Nandini

I look in awe around the ballroom, fascinated by its vintage aura. The chandelier above covered the entire hall in a warm light, perfectly complimenting the classic interior decorations.

The way everyone is dressed, the lights, and the designs made me feel as if, by walking through the door, I suddenly entered an older era.

"Vikrant really brought you as his date, then? To be honest, I didn't expect him actually to go through with this," Samrat says when he reaches us, a teasing glint in his eyes as he looks at Vikrant.

"Shut it, Samrat." Vikrant glares at him.

"Oh, come on. We are at a party. Try to shed your grumpy attitude for once and enjoy the night. What's the use of bringing such a beautiful date with you when you'll be brooding all evening?" Samrat says to Vikrant and turns to me. "You look absolutely exquisite, Nandini. I didn't know blue was your color," he says appreciatively.

I smile at him. "Thank you, Samrat. But I guess that much of a compliment is enough. Otherwise, your date might get mad at you for turning your attention to another woman," I tell him, looking at Aastha beside him.

Noticing her fidgety behavior, I frown. She seemed so distracted looking around the hall that I wondered if she even heard what I had just said.

"Aastha?" I call her. "Are you fine?"

She whips her head at me and gives me a nervous smile. "of co-course. I... I'm f-fine."

My frown deepens when I hear her stutter.

She was not this way when we had gone shopping last time. She had been shy and hesitant, but she also seemed happy then, as if she was truly content going shopping with us.

At the end of the day, she had even said goodbye to us tearily, letting us know how beautiful the day was for her.

Although Riya and I had found her behavior weird at that time, somewhere, I had felt a pinch in my heart, too.

She was genuinely upset about leaving us that day and also looked slightly apprehensive about returning home.

Being bothered by that, I called Samrat after returning home to ask him about Aastha's parents because her behavior made me wonder if she was being mistreated at home.

But when Samrat told me he had met her parents, and they seemed like good people, I dropped thinking about it and decided to talk with Aastha the next time I met her.

After that day, we are meeting for the second time here tonight at this party.

"Aastha, do you want to accompany me to the washroom?" I ask her, hoping she will agree. That will give me a chance to talk with her privately and ask about her behavior from that day.

I'll also ask why she looks so anxious tonight, too.

"Umm, I do-don't want to go," she says, clenching and unclenching her hands.

"What's the matter with you tonight, Aastha?" Samrat asks, looking disappointedly at her. "You are neither talking properly with me nor do you seem like you are interested in being here. You are way too distracted. You could have told me if you didn't want to come with me tonight."

Aastha shakes her head, looking apologetically at Samrat. "No. I'm sor-"

She abruptly stops, and her face suddenly clouds with fear. The very next moment, she presses her gloved hand to her right ear, and my brows furrow at her odd action.

I peer into her ear to see if she is correcting her pin there, but she suddenly brings her hand down, and I see both her ears covered by the heavily designed diamond earrings. Such is the design and the weight of those earrings that I wonder if she is in any pain from them.

It might be the reason behind her raising her hand earlier. To relieve the pain.

Also, the dress she is wearing is too loose on her.

The red, shapeless gown is doing nothing to accentuate her curves.

This isn't the dress she bought when she went shopping with us. She had bought a beautiful emerald green gown. Why is she wearing this instead of the one she picked that day?

"Let's go to the washroom, Nandini," she says, curling her lips in a way that looks like a ghost of a smile.

*****

Vikrant

"What's taking them so long?" I ask Samrat, gazing toward the direction of the washroom where Nandini and Aastha had disappeared about ten minutes back.

"You know how girls are, Vikrant," Samrat says, taking a sip from his glass.

He then shakes his head, chuckling, which makes me frown.

"What's so funny?"

"A thought came to my mind that you, Vikrant Sisodiya, must know how girls are. After all, you have had plenty of experience with the strings of past girlfriends, right?"

I glare at him. "Shut up, Samrat."

But instead if shutting up, he doubles down on me. "What was your magic number before you met Myra?" He pauses for a few seconds, thoughtful and looking as if he is counting something. "Ten, right? You had ten flings before your first serious relationship with Myra."

"That's enough, Samrat," I warn, looking around to see if Nandini is coming. I want him to stop talking about it before she arrives.

If she wants to know about my past relationships, she can ask me, and I will tell her. But I don't want her to know the exaggerated version of it from Samrat's mouth.

I frown when I don't see her anywhere. Why is she taking so long? Is she in any trouble? Should I go and check?

"Tell me one thing, Vikrant. What about your marriage?" Samrat asks, interrupting my thoughts. "I know you decided to marry to get your revenge, and went through with it even when I tried to put some sense into you until the very last moment. But now that you're done with your revenge, what are you planning to do about your marriage? Will you get divorced like you had told me you would?"

I say nothing, only glare at him, hoping he'll take the hint and stop talking about it.

But he doesn't.

"After I requested you to bring Nandini as your date tonight because my mother insisted I come with Aastha, I had asked you if your wife would feel bad about it. And you had told me you'd handle it. But is she really fine with you coming to this party with Nandini?"

"I don't want to talk about this."

"Why not?" He presses.

"I just don't want to," I snap, wanting him to drop it already.

It's frustrating sometimes that confusion still lingers on mine and Nandini's relationship.

Although I now have no problem in announcing to the whole world about her being my wife, I know she is not ready for it. After all, she hasn't yet decided if she wants to give our marriage a chance.

"It's been quite some time since Nandini left. I'll go see if everything is fine."

"Wait, Vikrant." I hear Samrat calling me from behind, but I don't stop. I continue to walk briskly toward the washroom.

*****

Nandini

"Are you really fine?" I ask Aastha once we enter the washroom and stand in front of the large mirrors at the side of the room.

"Yes, yes. I'm fine," she says, suddenly smiling as brightly as she can-so much so that her overstretched lips convince me that her smile is fake.

"You can tell me, Aastha. Is there something bothering you?" I implore. "I understand your hesitation because we have only met once before, but you can trust me."

She stills for a few seconds. She is looking at me, but the way she is staring makes me feel she is listening to someone else.

"Aastha?" I call her when she keeps staring and doesn't say anything for a while.

"I'm so sorry, Nandini. I'm sorry," she says, and before I can ask her what the matter is, I feel a sudden prick at the side of the neck.

"Wha-" I begin to say, but abruptly stop when my vision blurs and my body sways.

I flex and unflex my hands as my arms flail, trying to hold onto something to steady my swaying body, but all that comes into my hands is the air, nothing else that can support me.

Through my swirling vision, I look at Aastha.

She was crying, and her mouth was moving. But I could not hear anything she was saying. She was only a few feet away from me, but it seemed like she was sliding far away with each passing second.

"Aas-Aas..tha, he-helppp...he..ll-"

That is all I can utter before complete darkness engulfs me.