. Mayank took a step closer and almost stumbled over one of the heels. It appeared as he just barged into the room without any warning. "Um...hey, hi?" He tried to collect some words when he noticed everyone staring at him.

"Oh, you can't have a better timing!" Aaruhi exclaimed with a short clap of her hands in delightment. Walked towards Mayank and grabbing him by his arm pulled him in the centre of the room. "Guys, meet Mayur and Mayur, these are my friends." She said introducing each one of them. "The fatty over there, is Ayush, the cutie besides him is his girlfriend Zoya, the guy standing there is..." She took a short pause as her eyes met Yug's. "....is Yug." She finally uttered trying her best to suppress the wide smile which was coming up and continued. "And the princess over there is Tamanna, Barry's girlfriend."