Chap 12: Distance

Ryan

The excitement she had when she answered his call and the expression that changed into sorrow stated that Noah was someone who Mia didn't deserve. Noah was so loud that I could hear what he spoke. Mia went for her boss's celebration and had to agree with whatever her boss ordered. He shouldn't have scolded her for such a petty reason. She wasn't a pain in the ass, never for me and never would be. At least she dared to tell Noah that she was out with me for dinner. Only if he had reacted maturely and trusted her, she would have respected him more and would have been at ease to talk to him. I had told Noah in the morning to talk to her and show some love but he did the exact opposite. After the call got disconnected I could sense that she felt sad and it hurt me. I wanted to hug her tight. She didn't deserve any of what Noah said. So I took her to one of her favorite places.

Mia

"Angel" Ryan whispered into my ear and I came back to my senses and looked at him. I was so lost in my trail of thoughts about Noah, that I never realised we reached the restaurant and Ryan opened my car door. His soft hazel eyes, his warm voice, made me feel relax in an instant. He smiled and placed his hand so that I could put my hand in his and move out of the car. I saw we were at Cfud-grill. I was happy because seafood was something that always got me out of my blues. Ryan saw the look and smiled at me.

"Thank you," I said to him,

"You're welcome" We walked up the stairs and sat on the porch which faced the sea. There were only 3 couples including who sat on the porch. It was late at night and the restaurant was about to get closed in 60 mins so we ordered our food and Ryan ensured that I ate a whole lot of shrimps and spicy crab with rice.

"Chloe has called us for a weekend. Do you want to go tomorrow ? " he asked after we finished with our order and looked at me with concern. I knew his love for Chloe and I didn't have the right to say no to it,

"Does she know that I am staying with you?" I inquired while I looked at him,

"Yea, she knows" he hesitated,

"I am fine with it," I said,

"Is it fine if we are back by Sunday,?" he asked,

"Yea, I am fine with it," I said and we went silent. After a couple of minutes, we got our food and I ate like a tiger which ate its meal after days of hunger. After my stomach was full I could see Ryan's shocked look,

"What?" I asked,

"Wow! I didn't know you could eat like that" he was astonished,

"I loved it," I said with a huge smile which showed all my front teeth

"you're damn cute" he laughed and in return, I gave an unimpressive look. It was nothing to laugh about.

"Why are you laughing so much," I asked,

"Have you seen your face? he asked. He motioned me to come near him to which I complied. He took a napkin and cleaned the corner of my mouth.

"You eat like a maniac," he said and I felt something weird, kind of happy, no one had ever done that to me except for my mom but only when I was little. After he wiped the remnants of food from the corner of my lips and hand he put the napkin on the plate.

"Do you want anything sweet?" He asked. I looked at his plate and he still hadn't eaten anything. Most of the food which we ordered was finished by me. And then I realized that I had to be the one to feed him cause he hadn't had his dinner. I didn't even know what food he liked, or did he like seafood?

"Did you eat?" I asked while he ordered dessert for us "your plate looks empty?" I said to him,

"Yes, I ate, didn't you see?" he smiled while he looked at me and showed me his plate,

"Do you like seafood?"

"Earlier I didn't but now I do," he said after he gave his order to the steward,

"Really? " I questioned him,

"I love seafood" He smiled and looked at me with compassion. His stare electrified my body and his deep voice got me goosebumps and I began to feel uncomfortable,

"What?" I questioned him after a long minute of his stare

"You are beautiful," he said while he continued to stare at me"Always smile Mia," he said. "and no matter what happens, I will always be there for you," he finished. He spoke like he meant every word. But why did he say such things? No one had ever told me this, not even Noah. Thank goodness, our desserts arrived and I immediately attacked it. I didn't look at him untill I finished my chocolate ganache loaded with vanilla ice cream and we didn't speak until we reached home.

Ryan

I dropped Mia to her room and told her to be ready by 7:30 am. Chloe was a morning person and she usually was up by 4:30 am and since I told her I would come, she would make breakfast for all of us. Only I had forgotten to include Mia so I called up Chloe to let her know. Though it was already 12:30 at night, I still had to inform her to prepare breakfast for 4 and not 3.

"Hey, what happened?" She sounded sleepy.

"Nothing, I just wanted to tell you that I will be getting Mia with me, the girl whom you met at Nina's birthday party," I said,

"Oh, right Your girlfriend" she sounded like she knew it,

"No, she is just my friend," I said. I knew I had to do give a lot of explanations to Chloe,

"Yeah right. That's why are you getting her?"

"Her hostel room had to be vacated due to fire breakout so I gave her place to stay at my apartment, nothing more"

"Oh so she is staying in your apartment"

"Yeah she stays on the first floor and since I was coming I thought it would be rude to not to invite her"

"Hmmm"

"hope that's fine with you?"

"Yea Yea you can. But since when did you start caring about other people's problem" she questioned,

"She is a friend," I said in exhaustion,

"Yea tell me whatever is comfortable for you. Goodnight" she said,

"Chloe please don't embarrass me tomorrow" I requested, like any other sister, she always spoke irrational things about to me in public,

"Goodnight"

"Please" I pleaded,

"Bye. I am cutting the phone" she said

"Bye," I only hoped that this weekend would get me close to Mia. I shut the phone and went off to sleep.

Mia

The next day Ryan and I left for Chloe's place exactly by 7:30 and reached within an hour and 15 minutes. The moment we entered, Nina ran across the hall and jumped on Ryan's arms. He caught her and planted a big kiss on both her cheeks.

"Hey pumpkin, how are you?" He said with adoration

"I am happy" she squealed with happiness, "but I missed you!" and sounded like she was upset with him

"I missed you too" he repeated and planted another kiss on her cheeks,

"Hi Mia," she said while she waved her hand at me,

"Hi " I said with a smile. It was a joy to see Ryan with Nina, it seemed she meant a lot to him. Ryan loved her more than his life. I placed my bag near the staircase which was in the right corner of the drawing hall, where we stood. To the left of the drawing hall, there was a small alley which led to two rooms, and on the north side of the drawing hall was the dining hall and the backyard all aligned.

"So you will take me out?" She said and looked at Ryan and me.

"Where do you want to go pumpkin?" he asked while we walked towards the backyard.

"I want to buy a few things," she said,

"Like?"

"Paintbrush and books"

"Then we will surely go," he said with a huge smile and I couldn't stop to smile at them. They looked so adorable together,

"Yay!!!" She screamed in excitement. We entered the backyard and I could see Kevin with the barbecue. There were 4 glasses and a bottle of juice on the table, along with slices of bread and plates. He looked up and acknowledged us with a huge smile,

"Hey, you guys!" he said and rushed to hug Ryan, and me. I saw Chloe walked from the kitchen to the backyard with bacon and eggs. She placed the times on the table and came forward to greet us,

"Finally Nice meeting you," she said to me and scanned me from head to toe and I felt a bit uncomfortable, "This is the first time Ryan has ever got a girl," she said with excitement. How could anyone think that I had the potential to be his girlfriend? I was just an average looker.

"We are just friends, Chloe," Ryan said like he had repeated this to her many times.

"Your friendship explains the outburst you had with Chris" Kevin said to Ryan while he looked like he just understood why he had behaved so harshly with Chris.

"He deserved it" Ryan tried to defend his behavior

"Since when do you care?" Kevin questioned him,

"Since Mia became my friend," Ryan said,

"Wow! Possessive for a friend?" Chloe questioned to me and Ryan. The conversations started to make me feel at unease, I had no clue why they teased him despite Ryan mentioned that I was his friend only.

"So, What do you do Mia?" Kevin asked while we all took our seat on the table

"I am doing my Business Admin Course," I said, it seemed I was up for an interview with Kevin,

"Oh, that's wonderful" he looked at Ryan and gave an impressive look.

"So hows it staying with Ryan? Is he treating you well? Chloe questioned while she took a few pieces of bacon into her plate.

"Yes, he is. He is very caring" I said to her while I put a bacon strip, a bread, a chicken piece, and a boiled egg on my plate. I saw Kevin and Chloe, both, looked shocked and gave Ryan an indecipherable look.

"Ryan cares?" Kevin said in disbelief while he looked at him. Ryan wasn't bothered and he continued to eat his chicken piece with a fork and knife.

"I thought all he did was work and not care about anything," Chloe refuted while she continued to stare at him.

"Don't talk as if I am not here Chloe" he said while he looked into his mobile,

"Wow, I feel as if we are talking about some other Ryan," Kevin said, "From what I know, Ryan does his business and is least interested in others. But looks like he is a lot interested in your business." Chloe said and I looked at Ryan all flustered and embarrassed. Ryan looked at Chloe with anger,

"Chloe don't make her uncomfortable," he said to her with seriousness

"Ok! We get it she is your precious. Stop it Chloe" Kevin mocked and continued to eat his breakfast. While Chloe and Ryan kept their stare for a minute longer before they start to ate.

Ryan

I dread and hoped that Chloe's comments won't make Mia uncomfortable. The look Chloe had when she scanned Mia, embarrassed me and made Mia uncomfortable, and the statements made by both husband and wife made me cringe. I had no choice but to look at my food and my mobile.

"You guys are going to ruin our friendship," I said to them and I meant it. Mia was a sensitive and impressionable girl. She cared for others a lot more than herself, if she knew that I liked her more than a friend she would soon want to run away from me no matter how she felt for me.

"So what's your plan after the program?" Kevin asked Mia,

"I don't know, it is all unclear to me?" She said while she took a sip of her orange juice,

"Why?" Kevin was curious, but so was I. I never asked her plans,

"It depends where I get the job," she said to Kevin,

"Ryan will help you out" Chloe mentioned but I knew Mia wouldn't like to get any favors from me,

"That's sweet but I can't afford to ask him for more. And I need to figure out things with my boyfriend as well" she said while she chew her food casually, but my mind went hysterical with that comment. I didn't want Chloe and Kevin to know because I knew what would come after this statement.

"Boyfriend?!!" Kevin and Chloe both were ghastly surprised and they looked at me like I had done some crime.

"Yeah, he stays in Eash" she said completely unaware of the looks I got from the couple in front of me. She spoke while she ate and drank her juice,

"Oh, how long have you been dating?" Chloe was curious and closed her plate.

"About 3 years now," she said and looked at Chloe and back to her food. Mia was a complete food maniac, she couldn't think anything beyond except to relish and enjoy her food.

"Oh," Chloe said while her eyes were huge and she gave me a worried look. I knew what was about to happen, so I looked at my food and ate in silence. Kevin changed the topic and we spoke about Nina and her school, Kevin's company. But I could feel Chloe's unhappiness and how upset she was with me. After our breakfast, Chloe showed Mia her room which was upstairs. The duo soon left for Kevin's good friend Meg's baby shower. I, Mia, and Nina decided to go to the market and have lunch in the town. Our first stop in the market was the Children store, and we got Nina a bunch of coloring books, pens, paints, and a lot of video games. While we roamed around, Mia decided to go to one of the jewelry stores alone but we followed her and from the looks of Mia's face I could tell she preferred jewelry over dresses. Mia looked at one particular emerald diamond earring. It was 1-carat emerald stone in emerald shape, with small diamonds around it, and had one pear shaped ruby as a drop.

"It's beautiful, Why don't you try it?" I asked her from behind her while she continued to ogle at it

"Uh..no. I don't plan on buying it" She said and looked surprised to me see me,

"Why? It's beautiful"

"I know. But it's too expensive for me" she said and looked at it again,

"That's ok. but at least try it,"

"I am not buying so there is no point in trying" took a step away from me

"Will you please try it for me?" I said and she looked puzzled,

"Just try it,"

One of the sales executives got a hand mirror for her to try it. While she put the earring on her left ear, I bend my upper body so I could see her through the mirror when she tried the earrings. She side-swept her open hair to the right and I placed my face on the left side of her face just above her neck. She smelled like vanilla, soft and pure. She had worn a white sundress which was till her knee. She had put black eyeliner and a light pink lipstick. When she wore both the earrings, her eyes glittered and her smile shined. She looked like an Angel, decendant from the sky.

"How's it?" She asked and looked at me through the mirror. Her smile, her glittered eyes, her scent, and those earrings made her look unbelievably beautiful. At the very moment, I wanted to turn her and kiss her breathlessly. I tried to control but I just couldn't, I grabbed both the sides of her waist with both my hands and pulled her back towards me.

"Ryan?" She said in a low sweet whisper. I tilted my face towards the curve of her neck and my lips brushed her ear lobe.

"So beautiful"

I didn't care what she thought but I knew at that moment I wanted to devour her. She didn't know the power she had on me,

"You are so beautiful" I said and kissed below her earlobe. She hitched and I could see her look surprised. For a minute I forgot that we weren't alone.

"Will take it" I moved away and told the sales executive.

"No!! I don't want it" she blurted and in a hurry removed the earrings,

"Why?"

"I don't want it," She said and didn't look at me

"Why Mia? It looked beautiful"

"Thank you," she said to the sales staff and took Nina's hand and walked away from the store. I followed her and immediately caught hold of her hand and pulled her towards me.

"It looked beautiful on you" I repeated,

"I didn't like it" she looked down when she spoke. She was embarrassed with my reaction and couldn't look into my eyes. It got me infuriated and

I caught both her arms with my hand and pulled her real close to me , she had to look into my eyes.

"Really?" I asked, I knew she lied,

"Yea, I didn't like it at all" she repeated,

"Was it because you didn't like it or was it something else?" I knew why she ran, it was no brainer for me. She felt uncomfortable with our closeness, she felt something in her heart when I kissed her, I could feel it with the way she looked at me.

"Ryan, Nina is with us" she tried to push herself from me. She couldn't handle our closeness even if she felt something between us but I wasn't going to let her go away, not this time. After the beach night incident at Nina's birthday party, I hadn't seen Mia for two months and those months were hell for me. I wasn't going to make this kiss awkward for us. I wasn't going to let her create distance.

"Ryan please," she said, I loosened my grip and held her right hand with my left hand. I didn't give her the chance to speak anything and took her and Nina, who still held Mia's left hand, to a restaurant for lunch. When we reached both sat next to me in a circular table of 3. Nina ordered pizza, Mia ordered pasta and I ordered fish and chips.

"Uncle Ryan do you like Mia," Nina broke the ice and looked at both of us with inquisitiveness. None of us had spoken after we came out of the store.

"Yes, pumpkin, I like Mia," I said to Nina and looked at Mia. She shifted uncomfortably from her position and continued to look at her phone.

"Mia, do you like uncle Ryan?" Nina asked with shyness,

"He is a good friend," She replied with a half-smile,

"Dad kisses Mom every time and everywhere. Even in front of me, will you also become like my mom dad?" she asked Mia as if the kisses were the most cringe-worthy things. Mia instantly looked red, she couldn't comprehend the question Nina had asked. I smiled instantly, Nina will make me proud one day.

"Pumpkin we have a long time to become like mom and dad,"

"But you kissed her just like dad kisses mom" she questioned and looked like she couldn't understand why we were not like her mom and dad.

"I just gave her a kiss to let her know that she is beautiful," I said to Nina but my eyes were on Mia. She looked mortified with my answer and I didn't care.

"Yeah!, you looked beautiful like a doll. Can I kiss you too?" she said to Mia shyly. 'She is my girl!!' I thought to myself, Mia looked embarrassed and shocked by the whole sudden new development. I could see her face had become more red from embarrassment. Nina got up from her seat and gave Mia a peck on her cheek. She smiled at Nina and returned the gesture with a kiss on Nina's cheek. Mia was good with kids but at that moment I was proud of Nina. I tried not to do anything which would make her even more frenzy and leave me forever so we ate lunch and talked about cartoons and her playschool activities. After lunch, Nina and I decided to shop more even though Mia wanted to go home but she couldn't say no to Nina and I didn't want her locked up in her room. We shopped and shopped until we dropped and all it was for Nina. The whole time I had held Mia's hand and walked around. Didn't let her get away from me. By the time we reached home, it was already past 6. Chloe and Kevin had arrived 15 mins before us and were seated at the drawing hall.

"Ryan!! what all did you buy?" Kevin looked at us with amusement. We had carried at least 5-6 bags and all were for Nina.

"Just some coloring books, paint, brushes, barbies and her clothes, soft toy, video games, and a bracelet," I said and Chloe jumped with excitement,

"What!" Chloe looked at the bags we carried. She didn't seem happy but I had only one niece and I wanted to pamper her,

"You ruin her a lot" Chloe exclaimed, Nina opened the bags and showed each and everything that we bought to her parents.

"Well, she deserves to be pampered," I said as I took a seat next to them on the sofa,

"You didn't buy anything?" Chloe asked Mia,

"Uh..no. I didn't," she replied with a half-hearted smile.

"Ok. Why don't you guys rest" Chloes sensed that Mia was tired and she said to both of us,

"Yeah sure," we agreed,

"Cool will meet at 8" Nina, Kevin, and Chloe all three got up and walked towards their room, while Mia climbed up the stairs and I followed her. Chloe and Nina's rooms were opposite to each other in the alley next to the drawing hall. I and Mia were upstairs opposite each other. Mia walked ahead of me and before she could shut me out I barged in and locked her room. I looked at her with my back towards the door. She stood 2 arm distance away from me. As I walked closer to her she retreated with each step,

"Ryan, what are you doing?" She was confused because it happened so suddenly,

"I need to make sure you are fine" I took baby steps towards her

"I am fine, will you leave," She said with irritation, I know she wanted to get away from me but I wasn't up for that.

"Are you?"

"Ryan just leave"

"I am not leaving" she stood with her back against the wall & I slowly closed the distance between us. She looked nervous as I placed both of my hands on the walls at each side of her body, I leaned forward, our breath entangled, our tip of the nose touched and her hands placed on my chest to create distance between us. Today I had to make sure that she knew how much she meant to me.