ARYA
I had never been so riled up in my life. For starters, that moron almost threw me off the roof. And then he grabbed me. The way his muscular body felt against mine, I couldn’t help but drool. He had such strong arms, how easily he had lifted me in his arms. If only someone was there to click a photo of the moment, I would have loved to sketch it for my collection.
“Ms. Nathan,” someone called out. The session was going on and some blonde woman was speaking finance gibberish, which I was tuning out as usual.
“Ms. Nathan,” someone repeated. I looked up and saw the elderly man who often stayed glued to Nate. The man was gesturing me to follow him. I looked up ahead, the woman taking the session was impatiently waiting for me to leave. So, I obliged.
As I walked outside, the man led the way and took me to a buffet room.
“What?” I asked, but he just opened the door for me. I sneaked inside, it was empty.
“Please,” the man almost nudged me to go inside. He must have read fear on my face because he added, “You will be safe, trust me.” And something in his wrinkled old smile made me walk inside. The door closed behind me and I heard the lock click.
My jaw dropped as I finally noticed him. He was standing just beside the door, sipping from a cup.
“Hi,” he smiled and suddenly, I was hyperaware that we were alone!
“I was in a session,” I spoke with as much courage as I could muster.
He laughed, and it sounded like music to my ears.
“About that,” he strolled to the food counter and placed an assortment of items on two plates.
He was about to say something but I interrupted him, “What am I doing here?”
“Well,” he looked back at me and then added a few potato chips on our plates. I waited impatiently as he loaded the plates with everything that was on the food counter, which was a lot, and then walked up to a table.
“Here,” he spoke as he pulled a chair for me to sit.
Feeling awkward at his chivalry, I took the other seat instead. Smirking, he sat in the seat he had pulled out for me. I swear I heard him whisper stubborn. But it was not an insult or a comment, instead, it sounded like a compliment.
“Do I need to ask again?” I demanded as he placed a napkin on his lap and adjusted the spoons and forks on the table. His dining etiquette was impeccable.
He pushed one plate in front of me and dug his own fork in his own plate. As he savored the taste of the food, I couldn’t help but notice how red his lips were.
“I realized that you didn’t eat, neither did I, so…” and he gestured at the plate.
I picked up a handful of fries and started to eat. Smiling yet again, he continued to eat. We ate in silence, and while I tried to focus on the delicious items I was swallowing without any particular interest, my eyes kept flickering towards him. Our eyes often met, and every time I felt a blush creep on my cheeks. And by the time I took my last bite, I was sure that my cheeks must be as red as his perfect lips.
“Anything else?” he asked as he wiped his mouth and I surreptitiously checked his discarded napkin to check if he indeed used any lipstick. He didn’t!
“So…” he smiled again.
“Do you always smile this much?” I blurted and his smile vanished like a fused bulb. He pursed his lips for a moment, thinking, then suddenly, they arched back up in a wider grin, making my heart stop.
“Not always,” he spoke more to himself.
I raised my eyebrows so he added, “It depends on the situation and, well, company.”
“You say ‘well’ a lot too,” I pointed.
He blinked in surprise, then laughed. “See, I just don’t smile in your company, you make me laugh too…” and I felt my breath hitch. I made him smile and laugh…
“So you called me out here because I didn’t eat before?” I asked seriously.
“Yes, and seeing how well you ate, I can say now that you were famished, so I did the right thing, didn’t I?” he nodded with pride.
I pouted at his comment. “I do eat a lot, any problems?”
“Till the time you can digest every bite, I have no problems in feeding you endlessly,” he raised his hands.
“Feeding me?” I demanded.
He grinned again, then asked, “Why didn’t you eat at the buffet with your friends?”
“They were mingling with their ‘finance folks’. I endured your lecture because I had to, but I didn’t wish to put my poor brain through more of that gibber-gabber, you know!”
“You endured my lecture?” he demanded with raised eyebrows.
I shrugged.
“Any idea how many people would kill for a seat?” he asked seriously.
“All except for one girl whom you literally pushed into that seat,” I screwed my nose and pointed at myself.
“Consider it a punishment for harassing me,” he smirked.
“I harassed you?” my jaw dropped.
“Well, when a beautiful girl pursues me, literally falls in my arms, grabs me and I am forced to stay within my social limits, well, it is harassment in my definition,” he added.
My jaw dropped further, so he picked up a grape from his plate and pushed it in my mouth, shocking me.
“I could slip something else in it as well,” he whispered as he raked my lower lips with his thumb.
My mouth hung open wider at these words. What else did he mean? What did he wish to push in my mouth? His hand, his lips, his tongue or his --- his ---
“I meant another fruit, you filthy mind,” he chortled as he read my expressions.
I closed my mouth and chewed quietly.
“I am missing the session,” I pointed after a while.
“That reminds me, would it hurt you to pay attention to the presentation and make use of the pen and paper provided?” he asked with a smug smile.
“I am an artist, I don’t do financial equations and your weird symbol thingies,” my words made him laugh and I just stared at him as he laughed freely. His laugh was just as beautiful as he was.
He looked around, the room was still empty. Slowly he leaned in and pulled my glasses. “Better,” he whispered. I wanted to push him, or maybe push myself back to force some distance, but I was frozen with his act.
“You are weird,” he laughed again, composing himself. His eyes were twinkling with warmth and affection and I was stunned by it. I had seen Sri and Raghu share this look of love and warmth and affection with their boyfriends, but no one had ever looked at me like this. Never Ever!
“Shall we?” he spoke standing up, “I am up for the next session and I would like to have you in that seat of yours,” he laughed. I too stood up. He walked to the locked door and knocked it. At once, the doors flung open and he gestured me to walk beside him.
“If you are an artist, then draw something,” he suggested as we walked together.
“Who said I didn’t,” I spoke with pride.
“Show me,” he demanded with raised eyebrows. “I know that you were doodling and not drawing,” he challenged but I just shrugged.
“Draw something worth my interest and I may add some financial equation to it,” and with a wink, he walked ahead.
I drew a heavy breath as I halted in my steps, putting some distance between us. It was so difficult to breathe properly in his presence. I pushed my glasses back and exhaled heavily to gain some composure.
So he knew that I was doodling. So, it meant that though he was not looking at me during the session, but he noticed how I was drooling all over him. Damn it!
“Coming?” he turned at a distance, his grin visible even from where I stood.
I nodded clumsily and walked forward. He was waiting by the door.
“This is my last session for the day,” he murmured as I reached the door. “Now it is your turn to show me what kind of Arts student you truly are!” And he gestured at me to walk forward, and with face, ears and even roots of my hair blazing red, I entered.
Sri and Raghu gave me a curious look as I rushed to my seat and sat with my head down.
“What happened?” Sri asked me but Nathan’s voice boomed in the room and a hush fell.
I took out my notebook and started sketching absentmindedly.
‘His last session,’ I remembered his words and felt my mouth turn sour. I had enjoyed his company so much that I really didn’t want to see him go away. Who knew which meeting would be our last!
So, to preserve a few memories, I pulled out my phone and discreetly clicked endless photos of him taking the session. He was looking in my direction so often that in many photos he was directly looking at me. And in one photo, he was actually smiling coyly.
When I had taken enough photos to memorize his features and every action, I placed my phone down and continued to stare and doodle.
After a while, he stepped down from the dais and walked amongst the students. Everyone was following his every move as he was speaking and explaining non-stop. I tried to listen to what he was saying, he was explaining how inflation impacted the delicate curves on the Stock market!
Hold on! Did he really use the words ‘delicate curves’? I wondered, staring at the back of his head as he walked in the row next to mine.
*
NATHAN
“The delicate curves,” I paused, alarmed by my own words but they were out and I had to continue. Shoot! What was I thinking…? Everyone noticed what I had just said, “of the stock market.”
“Yes, delicate curves, that’s what I call the ups and downs in the stock prices,” I made up as I spoke. A ripple of soft laughter ran amongst the students but she looked perplexed. She was doodling again and not paying a bit of attention to me or a word that I was saying.
I was walking among the students and deliberately started from the opposite corner. All eyes were following me, even hers and I liked that. Maybe she was not as ignorant as I thought her to be.
“The stock prices,” I said as I finally reached her and stopped dead. She was looking at me with interest but her hands were moving non-stop. And she was not doodling, she was drawing.
My jaw dropped as I saw it. A masterpiece indeed! I paused and took it from her hands. Well aware of all the eyes on me, I studied her notebook.
She was drawing me. Standing up on the dais, with hands spread wide, eyes narrowed slightly and a small, crooked smile playing on my lips. She had drawn my portrait so perfectly that it looked like I was looking at one of my own photos. And she was not even looking at the paper!
“Your notes are quite something,” I spoke, impressed. She blushed so hard that it took all my strength to not grab her face and force my lips on hers right there.
“Please add your name to it,” I spoke, pushing the notebook in front of her. She looked around nervously, everyone in the group, her friends included, were staring at us with curious expressions. She quickly signed the drawing with her initials, V.A.N.
I took the notebook back, tore the last two pages with my drawings in them, and pocketed them. “Please continue to take notes, it will help a lot!”
And with a small wink, I turned and continued with the lecture with renewed happiness. She was not just staring blankly at me, she was observing me, soaking in every minute detail of my personality, and with the intricacies she was capturing me. I knew that she liked what she was seeing.
ARYA“What was that?” Sri demanded that evening. “What was in your notes that he took them? It could not be anything related to the lecture!”Her tone and jealous look bothered me, and for a moment I didn’t want to share, but if I didn’t share with Sri and Raghu, who else could I share this with? They were my only friends in the whole damn world! So, with a scoff, I showed them my notebook, “These…” I spoke as I opened the last pages, “are my notes.”They stared at the pages for a moment then laughed in unison as they saw my latest drawing of him in there. “Yeah, it is mighty impressive,” Raghu laughed. “No wonder he took your ‘notes’.”I rolled my eyes and took back the notebook. I looked at my own handiwork and this time, I had drawn him from a pose that I remembered from our lunch together. He was sitting straight with h
ARYAThe next day while everyone took the test, I doodled over the paper. It was a multiple-choice questionnaire, and where everyone else was busy doing calculations and forming equations, I was busy drawing.I filled each side of the test paper with intricate designs, designs that not just incorporated small circles provided after each question, but also used them to enhance the overall drawing. Once the alarm bell rang indicating the end of the test, I didn’t want to submit the test paper but I was forced to. The woman supervising the test snatched it from my hands before I could refuse.After the test, all the students were taken for sight-seeing and then we were free. One of the most popular ways of visiting various tourist attractions in Cape Town was the ‘Hop-on-Hop-Off Bus’ and this was what was arranged for the students.I, along with Raghu and Sri, occupied seats on the open-top ‘Red Bus’ and had fun with other students. Though I was feeling out of place, especially with ever
ARYAAs Nathan’s hand slid into mine, a shock emitted all over my body. His grasp was so familiar and comforting that a warmth, which had nothing to do with my clumsy, baggy clothes, spread in my heart.“Do you know how I can go on top, there?” I asked Nathan, pointing at a mountain top.“Why?” he demanded, shielding his eyes from the Sun’s glare and looking up.“Para gliding,” I beamed in excitement.“What?” he looked taken aback.“Why? You haven’t done it ever?” I asked, shocked. “With your kind of money and resources, you must have tried everything.”“Yes, but not here,” he pointed around.“Why?” I asked serenely. I had done paragliding back home once or twice, but never from this height.“Because it is frigging dangerous,” he looked strangely at me as if I had lost all my senses.“Umm… I am pretty sure it isn’t,” I laughed.“You can drown,” he pointed at the vastness of the ocean.I too looked at the horizon and smiled, “If I fall there,” I stretched my hand, “Smack in the middle
NATHAN“My Nate…” her parting words reverberated in my ears as I stood by the cliff for a long moment, longer than necessary. Arya was so different, but she was so familiar. When I had kissed her, the moment I touched those soft lips, I had felt a desire ripple through not just my body, but also hers. I had realized the moment she had gotten comfortable with my touch, and when she had tried to take charge. She had risen on her toes to meet me equally. How could someone be so timid and simple and yet so fierce and dominating?“I didn’t want you to stop the first time,” her voice echoed in my head on an endless loop.“Sir?” One of my security guards spoke.I looked up at him. At least six men were standing around me, “Sir, can I get you something?” He added, feeling uncomfortable.I shook my head and decided to take my thoughts back home. I needed to see what I could do about this Arya situation. What did that Sri mean when she asked Arya, ‘Have you forgotten everything?’ And why did Ar
ARYAI didn’t know why but tears kept pouring down my cheeks today. Sri, who had given me an earful for my incandescent behavior, had left for the evening. She was going to spend the night at Ajit’s, her long term boyfriend and fiancé. Raghu too was out with his friends and I was all alone.Two months were still left in my term, and after that I was supposed to go back to India forever. But today, I wanted to go back immediately. Not because I didn’t want to be with Nathan. Oh, I desperately wanted to be with him, but I knew that it was neither possible nor plausible. So, to silence that desperation, I wanted to put an end to any possibility. And the best way was to get a one-way ticket to India. I knew if – no when – when I will go back home next, it would be the last time. And I would never see Cape Town ever again.So, to make this sad thing possible, I had called my professor and begged him to let me go early. Hearing my tearful plea, he agreed to let me go after I had submitted t
ARYAHe looked so stunned that I almost laughed. He was confused. “Why are you crying then?” he demanded, outraged. “It was as if you are doing something awful, against all your damn wishes.”Only if I could tell him!“Where are we going?” I wiped my face and smiled now.“Why are you crying?” he demanded. “I need to know why you are crying so harshly.”I shook my head and smiled again. “These tears, they come with the territory. But you will soon give me the reason to smile all my life…” I grabbed his collar and shook him slightly. “You will give me memories that will make me happy forever…” he looked so confused. “So, tell me, Mr. Anderson,” he screwed his face at this, I leaned in and pressed my lips to him, he relaxed slightly, “Nate, my Nate,” I whispered at his lips, “Tell me, Nate, where are you taking me for my perfect vacation.”He stared at me for a long moment, then nodded.“I need to know why you are crying, but it can wait. I am sure that Daniel will be here in a short w
NATHANI have been to this island more times than I could count, but this time was worth it. Being with her, away from prying eyes, away from all the distractions, was everything. Deep down I was feeling guilty, yes, a lot guilty for abandoning the empire I had built from scratch, but I was hopeful that James would be able to hold the fort down for a few days, at least. Maybe, I will catch up on emails – and give away my location and privacy to Daniel in the process – later in the week.“What are you thinking?” she asked, bringing me back to my senses. She was wearing a long t-shirt and shorts. Her bare legs were dangling from the chair and I couldn’t help but notice how beautiful she was. I could see that she was much more comfortable around me now, especially after our adventure in the ocean. She didn’t mind anymore if I wrapped my hands around her body or kiss her when she was not expecting. She was sitting on a chair by the kitchen counter and eating happily. She was so easy to
NATHANFor the first time in my entire life, I was so shocked and embarrassed. What was I thinking? I didn’t ask her to be my girlfriend or my live-in. I asked her to be my home! Who does that? Holy hell, I haven’t even fucked her yet. What has gotten into me?To pass on this weird feeling developing in the pit of my stomach, I picked up my wine bottle and started to drain it. Identically, she picked up her vodka. For a girl who doesn’t like wine, she sure could drink neat vodka!As she finished almost half of the bottle, sipping quietly, staring at the sky or horizon, I asked, “When did you start drinking?”She chuckled but she was in her senses. “The week I came to your gorgeous country.”There was no slur in her voice, she must be a good drinker!“Before that?” I asked curiously.And she laughed maniacally. Okay! Maybe she was a bit drunk.“Sri made me drink. She said and I quote, ‘if I have to live and enjoy life in this country, I need to drink,’ so yeah, I have been drinking eve