The contract was signed and now Dhiraj was in his detective mood. Detective? More like Stalker in Nakul's language.
He was back at Nakul's school. But this time he wasn't there so he could catch glimpses of his baby. He was there on a mission. A mission to find: What are Nakul's likes!!?!
Although he had some pretty extravagant ideas in his mind for their first date with Nakul, for example, having a candlelight dinner on the top floor of bhuj-khalifa in Dubai, he knew Nakul would HATE him for doing that. He knew for sure that Nakul wasn't someone who would be impressed by his wealth. He had to try some different things. And so he needed some information.
And hence the mission!! He decided to snoop around with Nakul's colleagues to find more info about him. So now since Nakul wasn't present in the staff room, it was finally the time to ask some questions about his beloved baby.
Dhiraj entered that staff room, and everyone turned to look at him.
~silence
Dhiraj broke into an awkward smile to ease the tension of why a trustee is entering the staff room," Heyyyyy" He waved his palm while stretching the last syllable of the word.
The staff were too taken aback by the sudden entry of a handsome and influential man. In the past few days the other staff members did notice a rather handsome man being quite chummy with their colleague Nakul. Some of them did recognize Dhiraj while others got to know about him. They also tried asking Nakul about how they know each other. But the only answer they received was : "we are friends."
"Ahh.....Nakul is not here." A teacher simply stated as Dhiraj usually interacted only with Nakul.
"Yeah. I know. But today I'm not here to meet him. I actually came to meet you guys." Dhiraj stated his agenda.
A collective "oh" was heard from the 5 teachers present.
"Yeah. So let me introduce myself," Dhiraj began "I am Dhiraj Raghuvanshi. I am working as the Deputy general manager at Enigma, the IT giant. I like to consider myself as Nakul's...friend."
All the teachers nodded looking at him.
"So why...are you...here...?" A teacher in her early 40s asked.
"Oh, yeah, actually...I need your help." Dhiraj looked at them with sincere eyes, giving them a notion as if he's a good student who needed their help.
"Yeah sure. How can we help you?"
Taking a moment to find the right words, Dhiraj finally began,
"So, I want to be friends with Nakul. We aren't exactly friends right now." embarrassed, a smile broke on his lips and he ran his hands through his hair while shyly looking away. "But I want to."
All the 5 teachers present in the staff room just kept blankly staring at him.
"I'm grateful to him honestly. In the past he has helped. Help me realize somethings that...I never thought I'll understand-"
He felt a slight squeeze in his stomach and for some unknown reason his heart was beating furiously.
[A/N: Dhiraj.....Nervous?]
He continued, "And I'm so grateful to him for just.....existing. And I really want to show him my appreciation."
Dhiraj's eyes now looked a bit solemn. Seriousness took over him as he said, "You all must be aware that Nakul exactly isn't the type of person to open up to people. I tried to get closer to him but wasn't able to. But I so very much want to get close to him. Be his friend. And show my appreciation for him. All I want is a chance to show him that..."
~pause
"So can you help me do that?" saying that he looked at them with his puppy eyes.
He wanted them to feel as if he was a small child asking for their help from his older sisters. And nevertheless. They gave in. After all, who can resist the sincerity of those eyes?
[A/N: this sly puppy🤦♀️]
"Yeah. sure. We are here to help you." said a teacher in her late 30s.
An excited Dhiraj began, "So what kind of food does Nakul like?"
"He really likes my Gajar-ka-halwa!![ a sweet]" the oldest amongst the teachers replied. She seemed pretty proud of the fact that Nakul liked her sweets.
"And my sandwiches too," replied another teacher.
"I think he likes pretty much everything when it comes to food" the conclusion was drawn.
Feeding all the data inside his brain, Dhiraj listened to everything attentively. 'Hmmm, so food is a must. Wine maybe? Does he drink? And what about movies?'
"Oh....okay" he blurts out absentmindedly, "What about movies?"
The teachers looked at each other, having no idea about that topic. A few seconds had passed by when the youngest teacher of the lot finally said:
"I don't know about movies. But some time back he went to see that latest spiderman movie. And he wouldn't stop telling me about it. I think he really likes spiderman. Like A LOT"
Dhiraj's eyes light up. Although superheroes and movies in general weren't really his field of interests, he wanted to know more about them for Nakul. "Okay. spider-man. Noted"
Dhiraj just knew what he had to do next. Do next, so that his baby would at least start falling for him
***
~Next Day, Evening
Nakul's body had adjusted to the color rush. A hint of anxiety had taken over him as he realized how fast his body was adapting to Dhiraj's presence. And although skeptical, a part of him always looked forward to meeting Dhiraj. Because only when they met, can he see how beautiful even the simplest of the simple things looked.
He was with Dhiraj in his car driving to a location unknown to him. He tried to ask the man where they were going. But Dhiraj replied with his goofy smile that it was a surprise. All Nakul could do was roll his eyes with a 'this man will never change' look. Soon they reached the biggest mall in the city and that was a sight to behold for Nakul.
He had been to that mall a few times but was never awestruck by how the lights added to the charm of the entertainment center. Everything sparkled. It was as if stars had found their way to earth. Dhiraj noticed Nakul's wide eyes with wonder. He slowed down the car a bit so that Nakul could enjoy the view a bit longer. Seeing his baby blown away, he couldn't get any more prouder.
Dhiraj soon drove the car to the top floor of the parking space which was only reserved for the VVIPs. Parking his car at his designated spot, they made their way towards the entrance.
'He is a man of influence. Of course he will have his own parking spot here. There's nothing to be amazed about it,' Nakul kept repeating to himself as they reached the movie theater.
"We are here" Dhiraj did a ta-da pose as they reached towards their screen.
"A movie?" Nakul seemed unimpressed.
"Yes. I bet you will love it" Dhiraj was confident in his plan.
"Okay. whatever." Nakul couldn't care less or at least he pretended that.
Nakul entered the theater-screen. He could hear his heart pumping loudly. How will the colors look on the huge screen, was a question he couldn't let go off.
But he halted mid track when he found that there was not even a single soul present. He wasn't sure about that. He turned around to face Dhiraj who got a hint about what was going on in Nakul's mind.
"I want to show you this specific movie. Which isn't in theaters now. So i had only 2 options, either take u to my place where we can watch this movie. Or rent a theater. Now you wouldn't have come to my place right?" Dhiraj gave quite a satisfactory explanation. Of course Nakul wouldn't have gone to his place. But that only made him more curious about what movie Dhiraj had planned.
'I bet its a movie about gay guys.' Nakul rolled his eyes at that thought. Of course Dhiraj would want to push forth his "agenda" that he "loves" Nakul. And Nakul was so over that.
They finally got settled and Nakul was experiencing the ultimate luxury of life. Cozy seats, a variety of popcorn, snacks and drinks. Dhiraj made sure that everything was available to make their movie "hangout" the most memorable one for Nakul. Finally the lights went out indicating that the movie was about to begin.
'I'm sure its a gay movie. But still I'll watch it this one time.' Nakul concluded. Even if it wasn't a movie he wanted to watch, he can at least enjoy the experience of seeing it in color.
The thumping heartbeat took over Nakul as he waited for the movie to start. seconds later it did. And when he saw the glitches and the comic book-like aesthetic of the movie, for a second his heart stopped beating.
It was the movie, his past self would've readily died to see in colors.
The movie was: Spiderman into the spiderverse.
And Nakul . Literally . Screamed.
He loved spiderman sooooooooooooooo much. And one of the very few times, he hated himself for being a monochrome was when that movie was released.
Everyone online talked about how spectacular of an experience it was. And Nakul hated the fact that he wasn't able to experience it fully. He did go to watch the movie anyway. But he cried himself to sleep that night for not being able to experience the visuals.
And now that he could, he wasn't able to keep his emotions in check.
"WHAT THE FUCK" he screamed out loud as he stood up in disbelief.
He turned to look at Dhiraj if what he was seeing was actually a reality. And Dhiraj too, wasn't able to keep his emotions to himself. He was trying so hard not to jump and pull Nakul in his arms. He restrained himself by clenching his fist so tight that it turned red. He grinned at Nakul as he saw his baby screaming out loud with joy. He got up and casually mentioned, "Since you like it so much I think I deserve a hug". And to his surprise, Nakul jumped in his arms.
With Nakul's arms around his neck, Dhiraj was too taken back to react. Seconds passed by and he finally understood what was going on. Slowly he wrapped his arms around Nakul and with each second his grip grew tighter. It was as if he would never get another chance to experience that moment so he just wanted to make the most of it.
Burying his face in Nakul's neck, he could smell a soft scent lingering around the nape of his neck. It was soft, tender and delicate unlike his strong perfume. Unconsciously he rubbed his nose bridge on the other man's neck and a moan nearly escaped from Nakul's mouth. Shivers ran down his spine and suddenly he was breathless. Nuzzling up, Dhiraj pulled Nakul's body even closer to his and soon their bodies were pressed against each other.
Nakul trembled at Dhiraj's slight touch and he knew he just HAD to push the man aside.
A second later he did, and Dhiraj's trance broke. They both quickly recovered and without paying much attention to the events that just happened, they got back to watching the movie.
***
The movie finished and Nakul couldn't stop gushing over how amazing the movie was to Dhiraj. He had opened up around Dhiraj now.
"Watching this movie in a theater was a whole different experience" Nakul was practically jumping as they exited the theater.
"I'm glad you liked it"
'That's what I wanted babe. Good Job Dhiraj.' Dhiraj couldn't have been more proud of himself.
The experience was amazing but Nakul couldn't help but question somethings "I didn't knew they allowed exclusive screenings like these"
"They don't"
"Then how did you.....?!"
"We own this place. Actually, this was the very 1st project I worked on" Dhiraj mentioned casually as if it wasn't a big deal.
They made their way back towards the parking area. They got into the car and Dhiraj drove off for the next part of their "hangout" hoping Nakul would enjoy it as much as he enjoyed the movie.
***