Lame party

The party was held in his parent's villa adjacent to his. This house had its own charm and grandeur with rich white marble flooring, glassy chandelier lights, grey-white furniture and carpet and soft blue walls depicting the peacefulness of a calm sea. She hated to admit it, but she liked Dhruv's house better.

As promised, only close family which included Riya's brother and father, Dhruv's parents, brother and Tanya were invited. After exchanging formal greetings with everyone, Riya made herself comfortable in a corner on the L-shaped couch in the living room. Soon after, she was handed over with a glass of orange juice by the helper.

She was playing candy crush on her phone when a fine woman in her early 30s entered. The woman was draped in pure white designer saree looking like an angel. Her hair was black with red highlights at the ends which elevated the glow on her pale face. She had soft eyes and polite smile which would make any guy jump on a track without hesitation. Riya wondered who she was when Dhruv hugged her in a friendly yet affectionate way.

Riya sharply averted her eyes, suddenly feeling guilty for seeing that. When she turned her gaze back to the woman, she was coming towards Riya. All her nerves jumped to attention at that and she immediately got up from the couch to move further back.

"Hey! I'm Tanya.. Nice to meet you" she flashed that soft smile towards Riya and extended her hand. Riya gulped hard as she was already on the verge of panic and just nodded with a namaste. Tanya retreated her hand making a namaste herself feeling awkward.

Dhruv came behind her and softly touched the small of her back, "Tanya...Come on, dinner is ready!", he took her with him leaving Riya to just stand there blinking. Finally, after making sure that everything was clear, she searched for the dining room and joined the rest. Only one seat near Riya's dad was vacant so, she took that.

It was a feast. Approximately 60 or more items were distributed across the table with the whole menu of soup, starters, main course, dessert and drinks. The dinner conversation mostly revolved around Tanya and Niranjan's wedding plans. To Riya, it sounded more like a carnival than a wedding plan. The wedding had an open bar, food trucks, party, games and lot more. Only a clown was missing from making it a carnival, Riya thought but held that to herself.

She hardly spoke through dinner and concentrated only on making room for all the desserts. She had been an hopeless sweet tooth since childhood. Dhruv on the other hand, was completely enchanted by Tanya's beauty and quietly observed her every activity. Even though it pained him every time at the mention of his brother's marriage, he hid that so well and tried ignoring the reality for awhile. With a blush on his face, he turned casually, only to notice Riya grinning like a maniac over a big piece of choco truffle on her plate. He quickly shook his head to come out of the sudden change of scenery and then continued eating. Dhruv's mother was filled with happiness to see both her boys turn into fine young men treating their women with respect.

After dinner, while saying goodbye to everyone, Riya was mentally preparing herself to shake hands with Tanya in order to make up for her rudeness during the introduction. As being respectful to close family and friends was one of the clauses in the contract, she wouldn't breach it and give Dhruv the happiness to sue her.

It was Riya's family who left first followed by the helpers for the night. Finally, when the couple were telling their goodbyes, Riya's heart beat increased drastically with fear. Tanya hugged Dhruv and his parents wishing them good night.

She hesitated and came to Riya at last. But Riya's mind was on fire and she was reminding herself to take deep breaths.

Before Tanya could say anything, "Nice meeting you", Riya declared and reached out her shivering hand. "Aw! Come here", Tanya grabbed the hand and pulled Riya into a hug.

That did it!

Riya's breath caught in her burning throat and her eyes bulged with shock. The same vile pictures of someone touching her filled her mind. She heard a ear piercing scream of a girl and a disgusting voice calling out to her. Suddenly, she felt the pain of million thorns pricking her body.

She pushed away Tanya with a revolted expression and sharply yelled, "Don't touch me!"

She started walking away rapidly towards Dhruv's villa, leaving everyone with their mouths open.

"What happened? Did I do something wrong?", Tanya asked Dhruv with a pained expression. For a moment, nobody spoke because of the shock.

Dhruv slowly came forward to hold Tanya, "She's just....uhm... tired and stressed due to work. Please don't take it to your heart." he convinced her when he was the one who needed convincing of Riya's sudden outburst and mean behavior.

"I don't think she likes me", Tanya worried with her head down. "No..... No.... I'm sure it doesn't have anything to do with you, Tanya." Meanwhile, Niranjan came behind his fiancé and took her hands in his. "Dhruv is right. Maybe she was just overwhelmed and nervous of meeting our family first time". Dhruv let go of Tanya immediately with guilt evidently visible on his face.

"I'll go check on her. You guys carry on and go home safely. Good night, mom, dad" Dhruv took his leave and proceeded to his house.

He went straight to Riya's locked room and banged the door. She heard it from the restroom where she hid and came out slowly with wobbly legs.

"Riya! I know you're in there. Open the door", he yelled with no response.

'Did he come to check on me?' she wondered before opening the lock.

When he was about to knock again, he heard the click of her lock opening. She looked perplexed and exhausted and stared into his intense grey eyes.

He leaned in and hovered his face just inches above hers, "How dare you pull that with Tanya?", he growled in a low dangerous murmur.

He slammed the door behind him with brute force which hit with a bang.

She stared at him wide eyed.