'Oddly, things have been quiet since yesterday.' Nakul made a mental observation. 2 days had passed since their session with their counselor and astonishingly, Dhiraj seemed to have kept his word. Although Nakul couldn't help but feel something odd about the situation.
Contrary to his usual streak of stalking, the man was nowhere to be seen. No car outside the school. No call from an unknown number. What made Nakul worried more was whether that was good news or just the silence before a storm.
He was at his school going over the preparations for his next lecture. Even though he was staring at the book, his mind was somewhere else. It drifted back to their counseling session.
His throat went dry as he remembered Dhiraj's intense words that subconsciously had craved a mark in his mind. Those hooded eyes and that sly smile had made him nearly question his decision in the last 2 days.
He rested his forehead on his palms. 'Why am I even thinking about him? It's a good thing that he's staying away from me. That's how it should be.'
Exhaling deeply, he gave his body some good jerk to warm himself up. He checked his watch. It was time for his next class. He got up, took his books and left the staff room.
Absent-mindedly, he walked towards his class when he was halted by a peon.
"Sir, you are called in by the chairwoman" the middle- aged man simply said.
"Now? But I have a class now. Is it urgent?" a visibly confused Nakul replied.
He had never been summoned by the higher authorities of the school. Something about the situation made him anxious.
"I'm not sure. But she did tell me to get you immediately"
"Okay. I'll keep my books and come."
Oh hearing that, the peon left. Nakul kept his books aside and pondered on why he had been asked for. The nervousness made his palm all cold. 'He hasn't done anything right? No, no that isn't possible.' He kept rubbing his cold palms in order to keep them warm.
He reached the office and knocked on the door. Peeking in, he said -
"Ma'am you called me?
"Yes!! I did. Come in, come in", the chairwoman in her 60s said excitedly.
Seeing her smiling face, put Nakul at ease. 'Sigh~ it isn't something bad. Smile and make a good impression in front of her now, Nakul.' He calmed himself.
He opened the door to enter. He came forward to greet the chairwoman, but a tall, sturdy figure standing near the corner plant made him halt mid-tracks. That irritating sly smile was visible again. Rather, this time this person was proudly flaunting that smile.
Nakul's eyes widened as he cursed in his mind. 'What problem is he trying to cause for me now?' His body became stiff, numbness spreading around as their eyes met. He quickly averted his eyes from meeting Dhiraj's, so that the chairwoman wouldn't know about their "issue".
Understanding what Nakul was up to, Dhiraj too focused his gaze elsewhere. He did love teasing his baby, but he didn't want to cause unnecessary complications at his workplace. He quickly positioned himself in a way that he would be behind Nakul so that their eyes won't meet.
"Nakul!! I had no idea you knew such influential people!!" the chairwoman exclaimed.
Nakul was at a loss of words since he had no idea what was going on. He made a meek attempt at laughing and replied, "Yeah. What happened though Ma'am?"
"This fine gentleman decided to fund our school single handedly. He has even planned to build a new playground and invited some advanced faculty to teach too!! Isn't that just great!!" she tried hard to hold in her excitement.
"That IS great!!" Nakul was still unsure of how he should react. So he tried his best to go with the flow.
Dhiraj chimed in the conversation, "Nakul always mentioned to me how great his school is. So I just wanted to make some contribution from my end."
"Oh! That is so nice of you. But I've been meaning to ask this, how do you two know each other?" curiosity took over the Parsi-woman.
~Silence.
"We are friends" blurts out Nakul without giving it much thought.
Taking this opportunity, Dhiraj placed his arm around Nakul's shoulder. That startled Nakul. He wasn't used to such 'friendly' gestures.
Ignoring Nakul's discomfort, Dhiraj yet again tried to finesse the situation, "Actually I've been wanting to see around the campus. It's really beautiful. Reminds me of my school."
[A/N: LIE!! He didn't really like his school. Nothing about it was memorable to Dhiraj]
Gripping Nakul's shoulder tightly, he asked,"-so can Nakul show me around?"
"Yea-"
"Actually I have a lecture right now. So I think I should go there." Nakul firmly stated before the Chairwoman could finish her sentence. He hit Dhiraj's palm on his shoulder, a clear indication to not to test his limits.
But Dhiraj wasn't ready to give up yet. Using his super charming puppy eyes, he turned towards the chairwoman, "Aww, see Ma'am? He's always busy. He doesn't even have 10 minutes to spare for his dear friend. Now that hurts."
Nakul looked at him with such disbelief. This grown ass man had no shame in manipulating others for his own gain.
"No no," the woman quickly replied. "Nakul, show him our campus-" she commanded and continued "-he is our guest. And guests are like gods, right? Some other teacher will take over the lecture. You go."
"Thank you so much!! We'll take you leave." Dhiraj is ready to go out without wasting a single second. He deliberately tried to push Nakul outside. In retaliation, Nakul hit him in the stomach with his elbow. That hurts.
Dhiraj halted midway and Nakul made a lame excuse, "sorry-" saying in an overly pretentious tone "-you should take things slow. You are slowly approaching old age now" Nakul completed showing off his forced grin.
* * *
A furious Nakul and not-so-guilty Dhiraj were sitting in Dhiraj's car in the parking lot. Although the initial plan was to show Dhiraj around, Nakul didn't waste even one second to drag him in the parking lot.
Now they both were seated inside his car where Dhiraj was waiting for Nakul to blast off. Of course, he knew Nakul wouldn't be dancing with joy when he would come to know that Dhiraj became a benefactor of the school. But he also wanted a way he could meet Nakul without being labeled as a "stalker". So, facing Nakul's initial wrath was just a consequence he was ready to deal with in order to see him.
A few seconds passed by and slowly Nakul turned his face to meet Dhiraj's eyes. Slowly, his body was starting to adjust to the color rush. The process wasn't as painful as it used to be. His body and mind getting used to Dhiraj's presence, was something he wanted to avoid at all costs.
Slowly the colors started seeping in. His eyes focused on Dhiraj. The Man in front was grinning foolishly. That smile caught him off guard. He wasn't able to understand what was so funny about the situation. His gaze shifted on Dhiraj's attire and one thing he couldn't deny was that the man did dress himself quite well.
Today he was wearing a bit loosely fit royal bluish color shirt, folding up the sleeves a bit with light gray ankle length pants. It didn't give his usual business-mode look. They gave off relaxed and laid-back vibes.
Dhiraj lunged forward to touch Nakul's cheeks. "Are you feeling fine now?" he asked in a soft voice. Their faces were only inches apart and for some unknown reason Nakul's heart went all erratic.
Dhiraj noticed a flush of red across Nakul's cheeks. He couldn't help but let out a smirk. 'Babe!! Why are you so tempting?!'
Conscious of Dhiraj's presence, Nakul pushed him back and some-what screamed, "yeah."
"What the fuck are you doing here?" he continued.
"Well, I became a trustee of the school?!" the man shrugged off.
"Dude! Why can't you leave me the fuck alone? Do you realize how creepy you are?"
"I don't want this either. It's YOU are making me do it."
"WHAT?" Nakul screamed more. He was on the verge of losing his mind.
Dhiraj looked away. He too was utterly frustrated with the situation. He just couldn't understand why Nakul doesn't want to be with his Chrome. Usually, monochromes were ready to go to any lengths so that they can be with their chromes. They become utterly obsessed with them. Then why doesn't Nakul want to be with him? Why is he running away?
[A/N: coz maybe you are showcasing stalkerish tendencies Bruh?!]
He took in a deep breath and exhaled. Turning to Nakul he questioned, "Why don't you want to be with me?"
Hearing the question, Nakul laughed out in dismay. "Why? First: I don't want to be with you. Second: I'm not gay. I don't like you. Honestly, I don't even understand how one man can like another man."
Nakul hoped Dhiraj would give up after this.
"Yeah, so that's why I'm telling you to spend some time with me. I understand where you come from. At one point I too felt that it's weird and disgusting to like another man. But then I realized I like people. The gender didn't matter. And if I like someone, I like them. I have no control over it. And how can you say that you don't like me when you aren't even ready to give me a chance?"
~silence
"Why should I give you a chance?"
Nakul's cold voice took over the conversation.
* * *