Party Pooper

I could already feel a headache coming on. Parties, I decided for the umpteenth time, was not my cup of tea. The combination of loud music, the smell of smoke, high pitched laughter of overly made up scantily dressed girls and the sight of strutting men always made me feel out of place and old.

As I stood in a corner near the door waiting for an opportunity to catch my friend’s eye so that I could tell her I was leaving, someone whispered in my ear, “Should we sneak away from this madding crowd?” Startled out of my wits, I turned around and gazed into a pair of chocolate brown eyes gleaming with mischief. Flustered, I said slightly incoherently, “I..uh..sure let’s go out.’

The blast of cold air that hit our faces felt good after the oppressive heat in the room. Initial small talk gave way to more meaningful conversation as we found out each others likes and dislikes. The man was witty and interesting, a distinct change from the typical party going crowd.

My watch seemed to have finally heeded my urgings and was moving with amazing speed. The man offered me a lift home and I accepted unhesitatingly. As we neared my place, an uneasy silence filled the space inside the car. Neither of us wanted the evening to end but somehow nor did we have the courage to take the next step.

What happened next was a blur. One moment I was stepping out of the car the next I was sprawled on the pavement. The roar of a bike grew fainter by the minute. I had been mugged and robbed, my gold chain and locket torn from my neck.

He was perfect in the role of knight in shining armour to my damsel in distress. Of course outwardly both of us acted shaken and angry at the incident but inside there was a sneaking sense of relief. We wanted to spend time together without breaking the conventional dos and don’ts and it seemed fate had handed us the opportunity on a platter.

That’s how I met Sam, my future husband. We were married after a month in spite of a lot of misgiving from my friends. Both of us were ecstatically happy that we had at long last found love. After our honeymoon, we settled into comfortable domesticity. There didn’t go a day when I didn’t thank the Almighty for bringing the two of us together. I felt it was our fate, our destiny.

I found the envelope quite accidentally. I must have brushed against it inadvertently while cleaning up my side of the cupboard. Oh did I forget to add he was obsessively neat? Everything in its place and a place for everything was his motto. Almost without realizing what I was doing I opened the envelope and took out the piece of paper. There was my detailed biography on that paper and at the end the word trust fund was underlined in bold. I had never told Sam about my trust fund which my grandmother had set up before she died.

The envelope slipped from my nerveless fingers and slid to the ground. Out of it slithered a gold chain and a locket. The same one that had been stolen on the night I had met Sam.

My bubble of happiness was well and truly burst.