Hussain changed into a cross legged posture on his chair, keeping his eyes thoroughly transfixed to the two of Sasi and Amit. He reached for his pockets and took out a crumpled chocolate.
"Tell us. Why did you save us.... "
Hussain rips open the chocolate. He breaks it into almost three equal parts and gives two pieces to the two of them. He took out his laptop, opened it and placed it infront of them.
"Best porn in.... What?!"
Hussain gives a big sigh and changes the website.
"Shit. Not this one." He opens another tab and the website pops up infront of the two.
"Raining Jacket Inc. Where we make you the loved one,of your loved one. What is this? ", Sasi enquires.
Hussain takes in the piece of chocolate and gives a slight half-smile.
"It is what it says it is to be. We are not a dating app or a matrimonial site. We legit make the dreams of single people come true."
"And you succeed everytime?"
"Yup. Barring a very few. But those were not our problems. The clients were fucked up."
"But how is that possible?"
"It's in the name itself. Raining Jacket. Telling it for the millionth time but still gives me chills. Raining jacket is a device that manipulates one's mind, through the AI devices that they use, to like some other person."
Amit and Sasi look at each other. Sasi raises his eyebrow in suspicion.
'Does it really work?", Sasi asks.
Hussain raises both of his eyebrows and gives a big smile.
"Here is three thousand bucks. Join me. Five thousand bucks a month. And that is each of you."
Hussain slams the notes on the table.
"Do you remember the two seniors that caught you two while you were following me? They are fourth year pigs. They will be graduating this year. So yeah I need some fresh people. No need to join those shitty clubs. Instead join here. Think about it. You are earning money, that is good money, believe me. I have done paying internships. Not more than two thousand."
Hussain continues speaking.
"We might be doing this secretively but it's not illegal."
"Then why do you do it secretively?"
"So what? Don't you masturbate secretively? Should I count that that as a crime?"
The two look at the notes, lost deep in their thoughts.
"Sir, give us a bit of time. We are fairly new to the college system. Let us concentrate on the various clubs for a day. We will tell you if we decide to join you."
Hussain spits out of the window and leans towards them.
"Not all those who concentrate and focus all day long achieve great things. You see that lizard? Yeah."
The two look towards a stagnant lizard in one cornor of the room.
Next Afternoon:-
"The lecture of Prof. Roshan Mathew is cancelled. Students are advised to go to their hostels and..... Fuck this shit", Amit exclaims in exuberant happiness, after having read the notice from the wooden notice board. It was a hectic day, despite being their first. They had to dabble between lecture halls, follow the campus map for the changed mess location so they got late for lunch and then for class. So a sudden break bursted the monotonic bubble of Amit and Sasi, and both begin walking towards the hostel.
"Why do you think Prof. Mathew didn't come? I have heard he is almost always punctual."
"He is a fucking drug addict. Must be somewhere lying in his house…"
"Who told you that? "
"Seniors Ofcourse. They know everything."
They reach the cycle stand and notice half of the students had already left the lecture hall building. It was afternoon and they weren't in the mood to crash their assess on the bed again.
"We cannot be going to the hostel. Maybe we should check out some of the clubs. I think I read a notice that the clubs are giving free participation for first year students, in order to decide if they would like to join the club."
"I also read that".
"Well, I think I will participating in the photography club", says Sasi,"You should try out some clubs as well."
"You sure you want to do this? Don't you want to chill out somewhere?"
"But let's get it done with. We will chill out in the evening."
It is a cloudy afternoon. Pigeon shit and algae had pervaded through out the roof of the bicycle stand. Trying to bring his bicycle out of the thousands of other bicycles and making cranky noises in an otherwise silent bicycle stand, Sasi set out for the photography club. Amit stood there, looking at the slim ray of sunlight coming out of the small creeks inbetween the dense clouds. He took out his cycle slowly and walked with the bicycle rolling by his side, out of the building campus. He cycles to the notice spot where one of the notice papers had various club names to choose from, in alphabetical order. Amit looked at the clubs and stood there bemused.
'Has everyone found something that interests them? Am I the only passionless guy here? Or has this notice even encompassed all the various interests that a learning human can have and is deserving of a club?'
The notice board is a huge board in middle of a long corridor accomodating the professors' private rooms. A bunch of seniors entered a room in the corridor while Amit looked at them with his hands folded, confused what to do.
Sasi reaches another building. He sees a line of students before a classroom. He goes closer to the crowd and realises it's the photography club. The room was partially filled. Sasi got into the line and in half an hour, the session kick started. A bearded senior gets in and asks a student to close the door. He switches on the projector and the huge white screen lights up with a picture of a dog running behind a butterfly fluttering around flowers.
"Hello everyone", the bearded senior starts speaking,"I am Dhawal. I am the head of the photography club for only this year. Isn't this a good photo?"
The students look at it intently and briefly admire the bright saturated colours and the precision of capturing a moving creature paused. Most of them nod their heads and some even clap and shake the brief quietude of the class.
"Most of you seem to agree. Now who will tell me why is it a good photo?"
One of the guys stood up and tried to answer.
"Sir, it is beautifully…."
"Stop", the bearded Senior signals him to sit down,"Actually..... It doesn't matter. In art, if you like it, then you like it. Just reasoning why you liked it and trying to give some logical reasons behind why the art is beautiful, may only help you in knowing your tastes or what you like. It's of least concern to the beauty of the art itself."
Sasi kept a low smile and looked with towards the senior with utmost happiness.
'Maybe, this is the place.'
Meanwhile, Amit reached the ecoclub, which was a similar room but with a comparatively lesser number of children. Amit goes into a corner of the room to sit by himself. Most of the students had started conversing among each others while Amit stared at the blank blackboard.
A girl with long hair open enters the class and sits behind Amit. Amit, immediately struck by her beauty, now sits still. He is now fully aware of the genetically gift laden girl that's sitting behind him. It was a small glimpse but was enough to bowl him out. As Amit struggled to keep his imagination within confines of logic, he felt a slow tap on his shoulders. It was a soft touch, but was enough for hormones to take over the body. He felt a sudden rush of blood in his heart. He looked back and that was it - the girl had leaned over the desk to tap him and was smiling widely.
"I like trees. But these students think it's a shitty club. You seem to be a quiet fellow. What about you? Do you like nature?"
Amit stared at her.
'If it's you here, it doesn't matter.'