Chapter 3: The Birthday Party 2
The bird in the wall clock tweeted
And the clock hand touched four
The door closed behind you
I stood like a tree in the room
Is another Miss Havisham born?
Ten years from hence
The clock hands refuse to budge
From the doomed four.
Cobwebs and flaking wall paints
Hiss in the cold gloom
And I ghost walk in tatters.
Is that how you imagine me?
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
As Nia stopped in front of her colleagues, Mrs Maya Saikia and Ayesha Umar, they looked up at her with bright smiles. Both the women shared friendly relations with Rhianna and Nia. Nia liked them too. They are respectful to her for her intellect and her gentle manner. Maya Saikia's husband was the director of the state welfare Board for women. So Nia knew him well.
Ayesha was of the same age as Nia. Her father was a lawyer at the High Court and knew Nia's grandfather who had been a High Court judge. Ayesha was beautiful and looked breathtaking in an A line kurta shirt in green with slim silk pants in beige colour. There were fine embroidery on the neck and on the border of the sleeves of the kurta shirt.
Maya Saikia wore a baby pink Indian traditional lehenga skirt in silk with short blouse and a matching sheer dupatta, which looked like a big scarf. The three of them complimented one another on their looks and clothes as Nia settled down on the sofa with the other two women. They held glasses of juice in their hands and talked while taking sips of the juice. Besides Rhianna, Maya ma'am was the other person always trying to set up Nia with someone either from her family or friends circle.
Nia scanned the big room again but Rhianna and Nicholas were nowhere to be seen. As promised by Rhianna the five tiered cake was standing on the table intact, an indication that she would cut the cake only after Nia arrived. Now this stubbornness on part of Rhianna was giving Nia a headache. She decided to ask around and find her friend.
Nia felt guilt creeping into her conscience. First, she came late and now she was yet to see and wish the birthday girl even after 15 minutes of her arrival. Rhianna had been waiting for her, refusing to blow the candles and cut the cake without her presence.
"Have you seen Rhianna?" She asked her companions.
"Yeah, she and Nicholas are talking with some friends on the balcony over there."
Ayesha replied and pointed out to the balcony in the west side of the room where the three of them were sitting. The door to the balcony was open and fairy lights could be seen along the balcony railing and on the big potted plants. Their sofa was near the door. Sounds of chattering splashed from the balcony and flowed in as soft humming sounds. Nia murmured a few words to her companions before she stood up to go to the balcony.
As she reached the door, the resonant laughter of a man along with the evil chuckle of another one was heard. None of those sounds belonged to Nicholas. Though she could hear Rhianna's giggles like the sound of keyboard following a bass guitar and a bass clarinet, Nia stopped at the door. Her beautiful brows creased, as a scowl appeared on the face, shadowing the brightness in her eyes.
Hesitation clouded her mind for a moment before she stepped on the balcony, shrugging off the incertitude like a dry leaf that fell on her from the tree while walking on the side of the road in autumn. The big balcony was lighted up only by two dim yellow light bulbs, the fairy lights and a round disc like silver moon hanging low in the sky.
The balcony, together with the lights and the big moon hung against the backdrop of a night sky looked mysteriously beautiful. The soft light and the darkness playing together gave the whole ambience an amazing look. The four handsome persons, three men and a woman appeared fascinating and intriguing.
Except Nicholas the other two men were strangers to her. Actually Nia knew one of the two men; Mark Adam but they never met each other, save when he tried to stage that flirty episode a while ago, at the doorway. From where she was standing at the door Nia could not make out the features of the other two men, especially the man who was a complete stranger, in the soft hazy light. Nicholas was familiar to her to recognize his silhouette even in that light.
Mark Adam did not know her, even though she knew him from Rhianna's talks and the photos on her phone. Though she would not admit to herself, Nia Sonowal would rather avoid meeting male strangers; especially rich, handsome strangers. She would neither pursue any of them nor wanted to be pursued.
She found most of the rich guys to be egoistic and conceited, like the strutting rooster in the yard because of the wealth and the power they enjoyed that came with the wealth. She, Nia Sonowal was wary of those cocks on the walk. Of course Rhianna's fiance Nicholas Adam and a few other close friends were refreshing exceptions, they being down to earth and without any air.
"Hey Princess, are you looking for me? My poor heart, it was almost broken at the thought that you had abandoned me." The shameless flirty tone attacked Nia as soon as she walked towards Rhianna who was at the farthest end of the balcony. The flirtatious greeting was followed by that evil chuckle she had heard a little while ago.
Nia rolled her eyes in her head. Outside she was expressionless, her eyes looking past him at the breathtakingly beautiful woman and then she smiled, the most enchanting smile reminding those four persons watching her, of fireworks on a night sky. They were bedazzled by her smiling face which had a hint of innocence and delicateness about it. But Mark Adam now knew better than to be deceived by that delicate expression.
The breathtakingly beautiful woman Rhianna almost flew the little distance to reach Nia, leaving her fiance and the other two men. The two best friends hugged. While Nia wished her friend a happy birthday and gave her the present she had brought, Rhianna started whining at the same time about how late the former was while she should have been the first to arrive.
"You were planning on not coming, weren't you? You, my bestie willing to break my heart, I can't believe it."
"Yeah, she's merciless. She had trampled on my poor heart and then waltzed away without sparing a second glance at me." The flirty piped in.
Rhianna whirled around to look at the man who was clutching at his chest in mock pain. A devilish grin adorned his handsome face. An amused Rhianna turned her gaze to her friend and opened her mouth to say something. Her eyes had that twinkle which Nia hated to see. She knew Rhianna and could see the thoughts in the latter's head. Rhianna must be already imagining her exchanging vows with Mark Adam.
Nia ignored the man and his flirtatious antics and not giving her friend any chance to say what the latter was going to say, she greeted Nicholas. She caught his anxious glance and the glare he directed at Mark Adam, his cousin. She shook her head slightly, as a flicker of a smile grazed her lips.
"You two have already met." It was more a question than a statement. Rhianna's eyes gleamed with speculation as she spoke.
"Yes, we've already met." The flirty replied before Nia could say anything. He was all smiles as he looked at her.
"If creeping up on some stranger like a pathetic ghost is called meeting, well...I dn't know."
"Hey, that's so unfair. I was trying to help you." Mr Flirty whined, then noticing Nicholas's raised eyebrow and Rhianna's questioning glance he raised his hands in surrender. "Okay, okay, I was trying to get to know the most charming woman I've ever seen. Is that such a big crime?"
"Mark, you've already heard of her. Let me introduce you formally to my friend." Rhianna laughed at flirty's embarrassed expression. She looked at Nia and said, "Nia, this is Mark, Nicholas's cousin. Mark, she's my bbf Nia."
"Nia? You are Nia, the angel about whom Rhi and my aunt gushes about all the time? The only one whom my mom approves of? So we've finally met."
Mark said with a ghost of smile, looking very pleased about god knew what. Rhianna was giggling like an excited teen. Even Nicholas had a warm smile on his face. Nia frowned slightly at a happy Rhianna and then glanced nonchalantly at Mark. His handsome face or his flirtatious words had no effect on her. She was immune to his charisma.
As for her BBF Rhianna and the latter's fiance Nicholas, Nia knew why they were all smiles. But she, Nia Sonowal won't have anything to do with a rich playboy. She won't be joining in the race with those other women to capture and cage Mark Adam, although she knew she had a far better chance than the rest.
PS: Miss Havisham is one of the chief character in Dickens' Great Expectations.
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