Tale of Two Lovebirds

Chapter 18

"What flavor do you want?"

Ria's eyes scanned all the available options. There were just too many. The traditional vanilla, chocolate, strawberry and several more fancy ones like salted caramel, cotton candy, black cherry, banana cream pie... just to name a few.

"I don't know, papa..." She wasn't sure which one she wanted. There were too many options and she didn't know what was what.

Ranveer smiled. "Which one did you have last time?"

"That one." She pointed at 'Cotton candy.' She chose that one because it was colorful. This took precedence over flavor. The flavor was alright, it was sweet and cold and good enough for a three year old.

"Do you want that one again?"

"Hmm..." She couldn't make up her mind.

"How about that one?" He said pointing out at a strange "new" flavor, he read its name out loud. "'Birthday cake' You like cake..." He figured that was a good option but Ria still looked confused. The guy from the ice cream parlor waited for her patiently, holding the cone in one hand and the scoop in the other. How much easier would it be if she only had to chose between vanilla, chocolate and strawberry? His childhood had been easier, simpler. Poor Ri.He looked for chocolate, you can never go wrong with chocolate, right? But even for chocolate, there were a handful of options; dark chocolate, triple chocolate, German chocolate... 

"That one looks good." He said. "Triple chocolate, it has chocolate fudge and chunks of chocolate." Heaven for a chocolate lover.

Ria liked the sound of that and immediatley nodded. She was getting ice cream for having behaved well during the photoshoot and for eating all her food when they ate together. Ria got her cone and before he paid for it he remembered about his other girl at home who also behaved well and didn't call a million times to check on him and Ria. She only sent a couple of messages and that made him feel... trusted. He knew she didn't exactlymistrust him but it was nice to know she trusted him with their most valuable treasure; their darling daughter.

So he ordered a tub of the same ice cream to go, she deserved it too. And she also likes chocolate a lot, all three of them do.

They sat down so Ria could eat her ice cream and talked about their day. About uncle Jun wanting to borrow their baby boy and that made Ranveer laugh. It was adorable how it made Ria so worried.

"He's not going to take the baby forever, I wouldn't let him do that. He just wants to practice for when he has his own babies."

Ria felt relieved. It was a good thing to let him borrow the baby then, since he needed to practice. She believed her papa, if he said he won't let him keep the baby, then there's no reason to worry. She smiled with part of her face covered in chocolate and he let her finish before he helped her clean herself. She couldn't even eat the whole thing, it was too much for her little self.

None of the other customers recognized him while they sat there until they were on their way out. He was greeted by a few admirers and he smiled and greeted them back, posing for a couple of pictures before leaving. Ria thought they were people he knew, friends of him or people from work. She didn't think much of it, though it wasn't the first time it happened. She just thought her papa was very popular and had many friends and well, yeah, that was true.

"I hope we get to do this again before you go to school. I had fun." He said in the car, on their way home. It sounded like they had just been on a date, it was amusing.

"Yes, papa! I love your work. Mummy say I can go back if I behave, if I not behave your boss say I can't go back."

He smiled, what boss? "You were good so you can definitely come back."