A Business Deal [MxM]

Chapter 2: Dhruv

I did not see him for the rest of the night. The last time I saw him, he was grinning ear to ear staring at his phone. It must have been his to-be fiancé. Yashika. It appeared as if he had everything one might need in that moment- comfort, companionship, a sense of belonging, a soul mate, a lover. Love. Vansh would find it in Yashika. I would find it nowhere.

Returning to my bedroom, I take off my clothes. I change into a t-shirt and boxers for the night and head to the balcony. My room, for some weird reason, but as again fate would have it, is right next to his. I lean against the rails of the balcony and look at the decorated lawn under me. Some men are at work, removing today's decorations and rearranging the chairs for the wedding tomorrow. Another day of getting to see him as much as my heart desires. Another day to fill the vacuum within me with his images. With his smile.

I do not know if someone ever told him how attractive his smile was. It was six years, ten months, and three nights ago when I laid my eyes on him. I reminisce that incident in terms of nights. Never days.

I was nineteen, back home from London for a vacation. He was just beginning to get into business. Our respective companies had just entered into a long-term agreement. Our conglomerate deals with a variety of sectors- hospitality, telecommunications, and media. Their sectors include mining, energy, retail and manufacturing. Back then, they were just entering the infrastructure sector. The deal, if I remember correctly, was something related to the new hotels we were constructing in Uttarakhand. Since the hotels were in the mountains, it ended up having something to do with mining and energy. Since then, we have collaborated with them on all of our hotels. It was precursor to this wedding.

Our new hotel would be in Rajasthan. They chose to keep it close to our ancestral home in Jaisalmer. It is a magnanimous project which I am supposed to oversee. Vansh's company would be responsible for overseeing the solar panel integrations into the very architecture of the hotel.

Back to that day, he arrived just in time for dinner. Some additions were made to the agreement that was signed earlier, and Vansh was dispatched by his father to get my father's signature on the modified agreement. I was lying on the living room couch, dressed in nothing more than what I am wearing right now. He cast this halo around him as he walked in. I bet nobody witnessed it apart from me. He was dressed impeccably in a light blue shirt and black jeans. His natural brown hair was falling on his forehead. In that moment, he epitomized youthfulness and perfection. I got up, gaping at him. He scanned me from head to toe and gave no reaction. I felt embarrassed about being unpresentable to him. Jagat scorned at my state, making me scurry to my bedroom on the first floor.

For the rest of the dinner, I kept looking at him. He sat right across me, and engaged in small talk with my parents and brother. Every now and then, we made eye contact. He smiled at me twice during the entire course of that dinner. I had no part to play in the conversation, and my family preferred me keeping my mouth shut. I complied. When the dessert came in, a bit of it got on his lip. He licked it clean with his tongue. While I tried to hold it in, my body was reacting in the most unexpected way. I had to give it my all to keep it from standing up.

All of this happened around the time I was grappling with my sexuality. Studying in London, I had realized that I was not straight. I had two failed sexual encounters with women, and one successful encounter with a man, who was my classmate back then. He was my first boyfriend with whom I went out for about half a year before calling it quits. After that, I kept getting into 'friends with benefits' sort of relationships. On my travels, I had some one-night stands too. I lived a wild life studying abroad. Even though I knew that every moment of mine was being scrutinized by my family, being away from home brought me unmatched freedom.