Chapter 71: Lie

After the classes ended for day one, Taro sat peacefully at the table reserved for him in the staff room, waiting for the others to swing by as promised. Since eighth grade and above classes were an entire different block from the lower ones, the teachers teaching those grades had a different staff room in that block. Hence, Taro spent the whole day not seeing the aliens and Thankappan, except for the brief glances he had at them taking classes when he was on his way to the second grade.

Anyhow, he wanted to discuss how the classes went with them. However, the wait for them seemed longer than necessary. So, he decided to take a stroll through the school corridors. Since the students had already left the premises, it was simpler to walk during that time rather than in a break time or something, where the kids were running through those corridors.

However, while all the other classes were closed after the kids left, for some reason, his own class was still open. So, he walked towards the twelfth grade classroom with the intentions of closing it, when he saw that someone was still present in the class.

"Oh, hello sir! What are you doing here?" Shivani asked, as she saw Taro by the entrance.

"Shouldn't I be the one asking that question? Aren't the classes over? What are you still doing here?" Taro asked, as he walked towards her to check upon what she was doing.

Upon seeing him advance, Shivani suddenly fumbled the book she had in her hand and quickly placed it in her bag and acted as if she didn't do that in the first place. "Ah, I'm just doing my homework. Nothing else!" She nervously chuckled.

Even though he clearly saw what she did, Taro decided to keep silence on that matter, since Shivani wanted to hide whatever that was so badly. So, rather than poking that up right away, he thought of prying it up from her some other time, slowly. "Hmm, studious, eh? That's cool. However, can't you do it in your home too? The school would close the shutters once we exit. You know that, right?" He asked.

Shivani shook her head. "Nah, I'm usually the one closing the shutter. I made a deal with the school peon on that." She replied.

"Is that so? Good for you then! Do you mind if I sat here?" He asked, pointing to a seat relatively far away from her.

"Sure! It's not like I have the power to deny you a seat in this class or something." She replied.

"Oh, cool!" Taro jumped into the seat and gazed to the outside, looking for his alien and MIB friends. However, occasionally he peeked towards Shivani as well. As he expected, she was kinda uncomfortable with him sitting here, because it seemed to obstruct whatever she was doing before. "Well, she could've just denied my request! I would've just gone back to the staff room." He thought. However, he knew how it would've sounded like and no student would order a teacher like that. So, he sighed. The uncomfortable atmosphere around Shivani started to affect him as well.

"Ta… Sadanandan!" Taro stood up when he heard Thankappan's voice coming in.

"Yo! I'm here!" He waved his arm signaling his presence in the twelfth grade.

"What are you doing there?" Thankappan asked.

"Giving company to my student." He replied. To check who this student was, Thankappan and the two aliens walked towards the twelfth grade.

"Oh, it's you! Thank you for taking care of Charlie, by the way!" Thankappan bowed his head towards Shivani.

"Wait, his real name is Charlie?" Shivani asked, surprised by this revelation.

"Well, not really… But he insisted on that being his Earth name because of you. So…" Thankappan thought before replying. "Yea! Why'd you ask?" He asked.

"It must be some sorta fate! I named him Charlie as well, since I was a bit hesitant to ask you his name." She replied, with excitement brimming in her voice.

"Really? Wow, I didn't expect that! What a twist of fate, eh?" Thankappan nervously chuckled.

"So, we're gonna go now. Do you wanna come with us? Since we're going to the same place after all! Also, as a sort of apology for scaring you for two days." Taro pitched in his thoughts.

"Damn, I kinda forgot that we're neighbors, even though we were talking about Charlie. But, yea. I mean like why not! If it's not a bother to you, then sure!" She replied.

"Cool, let's go then." Taro urged as he stepped out of the class, looking as if he was about to run through the corridors like the kids do.

"Wait, coming with you is fine and all… However, are you still gonna wear that? Because you guys walking around me wearing that might make you seem like you're my entourage or something." Shivani asked, pointing at the jacket that they put on. Although, they didn't wear it while taking classes because Rita asked them to, they did wear it now since it would be simpler that way rather than carrying it in their hand.

"I mean like, why not? It's a gift from John after all! Ah, John's the foreigner in our group, by the way. And, it's one of the half decent clothes that I get to wear after arriving here." Taro replied, as he coursed his hand through the fabric of the jacket.

"Arriving… here?" Shivani asked, confused about what Taro was talking about.

Thankappan noticed Taro's slip of tongue and jumped in to cover his mistake. "Ah, you see. He's from the Paniya tribe! He's one of the only few of that tribe to actually graduate from something. However, he never left his tribe while learning. He was the only one to graduate from his own home in the tribe. So, this is kinda like the first time he's out of the tribal community. And he always felt like the dressing sense here is a bit bogus! So, yea…" He sighed after explaining a butt load for no reason.

"I see… Now, I really wanna see what the Paniya tribal people wear. I hope it's really cool, since Sadanandan Sir seemed to think that way!" Shivani replied.

"Ah, yea! It's REALLY cool! I don't know when I'll be able to go back, however once I do, I'll get you one from there!" Taro replied.

"Great! Shall we go then?" Shivani got up after packing her stuff.

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Shivani felt really embarrassed as she walked to the Holy Land with the four people by her side. It was as she expected. The four of them looked like her entourages and the people were staring weirdly at them as they walked by. Although it did make her flush quite a bit, she thanked God that none of her classmates or juniors weren't around to see this spectacle. Or else,it would've been a weird scenario for her… not that it isn't already!

"Ah, by the way, I apologize for smiling towards you everyday! I thought it would make us feel closer for some reason, but my colleagues here said that there's a chance that I weirded you out." Thankappan spoke as they were on their way to the Holy Land.

"Don't worry about that! I guess you did bring up this sense of familiarity after smiling a lot of times!" She replied.

"What did you just do? He's gonna smile even more creepily towards you from now on. It's gonna be a pain in the ass!" Kunjan, who remained silent for the most part, sighed.

Shivani laughed. "Well, so be it then! Let's see how creepy he can get!"

"I see! Don't be blaming us when you get freaked out by him or something!" Kunjan replied. By then, they had already reached the Holy Land. When they were about to go up the steps, they saw someone coming down. Although they expected that it would be John, it was actually Shivani's mother.

"Shivani! What the hell are you doing with these guys? Don't you know how society will perceive you once they see you with guys like this?" She asked as she grabbed Shivani by her hand and dragged her away.

However, Shivani stopped her. "Mom, stop. Let me just introduce these guys to you. The guy in the middle is my class teacher, Mr Sadanandan.The others are teachers at my school as well!" She replied.

Upon hearing this, the mother let go of her hand. "Oh, I'm sorry! But, I really thought you were construction workers!" She apologized.

"Well, we kinda were. However, circumstances led us here. Now we're English teachers! So, yea…" Taro replied.

"I see. Anyway, how's my daughter doing in the class? She always seems a bit tired from the early and late classes when she reaches home, but I hope she's doing fine over there…" She replied.

Taro was kinda confused. He knew for a fact that there weren't any special classes. He looked towards Shivani. She looked worried as well. It seems like she was lying to her mother. "Ah, yes! I think it's just gonna last a few more days. Don't worry." He decided to lie a bit about it as well.

"Ah, is that so? Thank you for taking care of my daughter. We'll be leaving then!" The mother took her daughter's hand and climbed the stairs.

"Thank you!" Shivani mouthed as she headed up.

"You owe me one!" Taro mouthed back.

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