When all of them reached their destination, Callum started making preparations for the task they came there for in the first place, even though all he wanted was for Cali to rest. He got her a stool so that she didn't have to stand up and hurt her foot again. He had experienced the pain of a twisted ankle once and he could tell that it wasn't a very nice experience.
This amazing woman was enduring pain just for the sake of seeing smiles on Emery and Junior's faces. How could someone not like her?
She was just so amazing that even if he didn't want to, he couldn't help but be in awe of her actions. How can someone be so selfless and impressive?
It wasn't just her selflessness that attracted him but the superior mannerism and arrogance embedded in her bones. One may not see her natural arrogance, but he could. Her gait, her posture and her way of speaking screams royalty.
If he didn't know better, he would have believed that she was a member of the royal family.
The L-point was a scenery point on the top of the mountain. More than a hundred people were visiting the place. It was a hub for artists who frequently visit the place to unlock their creativity. As an artist, Calliope was in awe of this place. All she wanted was her canvas and colours and if she could she would just sit there and draw to her heart's content. But she was here for children, she had to ignore the itch to draw for herself today.
Later when Calliope was teaching children the basics of oil paintings, she was having this strange feeling of being stared at by a pair of eyes. Turning her head, she found Callum standing in the distance, talking over the phone. His majestic brows were furrowed and she could say that he didn't seem very happy. Again, she felt as if someone was gazing at her. She brushed the thought away from her mind and began teaching two children the basics of oil painting.
While Emery aka Emy was still drawing abstract figures on the canvas under Calliope's guidance, Junior was following Callum and discussing the wonders of nature for his school project. They didn't realize that they had spent a morning and almost half of the noon on the top.
Then again, time slips quickly when you are having fun.
"Miss Calli?!" Calliope veered around to find a flushed and excited Junior coming her way, holding kites. "Would you like to fly a kite with us?"
Calliope blinked her eyes as she didn't understand how to reply to him because she had never flown a kite in her life. Such games were beneath nobility and her father had always insisted on learning and playing games like chess and polo.
As unbelievable as it might sound, she was highly skilled in Chess and polo.
About kite flying… she had never seen such a thing before.
"Miss Calli, let's paint later!" Emery wiped her hands and ran to join Callum and Junior. The girl had made a mess of the colour palette.
Calliope watched Callum holding the kite from its diagonals while Junior held the string in his hand and as the former threw it up in the sky after checking the direction of the wind, the latter skilfully controlled it with the string on his hand. She was left blinking at the sight of a majestic kite flying in the high sky.
Such a dignified kite flying high in the sky, so proudly and freely.
As if Callum could notice the tiny gleam of interest in her eyes, he walked to her side after speaking a few words in Junior's ear and handing the spool to Emery.
"Do you wanna fly the kite?" Callum asked as he reached ber.
"I…I…" Calliope opened her mouth to decline his kind offer. But she didn't have it in her to say him no when all she wanted was to nod her head.
"I can teach you," Callum smiled. He could sense from her surprised, amazed and happy expressions that she had never flown a kite before. Sometimes, she was like an open book meant to be ready by him. Only him.
Before her mind could answer on its own, she nodded her head. What if she never gets the chance to try this thing out? So, what if she fails to learn this art of kite flying? At least, she could say that she tried it out before.
Yes, Calliope believed that kite flying wasn't just a game but art and the one flying it was an artist.
"How did you learn kite flying?" asked Calliope.
"Internet," Callum replied. When he saw the confused look on his face, he added, "You know kite flying is not common in western countries but it's quite famous in Asia. As for how I learned it, I learned it from Youtube."
"Oh," Calliope was surprised. "Why did you learn kite flying though?"
Now, this was an unexpected question.
"A book inspired me," Callum answered her with a sad smile. "The Kite Runner."
Calliope marked the particular book in her mental TBR.
Callum taught her the skill of kite flying. It wasn't very easy but it wasn't tough either. It might have taken her more than ten tries to successfully fly her first kite ever with his help but who cared about the number of tries when the result was all that mattered!
Calliope laughed as she pulled the string and then let it loose to fly the kite higher. She didn't know that he was staring at her beautiful face from the beginning till the end.
Her laughs and smiles were all that mattered to him.
"Oh, Callum. This is so fun."
Callum etched those soft laughs and smiles in different folders in his heart and mind. "As long as you are happy."
…
TBR: It is the acronym for To Be Read.
...
A quote from The Kite Runner : When you kill a man, you steal a life. You steal his wife's right to a husband, rob his children of a father. When you tell a lie, you steal someone's right to the truth. When you cheat, you steal the right to fairness.