“I’ll find my way. Please, entertain your guests. I will come find you later, Jimmy.” He nodded — slow, deliberate. The older man’s face was stunned for a moment. Then he stepped back, chuckled uncomfortably, and scuttled away.
“What is your game?” Gautam stepped up beside him. Nilay glanced at his profile. How long had he stood there?
“Listen, Gautam, I am sorry for yesterday afternoon.” He turned to him, shrouding both their faces in the shadows. “It did not look good from your side, and I completely understand that. I was not there with any wrong intention. Ritu and I…”
“Ritu is returning to New York in a month. Less than a month. I don’t know what you are doing but Maya is weaving dreams as usual. Ritu is mum about everything. If this is just a fling…”
“No.”
Gautam stilled.
“It’s still early days. But, this is not just a fling.”
“For you. What about Ritu?”
Nilay glanced at her, standing with the backdrop of the entire Mumbai twinkling behind her, shining like the goddess she was, attracting eyes — of menandwomen. Not because they were curious about her whereabouts and life out of here, but because she was smiling at Maya. That smile. That smile that men could go to war for. That smile that he would lose a war for. Her eyes met his, and that smile widened. Like a spark was lit.
“She will know it too,” he found himself saying.
————————————————————
“How’s it going, Doctor?” He sidled up to her side, curving his arm around her. Her body stiffened, but not in a bad way. He checked her face, just to be sure. And it was red. The good kind of red.
“Dimple has not left Maasi alone, hoping you will come back and she will get another glimpse up close,” Maya spelled out.
“Maya!” The bride gushed, rolling her eyes in fake chagrin. The woman with no filter just shrugged, picked a glass from a passing waiter and moved on.
“You call Ritu benDoctor?” Dimple’s eyes were mooning. “That’s so cute. You don’t call me anything, Jai!”
“Hey, I do, baby,” her fiancé mollified.
“But that’s not Doctor!”
“Areyou a doctor?”
“Why are you so quiet?” Nilay whispered in Ritu’s ear, least bothered about the teenage tiff going on in front of them.
“I’m good.”
“Lie.”
Ritu glared at him. He glared back.Let’s play that game, Doctor.
“I haven’t spent so much time in this setup in years,” she confessed.
No fun.But her confession made him want to wrap her up and hold her close through the evening. If he didn't have other plans, he would have done just that.
“What will make it bearable?” He asked.
Her eyes rounded in thought. MM eyes.
“Malai Dark Choco Chips after this?” He helped. And her fake, neutral smile brightened up for the first time since they had set foot inside this place.
“And Sitafal for me,” Nilay smirked.
“Yes… or, Butterscotch for you. If you are in the mood for it, that is,” she bit back her smile.
“If I am not, I’m sure you’ll get me in the mood for it.”
