Convinced that she was destined to be Som’s soul mate, she had continued her relationship with him. It had been hard, doing it on the sly without her parents discovering it, but she’d talked Prema into lying for her. Guilt reared its head often, but the lure of being alone with Som was more compelling than the need to consider her parents’ delicate sensibilities.
When she’d begged Prema to go against her conscience and lie for her too many times, Prema had told her off. But she’d begged again. And again.
Each time Prema had issued a grim warning about Som. “He’s the last boy you should get mixed up with, Vini.”
“He’s changed a lot,” Vinita had argued. “He’s rather sweet once you get to know him.”
“Sweet?” Prema had snorted. “You don’t know the sordid details of his life like I do. In our Lingayat community, no sane girl wants to have anything to do with him, in spite of his money and influence. He’s a loafer.”
“No, he’s not.” Vinita had looked at her friend with narrow-eyed suspicion. “Wait a minute. Do I detect a little jealousy here?”
Prema had let out a loud sigh. “I give up, Vini. If you’re that desperate to ruin your life, go ahead. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
After that argument, Prema had pretty much left Vinita alone to dig her own grave.
However, as a loyal friend and confidant, Prema had continued to lie to Vinita’s mother whenever Vinita was running late after skipping afternoon classes or dance lessons. Oh yes, now she’d sunk from lack of interest in studies to cutting classes.
She’d disappeared with Som more frequently, the secret locations gradually progressing from the semiprivate, curtained café booth to the total seclusion of a flat. They often met in secret at his friend’s flat outside of town. His friend was a medical intern and was hardly ever home. For obvious reasons she took a rickshaw instead of riding in Som’s car.
When he’d touched her, although hesitant at first, she’d given in when desire had replaced reason. His caresses were like a drenching yet delightful monsoon rain. He was a talented flatterer and he worked her ego like her mother kneaded the soft wheat-flour dough she used for making her thinly rolled chapatis.
Little did Vinita know that eighteen-going-on-nineteen was a dangerous age—teetering on the cusp of adolescence, tumbling into womanhood—when the surge of hormones could virtually destroy a girl.
Gradually Som had her believing that he was a changed man since he’d met her. Foolishly she’d thought he was serious about her, committed enough to give up his depraved ways and get the college degree that eluded him, join in his father’s business and, last but not least, marry her.
Despite knowing full well that her parents would never consent to her marrying a Lingayat man, she had still begun to dream about becoming Mrs. Somesh Kori, an envied position that dozens of her contemporaries had striven for unsuccessfully. Well, she was different from those other girls.
Although he hadn’t said as much in words, she’d had a feeling he was as much in love with her as she with him. Men were usually more wary about exposing their emotions.
That’s when she’d given up her virginity to Som. If surrendering to temptation was rooted in true love on both sides, then it was neither wrong nor ugly. In fact, despite the pain and discomfort the first couple of times, the act of making love had been beautiful, more fulfilling than she’d imagined.
And he was a superb lover. She’d harbored no illusions about Som being a virgin or in any way inexperienced. He’d surely done this with many girls. But caught up in the throes of passion, she hadn’t cared about his past. For that moment, he was hers. From that point forward, he would remain hers.
Alas, they were all dreams—fragile-as-glass dreams that had begun to shatter the instant she’d found out he was seeing another girl at the same time he was seeing her. Prema had mentioned it to her some weeks ago. “I know you don’t want to hear this, but rumor has it that Som is involved with Sulekha.”
“Sulekha Sheth?” The girl was pretty, but she was so dense she could barely spell her own name. How could Som be interested in a girl like that?
Prema had confirmed it with an emphatic nod.
The news had dismayed more than stunned Vinita. She had seen less of Som in the last several days, and whenever they’d been together he’d been preoccupied. Nevertheless, she was loath to admit that she had failed to hold his attention. She still wanted to believe he was a changed man—because of her good influence. He’d said so himself a couple of times.
She had also already begun to suspect she might be pregnant.
But two weeks ago, that last smidgen of hope she’d been desperately clinging to was blown away like a piece of fluff disappearing into the wind. Prema had discovered that Som was spoken for—had been for years. Since his childhood he’d been unofficially betrothed to his cousin from Bijapur, his rich maternal uncle’s daughter. They were waiting for his cousin to turn eighteen, legally old enough for marriage, before announcing a formal engagement. And that was supposed to happen within the coming year.
Vinita had shaken her head at first. “How can he marry his first cousin? That’s almost incest.”
Prema had shrugged it off. “Happens all the time—even more frequently among rich people. It keeps the money within the family.”
Recognizing the truth in Prema’s words, Vinita had burst into bitter tears. Prema had comforted her the best way she could while Vinita ranted. “Why did he lie to me, Prema? Why did he pretend I was the only girl in the world for him?”
“He does this to every girl he gets involved with, Vini. He’s a heartless bastard. His affairs never seem to last more than a few months. Besides, you were…uh…Never mind.”
Vinita had swiped at her tears with her palm and stared at Prema. “What?”
“Nothing.” Prema’s lips had settled into that thin, familiar line.
“Tell me.”
“I’m sorry, but this is going to…upset you.”
“I’m upset anyway. What’s a little more?”
“All right, I heard that you were part of some kind of wager.”
Blowing her nose and trying to keep the pieces of her fragmented ego from scattering, Vinita had turned to her friend in confusion. “Wager? As in betting?”
“Apparently he had boasted to his friends that he could get any girl—even a serious girl like you who was focused on nothing but studies.”
“You mean…he chose to target me because of some bizarre challenge?”
“I understand his friends dared him to seduce a scholarly girl who was wrapped up in books and would be hard to distract. They were betting money on it.”
It had taken a few seconds for the truth to register. She’d been a pawn in a mindless game.
She’d turned on her heel and walked away from Prema. What little was left of her self-esteem had vanished, quiet as a puff of smoke.
Chapter 6
Som settled back in the chair to light a cigarette. He needed one after the long but satisfying day on the cricket field. It had been a tough game, but his team had triumphed in the end. Every muscle in his body ached from the workout. But his spirits were floating high, like a kite on a clear winter day.
“You look like a mogul king on his throne, puffing away at his hookah.” His friend Rajendra, better known as Raju, sounded amused as he referred to the elaborate water pipe that emperors used to smoke in days gone by—at times with opium-laced tobacco. The hookah was often associated with decadent pleasures and royal depravity.
“Why