Chapter 194 - Eshan liked floral prints from the childhood...

|Innaya|

"It has nothing to do with you, Innaya. Honestly, we are nothing more than strangers. It's him," she pointed her finger to Eshan before she added, "I am miffed with. He's been avoiding me." Ayesha wiped her face as she glared Eshan.

Her words could not be any truer. We were nothing more than strangers. What bothered me was her statement being ignored by Eshan. When did that happen? Why did I not know about it?

They were so enjoying each other's company reminiscing about their childhood to the point where Eshan forgot about me. Then how could she blame him like that?

"You're right regarding us." I pointed first to her and then to myself. "But, Eshan did not ignore you. He would never do that to you. After all, you're childhood friends. And, I know how much he values his relationsh.i.p.s. I know how much his friends mean to him," I said calmly.

If she was seriously hurt, then I do not want her to blame Eshan a bit. He was already stressed because of me. If this girl ended up increasing his stress, then how was I going to handle it? Eshan would not let me comfort him. Whatever I said was the truth. He valued his friends a lot.

Eshan's head snapped in my direction. Our eyes met briefly I could see the surprise in his brown orbs. I blinked my eyes, assuring him that I would not let his friend have any misconceptions.

My eyes darted to those fingers which were tugging at Eshan's sleeves. Ayesha sheepishly smiled, tilting her head to the side. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to say all that. You're behaving little weirdly. So..." She trailed off, giving him an innocent smile.

It truly looked as if she was saying the truth. The smallest indifference of Eshan was hurting her.

"Achoo!" I covered my nose. "Excuse me! I need to dry my hair. You guys continue." I left them standing there, unable to watch the soft look in Eshan's eyes.

As I stepped out of the balcony, I felt slightly better. Closing my eyes, for a while I stood in the warm sunlight. The sun was not harsh yet. It was the winter, the warm rays were almost relieving. A gentle nudge against my right leg had me open my eyes, looking down at the reason.

My mood brightened at the sight of Fortune. In these days of despair, he as the only support I have had. He silently stayed beside me, even to the point of ignoring Eshan.

We made a lot of progress. Starting with only petting him, touching him, I could now let him rest on my lap, being absolutely worry-free to have him around. It was as if my cynophobia never made an appearance in my life.

Things were that good with him. He would sense my mood, and comfort me with his adorable presence. He once pushed Eshan away when we were arguing. As if he could understand that we were not on good terms of discussion.

"Sweet boy! Do you wanna play? Hmm?" I asked him as I rubbed his cheek. He brought his that long tongue out. It looked as if he was smiling in approval. He wanted to play.

Daily at this time, Eshan would leave for his office. That left me at home with Fortune. So, this was time to relieve my stress and his boredom.

From the corner of my eyes, I peeked inside the room to know more about what they were doing. I should not have done so because I found Ayesha hugging Eshan sideways.

Eshan said something to her, and she giggled nodding her head. Fortune licked my palm as he tried to catch my attention. Moving my gaze from two people who looked like a couple to my worried heart, I focussed on Fortune.

Smiling slightly, I sat on the chair facing my back to the sun. My whole purpose was to dry my hair. I should not be worried about unnecessary stuff, should I?

Seemed like I could not have a peaceful time because I found Ayesha coming out.

'Now, what else she wants?' I frowned.

She smiled too sweetly for my liking. "Thanks to you, Eshan and I, sorted out our little misunderstanding. You see, these small matters, if not solved timely, can create a large difference. Thankfully, Eshan and I would not have them in-between us."

Was that a taunt? Why did it feel like she was jabbing at me with her insults? She would not have realized that we have differences, has she? I was overthinking again.

"Good." I nodded. I had no intention of engaging in any kind of conversation with her. If I do not like someone, why would I force myself to like the person?

"I won't be going to the office today," Eshan said as he entered behind Ayesha. The wide balcony suddenly felt cramped up with both of their arrival.

My back straightened up. In the past month, Eshan went to his office even on weekends. If for some reason he stayed in, he would lock himself in his study. I could count on my fingers for how many times I saw him for more than ten or fifteen minutes.

My eyes watered with the emotions. Eshan seemed to have noticed it, but he stayed silent.

Ayesha giggled glancing at him. "You look pretty. It must be Eshan's choice, right? He used to insist on my Mom to make me wear a floral print frock."

I felt the need to change into something else. The sweet gesture did not stay special anymore. Though it was a childhood memory between them, for Eshan to have the same preferences even after so many years, it felt weird.

"Did I not tell you, Mom would dress me up as a girl?" Eshan walked toward me. He had a towel in his hands, I just did not know when he picked it up. I wondered what he wanted to do with it.

I nodded in response to his question. I knew he had told me while telling me about the story behind his nickname, 'Eshu'. Technically, Arjun was the one to reveal the secret.

He walked past my chair and stood behind me. I understand his purpose when I felt his hands in my hair. "How many times do I tell you to not leave your hair wet? You catch a cold very fast," Eshan gently reprimanded me.

My heart went in one of those swooning moods over my husband's caring nature. He just knew how to send my heart in overdrive despite what was the equation between us.

Without giving me any chance to react, he started drying my hair with the towel. "So, I did not like it. Secretly I used to give away those dresses to the families of girls I knew. It saved me the trouble of being dressed up as a girl. Mom liked bright colors with cute cartoon characters. I used to advise people to buy floral designs because for some reasons Mom never bought those kinds of dresses for me."