Open Book
"W-wait Rian!" Nysa hurried as she descended the stairs.
Rian pretended not to hear her as he moved out of Mint Cafe. Nysa hurried and grabbed a fistful of his shirt.
"Why are you not listening to me?"
"Look around, I don't want to get beaten up by your admirers," Rian said as Nysa looked around. Almost everyone was staring at them.
"Oh..." Nysa trailed off but relaxed, "I thought you were pissed off with me."
"Why would I be pissed off? Did you do something?"
"I don't know. This is literally the second time we are talking."
"Exactly, come on let's sit somewhere." Rian ignored the gazes and started looking for an empty secluded space.
They both walked towards the big banyan tree which was south of the Mint Cafe. Nysa stood still and watched Rian as he freely sat down under the shade of the tree, resting his back comfortably and looking up at her.
"Oh I am sorry, are you too noble to sit down on this 'filthy ground'?" Rian smirked making air quotes.
"You wish!" Nysa glared at him and immediately sat next to him copying his posture. She leaned backward until her back rested against the tree.
"Is your pretty and expensive dress alright? Will she survive?" Rian clasped his hands together, feigning fear.
"Shut up. What's your problem! And why are you not telling me what happened to you? How did you get injured?" Nysa turned her head as she looked into Rian's eyes.
"So what did you want to talk about?" Rian asked ignoring her question.
Nysa didn't say anything and they sat comfortably. The banyan tree blocked them from most of the surroundings, only the people who were in front of them could see them. There were still many who were staring but Rian and Nysa forgot about them. The weather was a little cold, despite it was noon, but cozy.
"Tell me, did you mean it when you said you will take care of the guys?" Nysa asked looking at his injuries.
"So there is more than one guy now? I thought it was only Dhairya. No?" Rian stared back into her blue eyes.
"I don't know how you will control him but he is the Vice President. There will always be people around him. You know what that means right?"
"I have it under control. I have some information that will help you." Rian slowly smiled as he was staring at Nysa.
"What information?" Nysa tilted her head.
"I will tell you soon. Maybe after a month?"
"You don't trust me?"
Though it was only their second time talking with each other Nysa was hurt as she asked the question.
"Not completely, we barely had any interaction with each other. Do you think I should trust you completely?"
"So are you saying we should talk more?"
"Sure."
"You are a very straightforward person Rian. You weren't like this when we talked at the canteen last time."
Rian didn't say anything. He broke eye contact and noticed Nysa's features. The first time he met her, she was a little more energetic and now she looked more drained out. Nysa was the only girl in the university with golden hair and blue eyes. That was one of the reasons for her popularity. It was really rare for an Indian to have one of the features and she had both. Rian also heard some of the rumors about Nysa, how she used a guy for her gain, and when she found out he was actually poor, she left him. That guy was apparently Dhairya who told Rian what happened one night when they were hanging out, as usual.
"I find you really mysterious," Nysa spoke again, noticing Rian spacing out.
"Really? I am an open book."
"Written in Lorem Ipsum?"
"You think you are funny?" Rian smiled at her.
"I made you smile. So yeah!" Nysa giggled.
Rian smiled some more before looking at the sky.
"Tell me something about you." Nysa lightly elbowed Rian on his arm.
"Something like?"
"Something personal. I want to know more about you."
Rian slowly sat straight and shifted towards her. He slowly closed the distance between them and brought his face closer to her, inhaling her strawberry scent. He lightly sighed.
"I am the type who holds grudges 𝘂𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗹 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗲𝗻𝗱," Rian whispered and got up. Without looking back he started walking, "See you later Nysa." He spoke.
Nysa was still leaning against the tree, her mouth was agape. She closed it as she got up. She slowly walked towards the Mint Cafe when she saw Kavya and Sitara looking around. As soon as they spotted her both of them rushed towards her.
"Where were you? And why were you not picking up our call?"
"Oh, I must have put it on silent because of classes."
"Where is Rian?" Sitara asked.
"Ohh, uhh he uhh went somewhere. Probably classes." Nysa looked a bit flustered.
"We wanted to talk with him.... About Dhairya...." Kavya said neutrally.
"Ohh don't worry I told him and he said he is working on it."
Kavya and Sitara shared a gaze as Sitara spoke, "Why don't you invite him to our Saturday meet?"
"Yeah, I will message him."
"Shall we go and attend our classes now? Or back to the cafe?" Sitara asked.
"I am not really in the mood for classes."
"Do you want to go and sit under the Banyan tree?" Nysa asked remembering Rian.
"Are you kidding? On that filthy ground?" Kavya laughed. "Let's go back to the fourth floor."
Nysa followed her friend back to the cafe.
-------
Rian checked his phone. There was a new message from Dhairya, a pic of him with Nysa sitting under the tree with their bodies really close. Rian had texted him to come meet him on the 13th floor which was the Terrace. There were a total of 13 floors in the dorm building. The rooms started from the 6th floor till the 12th floor. Each floor had 25 rooms and each room had three students. The same was for the girls' dorms. Usually, the terrace was closed for both but because the boys had an agreement with the warden, they had the keys to the terrace. They were allowed to use the terrace only at night and if anyone was spotted then it was their own responsibility, meaning the warden would rat them out. Since it was noon Rian had to be really careful.
As Rian reached the terrace, he saw Dhairya standing near the door with a cig dangling between his fingers and a pissed-off expression.
"Why?" Dhairya glared at Rian and blew out the smoke.
"I met them by accident and what you saw is Nysa threatening me because of you. You know how she can be."
Dhairya frowned when he heard Rian say that.
"Give me your phone," Rian said.
"Why?"
"Just give me."
Dhairya took out his phone and gave it to Rian.
𝐺𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑡, 𝑠𝑜 ℎ𝑒'𝑠 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑜𝑟𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔.
Rian entered something into Dhairya's phone and handed it back to him.
"What's this?"
"Nysa's phone number," Rian spoke.
Dhairya looked shocked as he stared at Rian.
"Your welcome and besides, I have an idea." Rian began with a smile, "Idea that will get you a lot of money."
"What do you mean?"
"Consider this a way of me saying sorry about what happened yesterday night."
"Go ahead."
"I found a way to 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗯𝘂𝘁𝗲 𝗞𝗿𝗲𝗲𝗽." Rian smiled.