Chapter 9

Dan was an extrovert. He loved being around people and was an outdoor person. Tara was the opposite. She rarely liked stepping out of the house if not for work, shopping or meeting with some of her close friends.

While Dan was in town for his story, he started to drop by constantly at Tara's place. This not only started to upset the precarious balance that she had strived to develop in her routine, but she also felt like Dan was judging her.

Once Dan asked her out to join his friends for a barbeque night on a weekend and Tara agreed-on the condition that they don't stay past midnight. There were about twenty people when they reached there and all were friends of Dan. They showered the new couple with compliments and made Tara quite overwhelmed with all the attention. Dan quickly saved her from a panic attack by pulling her back from the crowd and taking her to the refreshment table.

The people who hosted the party were the Edwards, who are colleagues of Dan and were super cool. Mr. and Mrs. Edward loved travelling so much that they have seen most parts of the globe and spoke several languages. Because of this their accents sounds different at different times that it is difficult to identify from where they are from.

The Edwards' Victorian mansion was in the suburbs and held many antiques, paintings and sculptures which mesmerized the people gathered, including Tara, though the others were frequent visitors at the mansion whereas it was Tara's first time.

The night was warm and was good enough for an outdoor party. Music was blasting from stereos placed on tables and everyone were either animatedly talking or eating. Tara quietly stepped away from the crowd and found shelter under a tree. Its huge girth cast shadows all around it that Tara was quite invisible to the people gathered.