Chapter 27| The Unexpected Incident

The party was a fancy dinner party. There were a lot of people from different race. Maya caught herself in the middle of a group of ladies who spoke about launching businesses and careers and Maya was really excited to hear all the talks they had to share. Maya always loved women talking about careers, it excited her. Shiv emerged room the crowd with a pleasant smile on his face and a handsome looking guy by his side. Maya guessed it is the groom who had the bride-to be on his side. Shiv introduced the couple to Maya and Sameer said, “I know you a lot, already.” Maya looked puzzled but smiled. Sameer said, “I was with Shyama for a brief…” “4 years…” said a feminine voice. It was Shyama. Shyama gave a hug to Sameer and a friendly nod to Ana, the bride-to-be. She looked at Shiv and stood by Maya’s side.

Shyama was wearing a short dress in navy blue, along with silver stilettos. Her dress was backless and she looked stunning with her hair down. Every head in the room were glued on her when she started talking. In the middle of all the conversation about wedding and honeymoon gift by Shiv, the announcer of the party announced ‘Couple Dance’. Maya tried to hide herself from the crowd and Shiv, because she doesn’t know how to dance. Shyama on the other hand, started dancing with the first guy who approached her. Maya was sitting by the table with some appetizers on her plate. Shiv sat next to her and said, “You are the best when it comes to running away, isn’t it?” Maya rolled her eyes and ignored the sarcasm. He asked her to dance with him, she couldn’t deny but she was nervous as hell. She started looking for Shyama who can rescue her from the dancing situation. Shyama was busy breaking all the legs in the room with her super dancing skills. Just when it was time for Shiv and Maya to dance, the announcer announced that there will be a dance-off between Shyama and Ana.

Maya was relieved. She stood in the audience and Shiv held her hand and whispered in her ears, “Aren’t you relieved now?” She smiled and nodded in a yes. The dance off between Shyama and Ana went really well. Maya wondered if Sameer had a thing for best dancers as both the ladies danced off and ended it with a friendly hug. During the dinner, Shyama, Maya and Shiv were seated together. Just when Maya was about to take her first bite, she heard a familiar voice who called out for her. She looked behind and was surprised to see Pranshu, her new boss. Pranshu initiated a hug. Pranshu was with a woman by his side. She looked older, dressed in a long summer dress and hair left untouched. She had no make-up on, but was pretty in her own way. Pranshu introduced her as his sister. Maya then recollected, Pranshu had mentioned that the baby product thing was her sister’s who is located at New York. Maya introduced Shiv and Shyama as her friends, to which Shiv wasn’t so happy. Pranshu and his sister got lost in the crowd and the whole dinner was nothing but a silent eating task between the three.

Maya thought, what was it that made Shiv so silent? She just introduced them all as friends so that the conversation didn’t go further and they left. However, she figured out, Shiv wasn’t happy with all of this. Shiv excused himself to go to the Men’s room and Shyama looked at Maya and asked, “What was that?” Maya asked, “What was what?” Shyama said, “Don’t pretend.” Maya said, “If I told he was my fiancé, Shiv and Pranshu would have spoken more and that would have leaded to unnecessary conversation.” Shyama smirked and said, “Is that it or are you not ready to introduce him yet as your fiancé?” Maya nibbled on her pasta and wondered.  She wasn’t sure why she did that, but she didn’t feel it was wrong. She also thought, if Shyama felt it was not right then there was something wrong.

The rest of the evening was Shiv with a couple of other men talking numbers and business, while Shyama took off early from the party as she had some meeting to attend to the next day. Maya sat on the table with a glass of champagne and thinking about her life. “Can I sit here?” Maya looked at him and smiled and said, “Of course.” Pranshu sat there and spoke about work and that’s when Maya asked him where his sister was. Pranshu informed her that she is on her way home as she felt a little uneasy. Pranshu looked a little high on champagne and he told Maya, “Though you work for me, but I wanted to tell you something since the day I first met you.” Maya looked at him blankly. He continued, “I don’t know this could sound a little creepy and weird, but I really don’t want this to affect work. I like you. I am attracted to you.” Maya was stunned and she was in shock when she saw Shiv standing near the table and overhearing them. Shiv rushed out of the place and Maya got up to follow him just when Pranshu got up too and trembled on his feet. Maya helped Pranshu out of humanity and asked the servers in the room, to take care of Pranshu and call for a cab for him. Maya ran towards the exit to see if Shiv was still there. Shiv was not in the lobby. Maya ran to their room and found the door closed. The keys were with Shiv. She called Shiv several times, but he kept disconnecting the call, unless the phone was not reachable anymore. Maya was confused and went to the front desk and asked them to open the door for her. They denied the request as the room was booked under the name Shiv Chatterjee.

Maya was furious by now, not on the hotel staff but Shiv. He was over reacting. She called up Shyama and asked her if she can crash in her room. While Maya was on her way up to Shyama’s room she saw a good looking American walking out of Shyama’s room. Maya apologized to him and Shyama. Shyama didn’t ask her anything and asked her to rest. Maya had cried a bit and her swollen eyes said it all. Maya lay down on the bed and didn’t realize when she fell asleep. She woke up to an empty room with a note from Shyama: ‘I am at the meeting. Shiv is back in your room. Eat something and stop crying over a man.’

Maya freshen up and wore a T-shirt and a short of Shyama’s, tied her hair up and went down to the breakfast buffet. She sat there by the window with a glass of orange juice and pancakes. She was looking at the people outside and the only thing that came to her mind was, Shiv leaving her stranded, all alone with nowhere else to go. She thought to herself, “Was he angry because I introduced him as a friend? Isn’t he my friend too? Or is he angry because my boss said he liked me. None of it was my fault.”

She took a decision and took the big sip of the orange juice.