Love and More

Chapter 23

"Hello! May I come in?" Bunty peeped inside Haseena's room asking for permission to enter.

"Yeah! Come in." Replied Haseena with a huge smile on her face.

Haseena loved spending time with the little guy. His bright face never failed to bring a smile to her face. He loved being around Haseena as well. Haseena hadn't expected Bunty to get along with her so well already. Though she never believed she was going to get married to Amar, now that it had been done, Haseena worked with her mother's advice regards Bunty. Thus, tried to be friends with him.

Bunty entered the room with a sheepish look.

"What happened?" Asked Haseena.

"Umm, actually... Thanks for dropping me off at school today." Said the kid.

"It's alright. I think I'll be doing that pretty often. Only if you don't mind." She smiled shuffling his hair.

"Why would I mind? You know, all of my friends were surprised to see you dropping me at school!" He chuckled nervously.

"Is there something you want to tell me but you're not telling me?" Haseena seemed to catch him off-guard.

"My friends at school... won't believe that you married my father." He replied hesitantly for he thought Haseena might scold him for telling his friends that Haseena was his father's wife.

"What is so unbelievable about that?" Asked Haseena.

"You're not gonna scold me?!" Bunty asked when Haseena did not react as he had expected.

"Why should I scold you? If your friends didn't believe you it's not your fault." Haseena scratched her ear narrowing her eyes a bit in confusion.

"For I told my friends that you married my papa. Don't worry, they know that I'm adopted. They won't think you're my father's second wife." Haseena was taken aback by Bunty's justification. At the same time, she for the first time realized Bunty already knew he was adopted.

She could see the kid was way mature for his age,

"Bunty, I don't care what people think or talk of me. But I do care about what you think of me. I married your father and there is no lie in it. So, if you said it to your friends you did nothing wrong. And there would be nothing wrong even if they did not know you were adopted and considered me your father's second wife." She said with a little chuckle in the end,
"Meanwhile, I won't scold you ever until you do something really bad. And I know you won't do anything like that, would you?" Bunty nodded in no.

After a little pause Haseena added, "And one thing I don't want to hear from you ever again, is you're adopted. To Amar, you're his son. He will be hurt if he heard you calling yourself adopted." Bunty understood and gestured her to come closer.

Haseena thought he was going to tell her something in her ear. She tilted her head a little down bringing her right ear closer to Bunty. Whereas, Bunty surprised her when he placed a peck on her cheek instead. And the seriousness on her face was replaced with a huge smile.

"Can I tell you one more thing?" Said Bunty with a sheepish smile.

"Yes." Haseena nodded her head.

"You're looking very pretty!" He smiled and Haseena giggled at his compliment.

...

Amar couldn't take his eyes off Haseena when he saw her climbing down the stairs. She was wearing the saree he gifted her on their engagement day. The only ladies' outfit that didn't need to be accommodated with size. It was a lavender colour georgette saree, nicely embroidered with strings of the same shade. Haseena gracefully draped it around her feminine body and did little makeup. She looked elegant as ever. He couldn't imagine she would look this pretty in the saree while buying it.