CHAPTER 6

It was a very tough first week of classes. Apparently, Nandani's senior year business professors seriously took their job of preparing the students for the real business world. She was completely drained out after multiple hours of lectures on business and finance, taxation, economics, law, and marketing. The only plus point for her was that the lecture schedule ran Monday to Friday, giving her a two-day break before the next taxing week started.

Her book snapped shut faster, after the last lecture on Friday, that was finance. She looped her book bag over her head.

"These assignments will be taking away our complete weekend," grumbled Alya beside Nandani. She was possibly the only person more serious about school than Nandani was. She was half Indian from her mother and half American from her father. In short, she was an exotic combination of both of them. Mukti had been dying to get Alya to model her clothes ever since Nandani had introduced them to each other, a year back.

Alya and Nandani were both business students. They had established a solid bond over calculus and coffee, both being major themes of junior year.

"Do you want to work on it while having a cup of coffee, in the cafeteria?" Alya asked. Nandani knew that a marathon session was coming on its way. This course definitely had the heaviest workload compared to the other subjects they had taken.

"Deal. I do need some coffee, with an extra bit of sugar. I am sure the mental exercise on calculus, could burn off any extra calories that we consume," Nandani replied.

They walked along, one of the paved lanes that connected the campus buildings and bordered the greenspaces on which students lounged. We reached our destination. 'Cafe and More' lodged on the ground floor of the law building on the other side of campus.

Nandani waved at a few friends she saw on the way across the campus. As usual, the first week of classes carried a certain amount of energy. She chalked it up to excitement on the part of freshers who were easily distinguished from others, by their enthusiastic expressions, their tendency to cluster around class campus maps and signposts, and the telltale college bookstore bags in their hands.

They pushed through the doors of the cafe to find it packed. As this place was a popular hangout for students. It boasted of decent decor, music, the plus point being that it was open twenty-four hours, and it served beer at noon after the lectures got over.

They placed their orders at the counter while Alya luckily located a table in a glass cabin that was in the process of being vacated. This was an impressive feat as 'Cafe and More' was especially popular with both the coffee and beer-consuming crowds, near the end of the week.

"Did I tell you I am going to take my LSATs next month, Nandani?" Alya said while swirling a spoon of sugar in her cappuccino after they were delivered to our table. Alya was a brainy student. The Law School Admission Test was just one more step towards her goal. Nandani knew she would clear even those tests with flying colors.

"That is amazing. You will be a hotshot litigator in no time. Are you excited?" Nandani asked her.

"I am excited that my parents will be very happy," she said. Alya had a close-knit family and big expectations to meet. Nandani knew what that was like, but while Alya was following the path her parents had chalked out for her, Nandani was hell-bent on making success on her own terms. If things had worked out differently, maybe she would have been taking her LSATs too.

"But you have always wanted to be a lawyer, right Alya? I mean I have not heard you talk about anything else," Nandani asked her.

Alya thought for a minute before responding. "I think it is partly because I have never had anything I wanted to do, unlike you. As long as we have been friends you have planned to start your own company. That is so...daring"

Nandani though had not thought of it that way because it had been the goal for two years. Success seemed inevitable, even if she had to jump through a thousand obstacles to get there. She could still remember the day in seventh grade that may have sealed her fate in fashion. It was two years after her dad had left and Mukti had come to school wearing the craziest skirt she had ever seen. It was purple with green flowers sewn over it. She had cut one of her mom's tops to make it.

As awkward as that first creation was, but it was a starting point to Mukti's more serious exploration of creative talent. Mukti was bitten by the designer bug, and because they both were inseparable, Nandani wanted to go there with her.

Nandani had then decided that she would look after the business side, while Mukti would handle the designer department. She shared this with Alya, and cheerily said, "Well, maybe if we get sued and need your first-rate representation."

Alya's face brightened. "You think so?"

An hour later Alya and Nandani had made some impressive progress on their assignment. Alya packed up her books and some students noticed the activity. Nandani smiled sweetly and waved to them signaling she was not joining them anywhere. One of them gave an unfriendly hand gesture. Nandani shook her head, laughing, and went back to reading.

One of the great things about having buckets of work was that it took your brain off of other things. Like parents and ex-boyfriends, and friend's brothers who showed up out of blue and kissed you like they had been waiting to do that for all their lives.

After the other night, she had lain in bed for a while trying to sort out what had happened. In the end, Nandani had chalked it up to the booze and feeling like crap about Aryaman. She had not been with a guy all summer and had forgotten how seductive attention and a pair of strong arms could be. It was totally rational, and now that she had fallen into the trap once, she could very well avoid it.

If she was lucky she wouldn't see Manik again during the whole semester. It was a very huge campus.

As if by magic he knew that she had been thinking about him, Manik Malhotra pushed in the door with two girls and a guy.

They were laughing like old friends. But a guy like Manik would make friends quickly. No doubt he would be every bit as popular on campus as he had been in high school.

Nandani was absorbed in law a few minutes later when a figure stopped beside her. She looked up, ready to defend her spot if necessary. Manik Malhotra leaned over the table and extended a plate in her direction. "Garlic bread, and chocolate cake for your thoughts?"

He sat down into the seat across Nandani without waiting for an answer. She wondered what had happened to his friends, but would not ask him as she didn't want him to know that she had noticed them coming in.

"So I know I am new here, but I have to say, this guy knows how to bake." Manik oblivious to her thoughts, closed his eyes as he took an appreciative bite. Glancing around, she saw more than one pair of female eyes watching us, no, watching him, with interest. It was clear that others would have been more than happy to have shared their cabin with him. But, alas, he had chosen hers.

Through all of this Manik and his baked goods were on their own planet, completely oblivious to the attention that he had been garnering.