11 The Night We Met

Namit

I let the man pass, deciding to deal with him as soon as the party ends. Sama wasn’t doing fine. Her state was shattering my heart, hurting my soul but I had to be strong, only for her. I took her out, on the balcony, so that she won’t feel suffocated. When we were back we were the spotlight of the party, for every eye was on us, our intertwined fingers.

“Dance with me.” As soon as the whisper left my mouth, I saw her eyes widen slightly before she blushed and nodded. I enveloped her hands with mine, the heat from her own warming mine. My fingertips tingled at her touch and I pined to touch her more than just holding her hand.

I positioned us, splaying one hand on her waist and with the other, I held her hand as we danced to the tune.

"Say it," I said looking at the top of her head. I could see her mind lost somewhere, not in the dance. I wanted to know what was going on in her little head.

"What?" She asked, her brows furrowed in confusion.

"You look like you are fighting the urge to say something but I want to know." Her eyes widened, slightly flabbergasted. She hadn’t hoped I would notice that.

"That man, he got scared when he saw you. Do you by any chance know him?" She asked, now looking at me.

I nodded positively in response, "He used to work for my father."

"Used to?" She asked.

"Yes, after tonight's incident I will make sure he loses his job. He has no right to treat a woman that way." I was well versed in how I was to deal with him.

"Please don’t do that for me. I mean he was drunk and not in his right mind and also no damage was done. I am fine. He might have a family to feed, I don't want his family to suffer because of his careless attitude." She said.

"Drunk or not, no man is allowed to disrespect a woman. And he needs to learn that now." I argued back hoping she won’t stop me from doing that. I thought she would argue back but instead, she smiled at me. Her smile blinded me for a moment, taking me back to our college days.

"You still didn't tell me that how do you know my name?" She asked, breaking my haze. Instead of replying to her, I gestured to Rohit signalling him to change the song to one of her favourites. She loved that song, it was the same tune to which we danced at the masquerade held in college. The song changed to ‘The Night We Met.’

. . . I had all and then most of you,

Some and now none of you,

Take me back to the night we met. . .

Her hands clasped in mine, I pulled her closer than intended, smoothly gliding us on the floor just like that night. Though years separated us, I could still feel the raw intensity of this moment. I wondered if she could too. Did she remember that night? I wondered entranced by her eyes that were fixated on mine.

When the song stopped and everyone started cheering, we stepped back, flushed. My eyes involuntarily found our friends before I nodded at her to follow me.

"It seems like you guys don't need an introduction. You both might have introduced yourselves to each other." Dhruv joked.

"No, we haven't," I grunted, but before I could say anything, Ishaan came up to take my Sama away.

"Sammy, uncle is calling you." He said before asking her to follow him. Disappointment clouded my mind as soon as she started walking away. Somehow I had started missing her presence by then. My eyes followed her retreating figure before she disappeared from my sight.

"You guys danced and didn't even introduce yourselves. What does that mean?" Riddhi asked. I relayed everything back to them, citing her encounter with the man.

"Why didn't you call us?" Rohit asked worry etched his face. I assured him the matter was taken care of.

"Anyway, dad will be announcing soon about M.N.K Cosmetics, let's go downstairs," Rohit said and we went there.

We came downstairs only to found Samaira with my parents.

"Looks like the next part of the plan is being executed." Nitya said while beaming with happiness, "Bhai I can't wait to make her my sister-in-law. I talked to her and really liked her. When are you getting married?"

"In a month," I said and I received the response I was expecting.

"What?" Arjun, Dhruv, and Rohit nearly screamed out together.

"Really?" Nitya and Riddhi bubbled with excitement.

"Guys don't shout." I shushed them.

“Don't shout? Are you crazy? How will you convince her and her family to get her married this soon?" Rohit asked.

"I don't have to do anything. Mom and Dad will do that. I just have to tell them when I want to get married. You guys know how much they want me to settle down and I am sure they will not deny." I said grinning.

"And why didn't you tell us about this?" Dhruv asked.

"I was going to tell you guys today only, actually I got to know today that Ishaan and Adya are getting married in a month and I thought why not me and Sama get married on the same day. She would definitely love the idea of getting married on the day her best friend and brother is getting married." I replied.

Neeraj Uncle soon made the announcement declaring M.N.K Cosmetics as the subsidiary of N.K Cosmetics and he was none other than my uncle. I found surprise written all over Samaira’s face as she stared at my uncle.

My cousins left my side only to stand with her. She masked her shocked expression quickly before she warmly greeted them and soon they were immersed in animated banter of their own.

"That song, you guys danced on, it was special for you both, right?." Aditi questioned me.

“Yeah,” I replied. My eyes on my girl who was lost, somewhere in her thoughts.

“That explains why does Sammy listen to it most of the time.”

“She does?” I queried. My eyes glittering with hope. Aditi nodded, relieving my heart; Mr. Stranger was still alive in Sama’s heart.

“You are so mean, idiot lawyer,” Aditi shouted at Arjun when he had come to me.

"What did I do? And I am not an idiot lawyer. People plead with me to take their case." He replied proudly now towering over her.

"Plead my foot! You told me to look for Samaira downstairs and because of that I missed Samaira and Namit's dance’s start." She huffed folding her hands near her chest.

"Yeah, we were not able to find Samaira when we came after dancing so I sent you downstairs and I looked on the balcony. And it's not my fault if you took this long." He said with a wide smirk.

"Ady, what happened? Why are you fuming? You look like you're about to burst." A familiar voice spoke. It was my Sama.

"This idiot Arjun sent me downstairs to find you and I missed the start of your dance with your Mr. Richie Rich," Aditi replied to which Samaira's eyes widened in shock. I laughed silently wondering if she knew what she was saying. Mr. Richie Rich did ring a bell, but I couldn’t recall why it seemed familiar.

"Ady his name is not Richie Rich." Sama prodded Aditi and gestured to her to look at me. With their gestures, I was completely aware that Aditi forgot I was also standing there.

"I know his name is not that. But you gave him the nickname Mr. Richie Rich so I. . ." But before she could say anymore, Samaira again gestured wildly in my direction, her face flushing as the seconds passed by. When Aditi finally looked at me, she covered her mouth with both her hands and her eyes widened with shock. I smirked at her while Arjun started laughing.

She threw a murderous glare at Arjun, "This is all your fault and I am not sparing you!" Arjun ran away poking his tongue at her while she followed.

Samaira stood there for a while looking at anywhere but me, by the way, her tongue darted out, moistening her lips, I knew she wanted to say something.

"I... I came to return this. Thank you for this." She said looking down at my shoes, as she held the jacket with one hand. I took it back from her, covering her yet again like before.

Her surprised eyes met mine. "This is not mine. It's yours." I whispered. She looked at me, confused by my statement when I bent forward only to whisper in her ears, "By the way, I liked the nickname, Sama."

She stared at me trying to read my emotions but I offered her only a smirk.

She was shocked to hear ‘Sama’ after so long because only her Mr. Stranger used to call her that.

"Sammy, come let's go. We are leaving." Her brother called. She started moving towards him not before passing me a glance and muttering a bye. I didn’t reply, instead held her wrist pulling her closer and whispering, "See you soon Sama."

I saw her going away from me and I didn't like the feeling a bit. I didn't know how I would wait for a month to have her in my life. But if waiting for a month will make her mine completely then I was ready for it.