Not A Simple Engineer Boy! | ✓

073 • night & day | five

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Scrollstck- Suganthi Lakshminarayanan

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"What?"

She wanted to deny his claim, but the words lodged in her throat like a stone.

"Don't play dumb, Krithika," his lips curled in distaste, "I stayed back that night... I saw you both going at it, and let me tell you, that looked like way more than just kissing."

Oh. My. Gawd...

She felt the heat rising at the back of her neck, like a furnace being turned on high. "Rathna... I... Please, please don't tell anyone," she stammered, her voice betraying the rush of panic spreading through her.

"Why?" he hissed, eyes narrowing. "Did he tell you to shut up?"

"No! Why would you assume that?" She shook her head. "I... I don't want to talk about my relationship with Xav yet. Not until I'm... comfortable with it."

"Xav? You're calling him Xav!?" His hands flung upward in exasperation, like he was trying to give the air some much-needed space. "I'm not jealous of him or anything, but what the fuck... What kind of insanity possessed you two to keep at it like that, moaning and groaning so loud?" He shuddered. "Do you realize the cameras are catching every damn thing, Chakudi?"

Squirming uncomfortably, she fought the urge to crawl into a hole and never come out.

He sighed loudly, his tongue clicking against his teeth. "That night, I followed the noise and found you guys doing... whatever the hell you were doing. You should've seen the look on my face when I heard you scream his name. Took me a few seconds to come back to life and leave."

She swallowed hard, her body heating up, but not from embarrassment. No, this wasn't about shame—it was something else entirely. Her thoughts drifted back to that night, how Xavier had made her scream, how his lips and tongue had wreaked havoc on her body. That man knew what he was doing.

If he hadn't pulled away when he did, she might've let him take her to places she hadn't known she was ready for. And to think... he had barely kissed her anywhere but her face and neck. How would it feel to—

Rathna snapped his fingers in front of her face. "Oh Krishna! Are you dreaming about him!?"

Startled, she blinked rapidly, trying to pull herself together. "N-no," she breathed, exhaling deeply. "I was just thinking about work."

"Bullshit."

She flinched.

"I can see your face, Krithika. Why do you keep lying? I also saw you in the hospital, holding his hand. That pretty much confirmed what I suspected about your 'status.'"

"You came to the hospital!?"

"Yes, Krithika," he said, his voice dripping with sarcasm, "For your kind information, this department works under the jurisdiction of Mr. Joseph. I needed his signature on a few documents to keep the design testing moving."

She inhaled slowly, trying to steady her nerves as she sank into the chair across from him. There was no point in running now; he had already seen too much. "I'm sorry I kept it from you."

"It's your choice, Krithika. But I was hurt that you didn't trust me enough," he sighed, leaning back. "Yes, we've only been friends for a month, and yeah, trust is hard to build. Maybe I expected more from you."

She stared at him, feeling a strange knot twist in her chest. "It wasn't that I didn't trust you... it just all happened so fast. I've always felt this pull towards him, but I kept denying it. Now everything is happening too fast—it's overwhelming and confusing."

He stared at her for a few moments, his gaze softening. "Do you love him?"

Do I?

"I don't know," she said, her voice quiet but sure. "We're definitely attracted to each other."

He scrunched his nose as if someone had thrown rotten eggs at him.

She continued, "...and I guess we do like each other. But love is a big word right now."

Love was not just a big word; it was a big emotion. She had dated a few men during her college days, and even had two failed relationships in her bag, but it never felt anything more than general liking. She never knew how love would even feel; she had never loved anyone. And probably no one had loved her, or made her understand what it was meant to be.

She had loved her mother; she probably still loved her. But that would be different from what everyone found and felt in their soulmate. But... soulmates could be nothing more than a myth.

"If you consider me a friend, don't keep secrets," he said, smiling a little. "You know, I might be upset that you never dated me, even when I called you 'Chakudi.'" He winked.

"I like you," she said, smiling back. "You're a good man, and I like our friendship just the way it is."

"Yeah, yeah, platonic love and blah, blah, blah." He rolled his eyes. "Just imagine being in competition with Mr. Xavier L. Joseph. That man would beat me into the ground if I tried to steal his girl."

She laughed. "He won't. He's some sort of gentleman."

"Ah... Yeah, I did see an extremely gentlemanly act in his cabin that night." His smile widened, teasing Krithika.

"Can't you stop thinking about it!" she hissed.

"Xavier... please... oh Xavierrr!" he mocked in a husky falsetto. "That, Chakudi, needs a great deal of time to forget."

"Oh Lord! You are such a jerk!"

Do tell me what you feel about this and the upcoming chapters, always open to positive criticism.