Every time it is supposed to be
our time together
You fill my empty cup with hemlock
I drink to the last drop.
The wild horse is sulking in its stall
It's hoofs are nailed
It is dying
A slow certain death
It's soul flaps in captivity.
You think this is
My own epitaph
or a poem of despair
No, it is a reality
I'll write a song of victory
Of freedom, love and life.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Nia paused for a long time after she had mentioned her father. A worried Rhianna looked uncomfortably at her friend, then at her fiance. She thought, maybe her friend would not continue with her story. It was too painful for her to keep talking, Rhianna could see that. But Nia started again after what seemed to be an eternity of silence. This time she talked in first person.
"I was seven years old but I still remember him. I was his beautiful butterfly who needed to be protected. But he encouraged me to pursue my dream, to walk on the road I wanted to." A slight, soft smile played on her face as she reminisced the happy memory.
Then her voice turned stiff and dry, devoid of emotions. Both Rhianna and Nicholas were startled by her tone.
"So, to make the long story short, I, Nirvana Sonowal, the pampered butterfly of her family was told to get ready to get engaged to some stranger who grandpa thought was a glowing star. My grandpa thought he was protecting me and my future by going to hand over the duty of protecting me to a stranger. Because he believed in that man, because he was the son of my father's friend, grandson of my grandpa's friend."
"Grandpa happily accepted the proposal for my marriage from the man's grandmother. I was getting ready to apply for PhD after my Master's. What an irony! Instead I was forced to be ready for a man. The greatest dilemma of an oriental girl is, between filial obligation or personal dream whether she should choose the first or the second. To a dutiful child personal choice comes later." Nia continued in that same dry, monotonous tone.
"Grandpa helped him when he took over the company as the CEO. You should know that episode. I won't bore you with the details." She said, looking at Nicholas.
"You're Robin Sonowal's granddaughter? Yougal owes a lot to him." Nicholas was surprised to discover the familiar connection with Nia.
"Yeah." Nia told them about the date disaster, how she was stood up on their blind date. "He could have just told his grandma that he didn't want to get engaged to me and everything would have ended differently for us. He could have spared us of all the pain with a few words. He killed my grandpa." There was masked hatred in her voice.
They felt it despite her attempt to hide the animosity her tone held for Yougal Lucas. The fire in Nia's eyes glowed with such a fierce intensity that pity arose in Nicholas for his friend. 'My poor friend, if only he acted a little carefully and explained things in time.'
"Why has Yougal Lucas not recognized you?" Rhianna expressed her perplexity. Then she turned to Nicholas, "You always praise him. But look at him now, a hypocrite. On one hand he shows interest in Nia, on the other hand, he acts as if he doesn't know her."
"He's a good man, believe me. He didn't ditch Nia. I don't know why he doesn't remember her." Nicholas defended his friend. He felt helpless. It was not his place to explain certain things to Nia even though he knew the truth.
"Didn't ditch? Then why did..." Rhianna was interrupted by Nia.
"Please Rhi, don't fight with Nick for me. Nick isn't responsible for that person's actions." Nia took a long breath, her voice dropped to a whisper. "Because people thought I was rejected they pitied me. Someone tried to take advantage of what he saw as my pitiful state. When I rejected the proposition that man tried to rape me. I was saved by some strangers. Yeah, Zubeen Gohain and his friends saved me but the butterfly finally died that day. Yougal Lucas Sinha already snipped her wings."
Rhianna gasped in horror. She whispered, "Oh god!" Her eyes were on her friend's face, which had distant look on it. She wanted to hug Nia, but she was scared to touch the girl as if her touch would break something magical and the girl would disappear.
Nicholas felt an unspeakable fury rising up inside him. He cursed Yougal's negligence, his cowardice, in avoiding Nia and her family. Yougal's dark expression when the latter heard about Mark visiting Nia's family appeared before him. At that time he felt bad for his friend but now he rejoiced at his friend's mental agony. 'Yeah,' Nicholas thought, 'Yougal needs to suffer too, to atone for his sin.'
Nia was looking out through the window but she gazed at nothing in particular. His face staring at her like a starstruck fanboy, the foolish grin of a High School teen he gave her as if she were his crush, his concern when she shivered in the cold wind on that rainy day, his following her while she shopped for toys for the children as if they were a couple, everything flashed through her mind. Sorrow and anguish invaded her heart.
The reality of what Nia revealed took the breaths away from both Rhianna and Nicholas. The speed of the events that took place in her life after Yougal Lucas failed to appear on the engagement day shocked and horrified them both.