From Friends To Forever (BL)

Chapter 22 : History, Coffee & Accent!

Elijah's POV

The evening went on as he kept talking about himself. 

"So which ruler did you choose to do your project on?" He suddenly asked grabbing my attenton. Finally!

"Well, I was thinking of working on Akbar." I replied sitting up straight and gaining some interest in the conversation which was so far very one-sided. "During my short research that I have done, he came out to be the most kind and just ruler." I said feeling proud of my long and hard research.

"I see." He replied as he leaned back on his chair with one hand supporting his chin, while the elbow rested on the chair's armrest. "And where did you come to know about him being a just ruler?" He questioned in a manner which suggested that my research was all wrong. Well, there goes all my research down the drain!

"My research was very brief, so I apologise if I haven't been very thorough with it." I said.

"Oh don't apologise." He said sitting up straight and looking more interested. "I think your research is quite alright! But the thing is, there is always more than what meets the eye."

He spoke with several hand-gestures, something I have learnt to relate with him getting passionate while teaching. When he feels like he is truly imparting wisdom beyond the books and the mandated syllabus, he has this spark in his eyes, his hand gestures get more frequent, and there is this almost excited smile on his face, which a little kid would have on discovering something new, something innovative.

"Do you know who Abul Fazl is?" He questioned.

"Most certainly, in Akbar's court, he was-" I started.

"M-Hm!" He interrupted me. "What did he write?"

"He wrote Akbarnama." I replied.

"Exactly!" He snapped his fingers excitedly. "That was basically a biography of Akbar which was written by Abul Fazl and comissioned by Akbar himself. And most of what we know about him today, comes from that very book. So imagine, if you paid someone to write about you, wouldn't they only mention the good things, and skip out on the other questionable things!"

"Wow, that does make sense." I said feeling surprised. Just when I thought he's a self-centred jerk only trying to waste my time!

"And that is not to say that Akbar didn't have any good qualities, he most certainly did. In fact, I agree that he was one of the most sensible rulers of the Mughal Empire." He said sipping his coffee again. "His achievements certainly surpass most of the other rulers, plus it is also a great topic in the sense that there is a lot to write about. With good research, you could produce a project that can stand out among the rest. Usually when people do projects on historic personalities they often paint them as good or evil, but it is important to note that people are often shades of grey and not completely black or white. I just wanted you to have a contadicting view so that you can create a complete overview of the character and not just one aspect."

"Wow." I said taking in all that information, that too in his accent, which suddenly seems more attractive than annoying, like it did before. 

"Did I overwhelm you?" He asked.

"No, it was quite a good discussion actually." I said. "I didn't take any pointers but I think I'll make a one hundred percent better project after this conversation. I was just gonna write about his conquests, the territory expansion under his rule, and a little about his character and vision. But now I have more to research. And certainly a lot more to learn." 

"And are you excited to learn all that new information?" He asked.

"Yes, Sir!" I replied with conviction. I was all charged up by this conversation. This is the first time someone matched my frequency while discussing academics. It felt good to talk to someone who was this passionate nerdy about a certain subject. I always categorized history as more of a boring subject on my list, but I guess it can be quite interesting too.