There was complete absence of sound as if the booth was empty. Only the music from downstair could be heard through the glass door that was open a crack. They shut their mouth like clams. It was the kind of silence people experienced before the coming of a tempest. After a while only Rhianna's whining could be heard, that she could not find Nia among the people. Everyone else sat quietly, staring at their wine glasses.
Yougal Lucas' face darkened even more. A stom started brewing in his mind. He felt an urge to have a few more shots of Silver Bullet. He cared less if he fell flat on his face after downing them. That must be the owner of the club with her. He felt a bitter taste in his mouth. The bitterness in his heart crept out to his tongue.
"Hey Lucas, let's plan holidays in Gangtok. What do you say, guys?" Marshal Keising said in an attempt to break the awkward silence. He looked at the others for approval.
"I'll be busy there on works." Yougal Lucas had no time to spare on holidays. His time right now was occupied with matters relating to bussiness and personal problems. He had come to the club to cool off. But the woman who had turned his peaceful life into a raging storm was clubbing with another man.
"We'll go after you finish work there." Arvind Saxena offered.
"You guys go if you want. I'll be returning after three days. I've some important matters to attend to here in the city." He drank the remaining wine in his glass in a gulp. Next he walked out of the booth and went down to the bar below.
The others in the booth looked at one another, then at the retreating figure of the man as he climbed down the stairs. Mark Adam finished the wine in his glass in a few big sips and breathed deeply. Nicholas looked at him sharply. Mark seemed to have been holding his breath which caused him to suck air in deep breaths. First his friend, now his cousin gulping down wine like they had been from drought striken land.
"Is it Zubeen Gohain, the owner of this nightclub who is with her? Rhi, didn't you say Nia hate clubbing? She even invited him to her home on Astha's birthday. How does she know him?" Mark asked all the questions at one go.
Suddenly Nicholas was angry. "That woman has a life of her own. It's she who will decide who she wants to be with. How she knows Zubeen Gohain is how people know one another. They meet and get to know."
Rhianna touched Nicholas' face. He calmed down and said in a low voice, "Sorry, but please let her be. She is a private person who hates people prying into her life."
To ease the tension Rhianna declared, "I'll go downstair and see if I can find Nia. I've something important to discuss with her. That girl didn't even return my call. I've been trying to reach her for almost the whole evening."
Nicholas glanced at her rather sharply. Rhianna quickly turned her head away to look downstair through the glass wall of the booth. She wanted to avoid his gaze. She grabbed Eeshani's hand and dragged her out of the booth. Nicholas' blue eyes were a shade darker as his eyes followed his beautiful fiancee. He now wondered if she had seen him eyeing those boxes at the supermarket.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Yougal Lucas ordered two shots of Silver Bullet. He already had one shot. He did not bother to think what two more would do to him. How could she not see his love, his pain? A fire glowed in his hazel eyes. The barman placed the two shots before him. Without wasting any moment Yougal Lugas downed them, one after the other.
He was not in the habit of drinking much and felt dizzy. Some guy ordered a shot of Slippery Nipple. A few guys shot him weird glances, the others laughed. The few women sitting at the bar looked embarrassed. Yougal Lucas paid little attention to them. His drunken eyes roamed over the faces in a lazy stupor.
~ ~ ~ ~
It was half past midnight. Nia was tired. It had been a long day for her. Zubeen's phone call mercilessly ended her hope for a lazy night. For two hours she went through the pages of the proposals, discussed minutely about them with Zubeen and his friends, pointed out the benefits or the flaws. Actually she could go through only a few of them.
Zubeen Gohain and a few of his friends had a finance company that provided financial assistance to entrepreneurs and bussiness holders. Nia was their unoffial consultant but they paid her for her work. She had dinner with them while discussing the proposals she had analyzed.
The two girls Mahua and Bornali ate in a booth downstair and then went to the dance floor again. By the time Nia called it a day and decided to analyse the rest of the proposals another time the two girls burned up their energy and were exhausted from dancing for more than one hour.
Nia wanted nothing more than to drive back home and hit the sack. Luckily for her the next day was Saturday. She could sleep through the morning. Tomorrow she would not be going to her family home as she would be working again on the rest of the proposals, analysing them. Zubeen and his friends' financial company's office was located on the third floor of the same building as the nightclub.
She gathered the two girls and was ready to walk out of the club. Zubeen was with them. He decided to call it a day for him too. Luhit and the others would now drink till they would be barking at the moon. Nia's phone rang. She took it out from the handbag, wondering who was calling her at midnight. 'Rhianna again, is sometbing wrong?' She answered the call.
"You're at the club with Zubeen." It was a statement, the tone of which wanted Nia to affirm it.
"Yeah. You here?"
"Yeah, come to the bar. We'll be waiting there." Rhianna replied.
"We? Nick?" There must be others than just Rhi and Nick. Nia thought. She did not want to meet Yougal Lucas. He must be there with them. "Sorry Rhi, I'm going home. I'm tired." She said before Rhianna could reply and hung up.
"Let's go." Nia hurriedly stepped out of the club.
They had gone only a few steps towards their cars when Nia heard footsteps behind them. She feared that it might be Rhianna. But the steps seemed to be a little unsteady, must be some other person who had had more to drink. Then she heard the familiar resonant male voice.
"Nia, hey."
She stopped. Her companions stopped too.