"You might look small and cute but you're really strong and brave. Sometimes, even terrifying."
...
"What? No. He's my nephew," Ayan places the boy on the ground. "Ku, go home. Mommy is calling you and tell her I'll come back in some time." He nods his head adorably at Ayan's words.
"Wait I still don't know your name?" I ask looking at the lovable boy.
"Mommy says not to tell your name to strangers."
I groan. "Yeah yeah. Go to your Mommy." He runs away with his shoes making a squeaky noise.
"What are you doing here?" Ayan cocks his head to the right.
"I was going home after school when I saw him alone in the park. Why would you be so careless to leave a child alone, unsupervised?" I press my lips together and glare at him.
"Will you chill? Kushagra lives in the house across from the park." He shrugs.
"Still, he was alone in the park. You will be a terrible father. I'm never having kids with you." I utter before I can stop myself. I swallow hard. What did I just say? He'll never let this go.
His lips stretch into a wide grin, showing a perfect set of teeth. "Did you just think about making babies with me?" His eyes never waver from mine.
Suddenly, the ground seems pretty interesting to my eyes. "No. I rejected that," I mumble while kicking a stone away, it falls near his feet. I can't even kick a stone.
"You're blushing." His broad smile reaches his gleaming eyes.
"No, I'm not." I try to hide my face behind my hair.
"Your ears are red. You're totally blushing!"
I grit my teeth at him. "I'M NOT BLUSHING," I hiss.
"You're so cute, sunflower," he teases.
"Good talk but I have to go." I pick up my bag from the ground and shake it to remove the dust.
"No way. You have to meet Sara."
"Who is Sara?"
"She's my sister." He takes the bag from my hand and arranges it on his shoulder. Sweet. 1 point for Ayan.
"I didn't know you had siblings," to the best of my knowledge, he is a single child. But then, I hardly know any details about him.
"She's my cousin. We used to live in the same house while growing up so we're really close."
"Oh. That's nice."
"Come, let's go," he cocks his head towards a house that looks like it was finished a few months ago. It is beautiful. The windows are huge. The roof is flat and there is no visible chimney.
"I don't want to be a bother," I glance at him nervously.
"Don't worry. Sara would love to meet you," he takes my wrist and walks out of the park. He enters the house without knocking on the door.
I look at the interior in awe. The living room is small with white walls which are covered with mirrors, brown plaid sofa with heavy oak arms, a chandelier hanging on the ceiling, family pictures on one wall- they're mostly just pictures of Kushagra, Sara, Ayan and Ayan's parents. A bookcase neatly stocked with paperbacks doesn't miss my eye.
Ayan places my bag on the sofa and asks me to sit down. I sit and play with my fingers. Ayan leaves the room and comes back a minute later, accompanied by his sister.
She's tall, strikingly attractive, wearing a little makeup, dressed in a loose-fitting dress that enhances her curves. Everything about her screams 'confidence'. There is a fierce independence and motherliness around her. I notice that she has dark circles under her eyes, she must overwork herself.
She smiles at me brightly and comes over to sit down next to me. Ayan just stands, leaning across the wall. He doesn't even try to be attractive, he just is.
Why wasn't I blessed with features like that? Not fair, God.
"Oh my God. I finally get to meet you. I've heard so much about you," she throws her arms around me tightly. I uncomfortably place my arms at her back.
After what feels like an eternity, she ends the hug. "I hope you didn't hear anything too bad," I give her a shaky smile.
She shakes her head. "Not at all. This guy here only has praises for you," she glances at Ayan whose mouth is agape.
I frown at him. "Really? All he does is argue with me."
"Hey! You're the one who starts the argument," he stands straighter and crosses his arms.
"Well, you're the one who intentionally does something to irritate me," I glare at him.
"You're the one who gets irritated," he shrugs.
"You're-" I'm interrupted by Kushagra who throws a toy on my face. When did he even enter?
"Ouch. Why would you do that?" I look at him, startled.
"Ku, why did you do that?" Sara asks him sternly.
"Mommy, she was fighting with Ayu. No one hurts Ayu," he sticks his tongue out at me.
Ayan grins, "Haha. That's my boy." He bends down and gives Kushagra a high five who returns it excitedly.
The evident joy on his face is replaced with worry when he looks at his mother who is furious with him.
"Oops, this one is on you buddy," Ayan surrenders his hands up in the air.
Backstabber.
"Apologise," Sara says sternly.
"But Mommy," he pouts. Adorable!
"Kushagra. Apologise. You were rude. Have I taught you that?" Sara gives him a soft look.
"No Mommy. I'm sorry, s-s-tranger," he stutters while saying the word stranger.
I smile at him. "No problem, kiddo. Also, you can call me Naira. What should I call you?"
He nods at me. "Everyone calls me Ku at home. You can call me that, I guess."
"Okay," I pick up his toy, it's a figure of some Power Ranger and go over to him. I bend down and place it in front of him.
"Thanks," he takes it from my hands.
"Good boy," Sara tells him and Ku leaves the room then. I think he's a little cross at his mother.
"Just so you know, I don't find anything wrong in throwing a toy on your face," Ayan whispers in my ear.
Arsehole.