"Marry me!"

That was the first thing he said to me in our first casual conversation. I was taken aback by him. I didn't know how to answer. It's huge for me. I wasn't able to understand what made him say that. Because according to my observation of him, he would never say anything like this. He is cold, arrogant and hotheaded. He screams, he has even screamed at me a few times when I had messed up the solar research. And now he is asking me to marry him, isn't it a joke?

"Chief, what did you say? I'm sorry, I don't think that I heard you right", I asked him just to be sure that I wasn't mistaken.

"Don't be formal with me outside club. Call me by my name", he said firmly like he always do.

"But don't you hate it when people address you informally?" I asked hesitately, slightly narrowing my eyes.

"Yeah, I do but ...." he stopped.

"But what?"

"But we should always look at the bright side, don't you think so??" he said after taking a moment to collect his thoughts.

"Yeah, that's true", I said trying to put on a smile on my face.

"So will you? " he asked once again. I was once again taken aback, I stared at him without answering.

"Will you marry me??" he asked one more time looking at my face but avoiding eye contact.

I am really trying to hold myself back. I have got so many questions.

"Should I be honest...?" I put aside all my shyness, and thought of honestly asking him Cause I don't understand if he is trying to prank me.

"Yeah sure. I want you to be completely honest", he said with seriousness ,finally making eye contact.

"Bro, do you have any idea about what you are saying? You are asking me to marry you. Well, you have never even asked me 'how I am?' in these whole six months since I joined the team. We always stay together for more than 12 hours every single day. You have never even asked me how I'm doing. And here you are asking me to marry you in our first casual conversation? Seriously? Are you kidding me?"

I thought of asking all these but I just ended up saying, "Is it because of the rumors? "

"Yeah.... Umm... Well you have seen it's impact on our team and also in all our works. So, I thought.... You know", he said being as cold as he always is.

"I don't want our academic performance to be harmed because of these. And we also have the competitions coming. We can't afford to make any mistakes at this point," he added making a circle around his cup with his index finger.

Casual conversation....!! Stupid of me to think that he was capable of casualty. He is always so serious. Always he only thinks of his study, research and winning. How could I possibly expect him...??

"Ohh.... But why must it be me? There are other girls in the team as well. Why don't you ask any of them?" I said being half hearted and looking outside the glass wall of the cafe.

"Who should I ask? Alexia? She is Mahmed's legal wife. Elsa is also the legal wife of Bayazid. Hope and Ruri are respectively wives of Salim's and Ahmed's", he said honestly .

"Ohh then that only left me?!?" I said confusingly, pointing my index finger at me.

"Yeah... That's just one of the reasons why I asked you", he said faster then he usually speaks.

"One of the reasons? There are other reasons too? What are the other reasons...." I asked him looking at him curiously.

"Well, I don't know any other girl apart from you, whom I can ask", he said looking away.

He called the waiter once again to ask for another cup of coffee. He had already finished the one from before. I never knew that he can have so many cups of coffee, cause I've bearly seen him having coffee.

"So, tell me your answer", he asked again but this time looking straight at me.

I am not that surprised like before. I calmly asked him, "Captain, I mean Raidan, do you love me?"

I'm sure that I've taken him by surprise cause he just gulped down half of the coffee. I stared at him, waiting for an answer. Just like him even I asked him one more time when he looked at me.

"Do you?"

"Yeah, I do!"

"What?"

"What?"

"What did you say?"

"What did you ask?" he said, looking confused.

"I asked if you love me or not. Cause a marriage without love is baseless. Or do you want to have a contract marrige with me?" I asked him with a frown.

Cause I was sure that he doesn't love me. So, I had to be sure about his intentions.

"You wanna have a contract marrige?" he asked me looking confused.

He cleared his throat and when I was about to answer him, then he stopped me and said, "I must have shocked you by asking you to marry me so suddenly. I'm sorry. I think you need time".

"Do you need time?" he added almost as if he was oblivious of what he had just done.

"Isn't it obvious? But Chief, are you serious about getting married?" I asked curiously but instead of answering me he just stared at me.

At first I didn't understand why. Then I thought of what I had said that made him stare so hard. Then I remembered that he had told me to address him by his name.

"I mean Raidan," I said quickly correctifying my mistake.

"Yeah. I'm serious about getting married," he said looking like he didn't mean what he said.

"If it's not me than will it be some other girl?" I asked him, carefully observing him.

My heart started to beat so fast while waiting for his answer. I was hoping that he would say no. But he said yes.... It broke my heart, also at the same time it put me in delimma. cause I want to marry him but not like this. And if he marry someone else then what will happen to me?

"When is your next exam?" he asked all of a sudden.

At first I couldn't catch up well but then after realizing his question I said, "Tomorrow!"

"The one after tomorrow?" he asked.

"Monday".

"OK so I'll pick you up on Monday afternoon. Hope you will have your answer ready by then", he said calmly, almost as if ordering me.

"Yeah, sure," I said staring at him. The waiter came with the bill. He paid the bill and we got into the car. He drove me to my dormitory. He didn't even bother to wave a bye at me while leaving.