Eshan was nervous about his party. Should he decorate the place or leave it as it is? Should he dress up or not? All these questions drove him mad. After a lot of thought, he decided to focus his energy on decorating the place. He went to open the cupboard to look for some tape when it fell out. He gaped at what fell out of the cupboard for nearly fifteen minutes, in absolute stupor and disbelief. When he gathered himself and realized what had happened, he just ran to the next room as if he was being chased by someone.
Eshan was in a state of absolute panic, his palms were sweaty and he was not able to think clearly. “Whose body was it?” “What was it doing in the mansion?” “did someone kill him?”. These were some questions that kept playing in his head. Eshan did not know what to do. Then his logical mind took over and he went into the room to check whether the person was actually dead or had just fainted. The man was about 6 feet tall and was well dressed. There were no signs of any violence on him. How could he have died, thought Eshan. For some reason, he felt compelled to start decorating the house for the party. So he stuffed the body into the cupboard and rushed back to get things done. Eshan was graduating in a couple of days and was throwing a party to celebrate with his friends. He had rented this massive mansion for a day and it was worth a fortune. For the next four hours, Eshan was fraught between the dead body and the party. Every ten minutes he would go check on it, as though the man would come alive and escape any moment. Hours of checking on the dead body and decorating the enormous mansion really drained Eshan. Around six that evening, when the doorbell rang, Eshan was still busy getting things ready for the party. Wondering who had turned up so early, he grumpily went to the door. It was Nathan. "I'm here to help you," said Nathan, with a smile. "How much can you possibly do all by yourself." Holding forward a single rose with a long, slender stalk, he bowed dramatically. "Congratulations. For now, you can stop being jealous," he sneered. Eshan knew that the emphatic 'all by yourself' was an innocent comment made in jest, but it still bothered him. “I don’t want to hear your taunts Nathan, just shut up and help me get this place in order”, retorted Eshan. Nathan for some reason always brought out the argumentative side in Eshan. Eshan thought to himself that if Nathan found out about the body, all hell could break lose. One could never predict anything with Nathan. He might actually publish the news in the college paper. Eshan could see the headlines flash in front of his eyes, “Dead body found in Eshan Walia’s Graduation Party: did Eshan do it?”. Shaking his head in fear that it might actually happen, Eshan decided to confide in Nathan. However, before he could do that, more people started arriving, making it difficult for Eshan to locate Nathan. The mansion had twenty rooms and he had no clue where Nathan was. What if he found the body and is avoiding me on purpose?, thought Eshan to himself.
With a thousand thoughts racing in his mind, Eshan was now restless to find Nathan. On finally finding Nathan, Eshan wasn’t able to control himself “NATHAN! COME QUICK! I NEED YOU HERE!”, he screamed, interrupting Nathan’s making out session. Nathan glared at him and marched his way towards Eshan and said “Walia, this better be important, else I will punch you in the gut!”. “It is”, said Eshan and dragged him towards the cupboard and asked him to open it. Nathan opened it grudgingly, and the body fell out, like a sack of grains. Nathan screamed and ran into the washroom. Eshan was not surprised, of course. Nathan only pretended to be the coolest guy in college and in reality, was far from it. “Nathan, please open the door….allow me to explain”, Eshan said knocking on the bathroom door. Nathan stepped out in sometime giving Eshan a weird and cold stare. Eshan took Nathan to a room and explained the entire situation to him. Nathan heard the story with a suspicious look on his face the whole time. However, by the end of it all, Nathan had a change of heart and he decided to go with what Eshan was saying. Both the boys went to the cupboard again and opened the door…the body fell out one more time. They both looked at each other expressionless. “Eshan, listen I know you have no prior experience on this, so let me handle it. I think we should hide him or we should confront the owner. Your choice”, said Nathan. “What do you mean no prior experience?” “Is this what you do on a daily basis?” said Eshan furiously. Nathan responded by shaking his head. Somewhere through all this, the party was being managed by people attending it. Finally, it was around 2 am and people were refusing to leave. Both the boys grabbed as many cloth bags and tapes as they could find and completely covered the body. They went out through the back door and into the garden. The plan went smoothly, except for the time when the body slipped out of Nathan’s hand and rolled into the garden. Their plan was nearly complete. They were rolling the body to the garden when they heard someone say. “Hey Everyone! Come out! Looks like a bonfire out here!!!”. Everyone gathered around the body and set it on fire, in some kind of drunken craze. Soon, the burning flesh started emitting an odour and everyone started scrunching their noses in disgust. Due to this sudden unpleasant experience, most people left immediately. It was surprising how no one really questioned them about the smell, but then again, they were all way too drunk. Eshan and Nathan knew it was time to drive the rest of them out. Most people took the hint. Sam however was persistent on staying. As they were physically pushing him out of the house, he said “What are the both of you hiding? Did you both kill someone and are you getting rid of the body?”. On hearing this, Nathan and Eshan’s body’s tightened. “What!? You are so funny Sam!”, said Eshan laughing nervously. Sam looked at Eshan and Nathan and broke into laughter. It felt like Sam had taken forever to leave. Finally, after he left. Eshan made a cup of coffee for the both of them. “God! What a crazy night!”, said Eshan. “Walia, you really are a weird guy. I mean I always knew you had a secretive side to you.”, replied Nathan. Eshan just nodded. Eshan thought to himself that this was his chance to make a move. What’s the worst that could happen, he thought. Nathan might reject him but at least he will have the assurance that he tried. “Nathan thank you for tonight. I wouldn’t have been able to manage all this without your help”, said Eshan. “Anytime Esh”, Eshan was pleasantly surprised to hear the shortened version of his name…it sounded like music to his ears. Swallowing a huge gulp of air, Eshan decided it was now or never. So, while the whole world was fast asleep and there was deathly silence all around, Eshan leaned in to kiss Nathan. Nathan leaned in too and it was the most beautiful kiss. Nathan was so happy. He had the goofiest smile on his face as the kiss ended. Eshan smiled at Nathan and held Nathan’s face in his hand and kissed him on the forehead. They both never imagined that the day could end like this.
Nathan and Eshan entered college the following day. It was their graduation day and they both couldn’t take their eyes off each other. As they both walked towards the foyer; Eshan pulled Nathan next to him and said “Hey Nate, seems to me you are good at hiding bodies. Maybe you’d like to join me? Think about it. We’d make a splendid team!”. Nathan couldn’t comprehend what Eshan had just said to him and looked at him blankly. Eshan winked at him and walked away.
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