"Why do you keep feeding me?", the boy asked the little girl, taking a bite of the sandwich.

The girl stopped swinging her legs to and fro from the bench and looked at him.

"Because no one deserves to be hungry", she replied.

The boy smiled and took another bite of the sandwich.

None of them spoke as they sat in a comfortable silence and the boy ate glancing at the little girl once in a while.

A minute later, the sandwich was over and he closed the tiffin box and kept it on the bench.

The girl's attention was focused ahead on the swings and the boy just watched her carefully.

"When I will grow up", he said catching her attention and now she looked at him curiously. "I am going to marry you."

Her face grimaced. "Eww...have you seen your face?"

For a second, his face blanked on hearing her reply and then a small, sad pout formed on his lips and he angrily folded his arms. Huffing, he looked away.

Seeing his reaction, the little girl chuckled. But the boy's expressions didn't change.

So, she poked his cheeks. "Hey?"

No reply.

She again poked his cheek. "Are you angry with me?"

"I was just joking", she said. "Fine, I'll marry you."

That seemed to get a reaction from him as he finally turned his head towards her. "You will?"

She rolled her eyes. "Unfortunately, yes."

A dazzling smile formed on his face. And the little girl giggled.

"But...", she trailed off and he raised his brow.

"How can you be so sure about marrying me?", the little girl asked. "What if I am somewhere else and you are somewhere else?"

The boy smiled softly. "No matter which part of the world I am in, I will always find my way back to you."

And then the smile slowly faded away from his face; the realisation dawned upon him that it wont be long before his family and him will be leaving for Houston and he might never see her again.

He just couldn't bring himself to tell this to her. He just couldn't. At that time, he just wanted to cherish that moment with her.

"When I'll grow up", the girl said with a passion. "I am going to open a restaurant. A huge one. And people will be dying to eat my dishes."

"And I'll help you open it", he added.

"How will you help me?"

He shrugged. "Maybe, you will need some money. Then I will give you the money to help you run your restaurant."

"And in return of that, I will marry you", she said.

He stared into her eyes and whispered, "Yes, you will marry me, brownie."

Her nose scrunched and eyes narrowed. "What? Brownie?"

"Your eyes remind me of brownies, so I am calling you brownie."

"You can't call me that", she said sternly.

"It's a cute name", he argued.

"You like brownies?"

He gave a toothy grin. "I love brownies."

"Fine...you can call me that."

"Thank you, brownie", he said and she giggled.

________________________________________

"Are you fucking crazy, Gareth?!", I yelled.

"How can you randomly ask someone to marry me?! Seriously?!"

He exasperatedly ran his fingers through his hair while sitting on the chair in front of my desk.

I was pacing back and fro when he said, "She is good for you, Eve. She needs our help while we need her."

"Why don't you understand?! I can't marry anyone! Because... because--"

"Because you promised to marry someone else. I know that", he completed my sentence.

"Exactly! You know that I never go back on my words. I can't marry anyone else."

"Come on, Eve! You don't even know where that girl is, how can you marry her?"

"She has to be somewhere", I said desperately.

"It's been twenty years, Eve. You don't even know whether she exists or not."

I snapped at him, "You think I am making up all these stories?! You think she never existed and I was just hallucinating her? You saw her too, didn't you?"

"Twenty years... that's a long time..."

"She is there and I will find her and marry her only. That's final!"

He angrily got up. "Use your fucking brain, Everette! We need this deal and for that you have to get married! We can't lose this deal just because you are waiting for someone whose name you don't even know!"

Gareth is usually a calm person, he hardly loses his cool and this really surprised me.

Both of us became silent and had a staring competition and Gareth was the one to break it first.

"Sorry", he muttered and I rolled my eyes. "But you are marrying Aeryn."

I felt like throwing him off from my office window which was at the 50th floor.

"And you only said that you became quite fond of her daughter Carmel."

"That doesn't mean I'll marry her."

He walked upto me and grabbed both my shoulders and dragging me made me sit in my swivel chair.

"Now, listen to me", he said keeping both his hands on the side of the chair trapping me making sure I don't run away.

"You marry Aeryn, we secure this deal meanwhile I will help you find this girl, okay?", he said.

"What if I marry Aeryn and then I find that girl?"

"Then, you and Aeryn will get a divorce and I, myself will make you marry that girl. I promise."

"What if we don't find that girl?"

He smirked. "If within three months, we don't find that girl then...you are going to make this marriage between Aeryn and you, work. You will accept Aeryn as your wife and treat her like a queen and you will forget about that girl. Okay?"

My jaw clenched. "This is absurd."

"This is the deal, brother. You have to agree to it. Okay?"

"No--"

He cut me off by patting my cheek. "Good boy."

"Fuck off", I seethed.

He just grinned and moved back and said, "And call Aeryn and apologize to her saying you are willing to marry her."

I scoffed. "Not happening. It was her mistake."

"Oh, for God's sake, keep your ego aside for a moment and apologize to her."

"I am not apologising to her!"

"Oh, you will", with that he turned around and moved towards the door. "I have a meeting in five minutes, by the time it ends I am hoping to hear a good news. Bye!"

I sighed in frustration and held my face in my hands.

Aargh!

Three minutes later, my phone's notifications started going off one after the other.

Who the fuck died now?!

I picked it up to see that Gareth tweeted something and tagged me in it.

"So excited to see my brother @everetteWilbrose get married in a few days! #weddingbellsintheair"

The fuck!

She hasn't even agreed to marry me and he already tweeted about it.

Are you fucking crazy, Gareth!

I already started getting so many 'congratulations' messages.

What did you do, Gareth?!

And then my phone rang: Mother

Great!

I picked up the call and said in the sweetest tone possible. "Yes, mother?"

"You are getting married and you didn't even bother to tell me?!", she shrieked.

"Mother--"

"No, no, no! When were you going to tell me? On the wedding day? I am sure you were not even planning on inviting me!"

I tried making her understand. "Of course you are invited, mother. But right now, I am not sure if this marriage will take place or not."

"What do you mean? I already told all my friends about it!"

I face slammed myself. "Mother, it's been only a few minutes since Gareth tweeted and you told all your friends already?"

"Can you blame me? I was so excited and plus it's 2021, how long does it take to send a message to all your friends?"

"Oh, mother..."

"I don't wanna hear your drama now. And who is the girl you are marrying?"

"Umm...her name is...Aeryn. She owns a restaurant."

"And?"

"And...and...she has a daughter..."

"O-kay...so, what about that her daughter's father?"

"Mother, she is adopted. Aeryn adopted when she herself was fifteen. And...I am ready to be her father."

"Aww...she is so kind! And I am so proud of you, son."

"Thanks, mother."

"So, when is the wedding?"

I told her a random day. "This Sunday."

"Yay! Then I will see you on Saturday! Bye!"

"Mother--" But the call ended.

And now how to tell her that all this is fake and...I don't even know whether she will agree to marry me or not.

I somehow managed to get Aeryn's personal number and dialled it.

A few rings later, she picked up. "Hello?"

I cleared my throat. "Is this Aeryn Reynolds?"

"Yes. And who is this?"

"Everette Wilbrose."

She went silent for a minute and then she spoke. "What do you want, Mr Wilbrose?"

"I...umm...wanted to *clears throat* apologise for my behavior that day."

I heard her sigh. "Fortunately, your apology has been accepted. Now if you may excuse me, I am very busy at the moment."

She was about to hang up but I said, "No, Aeryn! Wait!"

"Yes, Mr Wilbrose?", She said impatiently.

"There is one more thing..."

"I am listening."

"I need you to marry me. My brother talked to you about it the other day."

"Yes, he did."

"And... what's your answer? Are you accepting it?"

"If you apologise to me in a much better way, I might accept your proposal. Oh, and a bouquet of white roses may help you. Tonight, 10 pm at my restaurant. See you later, Mr Wilbrose. Thank you."

And she hung up the call.

The nerve of that girl!

I massaged my temples for a few seconds before opening the bottom drawer in my desk and taking out the pineapple yellow colour tiffin box.

The colour was fading and I traced my finger over it. "Where are you my little brownie?"