Tale of Two Lovebirds

Chapter 19

"Ria, please come here," Deepika told her daughter who kept running all around despite her earlier request to stop.

"I'm bored, mummy. Can we go home?" Ria walked up to her complaining. "Please, mummy..." She begged, holding her mum's left hand with her two little ones.

Deepika sighed. She liked taking Ria along with her whenever she could but maybe she should have called the nanny that day; Ria seemed to have more energy than usual and Deepika seemed to have less. She was sitting on a salon chair in front of a mirror and her stylist was just about to trim her hair, after washing it and applying some treatment that was apparently awesome.

"You have to wait a little longer. We are not done yet..."

Now it was Ria's turn to sigh.

"Do you want to get a haircut too?" She asked knowing fully well what the little girl's answer would be.

"No! No please, I don't want short hair."

Deepika laughed, twirling one of her pigtails with her free hand. "Okay, we'll just cut my hair."

Ria's eyes got bigger. "No, mummy! Don't cut it! Your hair is pretty." She reached to stroke it even though it was damp and a little tangled from having just been washed.

"Just a little. It will still be long..." Deepika said and Ria let it go even though she couldn't understand why would anyone would want to cut their hair. She had quite an obsession, so much that she even complained when papa cut his beautiful hair.

The little girl walked from the side of the chair to the front of it, standing on the chair's footrest and between her mum's legs so she could hug her baby bump. Hair talk was over, now she wanted to talk about the baby.

"What is the baby doing?" She asked with her little arms around her belly and giving her little brother a kiss. Deepika smiled, caressing her cheek when she looked up at her.

"I don't know. Why don't you ask him?" Ria looked back at her belly and tried to pull up her top.

"No, Ri. Don't lift my shirt in public..." Both Deepika and Ria giggled. They were the only ones there but it still was a somewhat public place. "You can only do that at home, sweetie."

"OK." Ria smiled, not really bothered, she still wanted to try to find out what was her brother up to. "Hi baby. What you doing?" She whispered and turned her head to lay her ear on her mum's belly as if waiting to hear a response from the baby. Just a week ago she had been able to feel him move and she and her papa couldn't get enough of it.

The baby didn't move right a way but when he did Ria looked at her grinning. "He kick!"

"I know, he's saying hi." Deepika smiled, loving how excited her daughter was about her baby brother. Ria loved interacting with him, before she could barely tell there was a baby in her mum's tummy for real.

Deepika took one of her little hands and placed it where she could feel the baby moving and Ria looked at her with surprise. "He kick again!"

"I think he wants to play." What else could it be? He started to kick because of her.

"I want to play too! Ohhh... I love this baby!" Ria said hugging her "baby brother" once again.

Deepika chuckled and caressed her back while she hugged her. "Aww, he loves you too, sweetie.

Her hairstylist came back then, apologizing for having gotten caught up with a phone call. Deepika said it was fine, she didn't think it took that long.

Ria sat on her lap for a while listening to the grown-up's conversation until she got bored and started walking around again and getting her hands on things she wasn't supposed to.