Chapter Five

He had never walked right into such a quiet place before this, completely soundless and none of the lights inside the massive place were switched on - except for the ones on the steps. Is there nobody home? It wouldn't be too surprising considering Kris would forget to inform him after inviting him. He can be chaotic, and forgetful.

He considers for a moment before stepping on the steps and looks back. The swimming pool is well-lit like usual, but there's no sign of anyone by the pool. And since he didn't have any problem entering the place, it means someone definitely is home. Kris would call if they weren't home, right? He takes steps, one by one, still unsure, not liking the darkness one bit. And just by looking at the landing from below, he can tell the corridor has no bright light either.

'Kris,' he calls out walking up the steps. He cringes as his voice fills the whole big house, yet nobody answers him.

Kris cannot hear him in his room, but the house shouldn't be this quiet.

The hall above is dark, except there are red candles on both sides of the floor, and some cloth in the middle that flows through almost to the end of the hallway. But that wouldn't explain the lights, the dark hall, and the whole house. Riyaan doesn't know if he should be concerned, confused or creeped out. But he moves forward.

'Kris,' he calls again, soft, and light.

Within a moment, he leans down and touches the ground. Cold, as if almost wet, and the softness of it almost gave his heart a mini heart attack.

Rose petals. Not red cloth.

And then there are voices from the room. Fast voices, mumbled and frantic. Something says Riyaan should run for his life, but something's wrong. The whole air smells great but something about the whole dark room triggers Riyaan. If watching too many horror movies lately has done anything good for him, it's strengthening his senses to stay alert.

'Kris, are you okay?' He lightly bangs on the door. But the sounds in the room becomes more consistent, making his heart beat faster.

A tap on his right shoulder makes him lose all the control he had.

'Oh, my god, what -' He looks back fast, with his heart rate going high, and he stumbles into another body, almost falling onto the floor displacing both himself and the body that stops him from falling.

'What are you doing?'

'Ivan, is that you?' Yeah, that's Ivan, he can tell even before his face is visible in the dim light of the candles.

Ivan holds him in a strong grip, hands through his arms, helping him find the right balance to stand up. Riyaan is embarrassed. Twice. It's now happened twice that he has crashed into this man, and twice he has helped him back. But this time though, Riyaan secretly blames Ivan.

'Yes.' Ivan's voice is almost a whisper, but Riyaan can tell he is also laughing.

'What is happening, it's so dark,' Riyaan asks, confused about why Ivan is not confused. Ivan walks back to the steps, and he follows.

'I think I heard Kris inside the room,' Riyaan says slowly pointing backwards to the room. Maybe it's nothing serious if Ivan is not as remotely alarmed as he is.

'Can't you tell from the setup? It's probably some sort of candlelight dinner. Preet forgot to tell me about no work so I came.'

'Oh...!' The setup. Right. Red candles, red rose petals, what does that say? Riyaan sits down on the sofa.

'Oh? What did you think was happening?' Ivan laughs again.

'I got so scared seeing the dark room and candles,' Riyaan says, shaking his head, hiding his face and finally starting to laugh.

'Why? Candles scare you?'

'No, it's just the setup. It's so red and I touched those red things and it felt wet.'

'Rose petals, classic romantic setup.'

'Well, depending on how well you see in the dark, it can also look like a black magic setup. Plus, there were some sounds from their room, must be the TV.'

Ivan bursts out laughing again, hands on the pockets of his semi-formal trousers. 'That's not the TV.'

Then it hits Riyaan - it's the proposal Kris was waiting for. Everything starts to make sense. So Preet proposed and now they are lovemaking - fierce lovemaking.

'Oh!'

'Yeah,' Ivan says, sitting down next to him, hands still in his pockets.

Ivan takes in a sharp breath, every moment of which is strongly audible as the room falls into silence. He is looking elsewhere; like the whole house has more to see in the dark. Like, everything else is more important than Riyaan, who is sitting next to him.

Riyaan fixes his eyes on his nape first, which was not his intention. The black shirt and brown trousers fit his body perfectly, and do justice to his fairly muscled body. Something about his white sneakers and the whole get-up tells Riyaan that he has a fashion sense, and is thoughtful about what he wears. And that he looks equally hot in formals and semi-formals.

Riyaan wonders, when he looks at himself in the mirror after getting ready, does he realise the effect his looks have over people? People like him.

Riyaan looks at himself, his work clothes make him think of the tiring day at work. Perhaps, it is too late but realises that a dark green shirt, washed-out jeans, and those white & blue printed sneakers don't exactly say anything about his personal style, except that there is none.

He turns his sight to Ivan, who turns to him at the same time. Their eyes meet, and he shivers a little inside. But then Ivan starts laughing again, soft, low and teasing. 'How exactly does this look like a black magic setup?'

'You just haven't watched enough horror movies,' Riyaan says, pretending to scowl.

'Maybe your future girlfriend would like something like this.' His voice is too close, and Riyaan almost feels the warmth of his body beside him.

'Boyfriend,' Riyaan corrects immediately, heart beating fast because he was dying to let it out to Ivan. He says that looking down, removing non-existent dirt from the floor with his sneakers.

'I see,' Ivan says slowly. 'Nice sneakers.'

'They are ugly.'

'I like it.'

'Preet proposed to Kris, I think,' Riyaan says, finding something to say to the man sitting next to him. The thought of Kris' blood taken against his will through black magic has been in his head so strongly that he didn't have time to realise how handsome Ivan looks in the dimmed light of candles. Just his presence next to him makes him so warm and sunny.

'Ah, makes total sense,' Ivan sits up straight to his level. Just by his voice, Riyaan can tell he is looking at him

'I think I should go, Kris probably didn't know so he couldn't tell me.' Riyaan stands up from the sofa. If he stays any more minute in this dark setup with faint light which his mind now identifies as a romantic - and only romantic setup, he will end up asking questions and saying things he might regret. Things like asking him to stop waiting for people who don't value him. Things that he has no right to speak. Or what if he ends up touching his nape to see how smooth it is, that will be awkward and embarrassing.

'Already?' Ivan stands up too. The lights in the house are back at the same time.

'See I told you someone's here,' a voice says from above the stairs. Kris. Followed by Preet. They come down the stairs.

'Hey, you guys.' Preet says from above as they both come down. Kris is beaming with happiness and energy as he holds his gaze on Riyaan. He wants to say something but Riyaan has no idea what. Then he sees his hands trying to get his attention, a simple but shiny ring rests on his finger - an indication that Riyaan was right all along.

'Why are you being so hush-hush about it? Congratulations!' Riyaan gives him a loose side hug to which Kris laughs. And then Ivan is congratulating them both.

'My man knows how to do an outstanding proposal.' Ivan teases Preet.

Kris and Preet insist that Ivan and Riyaan join them for dinner to celebrate the beautiful day. Riyaan expects a story of how they met, especially since it is the day they are engaged, but Kris wants to play a game too.

After dinner, Ivan insists on driving him to his place, to which he reluctantly agrees. If the man is not available, why complicate the matters? It's like Kris said, it's the tiny little decisions that constitute falling in love. But with Ivan, asking so sweetly, it's hard to make decisions. It's so hard to say 'no'.

'I think your work time and mine are the same.' Ivan says.

'Yeah, and everyone else's.'

'No, I mean ... never mind. I just wanted to ask if you'd like me to drive you to work since we have the same route.'

No.

The answer is no.

He should tell Ivan that it's not the best idea because he keeps changing places. It's not the best idea because he is gay, and Ivan is gay. It's definitely a bad idea because Riyaan finds him very hot, handsome, and beautiful.

'Yeah, I don't mind,' Riyaan says, dazedly. Because maybe - just maybe Cupid is trying to tell him something - also what does Kris know all about falling in love? It's not like Kris himself has fallen in love over and over and over again.

'Cool?'

'I might change places though.'

'Oh, are you still living with your friend?'

'No, different temporary place.'

It's the first week of May, and Riyaan has only managed to get a temporary place for himself. Dev has helped him, but cheap places in an expensive city are not just few a far between, people don't even dare to look for one.

This temporary place though - he is not paying for it. The place is about to get renovated and is empty for the time being. But he should be alright because he won't be here for that long - that's what the middleman heard from him at least.

'That's alright. You can just call me. Here.' Ivan takes out his phone and hands it to him. 'Call your number from mine.'

'Uh, there's a password,'

Ivan thumbs the fingerprint sensor. Riyaan calls his number and saves his number on Ivan's phone. And the same for his phone before handing the phone back to Ivan.

According to Kris' advice, he should take a step back. But here he is, taking one step closer towards Ivan.

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