Ritutandra took him to a secluded spot near the forest. "Are we allowed to come here?" Bikram asked as he looked around the growing number of trees around them. "I, am allowed to come here," Ritutandra said. "Oh." Bikram nodded. He wondered that it was probably a privilege of the students' council. After walking a little Ritutandra found a nice spot to sit. They had been walking along the edge of the forest and from their spot they could see students playing in the field.
Ritutandra explained to him as they ate their lunch. As he listened to her Bikram felt there were many things he previously did not understand. Ritu answered each of his questions in the simplest way without missing any detail. Bikram was even more amazed by her theoretical knowledge of music. Earlier he had seen her practical prowess and now her theoretical knowledge made him spellbound. Although there was not much change to her indifferent expression, Bikram noticed that while explaining her grey eyes twinkled like distant stars behind clouds. At first, he was hesitant to ask her many questions thinking she might get annoyed but her patience made him ease up.
He would usually be unable to get close to someone in such a short time no matter how much he admired the other person but her presence was calming to him. He knew that she was far more knowledgeable than him in music and his questions might come as childish or boring to her but not once did she express her dissatisfaction in answering him even after he asked her to explain the same thing more than once. Rather, she would think for some time to explain in a better way. At the end of their discussion, Bikram realised that he has learnt many new things from her in that short span of time than he had in his years of learning in the company. And many of those were very basic which most people usually tend to overlook but if taken into consideration can drastically change the entire presentation.
"Thank you very much for your teachings VC." Bikram smiled at her. She waved her hand and continued to eat.
"Arey, Bikram you look happy. What's the occasion?" Koushik asked him as they headed for their dorm. "I had a one-on-one learning session with the VC. And you won't believe me, she's such a talented and knowledgeable person! Like I just listened to her for thirty minutes and I can't even list the number of things I learnt! Maybe that's what you call a music genius!" he said with a smile. "Woah woah. Is that a smile? I'm seeing you smile like that after such a long time. You haven't had such a smile ever since you got your calm and composed persona assigned. Tch. The company is ruining your gentle side." Rishi hugged his friend's shoulder and said.
It was about midnight when Rishi woke up hearing some noise. Since their rooms were on the ground floor he could hear it clearly. It was a low growling noise. Initially, he thought it was his imagination but then the sound came closer. The three of them has separate rooms. Rishi went out to see if anyone else was awake too. But the hallway was empty. He heard it again. Scowling he went out to check. As he stood at the verandah the lights lit up. He craned his neck to see if there was something hiding behind the trees but nothing could be seen. When he heard the noise for the fifth time he came out of the building.
There was a rustle in the nearby bush. Rishi turned around sharply and flashed the light on his smartwatch towards the bush. Something big and black leapt towards him. "Aaah." startled he jumped back blocking his face with his hands. He was about to fall on the ground hard when a pair of strong hands caught him. "Careful." a soft reprimanding voice sounded. Rishi turned around to see a boy, his age was supporting him. He had a frown on his face. His captivating black eyes were narrowed, thick knitted eyebrows and a high nose bridge were only a few inches away from Rishi's face. "Hey, stand up. How long am I going to hold you?" Rishi jolted from his reverie hearing a deep voice.
Standing up he cleared his throat to hide his embarrassment. "Uh, thanks." The boy nodded and said "What on earth were you doing here in the dead of night?" the boy asked. Now, Rishi got a full view of his saviour. The boy was a few inches taller than him and had a slim build. His hair was in a ponytail. Little strands of hair fell on his forehead. He was standing there wearing a hoodie with his hands tucked in its pocket and white shorts. After checking him out Rishi realised he was asked a question. He coughed and said averting his eyes "I heard some strange noises. So I came here to check." "Are you a fool? Coming here at this time all alone when you heard suspicious noise?" the boy said raising his eyebrows.
Rishi looked down embarrassed by his words. "Wait. You're lecturing me but you're also out here in the dead of night. Why are you here?" He tried to save his face by questioning him back. He furrowed his brows and looked at the boy with his hands on his hips. The boy laughed. Rishi felt it was quite pleasant to hear his laughter. "Trying to save face are we?" the boy brought his face a little close to Rishi's who looked away flustered from the closeness of their faces. He could not understand how he who always spent time with two beautiful young boys, Koushik and Bikram could get so easily flustered facing this boy. 'He's very handsome though.' thought Rishi peeking at his face.
"The power in my room suddenly went out. One of my juniors and friend stays here. I came to get the management's contact info from him." The boy straightened up and said. "Who are you trying to fool? Don't you have a phone?" Rishi said pointing to his watch. "If only that silly kid picked up his phone I did not have to run around at this hour." he laughed again. Rishi gulped. He seemed to be getting hypnotised by his laughter.
"Ahem. Anyways. Since you came for the management's contact info and I seem to have it you don't need to make a ruckus and wake the others up. Come with me. It's saved on my Board." Rishi said gulping. "Who was the one causing a ruckus by screaming? Pinning the blame on others huh?" the boy said with an amazed look. Rishi cleared his throat and said "Are you coming or not? Anyways. I was about to find out the source of the noise if it wasn't for you." Rishi huffed like an angry border collie.