Russian roulette-part 14

It was morning within minutes. She hadn’t slept the whole night. When her eyes closed finally, she slept soundly. But the miserable alarm rang, blowing her sleep away. She got up with her head pounding. She washed her face and noticed the dark circles around the eyes. “ Der’mo! How will I perform like this?” she scolded herself. The beauty sleep was necessary for all the dancers. A small mark on the body except the body art was looked at as sin. She worried constantly about what Shady was going to tell her when he saw her like this. She thought of an excuse that she could make to avoid today’s performance.

She called Nina in panic. She showed her the dreadful dark circles. “ What should I do with this? I can’t go like this.”, she said shockingly.  Nina looked around to find a solution to this mess. “ I am not going tonight. I will call in sick.”, Inna said. “ You can’t lie to Shady. He won’t buy this.”, Nina said. Both desperately thought of ways to come out of this situation.

“ What are you girls thinking?” Shady said. His voice shook the girls. They hadn’t noticed Shady arrive. They both lied no. Inna bent her eyes and tried not to look at Shady. Shady felt the uneasiness in Inna. He grabbed her and straightened her. He cupped her face to look at her clearly. She tried to get away from him. But strength overpowered her. He saw what she was hiding from him. “ You shall not go tonight. You will be with me, watching others perform.”, he said, startling her.  She opened  her mouth to say something. But words struggled to come out. She shut her mouth , knowing that he would not answer her doubts.

He didn’t bother to answer her doubts and left her speechless. When he was gone, Nina said, “ Don’t you see that he loves you? He has never taken his girls too seriously. You are his first…first girl from his troop to go out on a date with him. Wow!” Inna wanted to believe Nina’s words.

“ Come on Nina! There is nothing happening between us.”she said , controlling her tears. “ Don’t stop me from telling the truth. You will know that he loves you one day.” Nina made her point.

Night came with excitement and tensions. Inna had mixed feelings churning inside her heart. She had changed over fifty dresses until she wore best one. She took almost two hours to decorate her face. She wasn’t convinced after long hours of Nina convincing her that she look good. Inna wanted to drop the idea of going with him. Her tummy trembled and every muscle worked against her.

He arrived in his dashing best. She fell in love with him all over again. All her tensions dried up and she waited eagerly for the night with him.

(To be continued)