SS VirMan 'CLOSER' Chapter 1

' Hello, How have you been?' He spoke with a wide grin, after practicing his initial conversation earlier.

'Hey, I have been good thanks, what about you?' She spoke softly, adjusting the creases on her navy blue dress.

'Good, it's a treat being here' emphasizing on the word 'here', ' In the UK'. he carried on.

'How do you like it?' she asked politely.

'Yeh the trip has been good, I am going back tomorrow', he said disappointly, looking into her big brown eyes.

'Oh' her smile fainting. ' I am coming to Seattle next month', she answered full of enthusiasm

'Visiting my cousins' she answered, embarassed by the degree of enthusiasm she showed before. She lowered her eyes to stare at her nude heels.

'Well then... ' Her eyes met his and he stopped talking. She waited for him to finish his sentence. Her lips turned into a pout and she waited anxiously for his response. He was mesmerized. Lost in her face for a few seconds, he quickly snapped out of it when someone walked past him, pushing his hand in the front.

'Ahem' He pretended to cough. 'I could show you around' he spoke a little too fast. ' In Canada' he added. Waiting anxiously for her reaction. Trying to read her embarassed face which now turned into shock.

Shocked was the first expression on her face as she came to terms with what he was suggesting. Her mouth forming a slight o shape. She blinked her eyes rapidly, hiding any signs of happiness. She felt happy. Really happy. They hardly ever talked face to face. It was always done on the phone. They argued, flirted, gossiped and talked on the most random topics. Once they had an hour argument on the tortoise and the hare story. Viraat said the tortoise cheated and Maanvi said that he had offically lost his mind. They always made up though. They needed to talk to eachother every now and then. It was a necessity . They avoided talking to eachother for weeks but when they did, they spent hours reading between the lines.

'Oh' was all she could say. 'Don't you live in Vancouver?' she asked, confused but hoped he would still try to convince her.

'Yeh but Seattle isn't that far' he added, hoping she wasn't good in Geography.

'Ah ok, Yeh sure, It would be good to know someone there. I am meeting my cousins for the first time so It might be a little awkward', she added.

'Done then', his voice tone changed to a higher pitch as he smiled. 'I'll see you then'.

'Bye' she said with a wide grin.

He walked away. Happy to finally be able to talk to her without interruption or crowded gazes staring at them. 'She is awfully shy and quiet infront yet she never seems to shut up in her calls and mails', Viraat thought confused.

'So 3 hours isn't that far away' she thought, smiling to herself.

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'I hate planes' she thought. Why do I have a phobia of heights. This completely ruins the thrill of travelling. The only thing I am looking forward to is the food. Ahh plane food, dreeeam' she thought dreamily.

Maanvi was a outspoken girl. She was the life of her house. Being the youngest one in her family did give her some advantages. She blabbed on for ages. She could almost get away with saying anything. She took advantage of the fact that her family forgave her instantly. She liked to see the good in everyone but was strict about staying away from the negativity in her life. She was a nice girl by heart. She was not short tempered but she held her anger for ages. Apreciating the little things in life. She hated seeing people in pain and appreciated how her life had turned out to be.

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Maanvi gulped as she took her window seat. ' I hate planes' she thought again as she closed her eyes tightly and waited for sleep to embrace her.

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'Welcome to Lucia Airport of Seattle. We hope you had a good journey'. The chirpy airhostess spoke through the microphone

'Good?! Haaa', Maanvi thought sarcastically.

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'Come on bag' she mummered while standing at the bagging area. She had been waiting for 10 minutes now. 'Baag' she whispered as soon as she saw her black suitcase arriving on the ever so slowly baggage system. She walked over to her bag and lifted it only for it to be pulled down by the weight.

'Do you need any help?', a tall, middle aged man asked with a broad smile. He was wearing a tight suit which showed his beer belly. With that he helped to pick up her suitcase and put it on her screeching trolley.

'Aww he looks like Boman Irani' Maanvi thought. Trailing back to reality she thanked the man politely and pushed her trolley down to the arrivals.

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'Your house is really nice', Maanvi spoke awkwardly, trying to break the ice with her American cousins. She hated not being loud when it came to meeting people first time. She was shy and was called reserved. 'Reserved', she thought, rubbishing the thought in her head. Her cousins seemed really nice. The eldest one, named Kreya was 21. A year older than Maanvi. She was studying interior designing in college. She was chatty and was trying to make Maanvi feel like home. Her youngest sister, Liya was 16. Rebellious and in a constant battle for privacy, Maanvi gathered since the 2 hours she has been here. Her youngest sibling Dhruv, was 14. He was a doll. Timid and friendly. He cheekily gave a smile whenever anyone asked him anything.

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'Maanvi, I hope you like this room. I am sorry you have to share it with me. I hope you don't mind', Kreya asked concerned.

'Ofcourse not Kreya, Your room is really nice. Thanks for letting me stay here', Maanvi answered back politely. Maanvi hated sharing rooms but since Kreya made the effort and was really nice, Maanvi didn't want to be too blatant with her. She was prepared to share a room and wasn't expecting a guest room in their house. She just hated sharing her room. 'Just for 2 weeks', she thought.

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She woke up early next morning. Her eyes were closed but her hands searched lazly for her phone. On finding her phone, she opened her eyes and gazed blindly at her bright mobile screen. It was early morning. 4am. 'Jet lag' Maanvi thought as she rolled out of her bed.

As she came out of the toilet, freshly showered and wrapped in her purple towel. Her phone beeped. She walked over to her bed and picked up her white phone.

Viraat

Hey Manvi, Your flight was yesterday right? How is it going in Seattle? Do you wanna meet up tomorrow?

Her eyes grew bigger in suprise. 'He was actually genuine about this', she thought as she quickly started typing up her text.

Viraaat :) Yeh it's going good, jet lagged and all. Yeh that will be great!

'Uhm, too keen' Maanvi thought and saved the message she was about to send in her drafts. After an hour she sent the message to Viraat.

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'It takes her an hour to reply', Viraat mummered as he saw her text. Well atleast she is agreeing to come out. He thought positively.

Maanvi

394 Olden Street, Ohett, Seattle. Sure that'll be fine.

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'What shall I wear?', she mummered quietly. ' Ahh I have no clothes' she said, speaking to herself. After an hour of deliberation of how fat and how eager each of her clothing will make her look, she finally decided on her republic faded denim short and a baggy off the shoulder white top. 'My river island brown gladiators, ahh perfect', she thought. She rushed into the bathroom, shaved and exfoliated her legs. After rinsing her hair twice and satisfied with her , cleanliness, she came out of the bathroom and wore her clothes. She applied her natural makeup, focusing on her eyes. Eyeliner, Mascara and brown eyeshadow with a pink natural lipstick. Highlighting her skin and adding coral blush to her cheeks, she was ready.

'What do we have to go through to look awake' she thought as she scanned her appearance last time and walked out of the house. It was 11:10 and Viraat finally gave in to calling her.

Maanvi heard her phone beeping and saw the caller i.d in front of her. Sitting in a black SUV, her heart beat accelerated as she realized what situation she got herself in. ' I will actually need to talk to him'. He realized she was there and hung up the phone. ' He looks fit', Maanvi thought as she walked up to the SUV. checkered button up shirt with faded denim jeans. Omydays, those are some clean trainers', she looked onto his white sneakers as he stepped out of the car.

'Hey', he said casually standing by his door.

' She looks pretty cute' he thought and 'hot' he added onto his thoughts. His mind scanned her face as his subconscious thought provoked him to stand closer to her.

'Hiya' she spoke chirply. 'Fancy meeting you here' she added.

Viraat couldn't help but smirk. 'The pleasure is all mine', he said cheekily.

On hearing this, her cheeks started heating up and she blushed. 'Noo don't blush. Why is his cheesy line making me blush. The other day the hot creepy guy in the club said that same thing in the club when I couldn't reach my drink at the bar and he handed it to me. Why didn't I blush', she thought. 'Oh yeh he was creepy' she thought, 'and not him' her subconscious added.

'Ready to go' he eagerly asked, breaking her thoughts.

'Yeh lets go' she spoke enthusiastically.

'This is going to be fun' he thought, getting into his car.

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For someone who she thought she would feel uncomfortable with and would run off in the minutes. She felt strangely relaxed. They were having a casual conversation of resturants and places in Vancouver, he felt she needed to see. He came up with restaurants they could go to then rubbished the thought as he added on things she might not like. 'You hate shushi, so thats a definite no'. 'That restaurant is too crowded, we might never get a seat and you hate standing and eating'. 'The restaurant is on the 10th floor so unless I want you to get sick of dizziness, we are not going there.' He added after each idea.

'He knows me so well', Maanvi thought. We only ever talked on the phone or mailed eachother. If it was possible, she liked him more now.

'Maanvi?' He asked, looking ahead on the street.

'Hmm', she answered, turning to look at his face and admiring his strong jawline.

'Can I ask you a question?', he asked, with an uncertainty.

Her heart beat started beating fast again. Her cheeks started heating up and she felt light headed. 'Yeh', she answered, quietly.

' What do you think off... ' he asked trailing his thoughts.

'What do I think off what?', she asked hesitantly, hyperventilating. 'Stop it', she reminded herself. Breath in and out, or just breath, she directed her breathe.

'My shirt?' he added, confused.

'It's nice, colourfull' she added in a sarcastic tone, dissapointed in his question and looked away from him.

He failed to catch her sarcasm but shook her head. He clutched tightly to his steering wheel and cursed himself in his mind.

'Wasted a perfect opportunity to ask her about us' he thought, disappointed . 'Chicken', he mocked himself.

'Chicken', she thought.

They both somewhat knew that they they were attracted to eachother. Her flirting and her possessiveness hasn't gone unnoticed. Maanvi wanted him to confess first but rubbished her thought on uncertainty. 'What if he doesn't like me that way', she wondered as always. Virat had a feeling Maanvi did have a soft corner for him. He didn't want to ruin their friendship if it turned out to be one sided likeness. She was the only one he could ever talk to about anything. On days he was angry or upset, she could just call her and on sensing this, she would just make his worries and anxiety go away. The sound of her voice was enough to make him happy. The best and worst part of this closeness was that they were family friends, so their families never suspected anything else but friendship between them but this also made it harder for them to confess as family relations might get affected. The most troubling issue on this relationship was the distance. She lived in London and he lived in Canada. 'It will never work', they bought thought.

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' Mexican food?!' She asked, smiling brightly and staring at the taco sign in an colourful yet elegant looking restaurant, as the car pulled up in the parking.

'I'm guessing you like it?' he asked, sure about his choice of restaurant. She loves mexican food.

'Yesss', she kept her bright smile and opened the car door and stood outside.

He sat in the car for a few more seconds before getting out, sighing at her bright smile and the fact that he was the reason behind it.