As he went back inside, he saw a dance card lying on the floor. Curious, he picked it up. Who could have come here and dropped her dance card? He wondered. Hopefully, just some random girl. She might have seen Emily kissing him and was so surprised that she ran away. She did not even bother to pick her card.
Anyway, as he was curious, he opened it. The first thing he saw was Leonard's name, then followed by Geoffrey's. He felt his hear beating rapidly. Who else could own this card? He saw that at the bottom, the last two dances were filled with his name written in her own handwriting.
He felt his hand shaking. Did she see? Obviously, she did. If he knew that she was there, he would have pushed Emily away, her getting hurt be damned. However, he had no time to ponder the what ifs. He just wanted to get to her and explain. As he moved to walk down the stairs, he heard the last note of a particular song signifying its end.
Then, the introductory portion of the Second Waltz started playing. Where was she?
He looked around until he finally saw her dancing in the arms of Geoffrey. Unlike the first time he saw her dancing with him, this time, she was showing Geoffrey her coquettish smile, her dimples showing. She was dancing closely to him and was openly flirting with her eyes. He knew that look because she has used that on him over a hundred times.
Their eyes met and he saw the anger in her. He wanted to plead with his eyes, but she turned away from him.
When the song ended, the lights were dimmed. The cloth covering the ceiling was pulled to the side to reveal the glass dome.
Then the first firework lit up the night sky. Everyone turned to look up, but Charlton continued looking at her. He knew that she knew that he was staring, but she chose to ignore him.
He saw everything as if in slow motion. Serena was still looking up when Geoffrey moved his eyes down to meet hers. He smiled at her and she smiled back. Then, she inched closer until her face was directly in front of his.
—
Serena could not believe ears, what more her eyes. She heard Charlton say that Emily was a fine catch and even thought of her as pretty. Then she saw Emily kiss him and him not even trying to push her away. What else could she say to defend him? That was conclusive evidence of his unfaithfulness.
All this time, she has been torn on what to do about Geoffrey and how to escape her engagement with him. She has been thinking on how to live her future with Charlton. She was even willing to throw everything away for him. But lo and behold. Rather than the male lead seeing the female lead, it turned out to be her lover instead.
The first drop of tear fell as her nose turned sour. She quickly wiped it away. How dare he? How dare he do this to her?
She decided not to march in on the two as that was not her style. If Charlton wanted to play with her, then she can also play along. So, she purposely removed her dance card that was tied to her dress and let it drop on the floor. Let him see that and make him find her. She will definitely give him a show.
If it were any other time, Serena might have thought things through and see things from a different perspective. But she has been mind-boggled by Leonard's words since Geoffrey asked her to the ball, then add Geoffrey's words earlier. She also consumed 2 glasses of champagne.
So, she moved like a girl on a mission.
—
Geoffrey in all fairness was just innocently standing at the side. He did not ask another girl to dance with him during the last 3 songs because he knew Serena's card was empty for those. He kept himself available just in case.
Anyway, talking about his intended, where could she be? He did not quite catch her on her last dance as he still had to send his partner, Joan, to her next dance partner.
He felt that Serena was avoiding him since he confessed to her earlier. He wanted to bang his head on the wall. Why did he always have the wrong timing? Maybe he should have waited for a better time to tell her those words rather than just randomly spouting them during the interlude for their next dance. Can anyone's confession be any less romantic than his?
When Shostakovich's the second waltz was about to begin, he saw her approaching him. Then their eyes met. Without a single word, he immediately understood what she meant by the coy smile she gave him.
He hoped that he was not reading it wrong, but she was walking towards him, and so, he moved briskly to reach her.
Before she can say the words, he said them first, "Would you give me the honor of having this dance with you?", then he bowed his head and offered her his hand.
Serena gave him a smile she never gave him before, and it made his heart flutter. He did feel something similar before, but it never felt this strong.
"Of course." She replied as she placed her hand in his.
He brought her to the dancefloor, positioning themselves between the others. He felt eyes on them as they were dancing for the fourth time tonight. He did not care. She was rightfully his and so, they can stare all they want.
—
At the back of Serena's mind, a part of her was telling her that what she was doing was wrong. However, she could not, did not, want to stop. She did not think of the consequences her action might bring in the future. She had only one thing in mind. That was, to inflict as much pain to Charlton as he did her.
—
TBC
