"How would I not know when we he is my cousin's best friend?" Naila could not believe what she just heard.
"What?" She asked. Her jaw literally dropped.
"Yes, what?" Luke was super cool about it.
"What's your cousin's name?" Naila asked.
"Kevin,"
"You are Kevin's cousin?" That was another shock.
"Yes," Luke was so calm. He understood that she had no idea about him at all. She has lived an oblivious life.
"So you definitely would have known me," Naila said.
"I was never a fan of Danish so I Kevin and I..." but Naila interrupted in the middle.
"Correct, even I have never heard about you from Kevin," Naila said. She sounded kind of relieved. He looked at her. She exhaled.
"Is she hiding something from me?" He wondered.
"We were so close yet so apart," she thought. "The amount of time Kevin has come home and ate with us, never once has she mentioned about his cousin," Naila chuckled. "It must be fate then."
The two reached home and spent time in their room, alone. Naila just lay down while Luke decided to get some more sleep. He was exhausted.
It was almost 1 PM. Naila was hungry again. She got up and walked into the kitchen. She looked through the cupboards in the kitchen. She wondered what to cook.
All she had in the kitchen was some bread, butter, and some chicken she froze.
"Garlic bread and chicken soup it is," she quickly decided. She prepared everything within an hour.
She waited for Luke, for like fifteen to see if he comes out. She then walked towards his bedroom. She touched the door, but it opened slowly. He had not even shut properly. She slowly stepped in. She looked around the room. It looked clean and well arranged. He had moved the curtains, allowing the sunlight come in. It made the room look bright. The setting was similar to her room with drawers, wardrobes, bed side table and he had something additional in the room. A full length mirror. She then looked back at him. She walked closer to the bed.
"Hey," she whispered. "Luke" she called him. He looked so peaceful, sleeping, wearing a white ribbed vest top. He had long and pretty eye lashes. Naila leaned in a little. "Luke, wake up," she said. He did not respond again. Naila smiled and stood up straight. She turned around to leave the room. That's when she felt something gripping her hand.
She turned again.
Luke had reached out, holding her wrist, stopping her from walking away.
"Hey," he said, still holding on to her hand. He sat up still holding on to her. Naila did not know what to do. She looked at their hands which Luke noted. "Oh, sorry," he said and let her go. Naila immediately drew her hand back.
"Sorry," she apologised. "I just wanted to ask if you wanted lunch," she said.
"Yes, I am starving," he agreed. "Thank you." He said getting up from the bed. He opened the wardrobe. She noticed that his clothes were colour coded and hanged.
'Wow' she thought. To her, it looked so pleasing to look at. Luke picked a dark blue and grey checked oversized shirt and put them on. It lay on his shoulders perfectly.
Naila walked out the room and arranged the dining table. She poured the soup in the bowl and heated the cheesy garlic bread again.
Luke washed his face and freshened up. 'Smells good' he smiled, thinking.
He walked to the dining table and settled opposite her. He took a big bite of the bread. It was cheesy, crispy, and flavourful. And then he expressed. Making a yummy sound. "Woah," he said. "This is is perfect," he said taking another bite.
Naila smiled and started with the soup. The creamy chicken soup tasted good too. The two concentrated completely on the food and ate in silence. It appeared both were starving.
"I will do the dishes Naila," Luke offered to help before they even finished. "Thanks for waking me up. I might have ended up sleeping the whole day I guess," he added.
Naila smiled. "I am stepping out for grocery shopping," she informed.
"I need to get some stuff too. Why don't we head out together?" He asked. He had nothing to get but lied so he could accompany her.
"That would work too," Naila agreed to the idea. She did not resist. She believed him.
"What time?" He asked her.
"After this," she said, earing quickly.
"Cool," he finished and got up. He carried both their bowls and plates to the kitchen.
"Why don't you go, get ready," he suggested. "I will finish the dishes by then," he said. Naila nodded and walked back to her room. She stepped into the shower for a quick bath and changed into fresh pair of blue jeans and white tshirt with a plaid shirt over it, unbuttoned. She remembered to carry her sling back along. She ligjtky touched her face with compact and then put on a pink lipstick.
Luke grabbed the car keys once again and waited in the porch for Naila.
"You literally were not eating well, were you?" Luke asked. "The kitchen has nothing."
"I was looking after my health, my weight," she lied. 'Why am I lying? Why do I care?' She then wondered. Luke did not say anything and just started the engine.
The two arrived at the hypermarket up in the valley. "This is where Sony lives," Naila told Luke.
"This is the largest grocery store in the valley. You will get everything here," Luke explained.
"Really?" Naila indeed was surprised to hear it.
"Our community will soon have a good store like this. Contracts are underway. Then we need not step out at all," Luke kept talking.
"That would be convenient," Naila agreed to it.
The two stepped into the store. Luke grabbed a shopping trolley, intending to fill it up. They walked over to the meat section, the vegetables, fruits, and grains sections. Luke grabbed anything and everything while Naila hesitated.
"Luke, that would be too much," Naila tried to discourage him.
"Nothing is too much. Health is important," he would reply. "Do you like bitter gourd?" He asked her to which Naila shook her head. "Me neither. Let's skip that," Luke changed the topic and continued to take more items..
"This is too much Luke, really, for a person to complete," Naila kept trying to stop him from getting more bags and ingredients.
"I will be home till New Year. So everything would get over quickly, don't worry," he would tell her.
"Naila, there your are," someone shrilled. Naila and fluke turned around.