The canteen was flooded with students, and there was no space to even move. The flow of the crowd was what kept people going. Rian picked up a plate and let the crowd take the wheel. There was a variety of food and desserts, but Rian only picked chapatis and the common vegetable.
He maneuvered out of the crowd and made his way towards the tables, which were all full with little to no space. Rian looked around and spotted a familiar face, Divya, who was sitting alone. He approached her and placed his plate on her table, grabbing her attention.
"I heard you've been asking about me, and it hasn't even been 24 hours since I joined," Rian said, slowly smiling as he slid into the chair opposite her.
Divya remained silent but observed him carefully. Rian ran a hand through his hair and leaned forward slightly, resting his elbows on the table.
"I didn't know you were the stalking type," he remarked.
"What if I am?" Divya replied, her attitude completely changed compared to when she was speaking to Rian and Arpit before.
"I can handle your type," Rian said, his smile still on his face.
"I bet you can," Divya scoffed, picking up a piece of her sandwich. Rian watched as she ate and began eating his own food in silence.
As they were eating, a commotion broke out in the canteen, and everyone's attention turned to the beautiful models walking towards the buffet. The three delicate girls walked side by side, carrying plates, and made their way toward Rian's table.
"Why are the dolls eating here?" some people wondered aloud.
"Yeah, man, I don't know."
"I think they want to talk to the president."
"Yeah, but who's that guy sitting with her? And why didn't she make him go away?"
Rian overheard some of the nonsense being spouted around him and took a deep breath. He noticed Divya watching him closely. He winked at her and then shifted his gaze back to the three models approaching their table.
"Sorry we're late, a guy wouldn't stop bothering us," the shortest of the three girls said with mild annoyance, glancing at Rian without saying anything more.
They all sat down at the table, not uttering another word. The girl with black hair looked at the adjacent table and said, "I need a chair."
"Oh, yes, yes! Hi! I'm sorry. Take it," the guy with glasses quickly stood up and dragged a chair over to her. The girl with black hair took a tissue paper from the table and cleaned the seat. The guy with glasses laughed awkwardly and immediately left. The other two girls burst into laughter.
As they settled in their seats, all three girls looked at Rian as if expecting an explanation.
Rian paused his eating and smiled slowly. "She's stalking me," he said, then resumed eating as if that statement explained everything. Divya glared at Rian.
"Hehehehe," the girl with golden hair started laughing.
"You're an interesting one. What's your name?" she asked.
"Rian. What about you guys?" Rian made eye contact with each of them before leaning back comfortably.
"I'm Nysa," the girl with golden hair replied. "This is Kavya," she said, pointing to the girl with short brown hair, "and this is Sitara," she added, pointing to the tall girl with black hair, who nodded at Rian.
"You're quite tall, even for a tall guy. What's your height?" Kavya asked, eyeing him up and down.
"Why don't you guess?" Rian smiled.
"I think you're between six feet four inches and six feet seven inches."
"Yeah, you're right."
"I think this is the first time I'm seeing you. Where were you hiding till now?" Sitara looked at Rian with a mischievous smile.
"You're actually right. Today's my first day," Rian replied, taking another bite of his food.
All three of them made an 'o' sound and nodded at each other.
"What did you want to talk about?" Sitara turned her attention to Divya.
"I want to step down as president," Divya stated seriously.
"What? Why?" Sitara asked, surprised by Divya's sudden announcement, as were the other two girls.
"The Vice President is a creep, and he's pressuring me to give him access to the entire building. As president, only the warden and I can access anything, and I'm not obligated to give it to him. But he's not listening. Now even the warden is pressuring me to give him a free pass, just once. If I do what they're asking and it gets found out, it'll be over for me. I worked really hard to get here," Divya's voice faltered slightly towards the end, but she quickly regained her composure.
"But why is he asking for access to the whole building?" Kavya inquired.
"Think about it carefully. Full access also means keys to the common room and even the storeroom, where all the spare keys are kept. They can go wherever they want, and you know how guys are. The first thing they'll do is sneak into girls' dorms," Nysa spoke with a voice full of displeasure, inadvertently glancing at Rian, who remained completely unfazed, silently eating his food.
"Well, that can't happen then!" Sitara's voice grew loud with anger.
"But what can we do? And you don't know how pressuring and mentally tiring it is when people ignore you, talk rudely, pass comments, and spread rumors," Divya spoke sadly. "I don't think I can take it much longer. I asked our seniors for help, but they're going through their own drama and don't want to get involved in the first-year's drama. Since they're in different dorms, it doesn't matter to them. Not to mention, we don't even have a good bond with them considering it's only been one week."
"I thought security was supposed to be tighter, but the conditions in the dorms are worsening," Kavya shook her head.
"This can't happen under any circumstances. We have to do something," Sitara declared, looking at Nysa and Kavya.
The table fell silent, and they continued eating in silence. Then a voice broke the stillness. Rian checked the time and took a deep breath.
"What if I make Dhairya stop?" Rian proposed, finishing his lunch.