"Can't you see? You're the best :)"
...
I'm currently in my class. There are ten minutes left for school to be over so I allowed them to finish the grammar assignment at home and let them do what they want to. I see two of my students passing chits to one another while smiling at each other continuously. Aww, young love. I pretend to not look at them and get back to my work.
After the bell rings, I pack up my belongings to leave.
"There's someone at the reception for you," the peon tells me. I nod at him and head to the reception and see Ansh sitting there. He's busy looking at his phone so I mess up his hair.
"Hey what are you doing here?" I ask him. He pushes my hand away and fixes his hair.
"Mom sent me so that you can come home early instead of taking the bus. She invited Ayan's family to dinner today. Also, we needed to buy some groceries for her. I've already bought them. You're welcome," he replies.
It's been two weeks since our date. I haven't seen Ayan after that. He texts me daily at night. I don't respond to him much. It's much easier to ignore him on text. When he's in front of me, that's another story.
After we reach home, Ansh gets out of the car and goes inside the house. I have to carry the groceries inside without any help. I glare at him when I get inside and he just smirks at me. Mom takes them from me and gets back to her cooking.
I don't want to face Ayan alone after barely responding to his texts. I think about inviting Siya to dinner too. That'll make this better for me.
"Mom, I'm going to invite Siya and Mark for dinner. Is that okay?"
She nods at me and doesn't even glance at me. She is so busy cooking for her guests.
I go to my room and call Siya. She picks up on the fourth ring. "Hey, how is everything?" I ask her.
"Natasha just slept fifteen minutes ago and I'm finally free now. I was just going to take a nap. How are you?" she replies.
"I'm fine. Came home early today. So, mom invited Ayan and his family to dinner tonight and I don't want to face him alone. So can you guys come too?" I ask her.
"I don't know..." she pauses.
"Please Siya, please," I plead with her.
"Okay but I'm dropping Natasha at my mother's place. She's anyway always complaining about missing her."
I nod at her but then I realise she can't see me. "Okay. But I miss her."
"Of course you do. Please take her. You won't miss her then," I laugh at that and then hang up.
...
Ansh tells me to come downstairs because the guests have arrived. I'm wearing an orange dress with shoes. I hate wearing heels. I only wear them when they're absolutely necessary. I even straightened my hair today.
I greet Ayan's parents and his mother hugs me. I avoid Ayan and sit next to Ansh. I can feel his eyes following my every move. I obsessively keep on glancing at the door to see when Siya will come. I hear a horn outside the door and Ansh excuses himself and leaves. He said he has a friend's birthday party to attend. He intentionally didn't tell me that earlier so that I can't stop him. How will I avoid Ayan now till Siya comes?
Ayan gets up and sits next to me. I bite my lip, what do I do now? He notices that and his eyes fall on my lips. I raise an eyebrow at him. He whispers in my ear, "Why have you been ignoring me?"
I move away from him. "I don't know what you're talking about," I mumble.
"Naira, take Ayan to your room. We will call you downstairs when it's time to eat," my mom says to me.
I sigh and go to my room. I don't wait for Ayan. He'll follow me himself.
He sits on my bed and makes himself comfortable. I sit on the chair.
"You read?" He points at the shelf of novels I have. I finally ordered a shelf last week for the novels I owned. Before that, I kept them in my almirah. Yeah, that sucked.
I nod at him. "That's cool." He smiles at me. I just shrug in return.
He pulls my chair close to him and brings his face closer to me. "1. You look really pretty." He twirls a strand of my hair. "2. Why have you been avoiding me?" he questions.
"I repeat that I haven't." I glare at him and push his hand away from my hair.
"Come on," he replies. I give him a flat look.
"Wait was that your first date? Is that why you're being so awkward?" he asks me.
I don't reply and look anywhere but him.
He laughs. "Aww, baby you don't have to be awkward around me."
"Shut up." I hit his arm.
He laughs again. I get on the bed, pick up the pillow and hit him. We're both laughing now. Somehow, he dodges all of my hits and takes the pillow from me and pulls me closer.
"Oops. We didn't see anything." I see Siya and Mark at the door. I realise how the position we're in might look to others. I'm straddling Ayan and the pillow is wedged between us. I move away from him and get up. Siya looks at me with knowing eyes. I glare at her. Ayan seems unbothered. Such a chill guy. Siya mouths to me "We will talk later". I glare at her again.
"This is Siya, my friend and this is her husband Mark." I introduce them to Ayan. He shakes hands with both of them.
"And guys, this is Ayan, my..." I pause. What is he? Ayan looks at me with mischievous eyes.
"He's my..." I start again but don't know what to say. He's my mother's friend's son? Will that work?
"What she's trying to say is that I'm her fiancé but she refuses to accept that. That's why she's in denial." Ayan rolls his eyes at me and keeps his arm around my shoulder. I twist his finger.
"Ouch. You're a violent girl," Ayan says to me. "I'm not in denial." I glare at him.
"You guys are so cute." Siya gushes.
"That we are." Ayan winks at me. I shake my head at his antics.
Mark smiles at me. He's the best among these three. I hate the other two. "Your mom told us to come downstairs to eat. Let's go."