Innocent Temptation

Chapter Six: One sided crush

Aira stepped into the animal shelter. The place was small but it made it up with its charming style and the peaceful silence that was occasionally disrupted by the sounds of barking dogs and mewing cats that came from somewhere within.

“Aira! You made it!”

“Hi!” Aira hugged Ginny and then handed her the box of cupcakes she had made that morning. “For you and the little Bella.”

“She will love this, especially after knowing you made them.”

“This place looks nice.”

“Yeah. Wait till you meet all the cuties inside.” Ginny grabbed her arm and pulled Aira to the small makeshift sitting area she had made. “Sorry, I couldn’t meet you on Sunday. Bella had her dance class and later I wanted to spend some mother-daughter time with her.”

“It’s totally fine. Maybe next Sunday, I’ll join you two and I’ll finally get the chance to meet Bella’s father,” Aira replied, remembering that she had missed Ginny’s wedding as she had gotten her acceptance letter to the culinary school a week before the wedding and had never gotten the chance to meet Ginny’s husband when she went to Paris.

As both the girls sat on the mismatched chairs with a folding table between them, Aira noticed that Ginny had gone quiet. Looking up at her friend, she asked, “Ginny?”

“I guess your mom didn’t tell you?”

“About what?”

“Bella’s father died two years ago. He had gone to the city and was coming back home late when he got into an accident.”

“Oh my god, Ginny, I am so sorry.”

“Yeah… I don’t know…” Aira remained quiet as her friend sighed and said, “I loved him, you know, and I mourned him. But he wasn’t alone in that car. And the woman was someone I knew was from his office, I had seen pictures of them together and he always told me that she was just a colleague. But they were both drunk when they were returning and I found a hotel key card in his belongings and—”

“Oh, Ginny. I am sorry. And you don’t have to tell me all this.”

“No. It’s fine. Actually, it feels good to share it with someone. His parents are such great in-laws, they love Bella and they help me out so much whenever they can, and you know how my parents are so I never told them about what their son was doing when he got into that accident.” Ginny wiped a tear from her cheek and said, “But now that I have my friend back, I can actually rant out for all the unfair things that I dealt with.”

“Sure you can.” Aira squeezed her hands.

“But it doesn’t mean I forgive you for just leaving like there was no one here for you. How could you just decide to leave and never even call, Aira?”

“I just needed some time off from all of this.”

“From this or—”

“Please, don’t.”

Ginny narrowed her eyes but said, “Fine. But it doesn’t mean that I won’t.” She changed the subject then and asked, “So, tell me how was Paris?”

“It was fine,” Aira answered quietly, her own smile dimming.

Taking her silence for being coy, Ginny nudged her and said, “Come on, tell me all the juicy stuff. How about your French boyfriend? Is he still in the picture or did you break up with him before coming here?”

“No. He is not in the picture. And, can we please not talk about this?” She stood up abruptly, her anxiety making her edgy. Just this morning, she had woken up from a nightmare but in that nightmare no one had come to save her which was why she had spent the whole morning baking. Baking was one thing that calmed her down and she hasn't found something else that could equally help so she focused on that only.

Ginny finally noticed her friend’s discomfort and went to her side. “Aira, it’s okay if you don’t want to talk about it. Are you fine? Sit down, let me grab you a glass of water.”

Aira sat down, tried to breathe through her anxiety and restlessness that topic has caused her. She rubbed her hands on her thighs to calm her shaking legs. By the time Ginny came back with a glass of water, Aira was feeling marginally better. “Thankyou,” She said as she took the glass from her friend and gulped it down in one go.

Ginny said, “I am sorry if I pressured you.”

Aira looked at her friend and like her childhood friend she felt her own eyes welling up. And this was the reason why she hadn’t dared call her in all these years she had lived away from home. She knew she wouldn’t have been able to keep it all to herself.

“Oh, Aira. Is it that bad?” At her nod, Ginny just hugged her tightly like she’d her daughter. “Whenever you are ready I am here to listen, okay?”

“You know, I thought you’ll never talk to me for all these years that I didn’t contact you?” Aira mumbled, looking at her with blue eyes filled with unshed tears.

“What?” Ginny looked at her with an offended expression. “You are my childhood best friend, is our friendship that fragile that a few years without phone calls will end it? What do you take me for, a Zen Z?”

Aira laughed and said, “You know I am one of those if we follow the year chart.”

“But you grew up with me, Z and Mac, so you’re a part of the millennials, baby.”

Aira knew his name was coming up but still she felt that sudden pang of awareness on hearing it. And that brought up the fact that she hadn’t seen him since that day he gave her a lift to her home and then drove off. It has been a week since then and, she hates to admit it, but she didn’t think he even slept in his bedroom that was just opposite hers— because, fine, she might’ve accidentally and very innocently looked through her window and always found it empty and undisturbed.

Shooing those unnecessary thoughts away of a certain grumpy mountain, she looked around and said, “Do you run this place on your own?”

“No. It’s Mrs Weaver’s, I come here to manage behind her back. But there are volunteers that come to help out too.”

“Okay… So when do I get to meet this furry babies that you said were here, because they were half the reason I agreed to meet you here.”

“That’s so rude, but I understand.” Ginny stood up and motioned for her to follow her. “Let me introduce you to these furry babies and, you know what, if you want you can join us too. There are never too many volunteers and currently we have three but see no one is here today.”

“I’ll think about it.”

“You should. I think I’d like you meet Greg. He is really nice.”

"Ginny..."

"Yeah, yeah... But, now you're back, I thought maybe we could finally enjoy life together and do all the things we missed doing."

"Like what?"

"Like going out, enjoying life and dating men we find cute." She wiggled her brows. "I got married too soon. And you had that crush, that we are not talking about, of course, that you never showed interest in anyone. But now you've moved on from that one sided crush, right?"

"Right," Aira replied, and then added for good measure, "Of course, I have."

"Then, we should look out for each other. I mean I'm not looking for someone to get married too, but it'll be nice to have a warm companion on these cold rainy nights. You know what I mean."

Aira actually didn't know what she meant, but she smiled and nodded to everything her friend was saying as her mind was still stuck at the words 'One sided crush'. Everyone knew, except him. Or maybe he knew and never cared, thus the coldness. She had to erase that image of hers from everyone's mind. And stop thinking about the brute.

"You are right. But I don't have a list of men to give to you."

"Oh, I am sure you'll find someone." Ginny patted her shoulder and then led her to the first small cage with an extremely adorable kitten inside.

.

To Be Continued....