Chapter Five

                                    

                                          
He had never walked right into such a quiet place before this, completely soundless and none of the lights inside the massive place were switched on - except for the ones on the steps. Is there nobody home? It wouldn't be too surprising considering Kris would forget to inform him after inviting him. He can be chaotic, and forgetful.
He considers for a moment before stepping on the steps and looks back. The swimming pool is well-lit like usual, but there's no sign of anyone by the pool. And since he didn't have any problem entering the place, it means someone definitely is home. Kris would call if they weren't home, right? He takes steps, one by one, still unsure, not liking the darkness one bit. And just by looking at the landing from below, he can tell the corridor has no bright light either.
'Kris,' he calls out walking up the steps. He cringes as his voice fills the whole big house, yet nobody answers him.
Kris cannot hear him in his room, but the house shouldn't be this quiet. 
The hall above is dark, except there are red candles on both sides of the floor, and some cloth in the middle that flows through almost to the end of the hallway. But that wouldn't explain the lights, the dark hall, and the whole house. Riyaan doesn't know if he should be concerned, confused or creeped out. But he moves forward.
'Kris,' he calls again, soft, and light.
Within a moment, he leans down and touches the ground. Cold, as if almost wet, and the softness of it almost gave his heart a mini heart attack. 
Rose petals. Not red cloth.
And then there are voices from the room. Fast voices, mumbled and frantic. Something says Riyaan should run for his life, but something's wrong. The whole air smells great but something about the whole dark room triggers Riyaan. If watching too many horror movies lately has done anything good for him, it's strengthening his senses to stay alert. 
'Kris, are you okay?' He lightly bangs on the door. But the sounds in the room becomes more consistent, making his heart beat faster.
A tap on his right shoulder makes him lose all the control he had.
'Oh, my god, what -' He looks back fast, with his heart rate going high, and he stumbles into another body, almost falling onto the floor displacing both himself and the body that stops him from falling.
'What are you doing?'
'Ivan, is that you?' Yeah, that's Ivan, he can tell even before his face is visible in the dim light of the candles. 
Ivan holds him in a strong grip, hands through his arms, helping him find the right balance to stand up. Riyaan is embarrassed. Twice. It's now happened twice that he has crashed into this man, and twice he has helped him back. But this time though, Riyaan secretly blames Ivan.
'Yes.' Ivan's voice is almost a whisper, but Riyaan can tell he is also laughing. 
'What is happening, it's so dark,' Riyaan asks, confused about why Ivan is not confused. Ivan walks back to the steps, and he follows.
'I think I heard Kris inside the room,' Riyaan says slowly pointing backwards to the room. Maybe it's nothing serious if Ivan is not as remotely alarmed as he is.
'Can't you tell from the setup? It's probably some sort of candlelight dinner. Preet forgot to tell me about no work so I came.'
'Oh...!' The setup. Right. Red candles, red rose petals, what does that say? Riyaan sits down on the sofa.
'Oh? What did you think was happening?' Ivan laughs again.
'I got so scared seeing the dark room and candles,' Riyaan says, shaking his head, hiding his face and finally starting to laugh.