Hired To Be Mine (#2)

Chapter 3

Salim strolled through the park leisurely. Hands thrust in his pockets, eyes looking nowhere in particular, he missed the marvelous stone sculpture on the side. His steps faltering here and there, anyone could tell that he was actually enjoying the quiet walk in the park.

He had this unusual smile on his face. He was content. Not happy or top of the world, just content. He accepted his life. What was there to not accept anyway? His life was... fine. He sighed at the thought. He didn't want his life to be Fine, he wanted it to be, exciting, rocking and adventurous. Is it too much to ask for? He questioned the almighty looking up at the sky.

His upward glance almost made him trip on the rock which he didn't notice on the way. What the hell is a rock doing in the middle of the park? He thought. He steadied his step and shook his head at how clumsy he got. He never before tripped on a rock before. Except this rock seemed a little too soft. And it was..... wailing? Salim snapped out of his train of thoughts and looked down. 

There wasn't a rock. Instead, there was this bundle of.... No, not a bundle, it's a kid. The realization dawned on him like a bucket of ice water. Panic engulfed him. He wasn't a kids person. He actually knew nothing about them. He crouched down onto his knee level, yet the kid looked smaller. "Hey buddy" he said slowly, carefully, looking at the boy's face. Examining his body for any signs of injury that he might have imposed on the kid, he breathed a sigh of relief as he found none. 

But as soon as a  broken whimper escaped from the kids lips, Salim heart started to beat rapidly. What did he do? Did the boy suffer any internal injury? May be a brain damage? Or a internal fracture? His mind ran at thousand miles an hour speed. Another sob came from the boy, and this time Salim had no clue what to make out of it. 

He looked to his either sides in panic. Hope to find some help, may be the kids parents were around. He put his hands under the boys armpits and lifted him up to his full height. Salim straightened his back and tried to regain his composure as he held the kid at arms length, as away as possible. He remembered the phrase he somewhere read that Kids can smell fear. So he decided to scare the kid in retrospect to make the situation better. 

"Okay, bud" he said with a serious look, and the boy stopped his whimpers and looked curiously at Salim.

"Where did you run away from?" he asked seriously, giving a, what he thought, an intimidating look. The little boy who was in Salim's arms was either excited with his newly achieved height or was extremely amused with Salim's so called intimidating expression that he started giggling. 

Salim felt a new type of nervousness creep into his bones. Now what should he do? The boy was definitely not hurt. So should he let him be? With a little ounce of doubt, Salim slowly, but carefully started to lower the boy to the ground who was still giggling. When there were no complaints from the boy, as Salim lowered him onto his feet, he sighed. At least, he didn't have to fell guilty that he tripped the boy. Salim thought as he dusted the invisible wrinkles off his coat,

"Okay buddy, look. I am extremely sorry to knock you down. I wasn't looking. And it wasn't completely my fault, I haven't noticed you, considering there are some.. ahem.. altitude issues among us, so... I hope for your forgiveness, and good bye" he said looking down at the boy who had to bend his neck all the way back, to look up at him. He was just retreating when the boy cleared his throat, "Mister".

Salim stopped in his tracks as he heard a soft yet boyish voice, which could be hardly qualified as a kids and turned around. He looked at the boy for the first time. He had dark mop of hair and a round face. His chocolate brown eyes looked so innocent and adorable that he could easily be captivated by them. The boy wore a blue checked shirt which was neatly tucked into his brown pants. Black sneakers covered his little toes, whose laces were undone.