《Short Recap》

He looked at me in disbelief.

"Are you fucking sure?" he asked, "I don't want you to feel pressured."

I sighed loudly, "I can make my own decisions, Vinay. And I do understand your underlying need to get away from your family drama."

"Fuck! I love you so much, Akira." Vinay said, a twinkle adorning his pupils.

"Right." I rolled my eyes.

"But it's true." He replied earnestly.

Shaking my head, I finished the last bit of my meal and wiped the corners of my mouth with a tissue paper.

"Just don't ever take anything for granted as I told you before," I pulled my lips into my mouth, "Please."

●○●

"Wow, you really haven't changed anything in the last three weeks, have you?" Vinay exclaimed in surprise, walking over to the shoe rack and removing his faded canvas shoes and placing them next on his designated side with the rest of his shoes.

"Why would I?" I raised my brow, giving him a no-brainer look, "I have better work to do."

Shaking my head I kicked of my sandals and made my way to the kitchen to wash my hands.

"Do you want coffee?" I asked as I dried my hands with a small red hand towel.

"At night?" Vinay asked, removing his jacket and placing it on the arm of the sofa, "You won't be able to sleep if you have caffeine so late."

Rolling my eyes, I opened a cupboard above the kitchen counter and took out the coffee pot, filled half of it with water and set it on the stove to boil.

"Well, most people find it hard to sleep because their mind remains active instead of shutting down when they go to sleep," I said, "I on the other hand like that. Honestly, my best decisions have come from my pre slumber overthinking sessions. I find that it really helps to ponder over the heavy stuff in life as you lay in the darkness all by yourself, no external pressure, no unwanted noise. Just your heartbeat echoing in your ears and your deepest thoughts as company."

"Depends on what kind of thoughts they are." Vinay argued, "What if you have only dark thoughts?"

"Well, that's the point of thinking before you sleep," I asserted, "If you're lucky enough to have happy thoughts before sleeping, you'll have good dreams which I think is a bonus. If your thoughts are all dark and gloomy, well lucky for you, you get to sleep it off and start afresh the next day. It all depends on perspective, I suppose."

"Perspective or not, any person who can fall asleep easily after a full blown overthinking session has serious issues!" he replied, raising his hands up.

"Are you saying I've got issues, Mister?" I asked, placing my hands on my hips and sending him a menacing glare, "You know what, I don't care what you think. I like my coffee and that's that. Now come here and make it for me while I go change my clothes."

"Yes, Ma'am," Vinay smirked, "Do you think you'll help getting your clothes off? I've been told I do it rather dexterously."

I cringed at his unsurprisingly crude insinuation.

"Very funny." I scoffed, before striding to my room and shutting the door behind me.

Stripping down to my underwear, I picked out my most recently washed pair of pajamas that matched reasonably enough with each other and wore them.

Freeing my hair from my hair tie, I walked to the side of my bed and was fluffing my pillows when a knock resounded on my room door.

"Piping hot coffee for the lady of the house." Vinay called out, in an awful imitation of the south Indian twang.

"The door isn't locked Vinay," I answered, "You can come in."

The door opened and Vinay walked in, a steaming mug in one hand and a self satisfied grin painted all over his face.

"Thank you." I smiled, taking the mug.

"No problem." He replied, scratching the back of his neck as he returned my smile.

An awkward silence ensued.

The kind where you know what you want to say, and mind you there is a lot to say, but at the same time nothing feels right enough to say.

Ugh! I'm complicating it.

"I guess I'll go change my clothes and..." Vinay finally said at the same moment that I opened my mouth to speak.

"You can sleep here if you want." I blurted out.

"Won't I end up disturbing your nightly thinking session then?" he asked with lopsided smile, "You wouldn't want that, now would you?"

I rolled my eyes at that. Did he seriously want me to say it out aloud that I wanted him to stay?!

Sneaky bastard!

"The offer stands for the next twenty seconds. Choose what you want." I shrugged, "I only said it because the sheets in your bedroom haven't been changed for almost a month and I think they're beginning to get kind of dusty and smelly."

I cradled the hot ceramic mug in my hand and brought to my lips to sip the coffee, the warm steam wafting out leisurely and forming a veil in front of my face.

"Jeez, I'll stay babe," Vinay feigned alarm, "I'm definitely not a fool to turn you down. I'll just go and change and be back before you know it. Finish up your coffee until then."

He sauntered out of my bedroom, pulling his t-shirt off as he went giving me a glimpse of his toned back muscles.

Smiling to myself, I shook my head slightly before slurping my coffee that had now cooled down to a bearable temperature.

When I was done, I quickly made my to the kitchen, washed the mug and set it aside to dry. I could have done it the following morning but I absolutely detested coffee stains at the base of my mugs. They unnecessarily made me feel that my ceramics were dirty.

I could hear Vinay humming to himself from inside his room as I went and bolted the front door from inside and double checked the twisting lock.

Switching off the lights in the kitchen and living room, I returned to my bed and pulled up the comforter as I rested my head on the pillow and stared at gazed at the ceiling silently.

I shuffling sound indicated Vinay's arrival and I mindlessly scooted to the side, making space for him as he climbed under the comforter.

He reached over to the switchboard above the side table and doused the light, plunging us into black void until our eyes adjusted to the darkness.

Vinay turned so that he was resting on his side, draping one hand around my waist. Only then did I realise that he was shirtless.

"Why aren't you wearing a t-shirt?" I asked pointedly.

"Well most of my laundry here is unwashed since I took most of my clothes home and I'm pretty sure it would be a major turnoff if I got into bed smelling like a mixture of lemon pickle and sweat." He replied, the hint of amusement evident in his tone.

I balked at the idea.

"But if it makes you uncomfortable I'll go find something that's clean." He added hastily.

"Ugh, no. It's all right I guess." I sighed, snuggling closer to him and revelling in his warmth.

Vinay's fingertips ghosted the skin of my waist lightly, the small exposed stretch where my top had ridden up a little. My body stilled for a moment, red flags going up inside my mind and Vinay stopped moving his fingers but didn't take them off my waist.

Honestly, I was entirely new to all the things related to intimacy. They seemed foreign, but I realised that I wasn't as uncomfortable as I thought I was. In fact, I like the feeling of his cool hands grazing my skin.

Slowly, I let out a breath that I wasn't aware I was holding and gave in.

"You're warm." I murmured, gently closing my eyes.

"Of course I am. In case you haven't noticed I'm not a cold blooded creature." Vinay chuckled softly, "Is that what today's inter cranial debate is about?"

"Shut up!" I whacked his bare chest, "Just because I told you coffee helps me gather my thoughts, it does not mean that I have full blown think tank sessions over trivial things ok."

His chest rumbled with laughter.

"I don't know why, but I find the thought of it fucking hilarious! Coffee really helps you sleep?" he asked.

"Yes." I grunted in annoyance.

"You have grave issues, babe." He replied.

I rolled out of his hands and turned my face away, pulling the large comforter closer to my chest.

"Come on!" Vinay whined, hooking his arm around my stomach and pulling my back against his chest so that he was spooning me, "I was merely kidding, Akira."

"Whatever." I conceded, as he buried his face into my hair.

This guy really needed to get his olfactory senses checked if he liked the smell of my unwashed hair.

I chuckled to myself.

We lay like that for a long time, a comfortable silence blanketing us into a small happy bubble that belonged to us alone. An owl hooted somewhere in the distance and moonlight began to filter in through the window when the clouds masking it moved out of the way.

Soon my eyelids began to feel heavier, slowly drifting into the a slumber.

"Vinay?" I called out in a whisper, "What exactly are we?"

He hummed in response.

"I'm not sure," he said truthfully, "Giving titles makes relationships burdensome but I don't mind being anything you want."

"Hmm.." I murmured, "Let's see tomorrow. Good night."

●○●

I woke up exactly three minutes before my alarm the next morning and trudged to the bathroom after switching it off. I didn't want to disturb Vinay who was sleeping peacefully.

The creases on his forehead had straightened out, making him look a couple of years younger.

After I was done with my business in the bathroom, brushed my teeth with the minty toothpaste I loved. Was it weird that I loved it's taste and looked forward to brushing because of that? God knows!

Pulling my hair up into a messy bun, I drew apart the thin curtains and pushed open the bedroom window for better ventilation before going and sitting on the edge of my bed.

My phone began ringing incessantly, just when I opened my Block Chain Basics textbook to revise for my first class of the day.

It was Ma.

Pleasantly surprised, I received the call and brought the phone to my ear as I made my way out to the front room. We hadn't talked much since the truth about my living arrangement had been discovered and I missed her.

"Good morning Ma!" I quipped happily.

"Good morning, Akira dear!" she replied just as zealously. The same way she used to before, "Did I wake you up?"

"No, not at all," I shook my head, "In fact, I was revising for my first class. So how are you?"

"I'm great. Actually, leave all the formalities aside." She replied excitedly, "Guess what? I just reached Bangalore and I'll be at your place before you leave for college. Isn't that wonderful?"

I choked on the little saliva inside my mouth as I said, "Wait, what?! You're joking, aren't you?"

"Your father told me everything yesterday and I felt very guilty about all the terrible things I said, Akira beta. I've come to apologize and spend some quality time with you!" she answered.

"Right Ma!" I replied as I started panicking, "I'll go get ready then. See you soon."

"Yeah," she said, "And I want to meet that boy of yours. If he's not at home, tell him to drop by before college ok."

"All right," I gulped, "Bye."

Cutting the call, I ran to my bedroom and shook Vinay's arm to wake him up.

"Good morning, Akira." He smiled cheekily, still sleepy.

"Now's not the time for that!" I almost shouted, "Get up right now! My mom's coming here in an hour."

"What?!" he sat up in alarm, "Your mother?"

"I don't have time for this, Vinay," I groaned, "Get up!"

●○●

So here's the mid hiatus update I promised. Hope you enjoy and thank you so much for reading!

Vote, comment, share and don't forget to spread the love!

QOTD: Do you see yourself in any of the characters of this book?
I honestly see a lot of my traits in Roshni and Vinay.