The Redux of RiKara

A Fabric of Scandals

"What about this one?"

Gauri asked as she came out of the trial room one afternoon and into the waiting area where Om was lounging on one of the comfortable beige chairs with the coke in his hand and a business magazine in another. She caught her breath and smiled to herself as she stared at the perfection that sat in front of her.

Her life had taken a 180 degree turn since she started dating this wonderful man 3 months ago. Never had she expected that every day would be so beautiful and every moment would be magical with him by her side. Never had she expected that she would smile at the weird happenings in her life and have a hop in her step as she flitted from one direction to the next. But then he asked her out to a date that one fateful rainy night months ago and took the plunge that would lead them both into this wonderful rollercoaster ride of ups and downs in their relationship. She had had more ups than downs, she thought, but the more she grew secure of their relationship, the more she believed that Om would be by her side when the downs came.

Om heard the sweet feminine sound of his girlfriend and looked up from the article he was reading about the success of his company's latest launch. With a smile already on his face at the thought of Gauri and the weirdly cute way she had snuggled into his life, he looked up and caught the full force of her beauty unarmed.

Dressed in a A-line Princess scoop neck tulle dress in dark red, she looked ethereal. There was more tulle trailing behind her as she edged her way out of the trial room towards him in what could only be described as a practiced flow. His breath caught in his throat and his mouth fell open like it had with the other dozen dresses that she had tried on in the past three hours. She looked beautiful. Too beautiful. So beautiful that there was no way that anybody else was going to see her in this dress except for him. So, he rearranged his face so that it looked like he was trying to decide whether this dress was a good fit for tonight's party. Then, he looked into anxious Gauri's eyes, and said, "Maybe something else? This one fits right and is a good color, but it looks too plain on you."

Gauri sighed.

She had been so convinced that he would like this dress with the way he looked at her when she came out of the trial room, but the way he changed his stance at the last minute had her convinced that he was faking. She was slowly starting to catch on to her boyfriend's pretend nonchalance and she was having enough of it. She smiled. Time for some Gundi Gauri in action. So, she ushered the fitter into the trial room and asked her to get a dress that would accentuate her curves and make her look, if she may say so herself, "very very sexy." There you go, Mr. Omkara Singh Oberoi. Let's see how you get out of this one.

The fitter's eyes gleamed with excitement as she rushed out of the door to find a showstopper. A few minutes later, she came back with a hanger full of something that was set in a shimmery black and had a long train of soft fabric towards the end. Gauri looked on in doubt. She had said "sexy", but maybe this was pushing it. The fitter was very convinced though.

"Ma'am, I know you have a little conservative taste when it comes to the ball gowns, but don't worry, the halter neck on this piece will show off your strong arms and the mermaid fall will punctuate your hips so that they don't look wide, they look full. Trust me."

Gauri shrugged. Half the things that this fitter said were foreign to her, but if she was convinced then there was no harm in trying this out. The only thing she really worried about was price.

With the fitter's help, she slipped into the shimmery black ballgown and stared at herself in the mirror. She had asked for this dress to tease Om, but now that she stared at it in the mirror, it did do wonders to her body. The mermaid cut perfectly rounded her hips and hugged her legs so that she looked taller and slender somehow and the halter neck gave definition to her face and arms instead of the rounded cuteness that she was used to seeing. And when she twirled in front of the mirror, she caught sight of the backless slit framed with lacework that ran down the sides of her body and she gasped.