By the time I reached the gates of the university, I had only twenty minutes left.
"My attendance!" I looked at my watch and exclaimed.
I ran to the entrance of the building and found my mortal enemy. The staircase.
My class was on the fourth floor and I had only ten minutes to reach. With no further ado, I started running up the staircase, skipping two or three steps at times. I struggled to reach the room and opened the back door.
"One day, I'll build an elevator by myself with my money. I can't. I can't stand another day running upstairs." I panted and let air enter my lungs. I heard a faint sound of an old man conducting a roll call.
The professor had already reached and started the roll call.
"Roll number 4: Sudhesna." "Present."
"Roll number 5: Anthony." "Present."
"Roll number 6: Madhusudhan." "Present."
I found Siddharth sleeping peacefully with his bag as a pillow. I walked down the gallery and sat next to him in the empty seat. I took out a handkerchief and dabbed on my face the get rid of the sweat. After that, I took some deep breaths and let the fan cool the heat that was radiating from my body.
I quickly folded my hands and did a quick dramatic prayer, "Thank you, god, for letting me successfully reach my class."
The professor was still in ten. Our roll numbers were twenty-five and twenty-six. Siddharth was still sleeping like a log. I decided to wake him up, if not, he'll lose his attendance. This professor was notorious was for giving a hard time at thesis defence if your attendance was weak.
"Roll number 10: Divya." "Present."
"Ranga, wake up. It's roll call. He'll mark you absent if you don't reply." I said and nudged him to wake up.
"Roll number 15: Venkatesh." "Present."
"Ranga. Wake up. Attendance." Siddharth didn't even budge. I could feel the professor was looking at him, ready to cut him from the attendance.
"Roll number 18: Amruta." "On sick leave, professor."
"Roll number 19: Roshan." "Present."
The professor was now close to calling our names. "Ranga, Jaya is calling, wanna talk?"
No reply. Even this was not working. I started ransacking my brain for ideas.
"Roll number 20: Noor." "Present."
"Ranga, I haven't paid yesterday's bill yet. How much was it?" I pulled out my trump card.
"458 INR," Siddharth said while sitting upright, rubbing his eyes, accusing me for waking him up from his beauty sleep.
"Money always gets you," I said with dissatisfaction in my tongue. "I should have used that at the beginning itself."
The professor suddenly spoke up.
"Roll number 25: Jasmine."
"Present." I said, raising my hand.
"Roll number 26: Siddharth."
Siddharth just raised his forehand and the professor ticked him as present.
The professor went on with the roll call, looking for a new victim.
"Why is it so expensive?" I grumbled.
"Who drank three glasses of martini like a fish?" Siddharth retorted.
"I drank three glasses! And you didn't stop me?" I asked, with my eyes glaring at him, barely keeping my voice in check.
"Would you had listened to me?" Siddharth retorted back.
"Still. You should have stopped me from drinking. Otherwise, I wouldn't have ..." I stopped talking.
"Pay up," Siddharth said groggily.
I opened the app and made the bank transfer. Siddharth's phone pinged up with the notification.
"I am going back to sleep. Take notes," Siddharth said, dismissing me.
"Fine. I'll." I took the notebook and started jotting down all the points and highlighting texts on photocopied textbooks.
An hour later, we were finally done with the lecture, and Siddharth found it the appropriate time to wake up from his nap.
"I don't think you were so hammered last night. You're the type to leave as soon as possible to stick to Jaya." I said, worried.
"I did leave the party early," Siddharth admitted. "But stayed up late finishing the thesis draft."
"You finished the draft! You sly fox. You said we'll work on this together." I yelled.
"When did I say that?" He asked, confused.
"Last Friday," I said.
"No, I did not. Besides, I am not the only one who left early yesterday. You left early, too. What were you doing last night that you couldn't pull a nighter and finish the draft?" Siddharth accused me.
"Last night I..." I stopped speaking, afraid of exposing myself about yesterday's one-night stand.
"Yeah, last night. What did you do? I thought Kriti dropped you off at your PG, right?" He pressed on.
"Nothing happened last night. I fell asleep. Like you said, I drank like a fish." I replied.
"No, something did happen last night. Otherwise, you wouldn't stop speaking so suddenly." Siddharth said, looking straight in my eyes, looking for any clues.
"I had s** with Kriti," I mumbled.
"What?" Siddharth said, unable to hear what I said.
"I slept with Kriti," I whispered loudly.
"Oh, you slept with Kriti...What?! When? How?" Siddharth looked intensely into my eyes, which were now averting from him.
"It just happened, ok. I had no control over my emotions, and that stupid gin is to blame." I said, giving up.
"Finally," Siddharth said. "You have been interested in her since day one. Finally, things are moving in the right direction."
"Aren't you weirded out about my sexuality? You're fine with me? Just like that?" I asked.
"Jui, you're my cousin. Of course, I like you irrespective the way you are. Also, I had a feeling that you like women more than men. Besides, didn't you say one of your cousins' gay?" Siddharth said.
"What's that got to do with my sexuality?" I asked.
"Well, queerness is inheritable. I read it in a recent news article." Siddharth said, and continued, "Also, your pishima[1] asked me to look for signs so that she can throw you a coming out party."
"I just came out and was expecting a big drama, not this." I pointed at Siddharth dramatically.
"That just shows how much we love you. Besides, aren't you happy?" Siddharth shrugged.
"I am." I pouted and packed my bags. "Come on, we need to leave for the next class."
***** ***** ***** ***** *****
Kriti left Jasmine's room early. She had mostly practical classes today, but didn't bother herself to join as the morning class didn't ask students for perfect attendance.
She entered the student council room and unlocked the cupboard where she kept all the files and records. She needed to check Manaav's records. She believed that if a person could stoop that low in public, he could do anything in private. So, she needed every single piece of information she could find to do a background check on that sleazebag.
And she found his records, perfectly preserved, as if waiting for her notice.
[1] Bengali word for paternal aunt