Autumn took extra care in dressing up the next day, anticipating to meet Ryan again . As she came down for breakfast, she found her father watching her with a raised brow above the daily newspaper. "What's special today?" Alan asked with a surprise laced voice. He had not seen her putting in effort to dress up on a school day.
"Nothing. Nothing at all" Autumn said quickly.
"Oh ! is it so? " Alan kept the paper down and watched his little girl trying to be busy in effort not to meet his eyes. Has my daughter really grown up that she has a boyfriend now, Alan wondered. "So, who is the man? Do I know him? " He asked Autumn as she was pouring juice to her glass. It didn't escape Alan sharp eye that his little girl's hand shook and spills the juice on to the counter. Autumn quickly put some towels to grab the spilt juice. " What man? You are the only man in my life. " Autumn said vehemently. " Hey, take it back. what about me? I have been with you your whole life and you are saying I'm not part of your life? I didn't know you are this cruel" Charles argued with mock anger as he joined them and started attacking the breakfast eagerly. "You will get punishment". Autumn sighed and said " How can I forget you. it's just that I never considered you as a man" "WHAT? You are saying that I'm not a man?? Autumn, You te Brutus". "Charles, it is Et tu brute . If you are quoting an author especially Shakespeare, quote it correctly. And Autumn , keep it so for another 20 years alright. I prefer to reign as the single man in your life". Alan said . And with a quick look at the mortified look of Charles and Autumn rolling her eyes, quickly added " Maybe I can share you with Charles as he being like a brother to you, but otherwise there is no vacancy for another. "
Autumn drawled an yes dad and went to pick up her books.
Alan turned his attention to Charles not to miss the opportunity and asked " Eh Charles, is there a cute boy who has joined your class? And why are you eating like this? Calm down and eat slowly." Charles considered the question for a moment as he was chewing down the hash brown and eggs . Then he said shaking his head "Nope. But," then he leaned in forward and lowered his voice and said" But there is a hot girl who joined our class yesterday." Now Alan was confused. My girl dressed up for a hot girl!? Autumn paused near the stage seeing the look on her father's face. "What?" she asked. " No, nothing at all. There is nothing wrong in it if you prefer so. But I ... I thought ... never mind.So this new girl, what is her name? " Alan asked. "Chloe". Alan suspiciously looked at both Autumn and Charles He saw Autumn narrowing her eyes at Charles and Charles smiling sheepishly. Suddenly things became clearer to Alan and he gave out a relieved sigh. That brought Autumn's attention to her father . "What is happening?" she asked her dad. Alan shrugged and Charles was still attacking his breakfast as if his life depended on it.
As Autumn joined them near the door, Charles was smelling around the air as if to figure out the fragrance and focused her attention on Autumn. Now it was Autumn who smiled sheepishly and ran out to the truck. As Charles followed Autumn, Alan whispered to him " Keep an eye on her ok. she hasn't put on that plum blossom perfume in a while. some thing is fishy". "No Alan, its not fishy, it's a good smell" joked Charles and walked towards his truck.
Just like yesterday, Chloe joined them 10 mins prior to session start. Today Autumn had a Statistics class in hour 1, while Chloe and Charles had photography. Autumn was disappointed to see or rather not see the man of her dreams. By the lunch time, Charles and Chloe were busy discussing different techniques and angles and something which Autumn did not understand. Nila was amusingly watching Charles and Chloe and casually chatting with Autumn. " Hey guys, Is your session over or what? You bunking session?" , a sudden voice from behind them startled Autumn and Nila but Nila immediately noticed the brightened posture of Autumn besides her. Charles' interest on a girl is famous but Nila has never seen Autumn taking interest in a man before.
Along with the air of authority, the Autumn's man in dreams walked near the table they occupied and amusingly looked at the group. Chloe immediately smiled and introduced Ryan to everyone. "Ryan, you met Autumn yesterday, now this is Nila , we share the Literature and historical arts courses together and this is Charles and we share the photography session. And guys , this is my brother Ryan and he has his University sem break so he is pestering me all the time. " Even though Chloe spoke like she is irritated, Nila could feel the affection between the brother and sister in their eyes. she also noticed Autumn mooning over Ryan and she kicked her leg under the table.
Ryan chose to sit near Autumn even though he could have chosen to sit beside his sister. Ryan slightly tilted his head towards Autumn and took in a deep breath and whispered "So, is this the fragrance of Autumn ? I thought it would be a bit Woody or spicy , didn't guess a blossom". Autumn shivered as his breath caressed her cheeks and a part of her neck. She blushed beautifully and looked up to Ryan's eyes mesmerized. Ryan was surprised to see the girl blushing beautifully as he flirted lightly with her. He looked into the beautiful eyes and exclaimed. " Hey your eyes matched your hair. This is a rare colour".That brought attention of Charles and Chloe to Ryan's and found Autumn blushing.
This has now became a routine that Charles and Chloe always found some or other to discuss or argue all the time and Ryan would join them either in the morning or during lunch break and subtly flirted with Autumn. Autumn looked forward to these meetings. Now that she think about it , there is a woodsy smell when Ryan comes close to her, one day he told her that the smell reminds him of Autumn season and was his favourite.
Now, Autumn is not bad right! Its indeed a pleasant fragrance.