Act III (iv) : The Way We Were

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"There is something between us; a sort of pull. Something you always do to me and I to you."

~F Scott Fitzgerald~

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The amber liquid and the gold ice reminded him of Aabha's eyes, her eyes could be like sunlight shimmering through the whiskey, though they were often like the ice that glinted in the crystal decanter, sparkling but cold. The soft hues of the whiskey seemed beckoning, inviting him to drown in its warmth. Shaurya rarely drank and as usual, simply held the crystal glass, staring at the swirling liquid and wondered how was it that a woman he had met less than three months ago could so make him lose his senses. He was not a love-lorn teenager, he was almost thirty years old and yet here he was, tempted to drown his sorrows in drink.

She was beautiful, intelligent and kind, one of those rare human beings who believed that every person had innate goodness in them, with the possible exception of him. He was not blind, he could see the coldness behind the friendly exterior she exhibited to him, which was also at his request, he had always noted that the smiles she gave him never reached her eyes, they were always wary. And it hurt, he could assign no reason to it, he just knew that it hurt, with a gut-wrenching agony that left him cold and angry.

Then there had been the transformation into a woman who had melted in his arms and responded to his kisses with a fire that had seared his soul, a woman who fit perfectly into his arms and felt like she belonged there, a woman whose eyes he could read and to whom he could even bare his soul. The intensity of his emotions surprised him especially when he could not reconcile it with her subsequent spirited indifference.

As he felt the cold emptiness creep upon him he took a sip, the golden hues belied the harsh taste and he almost spluttered at the acrid taste. Then the burn left in its wake seemed to take away some sting from the coldness so he gulped the rest of it in one shot and asked for another.

He drowned the second one before he realised that he was going to prove the fact beyond doubt, you get drunk faster on an empty stomach. By the time he had finished his fourth, he stopped noticing much about what was going on around him as his thoughts were fine-tuned to Aabha and when he held the fifth in his hand, all his attention was on her. He did not bother to think as to how he would know where exactly she was, he turned, leaned back against the counter, trying to steady her image as he made up his mind about what he had to do once the world around him stopped spinning.

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Aabha was having an equally tough time, she would have skipped the party if it were not the fact that it was being held for their team and the fact that Ishaani had wanted to come along too. The fates appeared to be continuing in their conspiracy against her as her conservative Dadi had not only agreed to let both of them attend the party; she had been a willing participant in helping the girls get dressed also. It was only later that Aabha learnt that Reyansh had asked his mother to talk to Dadi and get her permission to have both of them attend the party. It had been a very vexed Aabha and an excited Ishaani who stepped into the terrace of the Rathore Enterprises building.

Aabha wore a sky blue shaded anarkalli that had the entire bodice embroidered in silver and deep blue; the dress fit her closely till the waist and flared into a flowing skirt till her ankles, the pale blue deepening to an azure. The entire hem was also embroidered in silver and deep blue with the motifs also repeated on the full net sleeves. They had run into a stalemate when she stubbornly refused to leave her hair loose and her mother adamant that her standard twisted bun was simply not acceptable. Her Dadi had stepped with the perfect compromise, a side braid that began at the crown of her head; a rough parting in the crown, hair French braided till the nape, where all the tresses were gathered and braided all together over her left shoulder. Her trademark eyeliner, a pair of long blue danglers and she was done.

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