“Why?”
“Because, I’ve had enough of this place for tonight,” she said.
“I thought you were having a good time.”
Sameer looked back at the stage. The band was gearing up for their next number. He saw Raashi and Dheer deep in conversation and finally he saw Dheer shove Raashi into a chair in front of the microphone. She turned a pleading look at Dheer, but he ignored her and jumped off the stage and went to sit next to his girlfriend. They exchanged a warm glance and Dheer put his arm around her. Sameer let out a deep sigh of relief as he concluded that whatever Dheer had once felt for Raashi was obviously long since buried.
Natasha held his arm and he turned to her. “What?”
She picked up her bag and started walking away from the table. He caught up to Natasha in two long strides and held her elbow.
“What’s wrong, Natasha?”
“What’s wrong? Ask yourself that,” she shot him a furious look.
“What the hell are you talking about?”
“I am talking about the fact that I came to a place I had no interest in because of you. Then you let me get insulted by your brother. Fine, I took that in stride. But then you have ignored me thoroughly throughout the evening. ”
“What did Rishi do to you now?” Sameer was completely confused by her behavior. Here he was having a great time while Natasha was behaving difficult and ruining a fine evening.
Natasha stared at him for a second before saying, “Nothing. Just leave it. Either you take me home right now or I’ll make my own arrangements?”
Frustrated, Sameer turned to tell her exactly how he felt about her behavior when he heard Raashi’s lilting voice surround him. He turned back to the stage to see Raashi playing the guitar and singing a slow, love melody, the guitar notes straining in the background, adding to the mesmerizing beauty of her voice. Sameer stood shell shocked listening to her sing. She sang about love, about falling in love and celebrating it.
“This rude and impolite behavior is exactly the thing that pisses me off, Sameer,” Natasha said.
His eyes fixed on the stage, he said, “Not now, Natasha. I’m not in the mood for your tantrums. The music is great and I want to enjoy a couple of more songs, so I request you to stay for at least half an hour more. After that I will take you home, or you can choose to take off on your own, right now. It’s entirely up to you.”
Natasha could hardly believe the cool aloofness in his voice. It was so not like him. She hesitated for a moment debating whether to leave, hanging on to her pride or to just stay on as he was asking, for a little while more.
When Sameer returned to the table with Natasha in tow, Rishi whispered, “Bravo!”
“Back off, Rishi,” Sameer snapped.
“Sorry!” Rishi said. “Just relax and enjoy.”
Sameer concentrated on Raashi’s singing. Her voice was beautiful. She was beautiful. Something stirred within him. He tried to silence it. And tried desperately to avoid listening to that voice inside his head. But not tonight. Tonight that voice was telling him loud and clear that what he felt for Raashi was more than just an insane physical attraction. It ran deeper, thicker. He cared for her, a lot. And while he couldn’t clearly put more words or depth into his feelings for her, he knew he wanted to be with her, spend time with her, hear her laugh more often, see her eyes shine especially for him. That’s when he knew that this thing with Natasha was over. It had no future, none whatsoever, since Raashi had come back into his life.
He had walked out of Raashi’s life once, but he was going to move heaven and earth to walk back into it again. He wanted to be a part of her life. He felt a myriad of emotions for her and he had to figure out what they all meant. Her melodious voice broke into his thoughts and he clapped with the rest of the crowd as she finished. For a moment she looked up, straight at him and smiled. In that one second Sameer made up his mind. He knew what he had to do.
He turned to Natasha. “Let’s go.”
“But you said...”
“I know what I said. I changed my mind.”
He spoke to his brother. “We’re leaving now. What do you want to do?”
“You carry on! I’ll stick around here for a while. Probably catch a cab home,” Rishi replied, sensing the tension between his brother and Natasha. However, the evening had turned out to be a thorough success. Mission accomplished!
Raashi’s heart faltered as she saw Sameer leave with Natasha. In that one moment their eyes had met and she had stared helplessly at him, until Dheer had snagged her attention back. Raashi scolded herself. Sameer was with another woman now and she just had to get over whatever it was that she felt for him.
Sameer drove Natashahome in absolute silence. He was still trying to put in perspective the decision he had taken. He thought about it and was convinced. He wanted Raashi back. That was crystal clear to him now more than ever. How else could he define the possessiveness he felt towards her, the insanity that gripped him when she was in his arms? Yes, he was right. This was the only way forward for him. He turned to look at Natasha. She had been silent since they had left the restaurant and he could see that she was extremely mad.
“Natasha...” he began.
She stared straight ahead, ignoring him.
