My Sweetest Love

Rhianna glared at the phone in her hand. Eeshani laughed in amusement. The two of them were now standing at the bottom of the staircase.

"You're not the sages from the ancient time. You can't burn your phone to ash with that glare. It's not the poor phone's fault that Nia hung up on you."

"Damn that girl. She didn't answer my phone calls even for once since early in the evening. Now she refused to meet me and hung up. And here these two men are pissed off imagining Zubeen may be her lover." Rhianna did not conceal her anger.

"Why were you trying to contact Nia? Weren't you with Nicholas?"

"I wanted to talk with her about something important. I was in a fix. Your phone call acted as my saviour." Rhianna shook her head, remembering the awkward situation she was in earlier that night.

"What are you saying, girl? What was the matter?" Eeshani was interested to learn the details.

"Tell me, have you and Arvind gone beyond the kissing and hugging part." Rhianna wanted to know. She looked serious like a concerned mom talking with her teenage daughter.

Eeshani smiled mischievously. "Why do you suddenly want to know? Has Nicholas tried to go beyond the cuddling?

Rhianna was silent for a moment, then she blurted out, "I think Nicholas want sex but I don't know if I'm ready."

"And you're nervous about that. How do you know? Did he tell you or hinted at it?" Eeshani found Rhianna's worry amusing.

"No, but I saw him looking at boxes of condoms at the supermarket earlier in the evening. He even picked up a few and read the lebels. Later during the dinner he asked me if I would like to go to his home."

Eeshani sighed. "Come on Rhi. Men love sex. It's only natural for him to want it with you. Or do you want him to have it with others? If you're not ready, tell him so. Don't you want it with him?"

"I want to wait till we're married." Rhianna hesitated.

"Doing before or after marriage, does that matter? You'll be doing with your fiance, not with another man. There's nothing wrong in doing with him before marriage. And yeah, Arvind and I've gone beyond kissing and cuddling. It's beautiful."

Rhianna stared at Eeshani's beautiful face which grew radiant as she spoke. The girl's eyes were bright as she looked at the upper floor, towards their booth. Rhianna felt her fear was unfounded. But she blushed at the thought of getting more intimate with Nicholas.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Nia stopped on her track. His voice sounded sonorous as before but it was a bit less magical due to the drunkenness mingled in the sound. He called her in a drunk voice. Her heart twisted a little.

"Nia." He did not slur, maybe because her name was short. Nia turned to face him.

There he stood, only a few steps away from her. The first two bottons of his cobalt blue shirt was undone. She was wearing a cobalt blue shirt too. With his beige pants and her beige culottes, they were again in matching clothes. This time she did not frown at the coincidence. His always neatly combed hair was messy, making him look kind of cute.

Nia stared into his beautiful hazel eyes. The prominent gold in them glowed like ember. She hurried out of the club to avoid him but here he was, gazing at her with a wild, primitive passion and a love which spoke of an eternity of togetherness. What would he tell her? Nia was very much aware of the presence of her companions. Last time he confessed his love in front of a roomful of strangers.

Why did he choose a public place to speak of personal feelings? She felt a little uncomfortable at the thought of what might come out of his mouth. Nia forgot that they never had a chance to be alone in somewhere private.

"Nia." The man came closer, closing in the few steps between them.

When his eyes were roaming around over the faces of the people after he gulped down the two shots of Silver Bullet, Yougal Lucas' subconscious was searching for the woman he loved. Even through the hazy consciousness of his inebriation he felt melancholy and loneliness pervading his heart.

Then his eyes found her, she who held his heart captive. The other man, the owner of the nightclub was walking by her side. They were walking towards the exit. The pain, frustration returned again. Yougal Lucas grew more sad and restless. He never felt so helpless in his life, not even when he had lost his parents and grandfather or when he faced oppositions when he had taken over the management of the businesses.

His feet automatically took him towards the exit. It might be because the alcohol led him to loose his grip on his self restraint or his emotions were in turmoil, Yougal Lucas felt a strong urge to hold her hand, peer into those lake like brown eyes and follow her to wherever she led him to and talk of his love for her. Without her he would end up an empty soul.

"My sweetest love, you're cruel. Please, don't push me away." He whispered, leaning a little towards her.

Nia's was staring at the handsome man without blinking. When he had confessed to her at the cafe, his act was not impulsive. It was clear that outside agent forced him to expedite his action regardless of time and place. But the man standing in front of her did not resemble the indifferent, aloof Yougal Lucas Sinha that people were familiar with.

The man she was facing now had the expression of a drowning man whose eyes were silently pleading her to save him. His appearance took her by surprise.

His words startled her. His 'sweetest love' did not embarrass her though she knew her companions had heard him. "Cruel?" Nia repeated the word he had uttered in a question.

"Yes." He confirmed.

An acute pain gripped her chest and released it the next moment. She did not know why. She was a little puzzled but did not care why it pained her to see him sad and dishevelled. Then he unexpectedly closed the little gap between them and embraced her. Burrying his face in her hair he mumbled incoherently something which sounded like he would not let her go.

Nia tried to push him away. But his hands on her waist tightened their grip, then the grip loosened. His body leaned heavily on her as it went limp. She looked helplessly at the man, then circling her hands around him looked at her companions.