Treasurer of My Sparkle

Sweet Mist

"Tejo, don't you dare walk away! Tejo!"

Apparently, Tejo had expected his reaction cause she had held on to the aarti thali tightly and finished their part of the aarti with Neel gaping at her like a goldfish. Even when they returned to their spot she ignored him, a bright smile playing on her lips, not providing him with any further explanation.

Now, about half an hour after the aarti, they were still playing tag with Neel chasing her and Tejo avoiding him seamlessly. Never in his life had Neel felt his family had too many people until today. Tejo started a conversation with one of them to avoid him, and whenever he approached them she excused herself before he could get a hold of her, moving on to someone else. First Prachi, then Abeer, then Abir, then Sona, and the list went on and on.

She couldn't continue doing that with Neel shooting lasers at every person passing by her, regardless of who it was-- he had given Harmaan the same look, who looked on the verge of having a stroke with a heart attack as a bonus-- so she decided to deter this bear of a human away from the normal ones.

"Miss Sandhu, you will regret this," Neel tried to threaten, but it sounded like a whine of a pouty child.

"Lalalala," Tejo sang and jogged away with Gungun in tow.

"Tejo," Neel sighed in disbelief while rushing behind her.

Papa Bear

The tape recorder in his head had played these two words the entire time, making him impatient to hear them again from her mouth. For a second he thought he misheard her, due to the loudspeaker, but her teasing smile told him he hadn't.

He hadn't. Which meant he was really a Papa bear now.

Neel was over the moon, but the tip of his nose felt a little stuffy as if someone was pinching it while his eyes felt hot like an oven's hot air was blown in them. His body was malfunctioning due to the overwhelming joy and excitement but he loved every single bit of it.

"I dare you to run Tejo," Neel yelled when he saw her pick up her pace, "I will get you a wheelchair if you so much as increased your speed by one centimetre per second."

"Don't give me empty threats, sweetheart," Tejo giggled but made sure to walk slowly.

"Watch me," he challenged and picked up his speed but was stopped by all the youngsters surrounding him like a cacoon. He glared at all of them, and said in a no-nonsense tone, "Not. Now."

"What's going on?" Riddhima raised her brow at him, "Why are you chasing after her?"

"Because she is running away from me," Neel scoffed and tried to break out of their enclosure. Unfortunately for him, they just kept on remaking it, decreasing his speed by a mile. "What's your problem?!"

"Did she play a prank on you?" Reyansh perked up excitedly.

"No," he refused. 'There is no way she will prank me on this topic,' he thought to himself.

"Then did she tease you?" Prachi grinned.

"N..Yes," he nodded and walked forward, "now let me go."

"What did she tease you about?" Abeer asked and stood in front of him.

"Why are you so curious?" he tried to push past him when Vansh strengthened the blockade further.

"Because we are nosy, now spill," Vansh ordered.

'First, let me confirm it and then I will yell about it to the entire world, alright,' Neel rolled his eyes mentally and pushed past them. However, the entire team kept on interrogating him the entire way up the stairs. "How much did she pay you?" Neel frowned when he noticed their persistence.
'They even followed me all the way upstairs!'