As Abhimanyu had to wait an hour to catch the next bus to college, he decides to sit on the bench at the back of the shed. He sits his guitar beside him.He rolls the wet sleeves of his shirt upto elbow. His body feels light and he has this amazing feeling as if he is floating. He felt warm and cozy inside his body though the temperature outside had dipped. As he watched windy rain fall, he saw a blurry image of a girl in white running in his direction.
Shanaya was running as fast as she could but she had to stop to check the vehicles on both sides before she could cross the road. The bus stop shed was right in front of her on the other side of the road and she could faintly see a man sitting in the empty shed. Shanaya gets scared and decides not to let the man see her face. So, after crossing the road, she immediately turns her back to the shed. She walks backwards until her back hits the barricade of bus stop. She then slowly slides along it. When she has reached the end of barricade , she quickly takes few backward steps and is now on the side of the barricade that is inside the shed . She stood near the barricade with her back to the stranger. Abhimanyu was watching her actions keenly and was amused by what he saw.
Abhi sat back relaxed and his eyes slowly drifted from rain to her. He saw water dripping from the ends of her cascading black hair and clothes. Fair smooth skin of her body showed from her now invisible white kurta. Her long back ending in a tiny waist looked bare and beautiful with just a strap of nude bra. The more he eyed her back, he wanted to undo that strap and see it without obstacles. He stared at her heart shaped pulpy rear in a nude hipster that gave a good view of her butt cheeks. His eyes were tracing every curve of her body if only his eyes were pencil and there was a canvas in front of her,he could have created his first master-piece. He felt so attracted to her that he had an urge to slide his finger on those curves. He shook his head at what he was thinking. He was meeting this side of him for the first time. Alcohol was playing big time with his head and it had him lose his inhibitions. Shanaya could sense his stare on her and it made her very uncomfortable.
Some men on two-wheeler and four wheeler stared at her assets as they passed by. A few of them offered her lift but she refused.She swept her hair to side to wrung out water and then threw them back to hide her upper back. Abhi saw her pull out her dupatta and vigourously squeeze the water out of it. Then, she draped it back to cover her chest. She wrung out the lower part of her sleeveless kurta and without looking back she did the same to the part in back. As she did this her silver bangles jingled and Abhi's eyes followed every movement of her fair smooth arm.
It continued to pour. Because of the heavy rains, the shopkeepers and factories in the area had closed early and everyone was returning home. A few men came to take shelter in the shed and sat next to Abhimanyu. They shamelessly stared at her rear. He hated it, but what could he say when he himself was doing the exact thing. Nonetheless, he knew in his sanity he would have never done that. Every now and then passersby stared her. Abhimanyu saw one passerby stop and announce something loudly. After that, all the men in the shed walked out. Shanaya didn't move from her place.
Shanaya was weighing the pros and cons of going and staying back when she heard the footsteps of the stranger sitting behind walk toward her. She thought he tipped. Very next moment she felt a tall lean frame standing few steps away from her. She was dead scared. He placed his hands on the railing and Shanaya's heart started beating faster in fear. She tried to look at his hands from the corner of her eyes. Her eyes saw thin forearms with a small wrist and very long fingers resting on the railing. She thought those were beautiful hands on a man.
Abhi knew that she was scared as her chest moved up and down fast. He turned his head to ask what the passersby told when his eyes witnessed a beautiful profile. She had flawless fair radiant skin, bright eyes, small nose and bow-shaped luscious lips. After a moment of studying her face, he cleared his throat to ensure he didn't slur.
Abhi: I am sorry, but if you don't mind, can you tell me what did those men on scooter say?
Abhi: I don't understand or speak the regional language.
Shanya was not expecting this voice and accent from the man who she thought had been continuously staring at her. She turned to see him .She noticed his fitted white shirt which wasn't too wet with a tie loosely hung around his neck. As her eyes moved up she noticed an Adam's apple in his long neck. Then what she saw left her stunned. She had never seen such a beautiful face. She froze for a moment and kept looking at his beautiful fair face .Soon, she felt his soft brown eyes pierce into hers. She immediately turned in disbelief of the ravishingly gorgeous face she just saw.
Shanaya : Bus that was supposed to come has broken down on way and no buses will be coming now.
She told without looking at him after calming the storm inside her a bit.
Abhimanyu was now sure that she was from his college. White kurta and the way she spoke were enough hints.
Abhimanyu :Do you plan to stand here all night? He asked with a smile after pausing .
Abhimanyu : Listen, if there is anyone you can call to pick you up, I can company you to a phone booth.
Shanaya : I doubt any booths are open in this heavy rain. All shops are already closed. But I think this place is safer as there is a police station nearby.
She said without looking at him.She stresses on word police to remind him in case he is upto something.
Abhimanyu(amused) : Then stay here and wait to be swept away in flood. Police will come to your rescue on a boat. I am going. He said with a smirk.
He walked back to the bench to pick his guitar case. When he was about to walk out the shed, he saw her thinking hard. Noways, he was going to leave her there alone!
Abhimanyu :I am walking to St. George.If you want you can come with me. He announced
When Shanaya heard this, she immediately followed him.
Shanaya: Are you from St. George? She asked on seeing him carry a guitar case on his shoulder.
Abhi: What do you think? He answered.
After they had walked some distance in heavy rain, both were dripping wet. Their clothes clung to them as second skin and the fact that they were white made it worse. Shanaya thought of introducing herself after a while
Shanaya: I am Shanaya from first year Electronics and Telecommunication and you?
Abhimanyu: I am Abhimanyu Singh from First year, Computer Science.
Shanaya heard this and immediately knew he is the handsome fresher everyone had been talking about. He is the one whose voice haunted her. She recalled how badly she wanted to see him when he sang in the Fresher's party. She had not bought the description her friend Bela gave of him. But now she feels the description didn't do justice to his looks. He was more than a dream. He was more gorgeous than any magazine cover men, poster boys and actors she ever crushed on.
She took a glance at him and felt she can look at him forever. She saw rain touching his beautiful face. She could see his fair clean shaved chest as his shirt became non-existent in the rain. She immediately felt the blood rush to every part of body making them tense. Her heart set racing as if it had to win a gold in olympics. She knew if she looked at him one more time, she will be caught staring .So, she walked with a straight face resisting her self from stealing a glance.
As they walked, he watched her from the corner of his eyes which went straight to the plunge of her bra without his consent. Her T-shirt bra didn't cover her breasts completely. He could see fair smooth skin of her breasts bulging out from the c-cups of her bra and forming an ample cleavage. He stared at them when a desire to touch them ran down into him. He shook the thought off his head immediately. He couldn't believe he sized her.No matter how much he tried, he was unable to apply break to his erotic thoughts. His brain was out of his control and his hormones were playing havoc with him. He decided to walk behind her.
When Shanaya reached the the last street lamp post she realized he was not with her. The road ahead was dark and lonely. She turned back to find him 25 yards behind her. She signals him to be fast. From his spot, Abhi sees her perfect figure in basic essentials. Her face is glowing in the light of lamp and wet hair is only making her look sexier. She looked as if a sexy siren walked out the ocean. Just then a car drove by, splashing buckets of water on him. "I wouldn't get rid of such thoughts, not tonight for sure,"He said to himself helplessly.
He walks fast to catch up with her. There is a loud lightning and rain intensifies. Abhi decides to lighten the sexual tension.
Abhi: Looks like black cloud army has launched an attack on the earth. He comments at the way it rained.
Abhi: What if we reach at midnight? Will we be punished ?What consequences do we face? He asked innocently.
Shanaya doesn't reply and keeps walking with a straight face.
Abhi: Are we supposed to report to Principal tomorrow morning?
Shanaya: There is a column "Reason" in the In&out register to be filled, if you are late. If they find the reason valid, you are not called to report.
Abhi: Oooooh...
They walked quietly on the lonely dark road to their college.Fifteen minutes onto that road when they see a bus coming slowly. They wave the bus to stop. The driver stops and motions them to sit. Bus conductor tells them that they could repair the bus. Shanaya and Abhi take seats on the opposite sides of the aisle in an empty bus and look out their respective windows. When they reach the college it is 11:30pm and still raining. Abhi gets down first and Shanaya after him. They can hear the loud sound coming from generator which keeps the common areas lighted when the electricity is out. They walk to the guard office at gate. Abhi enters in and Shanaya stops near the door. Abhi signs in the register and sits on the table waiting impatiently for Shanaya to enter the room. The effect of alcohol had already diluted and he was excited to see her in a good light.
Shanaya stopped outside to wrung water out of her dupatta. She then drapes it around her shoulders. She felt embarrassed at the way her wet white suit showed every bit of her flesh. She didn't want guards and Abhimanyu to see her like that in full bright light of the room. She nervously enters the room to sign in the register and finds Abhimanyu leaning on table, looking at her curiously with his soft brown eyes. He is a sight to behold in that posture. His posture, his face, his eyes, his body , everything. Her heart feels helpless tonight. She reads"Raining Cats and Dogs" just above her row under reason column. That brings a smile on her face. Abhimanyu sits there looking at her radiant pretty face with flawless skin and cute round dimples. He feels mesmerized by her looks. After finishing signing in, she immediately rushed out which left Abhimanyu confused. Before he could say bye she had vanished without saying a thank you.
A 100 m straight road ran from gate and then forked into two roads. One took to girl's hostel and other to boys hostel.Girl's hostel wasn't too far from the main gate.When Abhimanyu came out, he saw Shanaya had reached the Y to take a turn to girl's hostel. She was sprinting to the hostel , her heart was pounding so loud that she could clearly hear herself. She knew she was in trouble. She knew her heart would always want him now. She cannot do that , she was not allowed to.She wanted to run away from that. She believed it happened only in books but no, it happened to her . It happened to her tonight-Love at first sight.
Abhimanyu walked slowly taking his own time to the hostel. He was in no hurry. He was loving the rain falling on him. Abhimanyu was not used to this kind of reaction from girls as he got from Shanaya. He always had effect on girls that it all felt natural to him. He couldn't believe that he had no effect on Shanaya. He was expecting at least a thank you from her. He questioned to himself for what exactly did he expect one. His brain reasoned that they did nothing for each other.They just did what they were supposed to for themselves. She owes no thank you to him. Her images captured into his eyes from the night flashed in a slideshow in his head. On reaching the candle lit room, his roommates gave him a towel to dry.When Abhimanyu had changed into dry clothes his roommates surprised him with a small cake. Abhmanyui blew out the candle. They enjoyed the cake and listened to how he walked to the college when Yash said," Aur Guru, Baarish ne saara nasha utaar diya"( Rain spoiled the effects of alcohol for you. Rain brings an inebriated person to complete senses not letting one experience the kick that alcohol gives). He smiled and crashed in his bed. He knew he was free of one intoxication but caught in other.