Later, when it was all over and their passion was quenched, they dressed up. Chaudrey now felt shy, looked up at him, and whispered, "Did you enjoy it, my love?"
"Absolutely, you're so sweet!" Esau replied, knowing it was his first experience.
"You were so good, so sweet! I enjoyed every moment from the beginning to the end," she said and paused. "Now go out first, I will follow you later."
Esau did as she suggested; he walked out and reached the long corridor that led to the dancing hall. By this time, he did not feel like dancing anymore.
Instead, he watched the other students continue to dance as he waited for Chaudrey. But she never came back.
Esau decided it was time he left. He was happy she had given herself to him quite willingly and boldly.
What a young woman! So bold and daring, unlike the ones he knew. He knew his affair with her was one of mutual attraction, understanding, and love that transgressed the barriers and boundaries of religion and race.
Their romance went on smoothly for the rest of the year. Occasionally, they met in other secret locations outside the school, had fun, and became intimate.
And Chaudrey, whose father loved her, would come driving her father's Alfa Romeo, pick him at a secret location they had agreed, and then head out of town.
As the only child, Chaudrey had all the love of her father, and Esau saw a close parallel between them. Then, as the year drew to its close, something happened.
Alfredo, who had noticed his son's dwindling performance at school, felt concerned and began keeping a close eye on him. A day came when he returned home from office abruptly and found Esau reading a letter and laughing at himself.
He instantly knew something in the letter held his son's attention and demanded to be shown the contents.
"Bring me that letter! It could be the one retarding your progress in school," Alfredo growled.
Esau hesitated. He knew he could never afford to disobey his father, so he gave it out quite nonchalantly.
"Dad, it's only from a..." He stammered as he tried to talk.
But he knew what the letter contained. It came from Chaudrey. Alfredo read the contents of the letter, dropped it onto his lap, and sighed.
Finally, he spoke. "No wonder you've been performing poorly."
Silence fell over the room. Then Alfredo went on, "Now, stop this nonsense with the Indian girl, or else I'll bring it to the attention of your class master and even principal."
It was a naked threat.
"Dad, I promise..."
"Shut up!" Alfredo's face was a mask of fury. "How can you be too foolish to fall in love with an Indian girl?"
There was deafening silence.
Then Alfredo resumed talking, "You won't even go anywhere or reach far in that relationship once her parents discover she's befriending you; a black. They might even ask her to take her own life so as not to defile their traditions and bring shame to their family and race. Her parents would resent your relationship inasmuch as I do."
Esau said nothing when he realised his father was angry. Fury was written all over his face; Esau had never seen his father like that before. He only listened quietly as Alfredo went on ranting.
"She's no good for you. Stop wasting your time!" said his angry father.
As he listened to his father, Esau promptly realised his father was now the great wall that threatened to separate him from Chaudrey. And now he was convinced his father, as he remembered years back in primary school when he talked about Asians and Europeans, was a racist who disliked Indians.
No wonder he had always referred to Indians as bastards. At that moment, he remembered the story Lucinda had told him when he was only a little boy.
His father, so the story went, had another woman he was dating, when an Indian tycoon snatched her from him and went with her to Europe.
Later, the woman returned, but Alfredo, who neither forgave the Indian nor the woman, wanted nothing to do with her. Instead, he had chosen Lucinda as his loyal wife.
The old fool, Esau was thinking unhappily, never understood that he and Chaudrey loved each other, and nothing else mattered.
The die was cast. He would not bow down to his racist feelings and attitude, he decided. He turned and walked into his bedroom, leaving his father staring into space.
For the first time in his life, Esau realised he was beginning to dislike his father. His appetite was gone, and he did not feel like eating anything. He sat on his bed as he reflected on his future.
He could not imagine a future without Chaudrey. Suppose it was true, just supposing he could not be allowed to continue loving her?
Dusk was beginning to settle, and as he lay in his bed, wild thoughts began racing in his mind. Then suddenly, it began to rain as lightning and thunder shattered the silence of the evening.