Bonds of Trust

Avoiding him

It had been more than a week to Saheer's confession now and more than a week that Veera had been playing hide and seek with him. In fact, she had devised a proper plan to minimize conversation with Saheer and especially the disastrous eye contact which always seemed to draw her to him like moths to flames.

She made it a point to wake up later than usual, at the time when Saheer would go to drop Ovi to her school and quickly have some coffee to avoid sharing coffee with him - their daily ritual. Then she would stick to her room most of the times, except for lunch when Ovi would be with them and she would not be left alone with Saheer. In fact, she even started making dinner with Ovi somewhere around her or when Saheer would be caught up in some meeting Also, avoiding going into the kitchen when Saheer would me making lunch or breakfast or completing any other chores.

All in all, she had succeeded in avoiding Saheer for quite some time now, only sticking to some 'formalish' conversation with him, as though they had not gotten closer as really good friends. In her defense, she still did not know what to make of Saheer's confession which seemed quite sincere to her, but all of this was taking a toll on the dynamics which they had established.

Even Ovi had started getting hints of something awry between her papa and VF. And Saheer was now truly exasperated. It seemed to him that he was indeed going through something he had expected - a negative impact on his friendship with Veera. He now had enough of her avoiding game and decided to confront her upfront. Tonight he would catch ahold of her, he decided.

Ovi was coming out of her room when she saw her VF peeking through the threshold of the kitchen. She was confused. Then with a mischievous smile on her face, Ovi tiptoed across the lobby into the kitchen. Since Veera was quite busy trying to see if Saheer was in the living space for her to avoid him, she did not notice a sly Ovi sneaking into the kitchen.

"BOO", Ovi screamed as loudly as she could.

"Ahh", Veera let out a startled scream at the sudden noise jumping on her feet, closing her eyes tightly shut and her palms enclosed around her ears. It was a funny sight for Ovi since her agenda had been satisfied and she started guffawing.

Her laughter sort of sobered Veera and she understood what had happened. Ovi had wanted to scare her and had succeeded and was now laughing at her face.

'Of course she is laughing. You did sound like a dying hyena while screaming. Dramatic AF.', her snarky subconscious was quick to chime in.

Veera now narrowed her eyes at a still snickering Ovi and glared at her. Suddenly her glare turned into a tiny smirk as she advanced towards Ovi. Ovi now completely sobered up seeing the complete change in Veera's demeanour.

"My naughty little Ovi.", saying so Veera startled tickling her. Soon the lobby was filled with Ovi's squeals of laughter and Veera's smiles and laughs. They were engrossed in their own fun world.

Saheer who had now come out of his room hearing a set of screams and shrieks and squeals saw the most adorable sight in front of him. His girls having a great time together. Wasn't this what he really wanted?

'Only if she accepts your confession idiot. Hold your horses.'

'Of course, you had to butt in.', he tried to reprimand his subconscious.

He shook his head and was glancing with a soft smile towards a now exhausted duo of Veera and Ovi who had lain on the carpet.

'My silly girls.'

Later while having dinner, Veera could see Ovi and Saheer whispering something in each other's ears, well, it was mostly Saheer whispering and Ovi nodding or indicating some sort of an affirmation. When she would ask them about their sudden secrecy, the both of them would simply shrug and continue with their dinner.