An Arranged Affair

chapter 50 dancing bells

Victorias POV

I almost regretted saying the words the moment they passed out of my mouth.

But that kiss, my mind was still reeling and my lips were tender, my whole body tingled. He wasn’t supposed to affect me, but he did, and I had kissed him back!

He wasn’t supposed to affect me, he wasn’t supposed to make me feel like this but as his face fell after I said those words, something in me broke as well and I tried to  wiggle out of his vice like grip but he just held me closer and whispered “ don’t worry darling, its only for appearances.”

“ yo yo yo …. Lets put our hands together for the beautiful  Mr. and Mrs. Malhotra everyone” Simmis brother announced, he was the DJ for the night. It was a short notice booking and I prayed that he was good, the crowed cheered and clapped their hands. I felt like I owed him after he helped Simmi look after me the night I got drunk.

‘ now enough of this mushy stuff, I think the girls done good! Lets get out the cake!” and as soon as he said the words Martha brought the cake out, a massive 3 level decadent white chocolate mud cake with a hand made Aston Martin car replica as the cake topper.

Black, like the one he had.

She had spent the better part of the past two days icing it to perfection.

Seeing the cake lightened his mood a bit and he laughed his heart out as Simmi’s brother, Dj Savea , egged the crowd on to sing happy birthday, which they did, badly and very off key.

But he didn’t loosen his grip on me.

I watched as he smiled as he tackled all his candles – all 28 of them, and then cut a piece and without warning shoved a piece into my mouth.

Well I wasn’t about to have him ruin my makeup without consequences, so I cut a slice  and  shoved it into his, making sure I rubbed a great deal of frosting all over his face.

I was sure he was going to be furious instead I got the shock of my life when he crashed his lips against mine and practically ate the frosting off my lips.

‘ I am going to have fun tonight, even if its only for appearances.” He whispered as he looked at me and wiped the frosting off his face.

I was shaken and rattled. The frosting tasted so good, he tasted good. And then I remembered I had a job to do and pressed the button on earpiece. I was connected to all the staff, the caters and the bar though a very high tech coms system.

“ pyro guys, your up!” I said and in a few moments they sky was lit up with a very impressive fireworks  display.

Diwali, it reminded me so much of Diwali, things were simpler then, we were simpler them. So unknown to each other but yet closer then then we were now.

And I missed that, I wished things could go back in time.

But instead I wiped the icing off my face and touched up my makeup and got back on with the job I had to do even though my legs were shaky and my heart was racing.

‘psst…..psst..oi Sali I know you can here me!” Simmi’s voice hissed down our private line. ‘ girl if I had a man that kissed me like that in front of a gazillion people, id keep him permanently tied up in my bed”

‘ oh shut up you kutia’ I hissed back. I hadn’t expected him to behave like this and it shook me to my core.

'ok geez, panties in a knot much?” she said sarcastically. ‘ the  Indian dancers are here. What do I do with them?”

‘ get them to the side entrance of the stage, they are going on second, your brother already has their music. I’ll meet you there in a minute.”

I quietly tried to leave but felt his hand grab mine.

‘ Where are you going?’ he said his hands gripping mine harshly. His eyes were dark pools of something I couldn’t describe, but I knew whatever it was, it scared me.

‘ I have a few things to sort out with the entertainers. I’ll be back soon.” I said half heartedly. He had had a few drinks and it was starting to show.

‘ Be sure that you do.” he said as he let go of my hand and waved me away dismissively.

I was stunned. That simple gesture hurt more than I could ever have imagine, it was so dismissive, as if was were nothing. I felt belittled and I walked away quickly as I could, my eyes brimming with tears. There had been too many emotional highs and lows these past few hours, and things I hadn’t dealt with these past few weeks and they were wearing away at me.

‘ Victoria! Its great to see you again!” Shilpa shouted loudly and she hugged me. “ doll, its been too long! It was so sad when you decided to leave the dance troop!”

I smiled and laughed as I hugged my old dance teacher, dressed in a crop top with a  knee length flowy skirt,  expertly done makeup and her hair free and flowing. The bells on her ankles jingled with every step she took.

‘ Shilpa didi,  its great to see you , and thank you for coming at such short notice.”

‘ for you, no problems, and you made such a generous donation to the dance school.”

‘it was the least I can do, the chance to dance at the party of the century and you wouldn’t charge me! You’ve done an amazing job! ’

We turned as the crowd cheered as the first performers took to the stage. It was a local hip hop Indian fusion male  dance troop that regularly preformed at the club Simi’s brother DJ’d at and they wowed the crowd with their perfectly executed routine and then it was my old dance troops turn .

I watched as they danced and twirled, keeping in time with the beat and the music, my mind flooded with memories of when I had danced with them. There were some new faces now, but the commitment was the same. Indian dancing is tough, almost like an athletic sport. It required both strength and stamina, as well as grace and poise.

‘ give it up for the sexy Desi Dollz!’ Simmi’s brother announced as the crowd cheered and the dancers left the stage. I was just going to tell them to enjoy the party when I heard a familiar voice on the mic.

‘ ok, so I an not great at public speaking, but I thought id better say something before I get too drunk.

Firstly I want to thank everyone who has attended tonight, this is surely a birthday I will never forget .” he held out his glass and downed the contents. ‘ on second thought, one I may not even remember.”

Thanks to everyone working in the background, the caterers, the bartenders, Martha and Stanford. I am sure you had a huge hand in all of this.

But most of all, I want to thank my beautiful wife, Victoria, come up on the stage darling!” he gestured and held out his arm.

Simmi practically pushed me up the steps and I wanted to him somewhat subspecialty, he wrapped his arms around my hips and kissed my forehead.

‘ darling, without you none of this would have happened. But I don’t think the performances for the evening are done. In her past life, before she married me, my wife once told me that she also used to dance.

So I think that to end the performances and open the dance floor, I’d like to see a performance from my darling wife.”

‘please Phillip, don’t do this!’ I whispered. I was terrified. It had been years since I had preformed in front of a crowd.

He covered the mike with one had and whispered back “ why? Scared you’re going to choke?” his eyes gleamed with mischief. He wanted to embarrass me, crush me like how I had crushed him.

Well that wasn’t going to happen.

He had already destroyed me with that blond, I wasn’t going to give him another chance.

‘ what say everyone ? do you want to see Victoria dance?”

The crowd cheered in what I could only say was a heard mentality. They didn’t know me, they didn’t know who I was, what I had done, what I had endured but only I knew what I could become.

I grabbed the mike from his hands and plastered on my biggest , fakest smile.

“ well for my darling husband,” and I exaggerated darling as much as I could. ‘ it would be my honor!”

I shoved the mic back to him, hitting him hard on the chest and spun on my heels to Shilpa.

“ you got a spare pair of gungaruu? And a dance skirt?’

‘ ure hun? Are you going to do Bole Churida?”

“ nope,Radha. If it’s a dance he wants, it’s a dance he will get!”

‘ you sure Hun? It’s a pretty hard routine , and you haven’t practiced.”

‘you kidding me? Once a dancer always a dancer, besides, I could do the entire routine in my sleep.”

It didn’t take me long to put the gungaruu on and Shilpa skipped across the stage with her phone and the music.

I took a breath and looked towards Simmi’s brother and signaled that I was ready.

At least I hoped that I was and I reached up, crossed my hands above my head and arched my body in the starting pose and the music started.

The thing about this routine is that it starts off very slow, with traditional beats then changes tone into something much faster and modern and with every step, every move, I poured my soul into this once dance.

I danced away the pain of my hear break, the sadness and loss I had left, my heartbreak, I embedded my very soul into each dance step. Each time I extended my arms , or arched my body, I did it with more purpose and passion that I had every done before and when I spun, the pleats of my skirt would twirl around my legs revealing the bells on my ankles.

For the spectators, it was a spectacular dance. For me, it was the release that I had been searching for.

When the music ended and I took the final pose, I was winded, sweat dripping from my forehead but it was done, and i knew that I had nailed the performance.

I walked to the front of the stage , planted my hands together and bowed deeply, looking straight into the eyes of Phillip, who looked a but shocked, then strode off the stage to the waiting dance troop while the Dj started to flip tunes to get everyone in a good mood.

‘ thanks for the bells.” I said to Shilpa as I handed them back to her.

“ girl, you’ve been holding out all these years, that was amazing!”

‘ yeah, well saving the best for last I suppose. Hey please enjoy the party, eat drink and have a good time. I need to go and check on some stuff.” I told her and walked towards Phillip, except, instead of sitting next to him like I promised, I ignored him and walked straight into the partygoers, the crowd swallowing me instantly, and as I  knew he didn’t like crowds, he wouldn’t follow me