The Logical (Wo)Man

The Masquerade Ball

Sia’s Point Of View

Finally, I can thank God for giving me the opportunity of bashing the Devil’s ego. I know it sounded like a graduation day speech but I can’t help it. I felt utterly satisfied on looking at his grim face as he saw me flirting with THE Samuel Simpson. I couldn’t stop smiling on realizing how jealous he felt. His actions and words comforted my senses as I realized that the chauvinistic control freak was finally getting a small taste of the much needed medicine. But he was still adamant as he pulled the “elevator” trick on me.

Although I would admit that his “floral” gesture was appreciable. OMG I am just sounding like him and that has to be undone.

“Karma is a b*tch” I smiled as I muttered.

Office was over and I was going back home with MacMillan , of course surrounded by the convoy of four security loaded cars. Shouryajit, scratch that, the Devil was stuck at his chamber with a high-profile case discussion with his juniors and I was relieved. I didn’t want to face him, at least not now. I had to get ready for the Masquerade Ball tonight and felt super excited given the fact that His Highness won’t be around. It was a theme-based party and I decided to deck up nicely.

Suddenly my phone buzzed. It was Shouranya.

“Hey Sho” I was relieved it was not her brother.

“Hey Babe. So, where’s the party tonight?”

“You know that don’t you?” I smirked.

“You bet I do babe. It’s Samuel Simpson after all!” she continued

“And I’ll be all ears when you guys come back”

“Babe! You are going with me. Besides, I am not sure if your brother could make it as he’s still in a meeting.”

“Oh God! Will this man change ever?”

“Hence you have to be my date for tonight!” I demanded. “And besides, this man can never change” I thought.

“No way! I don’t want to get bashed up for snatching Shouryajit Datta’s girl. No one messes with him you know” Shouranya smirked.

“Oh please , give me a break” I giggled.

“But you have to look like Cinderella today”

“And you will be my fairy God Mother!” I chuckled.

After a few more sentences , we dropped as I was almost home. I thanked Mac and ran towards the front door.

“Heeeyyyloo” I hugged Shouranya.

“May I know the reason for your chirpiness? Is it due to my brother or Samuel?” she winked.

“Oh come on! Sho lets get ready , we don’t have much time” I hurried.

“But..”

“No ifs and buts. Let’s go”

I held her hand and rushed into my room.

“Oh! Wait a minute, I don’t have anything nice to wear today!” sh*t I forgot that my wardrobe was not that impressive for attending such Page 3 parties.

“That’s why I am here silly” Shouranya walked over and opened the sliding doors of our wardrobe.

I saw four long gowns hanging elegantly inside the wardrobe. They were all labelled and looked exquisite. I couldn’t believe my eyes.

“Oh my God Shoo” I could feel the tears forming in my eyes as I hugged her. I felt really lucky to have her here.

“Fairy God mother to the rescue” she chirped as she hugged me back.

 I selected a Louis Vuitton pastel shiny blue dress with shiny trinklets. It fitted well as if it was tailor made for me. Sho picked up an Alexandre Garcia , plum pink one piece which was backless and looked amazing on her.

We both did our makeups and were finally ready for the ball.

“And that’s my Cinderella!” Shouranya was full of admiration.

“Come on! We don’t wanna be late. Do we?” I winked at her.

She gave her devilish laughter and we walked outside towards the car. I felt relieved thinking that finally I was having the girl’s night, although Joey was not here. As we got inside the car, Sho said :

“I know what you’re thinking sweety”

“I miss her Sho” I hugged her as a teardrop escaped. “I heard Joey moved out of Kolkata for her work.”

“Yeah babe! She lives in Hyderabad now.”

“She hates me”

“No darling. She is your bestie. How can she hate you? Yeah, she’s furious but she’ll be okay when you make it up to her”

“I hope she forgives me”

After I came to London, I dialed her number countless times and disconnected after it rang once. She even called me back but I didn’t ever the guts to pick it up. Joey was the one and only friend who lifted me up when I was going through the tempest. And in return, I avoided her completely on his Majesty’s orders.

“Does she know about me?”

“Yeah Babe. I told her when I got to know”

“And what did she say?”

“She was dumbfounded. Didn’t utter a word”

“Oh Sho what should I do now. I can’t lose her.”

“Babe don’t worry. You will get her back. The Good Lord helps those who help themselves. For now just concentrate on ‘Samuel’ “ Sho smirked.

“Oh Shouranya please stop will you?” I giggled.

“I don’t like the way you react when you hear the name sweety. My brother wont be very appreciative of this fact”

“Yeah whatever” I pouted.

We were entering West Street now. I could see dozens of branded motors parked ahead of us and blinding flashlights highlighting the huge red carpet bordered with the paparazzi and their cameras. We reached “The Ivy” , the top notch location of the Masquerade bash.

As we got down from our car, we were greeted by the host. I slipped the invitation cards and she took it with a warm welcoming smile.

“Welcome to the Ivy Miss Sia, Miss Shouranya. It’s a pleasure to have you both here!”

“Thank you” I smiled curtly.

“I have an exquisite mask which exactly matches with your Aura. Here you go”

She handed me a beautiful navy blue mask bordered with shiny sparkles and had intrinsic designs etched on it. Then she handed a rose pink carved mask with lovely eye lash extensions and said “ And this is for the lovely Lady who is accompanying you!”

“Well thank you!” Sho smiled.

As we tied the masks , we couldn’t stop grinning. I felt it was like my pending bachelorette which I had planned long time back , only didn’t ever expect it to be Hollywood studded.

“Oh my… is that.. is that Brad Pitt?” Sho was squealing.

I turned to look and beneath the mask it seemed so. We spotted a lot many known faces but somehow I was not intrigued by any of them. It seemed weird as now, some part of me whined for Shouryajit.

The ambience was exotic and so was the food. I could see Samuel dancing with a blonde, almost kissing her, when he suddenly got a pat on the back. It was one of his bodyguards.

I took Sho and went to the bar to avoid him. It was a girl’s night after all. Correction, “The Girls and Hollywood Night” I blushed.

“Omg I need something hard tonight. I can’t believe my eyes. Seems like the whole of  Hollywood has come to London directly from L.A.” Sho was all chirpy as she gobbled down tequilas, one after another. I took a peg of Absolut Crystal which was shimmering in the glass with an olive in it.

I know I shouldn’t take it as my digestive system wont support but I wanted to get drunk badly. It was ecstasy or was it guilt, I don’t know. I avoided Shouryajit after his yesterday’s behavior and avenged it this morning. Then why was I not happy? He tried his best to make it up to me with flowers, protected me in the elevator and also at the brunch, but I gave him a cold shoulder.

“Hey there! You finally made it” Samuel’s lustrous voice ringed in my ears.

“Oh hi Sir” .. Sh*t

“What did I tell you babygirl? Its Sam” He pulled me hard and hugged me.

I freed myself quickly.

“F*ck , you look like an angel.” He continued checking me out like a hungry wolf , from head to toe.

“Samuel, this is my sister , Shouranya” She was my sister now.

“Hey Sissy” He hugged her.

“The Samuel Simmmpsp…” Sho slurred

“I see your sister is quite enjoying herself tonight” Sam sounded coquettish.

I felt weird and right now wanted to leave along with Shouranya. I don’t know why but Sam’s presence was making me way too uncomfortable.

“May I have the pleasure of a dance Madame” Samuel started to play his tricks.

“I ..” I stuttered.

“Come on babygirl.” He dragged me to the dance floor. I couldn’t stop him as he was quite strong and I was already feeling dizzy by then. I saw Shouranya lying down on her head at the bar. I decided that I would dance a bit then excuse myself and take Shouranya to the rest room. Then we can slip out of this place finally without any intervention. I badly needed the Devil right now, but then I had to deal with it on my own, which was , in a way, better, I think.

We went on to the dance floor and I could see a lot of celebs dancing to the loud music played by the DJ. As we started dancing, Samuel placed his hands on my back.

“Oh babygirl, your have a pert as* and it fits nicely in my palm.”

F*ck, he was groping me. That bastard. I got the same feeling which I had 4 years back and felt utterly disgusted.

“And I can’t wait to get my hands on your exquisite bosoms” that cu*t continued.

As his hand approached my bo*bs , I took a few steps back.

“Babygirl, what’s the rush. Let’s warm up, and then we can go to my room”.

“Thank you but No. I have to leave Mr. Simpson” I somehow kept my cool and started to leave.

“Not so fast baby. At least a kiss for now?” He leaned down for my lips and I pushed him away with all the strength I was left with. But he was f*cking stubborn as he started advancing towards me again.

I felt the urge of running away but Sho was still there at the bar and I didn’t have the strength to lift her up. As I retreated, I prayed to God for a miracle that would save me from this a*shole.

My shoes got stuck at the edge of a side table and I started falling backwards. I felt like world was swaying round and round as I made a failed attempt to grab the side of a pillar that was standing a few feet away.

Suddenly, a strong pair of hands caught me by the waist and lifted me up bridal style. The mild citrus fragrance was very familiar and so was the voice.

“Was it the wine again Miss Sengupta?”

It was HIM!!!!