The lady in Red

"Avni!"
He almost called out to the lady in front of him.

---
It was the last day of engineering college, the formal farewell. The mood was set, the DJ playing some really awesome tracks and the graceful ladies walking in, in their shimmering sarees. The men also looked decent, it was after all their last chance at these women they were with for four years of their lives! It was some 30 minutes after the party began that he noticed her walk in.

She wasn't beautiful, not conventionally beautiful! But she had something about her that made everyone notice her. She had this air of confidence that was unparalled. The way she carried herself, her smile, her voice, her questions, her answers, each and everything she did in college. And he realised, today she looked gorgeous.

He could see her hesitate as she was entering the lawns. Hesitate - was something he never had seen her do... not even in those scary practical examinations or the viva's. To quote the lady "When you don't know, you throw a bucketful of bull... trust me, it always works!" He couldn't figure if she was unsure of whether she looked fine - you know, girls have this obsession with their looks- though she was never one for all that, but all said and done, she was a woman... or if it was some unknown thought that made her hesitate - so like a woman. "A woman", he mused. He should have been laughing he realised, but he was in stead, staring at this woman a few feet away from him with a longing smile on his face. Her white saree with all the sequence work on it shimmering in halogen lights all over. The diamonds in her ears were sparkling, and there wasn't much of anything else she was wearing that could sparkle till she noticed him coming to escort her in and smiled. That smile on her face made him smile. That smile could not only light her face, but the entire evening!

"Tonight, I shall speak to her" he resolved after she left his side and mingled with the crowd.
And the resolve grew stronger by the minute.
As he watched her move - oh so gracefully!
As he saw her speak with everyone around her.
As he saw her hug each and every of her classmates - all except him. He was scared of being around her. Scared that if she hugged him, he would never let her go.
As he saw her move to the music.
As he saw her get high on the music.
As he saw her totally lose herself in the music.

Each and every moment, he just found himself falling more and more a victim to her charms while she moved around totally unaware of her spell.

---
Today, he saw the lady looking just as lovely as she did that night. Today the lady was in red; red with the gold work shimmering in the halogen lights. The diamonds in her ears, hands, neck all sparkling with a light that was almost blinding. The lady, he knew had made it big she always was a go-getter. Aggeressive and ready to the way for herself when there was none. He would know of course, he kept track of everything she did... each and every tiny detail, probably more than he ever kept track of his life!

The day he saw her in white, she was on way to a new beginning. Today Avni was walking towards the start of another new life. And yes, that hesitation in her steps was there again. The same hesitation he saw once before. He almost wanted to run upto her and escort her, as she walked towards another journey, another beginning. Another world where she would be introduced as this man's better half, as his wife, as someone's daughter-in-law and probably as someone's mother. As he saw her stop, and hesitate one more time before she walked up he almost called out to her, only to realise his bride deserved to take her own time with this one.