85. Rishi and his saviour

"What happened?" The boy asked.

They had been standing in front of Rishi's door for the past five minutes.

"I think the do.." Rishi turned left to reply but his nose bumped into the boy's cheek.

He was looking over Rishi's shoulder at the scanner on the door with a frown. The words stuck in the latter's throat thinking that if the man, by any chance, had moved his face a little to the right, their lips would have brushed!

Swiftly turning his head away, he said, "Wh.. what are you doing? Damnit, why are you so close!"

"Hm?" The young man leaned his head closer for a better hearing to his mumbling.

"You were taking so long to unlock the door so I wanted to check. Turns out you're placing your finger in the wrong place."

Rishi looked at him in confusion but soon realised what an enormously big mistake that was. Now their faces were opposite each other with an overwhelmingly little gap in between. For a second Rishi's gaze dropped to the boy's lips but he jerked his eyes away.

'Don't be a creep Rishi!' he scolded himself.

"Place it here. The pad of your finger needs to be entirely on the scanner." The boy took his finger and moved it a little to the left.

Rishi very slowly looked ahead with an empty head, not registering what was happening around. All he could sense was the goosebumps on his back and the current passing through his finger where he was touched. Fortunately, as an idol, he was trained to maintain his composure in extreme situations. So he did not do anything embarrassing, yet.

After the door opened with a click, he walked inside like a robot and did things on autopilot mode. Only when his saviour left did he recall everything like seeing what happened in the past few minutes in front of his eyes like a movie.

He had opened his Board and given the man the number. When the latter saved it on his watch and thanked him, his reply was freaking welcome my love.

"Aarrgh!" He screamed into his pillow.

"For Ballet's sake, what was I thinking!"

His face became red as he recalled how the young man had chuckled hearing him. Then his ears turned red, remembering how the latter spoke near his ear in an irritatingly charming voice.

"You seem to have mistaken my name, Rishi. It's Parijat Mallick."

After that, he just stood like a statue and did not see Parijat leave. Ten minutes later, he moved from his place and like a lifeless body, walked up to the bed and rolled over it. And there he is now, suffocating himself with a pillow.

"Damn intrusive thoughts! Why do they have to come out at the most inconvenient moment? And did he deliberately speak near my ear? Most importantly, how does he know my name?" He suddenly sat up with a start and thought out loud.

Then he gasped. It finally clicked in his mind why the handsome man seemed familiar. He was the Substitute Club President! Since they had only met briefly on the first day, Rishi could not recognise him the second time in casual clothes and messy hair.

"And here I was planning to join the dance club. Good job Rishi, you've made an amazing impression." He cried.

Then plopping face down on the pillow, screamed again, "Ahhh !"

Parijat chuckled while coming out of the building, "What a funny guy!"

"Now, the matter at hand." He looked towards the bush where Rishi wanted to go earlier and ran his hand through his little hair strands.

"Argh, second sister! Couldn't you just keep your eyes on your minions?" He groaned.

"Hey, kitty come here." Parijat squatted down and called out, extending his hands forward.

A low growl came from behind the shrubs. Seconds later two sparkly amber eyes came into view.

Roar.

A big black cat stepped out. It sat in front of Parijat and looked straight into his eyes.

"Dude, what are you doing here?" Parijat looked at the animal with a stunned expression.

Growl.

It looked towards the dormitories.

Parijat sighed. He was thinking about his next action when a white flash zoomed past him and dropped to the ground.

Ritutandra looked like a pile of snow on the ground in her white nightdress and disheveled hair.

She hugged the big cat and said in a worried tone, "Pace, why are you here?"

Pace blended so well in the darkness that it seemed like she was hugging the vaccum bearing two floating amber eyes.

"I'll leave you two alone." Parijat prepared to get up when Ritu stopped him.

"Go and turn off the lights for two minutes."

Seeing her furrowed brows, he did not question and went to do as told. Within seconds, the entire area turned dark. Ritutandra picked up the heavy animal in her arms and dashed towards her dormitory. With a little difficulty, she jumped on the balconies and directly reached a window, through which she got inside her room.

Then she laid the baby Panther on her bed and turned on every possible light she could find.

"Pace, turn around dear. Let me clean the wound." Ritutandra said, carefully lifting the Panther's hind leg.

Pace growled. Ritu patiently cleaned and bandaged her wound. Pace brought her black furry paw on Ritu's lap, who caressed it and gave her a belly rub. Pace licked her friend's face and slept soundly on her lap while enjoying the gentle rubs.