After few knocks Manik opened the door. He was dumbstruck, he kept on gawking at me as if he had never seen a girl in his life or may be he thought how much I resembled my twin brother. Either ways, I was uncomfortable because he wasn't letting me inside. I waved my hand in front of him trying to break his spell. No reaction so, I finally I touched his arm. I felt as if my whole body just tingled and he was out of his spell as if he had been electrocuted. There was some sort of weird reaction for a moment. Finally he talked.
"Please come in." He said very gently so unlike Manik. I was so not buying his act of chivalry.
"Where is my brother?" I asked keeping my bag on Manik's bed so that he shouldn't think I knew which bed was Nandan's.
"Well um he well he..." he scratched his neck showing he was nervous and started stuttering. I had to control my laugh thinking I was having a field day with all of this at the same time feeling bad for cheating him in a conniving manner. But I had no choice.
"Yes he what ?" I asked sitting on his bed.
"Actually well you see ..actually one of my friend had some emergency so he had to help him you know your brother is very kind hearted so he said he doesn't know when he will be coming back." He finally spoke with some conviction.
"Really? He didn't tell me anything and he was not even picking up his call when I called him sometime back." I cross questioned him thinking of all the trouble I am going to be in if I get caught this time, making me more nervous and courageous all at the same time.
"Yea it was kinda last moment thing but you make yourself comfortable. I dont want your brother to think I am not the good host. Do you want something to drink ?" He asked me.
"Yes please. I would like some coffee, if its not a problem. I had a very long flight so I am very tired may be some caffeine will help me get refreshed." I said making myself comfortable on his bed.
"Sure. Give me five minutes. I will get you instant coffee. I guess it's a twin thing. Your brother is a coffee addict too so we always have coffee here." He went to the makeshift kitchen which had small refrigerator and an induction stove with some of the daily food items like cereal and bread and milk. I always made sure we had those essentials because sometimes our timings never matched. Lunch or dinner time in the cafeteria had strict timings so I never took the risk of going hungry.
I smiled thinking Manik used to sneakily take my coffee all the time but never once asked me to make him one but always made sure he got some of it.
"May I know why you are smiling?" He asked. Suddenly I was now looking at him facing me so closely holding my cup. We didn't talk for some time, just stared at each other.
"Coffee." He cleared his throat and sat in front of me. I took the cup from him and sipped my delicious instant coffee. Just the right one. I really did moan.
"Hmmm not bad for a non coffee maker. You never make one." I blurted out and then realized my mistake. Oopsie!!
"Excuse me!! how would you know?" He asked me standing up and coming closer to me.
Oh God he has to stop coming closer I can't even think properly as it is. I was so nervous.
"Nandan keeps telling me about you. Yes, he told me you always steal his coffee and never make one so I asked." I defended myself. That made him quite. I enjoyed my hot beverage and we did not really talk for the rest of the time.
"So my brother, is he going to come today or should I go and meet him wherever he is?" I stood up "I am on a very tight schedule. I need to leave tonight and get back to Mumbai." I said taking my cup to the sink.
"You can't leave today." He snapped as if he has some control over me. He came behind me and again, so damn close. My heart was thumping now. He really made me feel something and I was always on edge when I was Nandan and never had time to pay attention to him. But now since I was officially a girl, I was acting like a fool, totally unlike me. I did have many crushes in my college but I never persued anyone but many guys did come and ask me out saying I was very cute and hot at the same time which I really didn't understand but nevertheless, I never paid attention to date anyone because I was in no hurry to find my life partner then or anytime soon.
"I mean, what's the hurry its not everyday relatives are allowed to come and stay in the room with us. So please, don't leave. I will share a room with my friend you can take this room for tonight and Nandan might come in the night once he is done with the emergency work." He touched my arm. Yet again making me get those butterflies fluttering kind of feeling in my tummy. I was so much in trouble because of this huge guy towering over me. He had a foot and inch over me. I had to almost look at ceiling to look at him. And he was acting so gentle making me regret the act I was putting on.
Suddenly, he slowly got both his hands ltowards my face and held my cheeks for a moment and put my stray hair behind my ear, "So soft." He mumbled. I bit my lower lip to control uttering something insane. I just kept looking at him.