The Journey (2016)

The Deal

Tell me what you want to hear,

Something that will light those ears,

Sick of all the insincere,

So I'm gonna give all my secrets away...

- Secrets, One Republic

The Deal

As she looked at Nikhil smiling down at her, Radhika realized there was nothing she could see that made him mysterious. Mysteries cower beneath darkness but to the onlooker, they glow at edges and ignite unreasonable fears. Nikhil's smile brought light to surface and made fears disappear under the blanket of shadows. The only thing she can think of at that moment was how clear as glass he was, and yet she knew he was most likely filled with water, hiding properties that separates it from everything surrounding it. He was like clear water that was invisible in a clear glass surrounded by nothing but whiteness. There was no way she could tell if the glass is full or empty without examining the glass with all that she is got.

"Surprise me." She replied, not surprised when he chuckled.

"What do you want to know?" He asked and the way he did made Radhika feel his sincerity. He was so clear, she felt herself believing the glass was empty.

"What do you do?" She played safe. She didn't want to ask anything too personal, or too vague. Her philosophical side, as her cousin Sakshi once said, comes out precisely after nine in the evening. Radhika tried her best to keep the gazillion thoughts running through her mind at bay and concentrated on the basic conversational questions.

"When I am not helping girls explore the darkest corners of Astrum–"

"It was a bookstore!"

"–I am usually found at university or at work." He completed his sentence as if she never interrupted. "Oh, and take rejections from those girls. That seems to be working out quite well these days."

"Okay, do you not remember that the first thing you ever said to me was," Radhika changed her voice to mimicked him, "I do not want to marry you! Emphasis on 'do not.'"

"That was because you made me wait for over four hours at that freaking bar and I had downed three glasses of coke! I was bloody exhausted!" He defended himself.

"Well in my defense, I didn't even know you were waiting for me." She said and continued before he could interrupt. "Anyway, next question. What are you studying?"

"Hospitality. Minor in hotel administrations." He replied. She had guessed as much, what with this resort and all. "And Astronomy."

Radhika definitely didn't see that coming.

"You like astronomy?" She asked even though the answer was obvious.

"Yeah, but I don't plan to go anywhere with it. I am doing it for fun." He surprised her again.

"I like it too, the analytics of it anyway." She smiled.

"Yeah, I know." He replied almost immediately and Radhika raised her eyebrows at him. He seemed to have realized because he started explaining himself. "I mean, I assumed so because you used to like it a lot as a kid."

"You remember any of that?" She asked, stunned by the discovery. She thought about some of the stories Kunal uncle had shared but she didn't think he would remember.