Day 7 (II)

"For you.

               Only for you.

                                     Always for you."

...

I linger by her door, afraid to go inside her room. I have been standing here for fifteen minutes now and am still scared to go inside.

My hair gets pulled and I yell, "Ow."

I glare at Rudy who sticks his tongue out at me.

"Whatcha doin'?" he raises his eyebrow before eyeing the door to Sasha's bedroom.

"Uh," I glance around nervously, "trying to apologise to her..."

"Oh," he looks at me in amusement. "I tried apologising to her once, you know?

"She threw my phone at the wall. The whole screen got damaged. After that day, I never apologised to her again." He gives me a half shrug.

"Well, you must have done something awful."

"Not really," he says, making his face straighter than a poker player, "I just stole her homework and submitted it as mine."

I laugh. "You deserved it then."

"No, I didn't!" he exclaims before looking at me with a serious face, all the way from his eyes to his mouth. "Stop feeling guilty, okay? Tara's safe now, isn't that what's important?"

I nod my head warily. He ruffles my hair and I scrunch up my nose.

"Chin up, Naira," he smiles at me. "And stop waiting and go inside. She doesn't bite.

"At least not hard..." He gives me a smug grin.

"Okay," I say, rolling my eyes. I knock on her door before going inside.

Sasha is lying on the bed, staring at the ceiling, oblivious to her surroundings.

When I mumble a 'hey', she turns her position to look at me.

She narrows her eyes at me, "What do you want?"

"Uh, I wanted to apologise..." I smile nervously. "I shouldn't have let her get out of my sight. I'm sorry."

She nods her head and gives me a flat look.

"Okay. You can leave now that you're done. Bye." she says and shuts her eyes.

"... okay," I say quietly before walking to the door.

"Wait," she inhales sharply before sighing. "I... I'm sorry too. I was rude to you and I shouldn't have done that. It's just that... we don't have any idea who is after her. Her mother is God knows where and we still don't have any idea about what that 'masked man' wants or is after.

"We can't make mistakes, Naira."

"I know." I nod seriously. "I won't repeat it.

"Also, I'm sorry you had to leave your date in middle because of me."

She snorts. "You think I care about that date? I left within a minute of meeting that guy. He had brought his mother along with her. I mean who brings his mother to a date!!!??"

"Yessss!" I hear an excited voice yell from outside.

She raises an eyebrow at me and I shrug. I try, "He could have found something to eat on the floor... ?"

She rolls her eyes before replying chirpily, "Oh, I forgot to tell you, I hooked up with a random stranger after I left the restaurant.

"Mmm, he sure knew how to use his tongue."

"Damn it," Rudy groans.

...

"Naira."

Tara stands at the door, dressed in her light pink pyjamas, holding a teddy bear in her tiny hands.

"Can I sleep next to you both?" she asks, pouting adorably.

"You don't want to sleep with Mary tonight?" I ask, already removing the cushions on the bed to make space for her.

"No," she shakes her head and scrunches up her nose as she wines, "she snores so loudly!"

"Did you know..." Ayan grins mischievously, "that Naira snores a lot too. My God, only I know how I fall asleep amidst all that noise."

Tara giggles, waving her arms and Ayan hoists her high up in his arms.

My face goes red as I glare at him. "I. Do. Not. Snore," I say, emphasising each word slowly.

"You do."

"Do not."

"Do."

"Do not."

"D-" Tara smacks his nose before murmuring, "Shut up. Tell me a story now."

"Young lady," he frowns at her, "Where are your manners?"

"Sholly," she says as her cheek trembles and her eyes water a little.

Jesus. What a drama queen.

Ayan's eyes widen and he mutters, "Don't cry. I'll tell you a story.

"Oh God, please stop crying." He looks at me with wide eyes and I shrug.

"Yay," she smiles cheerfully at him.

I narrow my eyes at her and she winks at me. 'Emily taught me,' she mouths to me when Ayan isn't looking.

Of course.

I shake my head at her and get in the bed, pulling the covers over her.

"Uh," Ayan scratches his head, "Have you heard the story of Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs?"

"No," she shakes her head, "Mommy never told me any bedtime stories."

"Okay, well, once upon a time, a princess named Snow White lived in a castle with her father, the King and her evil stepmother. After the King died, the Queen asked her mirror, 'mirror mirror on the wall, who is the fairest one of them all?' The mirror told the queen that Snow White was the fairest one of..."

Ayan narrates the rest of the story to Tara who listens keenly. She giggles whenever Ayan enacts the elves and her facial expressions change when he tells her that the queen gave Snow White a poisonous apple.

"All of that is good," I say as she looks at me, "but can you tell me what's wrong with that story?"

Her forehead wrinkles when she ponders over what I said before she shakes her head.

"Kiss wasn't consensual, Tara."

"Consheshual?" She glances at me in confusion.

"Snow White was unconscious when the prince kissed her. She didn't give her consent, did she? A guy should never kiss you without your permission. Do you understand?"

She widens her eyes as she nods her head.

"No worries, she's never kissing any guy." Ayan lowers his voice to a whisper, "Boys have cooties."

"Really? Eww," she scrunches up her nose in disgust before asking, "Is that why you both don't kiss?"

"Go to sleep," I ignore her as I get up to turn off the lights.

"No no," she whines, "I wanna have a pillow fight."

She grins and hits Ayan with her pillow.

"Oh no, you didn't!" Ayan yells before hitting her back. She giggles and tries to move away from him.

I sigh when a pillow hits my face.

This is gonna be a long night.