Chapter 13

"Ouch" Charan exclaimed as Shreya harshly pinched on his arms.

"What did I do??" He asked confused.

After going ride after ride, Akira at last agreed to take a break. They bought some snacks and stuffs and were now currently resting in a playground. Even then after sitting for a few minutes Akira ran off to play on the swing while Charan and Shreya were sitting on the ground a few feet away from her munching on their snacks.

"That was for the parking lot." Shreya said looking at him annoyed.

Charan asked, "Why??? I can't kiss??" He said leaning impossibly close to her face making a disappointed face. Shreya could feel his breath on her face.

"No no no…" Shreya exclaimed immediately highly flustered. "I did not mean it like that… I just… I was just… in front of Akira…." She stammered nervously but nothing coherent came out.

Charan could take it anymore. He let out a delighted laugh pulling away, "Gosh you're so easy." But his laughter was short lived as he felt Shreya slap him on his shoulders.

"Ouch Shreya!! That is domestic abuse." He rubbed over his shoulders dramatically while in reality it did not really hurt much.

"Yea?? Wait till we get home, I will show you what real domestic abuse looks like." Shreya said with a sweet smile but something on her face somehow felt really sinister.

"Sorry sorry... I shouldn't have teased the queen. It's this peasants fault entirely." Charan surrendered immediately acting cute to plead mercy.

Shreya huffed and pouted, "You are not fooling me again. You can act cute for all you want but I am not falling for it twice ever."

"Really?? Is that a challenge??" Charan asked arching his brows.

Shreya folded her arms and looked at him with her chins held high, "Yes, it is."

Charan's eyes instantly gleamed with mischief. "What if I win??"

"What if I win??" Shreya asked back.

Charan thought for a while and said, "We will keep it old school. Loser has to fulfill one wish of the winner."

Shreya frowned suddenly, "Wait this is not fair… Even I get to play. So who ever fool the other first wins?!"

Charan shrugged and said, "Deal."

"Shreya…" Akira came running right on queue and crashed into Shreya.

"What is it baby??" Shreya asked taking her into her arms.

"Can we go now??? I want ice-cream." She said.

"Got bored of the swings already did we??" Shreya asked caressing at Akira's head.

Akira nodded her head diligently. Shreya let out a chuckle and hoisted Akira into her arms and took her for ice cream. Charan followed them but then again he was completely forgotten by the two ladies walking in front of them.

By the time they came out of the park, Akira was exhausted. She fell asleep in Shreya's shoulders on the way to the parking lot. She took out her phone from her back pocket and made a call.

"Hey, one of you come over. Meet me in the parking lot."

She said as softly as she could and cut the call. Once she cut the call, she looked at Akira to make sure she did not wake up. She kept patting on her back ever so softly. When they finally reached their car, a tall guy wearing casual cloths stood by the car.

"Hey Andrew," Shreya greeted the guy and handed him the car keys.

"Oh by the way… tomorrow is your kid's birthday right?? You can take the day off. Just ask Zack to send someone else to fill in tomorrow." Shreya said once they all entered the car.

"Thanks, Shreya." The guy in the front grinned and started the car in high spirit.

Shreya was still holding Akira in her arms. Charan could see that her arms are getting numb.

"Give her to me for a while. I will hold her." Charan said reaching for Akira.

Shreya shifted Akira away from his reach and said in pitiful aggrieved voice, "Anyways you will take her home with you for the night. Just let me hold her till then."

Charan did not know whether to cry or laugh. She was looking at him like a disapproving father trying to break two lovers apart. He felt like a third wheel disrupting their date.

"Okay okay… I am not taking her away from you. You just shift her to your lap of something. Your arms are uncomfortable right??" Charan relented and said.

"No, its okay. I don't want to wake her up." Shreya said looking at Akira cautiously.

"She is a heavy sleeper. She won't wake up." Charan said and carefully shifted Akira to her laps.

It was pretty late when the car came to a stop outside Charan's house. Shreya got down with Akira still on her arms. Before going inside she turned. She noticed the SUV trailing behind them.

"You can go with the guys. I can drive myself home" She said to Andrew and took the keys from him.

"Sleep tight boss." Andrew said and left.

Once inside, Shreya settled Akira on her bed first. She made sure she was comfortable before coming out of her room.

"Aren't they your bodyguards?? Aren't they supposed to accompany you to your house??" Charan asked with a frown as soon as Shreya came into the kitchen. He made Shreya some warm milk.

Shreya stood there leaning on the island counter leisurely.

"No… not exactly. Originally they are to watch Akira. At least Andrew is. Others were just helping out today since we were in public." Shreya said sipping on the milk.

"You assigned bodyguards for Akira??" Charan asked surprised.

"Well! Duh! Of course I will. After what happened it was a given." Shreya said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world to assign bodyguards for a primary school kid.

"There is one for you too. But don't worry they will be very discreet and faraway. They won't interfere unless and until it is an emergency. After all you did not spot them for two week. And these are my handpicked people. I trust them. So you can be rest assured they won't divulge any information out. Ever. And they will keep her safe." Shreya continued.

Charan did not know what to say. On one side he was touched by her protectiveness on the other side he was very shocked. The fact that she had took so much the effort even before he called her. The fact that she would care for him so much even when he did not give her any answers- he did not know how to feel about all of these. But a surge of warmth spread through him and filled him completely.

Just when she was done with the milk, Charan scooped and sat her down on the counter just like this morning. Shreya yelped in surprise.

"Can you like stop man handling me??" she asked glaring at him.

Charan stood there in front of her leaning over while stranding her.