***
Akbar invited Khayyam to dinner but forgot to divulge the delicious little detail about their classmates joining them. He looked for her reaction as she walked in with the bad boy as her fiancé, in front of all the people who had once hero-worshipped her. Her expression of stunned disbelief was as rewarding as could be expected.
It was so worth it.
She hesitated on the threshold just for a minute, but then walked in with her head held high and the same plastic smile on her face that he was beginning to recognize as her pitiful new trademark. Poor KK.
Where the hell did that come from?
He shook himself mentally and followed her, determined to enjoy her comeuppance.
‘Oh my God, it’s true!’
‘Khayyam! What were you thinking?’
‘All that time in college you made us believe…’
He smiled and said in an undertone, ‘Sweet, sweet vengeance, KK. Now go and look happy.’
He shoved her lightly towards the table while he laughed and joked with his friends, who were openly making suggestive jokes about how he had ‘tamed’ Khayyam. He made no effort to stop them. In fact, he grinned every time someone said anything that suggested she’d actually had a torch burning for him since college. He was enjoying himself immensely.
Khayyam laughed and smiled initially, but gradually she fell into a dignified silence, embellished with her plastic smile as the jokes became more aggressive.
Akbar was intrigued beyond measure. What had happened to her? Her house had looked pretty shabby and her father was now retired from the government job he had held; but how was her marriage going to help?
Alia, a classmate who had never liked Khayyam piped up. ‘So Khayyam, you’ve sold out too. What happened to your dreams of fighting for women’s rights and joining the UN? You’re ending up marrying, just like, what was it you said you’d never be, an average bimbo? Well now…’
They laughed.
Khayyam tried to shrug, but Akbar could see Alia’s words had hurt her.
Mubashir added, ‘And to submit to Akbar, the man you called an example of everything that was wrong with the youth of this country. What a man you are, Akbar! An inspiration for us all.’
Khayyam swallowed visibly, smiled and said in a low voice, ‘He’s the man.’
Mubashir and the others winked and nudged but suddenly, Akbar had had enough. He hadn’t forgotten the old slight because it had hurt at the time. She had been young and passionate about some things that he had been obviously opposed to and maybe she had said things she probably wouldn’t say now.
‘You’ll have to excuse us, guys, Khayyam and I have to go somewhere. We should do this again.’
He was already helping her out of her chair. Why did he feel this sudden urge to protect her? Her face was rigid with the control she’d been exercising. Now that he had embarrassed her and got even, why did he feel…defeated?
Her hand felt small and delicate in his as she walked by his side quietly, and he looked at her surreptitiously. She was even more beautiful than before. She exuded a strange aura of strength, and yet he could sense the vulnerability that had never been there before.
He certainly wasn’t the same. People grew up, changed…so had they.
She slipped into the passenger seat and stared ahead rigidly. For the first time since he’d met her again, he felt tongue-tied. Had it gone too far?
Had he?
‘Khayyam…’
‘It’s KK, remember?’ she said icily and then added with irritation, ‘What does it even mean?’
He smiled.
‘It’s pretty lame. Your not knowing was the punch line. If I tell you, it loses its edge.’ Facing her, he added, ‘So I’ll tell you, as a peace offering. It’s Kosher Khayyam.’
She nodded and gave a mirthless half-laugh.
‘I see. Standing up for hopeless causes and right and wrong, self-righteous…yeah it is lame.’
‘Told you it was. And Khayyam, I’m sorry about tonight. They went a bit too far. I should have stopped…’
‘Don’t bother, Akbar. I can pay my debts and I paid mine with you tonight. Or at least I think I did. If you don’t agree, lead on. I can handle whatever you have to throw at me.’
‘Still the tough firebrand somewhere inside, I see.’
He smiled but she didn’t.
And Akbar wanted to know how, or who, had extinguished the fire in Khayyam. He remembered her passionate speeches and her dedication to some good cause or other. Now she seemed to be fighting herself, some invisible constraint that kept her from incinerating her opponents with her biting barbs. He was beyond curious.
After dropping her off, he went straight to his mother to get to the bottom of things. And she told him exactly why Khayyam would let him go to any lengths to stay engaged to him. Not that his mother knew that particular bit of information, but he understood. Akbar felt that strangely unfamiliar emotion again, to protect.
The very next day he hired a lawyer to do what he needed him to do.