Chapter 9: Oh, God! NO!

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"Hi, sorry to bother you... "

"Oh! You're the guy from the boat." I say, not trying too hard to remember him. And to be honest, I was a bit out of breath.

"Yeah, I saw you and thought I saw you somewhere and then I remembered..." He says hesitantly.

And I realize what he was referring to.
"Yeaahhh... Not a great first impression." I trail off and squeeze my eyes shut in embarrassment as if that would help.

He lets out a chuckle.

And FYI, I'm not swooning over a chuckle. I am not. Do you understand that? Neither I'm I swooning over his eyes. Those gorgeous, enthralling hazel-coloured... Oh, God! No!

"Okay, so... How can I help you?" I ask, straightening up and hopefully managing to gather up my leftover dignity. And trying to get rid of those weird thoughts.

"So, I was hoping you could suggest a place to eat around here. Nothing fancy cause it's just me today. My friends irritated the hell out of me." He says in an exasperated manner.

I let out a short chuckle and tell him,"Here most of the free-standing restaurants are nasty and health disasters but the ones with resorts are really good. Where are you currently staying?"

"Now I know where I am not supposed to go. I stay at Coral Reef Hotel... Do you know where it is?" He asks scrunching his eyebrows together. So cute! Oh, God! NO!

"Oh! We actually share a beach!" This is so exciting. Mr. Gorgeous eyes is staying nearby.

"What do you mean? Share a... beach?" Curiosity visible on his face.

"Our resorts are next to each other. So both the resorts share a common beach. You could actually try out my resort's restaurant." I suggest.

"If it's good then I don't mind. We could eat together if you are comfortable. If you are not, I'm totally fine..." rushing his speech at the end.

I interrupt him before rambles any further, " I don't mind at all. We should go now. I'm pretty hungry." I say in an amused manner while packing up my stuff.

I get up and both of us head towards an autorickshaw. We both climb into it and tell the driver the address. The ride was a bit awkward. Short but silent. That was never unexpected.

I pay the auto walla without him noticing and guide him toward the restaurant. I ask him if he would like to choose the table but left the choice on me. So I head go and sit down at the table that I had occupied that very morning. As soon as we sit down, I ask him pulling out the most serious face I can muster, "Can I ask you a question?"

"Okay, ask away." his face showing utter confusion.

"What is your name?" wiping off that serious face and replacing it with a small smile I ask him.

As soon as I finish the question, he looks down in quiet laughs and then looks at me with those hazel eyes through his eyelashes. No, I am not swooning.

Why on earth am I lying? I am totally swooning. How can I not? Just look at the guy! It's not just his eyes. He's tall, his body, he's not buff but nowhere near scrawny, his brown hair is messy and falls perfectly on his forehead. When he smiles, he smiles openly, showing those pearly whites, and not the usual half-smiles and smirks that boys do nowadays. He's totally not bad to look at.

I laugh along with him and then he straightens himself and then speaks in a fake formal tone, "Good Morning Miss! I am Chris Williams. And you are?"

"Good Morning Mr. Williams. I am Tanaya Sengupta. It is a pleasure to meet you." I try the fake formality thingie but instead end up laughing.

"The pleasure is all mine." and he gives me one of his typical warm smiles. Oh, God! I even know what his typical smile looks like.

The waiter brings us the menu cards and we order. And our conversation continues.

I ask, "Where are you from?"

"I currently work in New York at a publishing house as an editor." making my eyes go wide and my interest peaks up.

"You like reading," I state with an impressed look on my face. "So do I."

"I just moved to D.C. And currently unemployed and in the process of job hunting. I'm looking for an NGO or a government job that involves themselves with environmental conservation but they are pretty difficult to find so it's taking some time."

"Wow! Interesting! I'm actually working on a book written by an environmentalist. Gathering from my limited knowledge, I understand that she is pretty good at what she does. Enough about work. We're on vacation, so work aside." I listen to him hanging on to every word.

"Good enough. So the other day, I noticed you were with a large group of boys. So... are you all friends from work... or college friends? I ask him trying to remember the other boys on the boat.

"Oh! were all go back till college. Different majors, of course. We all shared the same dorm back then. So the communal bathrooms bonded us in a way, I guess. Most of us have not seen each other since the day we left college." I smile at his words, reminiscing about my college days. I miss them though I fished college just two months ago.

"And you? Who have you come along with?" He asks.

"I've come with my High school friends. Two of my best friends just got engaged yesterday night. So we combined the two- surprise proposal and a vacation."

"So, that was what was happening on the beach yesterday night." He says with realisation.

Our food arrives and we continue talking about random stuff. We discuss books, movies, friends, and a lot more. He's very easy to talk to and he's a good listener too.

Looks like I gained a new friend.

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