Looking at Lily's face, Mantisha's heart ached. She really missed her mother. She was sure if Sylvia was there, she could comfort Lily.
Suddenly the lights got dimmed, heavy sounds of footsteps rushed into the hall in a few following moments. Everybody's attention shifted towards the people who just entered.
"Oh my god! Mr. Adi Roy is here."
"How did he know? Who called him?"
"Look, isn't she Madam Roy? She also came here."
"They have left so many important guests in the main hall and rushed here. Does Mr. Adi Roy really favour the Smith's that much? Why didn't I know it earlier?"
Every kind of whispers broke out through the hall. Mantisha saw her mother as well as uncle Adi rushing towards her. Her eyes teared up as she felt the pressure on her chest was slowly decreasing. She stood out in the crowd and bickered with everybody for too long, and now, she only wished to hug her mother and go to sleep right away.
Sylvia came in front of them and hold Lily's shoulders as she eyed Mantisha for once. Through their strong mother daughter bonding she sensed Mantisha was somewhat okay and the Young Miss of Smiths needed the comfort for then.
When Lily turned towards her, Sylvia quickly put her woolen overcoat on her. She had tropical blood in her system, so the slightly cold atmosphere of September in A Country was already a little too cold for her.
Thus she arranged an overcoat to ware if she were to step out to the garden or in the balcony.
The plain light coloured overcoat was fitted to be worn with qipao's, and long to the knee length, and with Lily's good height, it ended just after her mid thighs. Combined with the torn bright tangerine coloured gown, it gave her a look of an Chinese lady brought up in western culture on the seventy's.
Lily started to buttoning on a very fast pace as if her life was depending on it.
But just after reaching there, Adi stood in front of Mantisha and questioned her directly, "Are you okay?"
Another wave of awkward silence broke into the hall.
"Did I just hear things? Mr. Adi Roy has just asked that girl, instead of the Young Miss of Smiths, if she way okay or not?"
"Had he lost his mind? That girl seemed clearly alright. What could be wrong with her?"
"He had genuine concern for that lady, he asked her first if she was okay. It means this lady mean a lot to him."
"Sshhh don't spout anything randomly. Who knows what the relationship between them! We should be careful not to offend any of them."
Though it all were mere whispers but many of the comments could be heard. Nick clenched his hands to fists. He also wondered, who exactly was this girl.
Mantisha nodded her head slowly. A lot of things were on her mind, she wanted to scream and say it all but could not understand from where should she start.
Adi couldn't care less about the wave of comments were passing through the hall. He had started his empire when he had nothing, he had seen all kind of people in her life and it would not cost him even a second to understand a person's deepest thoughts. So he was not bothered at all. His only goal was to protect Sylvia and Mantisha and give them all the happiness they deserved.
Just by giving a look to Mantisha's face, he understood her inner turmoil, but he could not do anything without her consent, atleast for the time being. So he just composed himself for a split second, and lowered his voice knowingly.
"What exactly happened here, tell me?"
His voice was icy, like coldness was dripping through it. His lower voice indicated about the upcoming danger, it was like he was trying his best to suppress the boiling rage inside.
Mantisha bit her lips. She was not actually sure about what or how much should she tell. Many things were yet to be verified, and by mentioning all of the things there, she did not want to harm Miss Smith's image more than it already is.
Adi took her silence as her grievances. He knew about her phobia of facing crowds. He could already guess how much she had suffered for that in a place like this, for coming without a partner with a prominent background. But he was afraid that there could be more. And with this Miss Smith here... He looked at her with a complicated gaze. He did not really like the lady, but she was a famous figure in social circle and also she was one of his guests after all.
"Don't be afraid, tell Uncle, what happened here?"
Mantisha clenched her hands more, as her eyes brushed past through every figure she had encountered in this hall. To her surprise, she looked a pair of blue eyes looking at her intensely with a strange smirk on his lips, his gold rims flashing under the neon effects.
She moved her eyes towards the people in front of her and she saw Herbert standing beside Evelyn and Albert.
While Evelyn and Albert, both stood there with strange expressions on their faces, Herbert came forward to her rescue.
"Miss Smith came here a while ago. She rejected many men attracted to her, who asked her for a dance. After the third song ended she went to the dance floor with a partner, performed a beautiful dance in Tango style, and in the last rhythm something happened between them and the man seemed to grab her to prevent a fall but in a pull, her dress was torn."
Herbert said it all in one go and then he looked towards Mantisha, who nodded in response.
Adi looked at Lily in a complicated gaze. This dress... He bought it for Mantisha and wanted her to wear it and come in this party. But she refused to take such a costly one as a gift.
Adi didn't know much about dresses or jewelleries, but he was satisfied with Mantisha's look today. She dressed up exactly in a way he wanted. So he just put this dress with the other extra ones for the time being and planned her to give that later. He didn't expect it would be worn by the Young Miss of Smiths.
Something was not right, he could feel it. Suddenly Mantisha's voice came.
"I think it was designed. And unknowingly Miss Smith had fallen into it."
Adi and Sylvia looked at her in surprise. Both of them knew about the dress which was worn by Lily. Did Mantisha just point out about something, they were suspecting!
"I saw that man getting all tensed while dancing. Miss Smith balanced herself before the fall, even it was a split second later, but that man still took the initiative to close the distance between them." Mantisha pointed out directly towards the man Lily was dancing with. Adi narrowed his eyes, he thought that he did not know the man at all. Under the domineering pressures he was getting, he started to become nervous. But he hid that quickly. He also started bickering,
"What are you saying? I was just dancing with Young Miss Smith. She was too fast and too perfect, so I had difficulty to match her pace."
"A perfect lie." Mantisha said out of the blue.
"What?" The man asked with annoyance. He thought that his cover was too perfect. Nobody could notice a thing. But what was this girl saying. "I said, it is another 'perfect lie' you designed."
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I wonder what would Adi do when he know about Macy's doings.
Come back tomorrow with some popcorns. Another show is yet to come.
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