Take a chance on me, p.23
Take a Chance on Me, page 23
Chapter 23
He reached the breakfast room to find that it wasn’t entirely empty as he had expected it. There were quite a few latecomers like him. He took some breakfast from the buffet laid out and sat at a corner table, waiting for Keya to make an appearance. He didn’t remember being this happy in years. He smiled thinking about the previous night and how special it had been for the two of them.
“Earth to Kabier.”
Kabier was startled out of his reverie. Rishi was waving his hands in front of his face and Sameer was simply looking at him as if he’d lost it or something.
“Hello cousin! What’s the happy smile about?” Rishi asked sitting in front of him. Sameer came around to sit next to Rishi.
“Hey guys, want some breakfast?” Kabier asked ignoring Rishi’s question.
The two brothers looked at each other and Sameer said, “Have you seen the time? We’ve been up since hours.”
“Which brings me back to my first question, what were you smiling about?” Rishi pestered.
Keya walked in looking chic in a red and gold churidar kurta, looking very much a part of the on-going wedding celebration. She smiled at the three men looking at her and went to the buffet where she piled up her plate with food.
Rishi turned back to him and said, “Don’t answer. I got it. And you don’t need to answer my next question as well, which was regarding where you disappeared last night, without even a word, to the two of us. Cause I figured the answer to that one too.”
Keya put her plate down and sat in the vacant space next to Kabier and ate her food with gusto.
Finally she asked “So, the two of you ready for the performance tonight?”
“I am more than ready,” Rishi answered.
“As ready as I can ever possibly be,” Sameer replied with a huff. He rolled his eyes and said, “Kabier, you lucky guy! I don’t know how I got convinced into this dancing business. What the hell was I thinking when I let the twins convince me to participate?”
Kabier laughed. “Too late to back out now?”
“Absolutely, the twins would throw the loudest and scariest of their fits ever. No way can I back out now. I am so royally done for,” Sameer said miserably.
“Come on Sameer, you’re a great dancer and so is Rishi. You guys will rock for sure. And everyone is participating, other than Mr. High n Mighty here, and I am sure he’s the one who has two left feet and not you. That’s why he’s not taking part.”
Sameer and Rishi stared at Keya for a few seconds and then Rishi said, “Kabier doesn’t…” before he got kicked in the shin by Kabier, after which he just shut up.
Not noticing that exchange, Keya simply continued eating. When she had finished they all stood when she got up to leave. Kabier walked her out.
“You remember our bet?” Kabier asked her.
“The one about your dancing skills? Of course I do.”
“Be prepared to give me my spoils, if I win.”
“That’s if you win.”
“We’ll see, won’t we?” so saying, he turned and went to join his cousins.
Keya reached the banquet hall where Sheena’s mehendi function was going on in full swing. Two ladies were working on applying intricate designs of mehendi on Sheena’s hands and feet. Sheena looked lovely in her wedding finery. She was wearing a pink lehnga, with gold embroidery, that was bunched up to her shins, to expose her painted feet. Her choli was in a darker shade of pink, a halter that ended at her waist. She was wearing diamonds on her throat and ears.
She looked up when Keya reached her and said, “Good morning stranger. Thank you for making it,” she said a bit sarcastic.
“Sorry,” Keya said as she bent down to kiss her cheek. This appeased Sheena a bit and she smiled at Keya.
Raashi came to stand next to Keya.
“Have any of you seen my big brother today? He seems to have forgotten that his sister is getting married. Both my cousins have already made an appearance and Kabier still has to come in,” Sheena said extremely irritated.
“Oh there he is now,” Sheena said. Keya turned to see Kabier walking towards them. He came up to Sheena and bent to kiss her on the cheek.
“Looking good, sis.”
“Kabier, where have you been since morning? Everyone is asking for you. Mom’s been really upset that you hadn’t yet showed up.”
“Ya ya, I know. I am sorry. I just overslept. That’s all.”
Sheena looked from Kabier to Keya thoughtfully, wondering…and then said to herself, “no way!” She shook her head and cleared her thoughts.
Kabier’s mom came forward looking very angry at Kabier. He gave her a big hug and kissed her cheek and before she could say anything he said, “I know. I know I am late. So before you go ballistic, I’ll just apologize sincerely and promise that I’ll be there early for all the remaining functions.”
“Well, you better keep that promise,” Kabier’s mom said and walked away.
Kabier nudged Keya and asked her, “So are you not going to apply any of this mehendi thing?”
“I will but a bit later, see there’s already a big queue,” Keya replied and pointed towards the ladies who were sitting eagerly around three women who were applying mehendi on the hands of all the female guests.
“OK, I’ll catch you later.”
So far the groom’s family and guests hadn’t yet arrived. As per the tradition, the groom could enter the room only when Sheena’s mehendi application was complete. And right on cue, just as the mehendi women got up to leave, Rajiv entered in typical Indian style with two dhol wallas on either side of him, the rest of his family and guests following behind him. As Rajiv came forward towards Sheena, the group of girls around her dispersed and left her sitting there waiting for him to come to her.
The crowd cheered in delight when he sat next to Sheena and kissed her smack on the lips. Sheena, coyly, put forth her hennaed hands and feet for him to see and approve, which he did with great enthusiasm.
The dholwallas started beating their drums again and moved to the center of the hall, where they started singing a typical wedding number which called each and every member of the bride and groom’s side turn by turn to dance on the music they played. They were singing for the brothers to come on and dance and Kabier, Sameer and Rishi came into the center and danced, moving to the music.
Keya observed Kabier moving and thought, not bad, though not very great either. Looks like he was going to lose tonight she thought. Finally, after all the family members had finished dancing, they asked for all the friends of the couple to come forth and dance.
Kabier watched Keya, Raashi, Rithwik, Aditya and several others, come to the center and dance in a big noisy group. She danced well, he observed, but he already knew that. Rithwik was dancing near her, moving in tune to her steps, laughing at something she said to him. Though he knew that they were just friends, he didn’t like her dancing with him. It disturbed him. He felt like screaming, ‘She’s mine’ loudly for everyone to hear. But the music ended and the entire group walked away to lots of cheers and clapping.
Keya saw the scowl on Kabier’s face the moment she ended her short dance with Rithwik. She couldn’t believe that he was still jealous, despite knowing that Rithwik was just a close friend. She waited till he was alone and went up to him.
“You didn’t like me dancing with Rithwik?” she asked him bluntly.
“I didn’t, I know it’s crazy and I know you’re just friends, but still. It’s like you are mine and I can’t bear the thought of you with anyone else, not even dancing with Rithwik.”
Keya was delighted at his statement. He was behaving in a manner that was ever so possessive about her. That was a good sign, right, she thought.
She held his arm and said, “Hey, it’s no big deal.”
“I know.” Kabier shrugged his shoulders.
He saw her hand on his arm and lifted it up to view the henna design painted on it. It looked good he thought with her traditional outfit. He lifted her other hand up and observed the patterns on both hands, turning them front and back.
“There is a saying that if the color turns real dark on a girl’s hand then she is going to have an extremely passionate sex life,” Kabier told her still holding on to her hands.
She laughed.
“That’s utter nonsense,” Keya said trying to remove her hands from his grip. But he held on tight.
“Wanna try that one out tonight?” Kabier asked her casually.
She smiled shyly back at him.
He raised one of her hands higher, bent his head and planted a lingering kiss on her wrist, just where the Henna design ended. Keya blushed, feeling heady and looked around.
“Kabier, you better let go of me. People can see us.”
He loosened his grip and she released her hands and walked away. Kabier’s eyes followed her retreating back and as if on cue she turned around, gave him a broad smile and continued to walk ahead.
Mina Sehgal, stood at a distance, catching the entire exchange between her son and Keya, convinced that something was up between them. Kabier had entered pretty late today and that too a few minutes after Keya had come in. It was too much of a coincidence she thought.
Her sister-in-law Rita, Sameer’s mother, came to stand beside her and questioned her “Any idea what’s up between Kabier and Sheena’s friend, Keya?”
“You saw it too?”
“Of course, everyone who was looking their way probably did.”
“It’s so not like him to flaunt his relationship in public,” Mina said worried.
“That’s more my Rishi’s style,” Rita commented smiling.
“Kabier’s never shown interest in any of the girls I subtly tried to put his way, ever since he’s returned to India and now of all the people he’s interested in Keya. I can’t believe it.”
Rita nodded her agreement.
“I am not sure whether I like the situation or not. Keya is a nice girl for sure, but…”
“She doesn’t have any family, no background that you know of. Basically, not your idea of a daughter-in-law,” Rita finished for her.
“Yes, you are right. Anyway, I better keep a closer eye on the two of them from now on,” Mina ended.
Chapter 24
“Good evening, friends and family,” said Shauna in her confident manner.
“We’d like to welcome all of you to the Sangeet function of Sheena and Rajiv,” continued Rhea.
There was a big round of applause after which the twins continued alternating each other’s sentences.
“No wedding is complete without a sangeet night and no sangeet without some dances.”
“So sit back and enjoy the best performances that you will see in a looong time.”
“Our first two performers need no introduction; they’re smart, lovely and Sheena’s two best friends, who say that this particular song is something that the three of them have danced on since years, in the hope that they could perform this dance on one of their weddings. Please welcome the very beautiful and charming duo of Keya and Raashi.”
Kabier and Sameer were standing on one side, observing the twins take pride in their presentation. The twins were standing on a small stage in front of which an area had been cleared out for the dances. The lights turned low and Keya and Raashi came to the center and took their positions. As soon as the music started playing they moved in absolute sync to a lovely song that spoke about the mehendi ceremony of a girl and her best friends dancing and laughing with her. It was not a hip-hop number, in fact it was quite slow and simple and the girls performed on it beautifully. Kabier was spell bound looking at Keya dance. He knew she was a lovely dancer but this performance was marvelous. It was like she flowed to the music.
Unable to control herself, Sheena got up from where she was seated beside Rajiv, ran to where her two friends were performing, and without a care, she stood between them and danced the remainder of the song with them. The three girls were completely in tune with one another and danced in complete harmony. It was obvious to everyone that this was a dance that they had practiced and perfected right from the time they were little girls.
The crowd roared with cheers and claps. It was a fantastic performance. Kabier looked at Sameer who was equally spellbound. Finally Sameer turned to him and said, “Those girls are just so beautiful!”
Kabier just laughed, totally agreeing with his line of thought. He looked at Keya walking back to him, looking lovely in a soft pink lehnga.
The twins got back on stage and one of them said, “Wow! That was lovely!! A wonderful start to the Sangeet, don’t you think?”
“And now we introduce you to our next performer. He is a thorough charmer, a total heart breaker and our very own brother Rishiiii.”
Keya and Raashi came to stand beside Kabier and Sameer and watched Rishi wow the crowd with his spectacular performance. Kabier was proud of the twins. They had done a great job in organizing this event, that too in the short time they had.
The show continued with other performances. The twins also performed, dancing on a peppy number with two of their guy friends.
Rishi glowered at the twins. “And you guys think I am wild. Look at those two. They’re heating up the dance floor with those two guys. Wait till I get my hands on those two morons they are dancing with.”
“Me too,” said Kabier and Sameer together, thoroughly irritated.
“You guys are simply too much. No wonder they rebel every chance they get,” Keya said. “It’s just a dance and that too such a peppy number. I truly, can’t understand what you find so offensive about it.”
“Whatever,” Rishi said, irritated. Kabier and Sameer just kept quiet, obviously disagreeing with her.
Keya shook her head in disgust at their attitude. These guys were never going to change she thought. God help the guys the twins actually fell in love with.
The twins ended their dance and returned to call on the final act of the night which was to be performed by Rishi, Sameer and Keya.
Kabier watched Keya dance with his cousins to a latest hit song. The three of them performed the dance flawlessly. Sameer twirled Keya into his arms and then Rishi twirled her away from him into his own arms and bent her down, low on the ground and pulled her up again and then the three of them were standing with Keya in between, hands up in the air, moving their palms down, their hips moving in tune to the beat. It was fabulous.
Kabier couldn’t stop smiling at this last performance. Three of his favorite people in the world were dancing together, it was just superb.
Keya finished the sequence standing in between Sameer and Rishi, who were holding each of her outstretched hands, kneeling on one knee on the ground. The crowd roared and clapped. Sameer and Rishi got up and together they kissed either of her cheeks and holding each of her hands, led her from the dance floor.
She was on a high and she couldn’t wait to meet Kabier to ask him how he felt about this performance of hers. She knew it went off very well. But she couldn’t find him anywhere. She searched the crowd, but he was nowhere to be seen. She turned to ask Sameer if he knew, but before she could, the twins came back on stage. The audience calmed down and listened to them.
“So Shauna, didn’t we say that was the last performance for tonight?”
“We did too Rhea, so what are we doing here?”
“Because there is one last performance, a surprise one at that, for the night.” Rhea spoke loudly in a very excited voice.
Keya wondered what they were talking about. She didn’t know of anyone else performing. What were these two up to now?
She tuned back in to hear. “And bringing in front of all you beautiful people out here, is our finale, the surprise element for tonight. It’s someone who is especially close to our heart, someone who until the last had refused to perform with us and without whose participation this presentation would have been totally incomplete. We give you our very own big brother, the gorgeous and dashing, Kabier Sehgal.”
There were cheers and Keya could see Sheena cheering the loudest. Standing next to Keya, Sameer and Rishi were whistling loudly.
The lights dimmed and Kabier stood in the center of the dance floor, back turned. The music started, he turned, the music paused in tempo for a heartbeat and he too paused, looked at Keya and gave her a naughty wink. The music started; it was a loud and extremely peppy number and Kabier moved to it like a pro. His movements were fluid and light. In short he rocked on the dance floor.
She had been completely stunned, when she had heard the twins announce his name. Now as she watched him dance on the floor, especially for her, she felt her heart beat double.
Kabier danced alone for the first two minutes of the song, sizzling on the floor and then he raised one of his arms to his side and Shauna rolled into his outstretched arm. He raised his other arm the same way and Rhea did the same. Holding them in his arms, the three of them moved in unison, swaying their hips side by side. Then he rolled them both away from him and standing in between the twins, he performed the remainder of the dance with them, moving his body gracefully in tune with the music and the two girls. The music finally ended with both the girls in his arms again. It was fantastic. The crowd erupted in a loud roar of applause and gave the three of them a standing ovation, which they accepted gracefully.
Sameer and Rishi who were standing on either side of her, turned to look at her. Smiling Rishi said, “I bet you don’t think that he has two left feet now.”
“Did you guys know that he was going to perform tonight?” Keya asked them.
“Not till after breakfast this morning. We cornered him after we saw him let you believe that he has two left feet.”
“That was simply the best performance of the night.” Keya was proud.
Sameer and Rishi both smiled in response.
Kabier had seen Keya’s stunned expression the moment he had turned on the dance floor. He walked up to her and before he could say anything, she held his hand and dragged him out of the banquet hall, onto the open terrace that accompanied the hall, pushed him to the wall and before he could even blink, she was kissing him wildly, passionately. Momentarily surprised he caught her waist and kissed her back with equal force and passion. Her lips were melding with his and her tongue was all over his mouth and inside it. They remained like this for a while; locked in each other’s arms, kissing hungrily, till Kabier realized that they were out in the open and that anyone could walk in on them. But more than that, if he let her continue like this then there was no way they would be going back to the party. Slowly he extracted his mouth from hers and reluctantly held her back from him, his arms still around her waist.
