Destiny's Dice

Precaution Is Better Than Cure

Manik's gaze travels towards my lips once more and this time it stays there long enough that I'm sure I didn't imagine it. His lashes are casting shadows across his cheeks.

I moisten my lips, every muscle of my body paralyzing itself. Manik applies a little more pressure against my back, completely flattening our fronts against each other. My legs are nestled in between his, our ankles making a story of their own, beside each other.

"Mom! Have you gotten the maid to iron my red dress yet?" Alya's painful voice screams from outside.

For once, however, it serves a good purpose, for it knocks me back into reality. What am I doing? Lying on top of her boyfriend, that's what. A man who sneaked into my room to do God knows what with me.

I press my palms against Manik's chest, pushing myself off him and onto my own two feet. For some reason, my legs don't seem to want to hold me up today. I head over to the chair lying near the other corner of the room - opposite to where the bed is placed - and lower myself onto it.

Manik's eyes are shifting around the mattress, confusion emanating from him. He's looking like a lost puppy right now. The sight almost makes me smile. Almost.

"You've got a lot of explaining to do, so I suggest you get going." I say, pulling my legs onto the chair and curving them underneath my figure.

The Devil's eyes snap back to the present, as he positions himself into a sitting position. If one would see the comfort level he's harboring in my room, they'd consider it's his.

"Manik, I don't have all day." I say, hoping my tone of voice tells him I mean business.

"As if I'm dying to stay here in your room and torture myself with your presence," Manik retorts, casting his gaze towards the window.

"Yeah, well guess what? You're in my room." I inject fake amazement in my tone, as if we've just realized this fact. "Oh, and you also spent the entire night in here. On my bed. With me wrapped in your arms."

"That wasn't intentional," Manik mumbles.

"Intentional or not, you seem pretty desperate for my company at the moment." Manik's gaze cuts toward me sharply, anger flashing through them once more.

Aiyappa, and here we go with the angry young man look.

"You want to know what happened?" Manik asks, sitting up straighter.

"No," I draw the word out. "I'm just here to admire your pretty face." I reply sarcastically, rolling my eyes. "Yes, Manik, of course I wish to know what happened. Because at the moment, you have crowned yourself as the Devil in my eyes."

"I got lost," Manik says. "I confused our room - Alya's and mine - as yours, and well, ended up spending the night here." What a pathetic reason!

"Manik," I say, "Is stupid written across my forehead? Stop lying and tell me the truth. Otherwise it won't take me even half a minute to get the entire family in here."

Sighing, Manik stands up and heads over towards the window.

"Your room was the only quiet place left in this house," Manik says, folding his arms across his chest. "The entire house was dancing to the sound of music and I...I just needed some quiet. A place that was free from all that sound of chatter and music." He pauses, his eyes watching the garden through the curtains.

"Alya and I...we fought," Manik continues. "And our room window faces the garden, so naturally the noise in there was just unbearable. When coming up, I realized that this room - your room - was unnaturally silent. So I let myself in. I must've fallen asleep while I was thinking."

Manik is suddenly sounding tired, as if his body is drained of energy completely.

"I-I didn't know it was yours," Manik goes onto further explain. "The room, I mean. I just felt oddly at ease in here."

I want to say a lot, but at the same time, I'm unsure as to why all the anger has seeped out of my system. My heart wishes to reach out to this man, who is sounding like just an empty vessel at the moment. There's something in his tone that doesn't match with the persona he portrays to everyone - to me on a daily basis.

"I was just tired, that's all," Manik whispers. "I am tired." I don't think he wishes for me to hear all this. Manik now seems to be lost in his own world. A world I'm intruding in.

Aiyappa, how does this man do it? How is he standing in my room, musing out loud, and making me seem like an intruder?

Sunlight filters in through the curtains and straight onto Manik's face. This spotlight allows me to notice the tautness of his forehead. The way his shoulders seem to be burdened with the weight of a thousand pounds. His eyes are distant, as if he's in another world altogether.

Tension is lining Manik's face, his lips pulled into a thoughtful, tight pout.

Am I wrong in judging Manik? Am I wrongfully convicting him of being the Devil? Is there more to him, underneath all the layers of evil he shows the world.

Manik blinks, his black orbs glancing around my room. He's brought himself back to the present, as he turns around and grabs his phone off my bedside table.

"I'm going," Manik says, heading for the room door. He stops and turns around, facing me. "I'm not a rapist and last night was equally horrid for me." And the Devil's back. How can I expect any good from him when he's full of so much bad?

Aiyappa, me and my silly thoughts.

"I won't say anything to anyone," I say, when Manik opens his mouth to say something. He shuts it, giving me a curt nod. "Tonight's secret stays between the two of us."

"Agreed." He turns back on his heels and makes for the door once more. Just as his hand presses down on the handle, Manik stops and turns back around to face me again.

"How'd you know I was lying the first time?" Manik asks curiously, furrowing his brows.

"You're not as talented of a liar as you think you are," I reply. "In fact, you're horrible at lying."

The corner of Manik's lips twitches upwards. However, before the expression can properly adorn his face, he's already turned back around.

"That's a first," Manik murmurs to himself, pressing down on the handle and unlocking the door.

Before I can tell him to be careful and see if the coast is clear before exiting, he's already out the door and heading towards his room. Standing up, I head to shut the door and change, so that I can start my day and help Chachi with all the work she's been burdened with.

As I'm about to shut the door, my eyes land on the person standing in the hall, right opposite my room door. Alya.

I suck in a sharp breath, my hand tightening around the metal.

"I - "

"Don't even try," Alya says, disgust evident across her face. "Just don't." She shakes her head, turning around and heading down the stairs.

Aiyappa, what have Manik and I done?