Chapter 2: Ghosts of the past
30th December, 2010
The New year's eve was around the corner, but for Riya, it seemed like her life had come to a stand-still. For the last two days, she had completely confined herself to her bedroom, weeping, lamenting, as her indiscretions had come back to haunt her. Her almost two year old relationship with Shaunak had ended a couple of days ago, as he'd come to discover that Riya had been seeing another guy, Taran, behind his back for the best part of the last one year. Shaunak was devastated and even though he knew that he was punching way above his weight with Riya as his girlfriend, he could not come to grips with the thought of his girlfriend cheating on him for almost half the length of their relationship. Riya, too, did not have much of an emotional connection with Shaunak by this point, but it still hurt. And what was worse is that this revelation had also resulted in the end of her fling with Taran. The whole thing had come to light when Taran's girlfriend, Shagun, who was Riya's college-mate for 3 years, had come to discover the affair Riya and Taran were having. Shagun had found intimate pictures of Riya and Taran stashed away in a hidden folder on Taran's phone, which she also forwarded to Shaunak, before breaking up with Taran and giving Riya a piece of her mind.
Ever since the news of her breakup had spread among her friends, Riya's phone had been constantly buzzing with calls and messages. She ignored all of them, until she finally answered the call of one of her friends, Ishani, with whom she shared a special bond. Ishani tried her best to cheer Riya up, but she was just not in the right frame of mind. Ishani eventually gave up and hung up on her, but not before she offered Riya the chance to join her at the New year's eve bash at JW Marriott, Juhu, for which Ishani had secured exclusive passes. Riya said she'd consider it and would let Ishani know by the end of the day.
Riya spent the rest of the day trying her best to get out of the mental rut she had found herself in and by the time evening set in, she almost felt a rebellious side creeping into her.
"Well, I don't care what happened with Shaunak, or even Taran for that matter. A new year is upon me, and I need to start fresh" she said to herself, as she picked up her phone and started typing a message to Ishani.
The message said, "Hey, see you tomorrow evening at 8 pm, at JW Marriott?"
An excited Ishani responded back to her with the words, "Can't wait!! Let's paint the party red tomorrow, Riya. I'm so excited."
31st December, 2010
It was New year's eve and Riya had brought out one of her sexiest one piece outfits from the closet to go out and party. Looking irresistible in her burgundy red, leather, one piece outfit that barely reached half way down her thighs, she hailed a taxi to drop her off to Juhu from her residence in Suburban Mumbai. There was a lot of traffic on the road that day, and by the time she reached, it was already past 9 pm.
On reaching the five star property, Riya called Ishani who had already reached and excitedly asked her to come out of the venue with the passes. Ishani was soon out with the passes and she tightly hugged Riya as soon as she saw her.
Giving her outfit a closer look, Ishani said to Riya, "The boys inside are so hot, and you look like a bomb shell. I wonder what explosions we will see tonight."
Riya responded with, "Thanks darling, and you look great too", blushing with pride.
The two of them went in and headed straight for the bar counter, each looking to pick up a nice cocktail for themselves. Riya started looking around, as she vibed to the music and ambience of the place, while also doing a quick check on the crowd around her. Because this was an expensive place to party, it wasn't filled like a typical Mumbai local train, which would often be the case at such events. Riya observed that there was clearly a premium filter to the sort of people who'd found themselves at the venue that night. It seemed to Riya at first glance that most of the people at the venue had come along with their partners to celebrate the onset of the New year.
Riya got her cocktail from the bartender and sipping it, she headed to the dance floor along with Ishani. Both Ishani and Riya were used to going clubbing, but it would usually be with their boyfriends. Currently, both of them were single, but were happy with each other's company, to be perfectly honest.
The two of them spent the next forty five mins or so having drinks, dancing and talking every once in a while about their observations of things unfolding around them. Riya was happy that she had decided to come out and was in high spirits, finding herself in this amazing setting. She had found herself making eye contact with a few men in the crowd, but nothing beyond that.
After a while, both of them made their way to the washroom for a quick freshen up. The washroom was a little crowded as it was small and since this was the closest one to the dance floor, most of the women found it convenient to visit this one. Riya told Ishani that she'll quickly head over to the washroom on the other side of the dance floor, and would find her back at the bar, thereafter. Ishani nodded and Riya headed over to the other side of the dance floor. As she had expected, this one was far less occupied and within 2 minutes, she was making her way out of the washroom.
As she was making her way back to the dance floor through a richly decorated corridor, she heard a voice from behind her.
"Hello, there", Riya heard someone say out loud, causing her to stop in her tracks.
She looked back to find herself looking at a white-skinned man dressed in an all black suit. Riya stood there, and allowed the man to walk up closer to her.
"Hey there, I'm Richard. I saw you on the dance floor and had been meaning to come up to you and talk for a while now, but just refrained due to the loud music out there. But as luck would have it, I found you here", the man said.
Riya stood there and heard him out, as she came to grips with how handsome this white man in front of her was. He was surely older to her, perhaps in his late 20s or early 30s. Riya had just turned twenty three a few months ago.
"Hi Richard, I am Riya '' she said, in her quietly sexy voice. Riya's voice was one of the first things a man would fall in love with, even before they could be mesmerised by her alluring body.
Richard, smilingly, said, "Your name's just as pleasing as you are to look at, Riya." He continued, "Can I buy you a drink?"