Talia stepped into the house, immediately noticing the intense look on both Alex and Mala’s faces.
They looked cute, completely focused, hunching over something on the floor.
She roamed around a little to let them notice her, but they were so engrossed in their activity that they hardly noticed her presence.
Pausing for a moment, she watched closely and realized they were piecing together a bunch of Legos.
"Place it here," Alex pointed to a corner and waited for Mala to start fixing the piece.
"Umm hmm. No. The orange one! This one doesn’t match," he took it from Mala’s hand and handed over the yellow one.
"Urgh!" Mala groaned when she couldn’t stick it in the fear that the small thing might fall.
"Don’t be afraid," he encouraged her softly, "Remember to use hands as hands, not like a hammer."
Mala giggled but then fixed the piece there.
"Bravo!" she clasped her hands like a child until she caught the sight of Talia standing there.
"Where did you get these?" Talia asked, setting down the basket of vegetables she had bought from the market.
"At the auto shop, near the warehouse," the handsome hunk in the black tank top answered her and looked up, a smile tugging at his lips, "They were just lying there in the corner."
Talia kept inspecting his muscles like a creep. The ones that were visible to her eye and the ones that were hiding under that shirt.
Groaning inwardly, she removed herself from there.
"Alex. What are we exactly making here?" Mala asked him curiously and Alex didn’t answer her question.
Maybe he himself wanted to see where this was leading.
Talia’s frown deepened when she realized what it resembled, "Looks like a castle to me," she said with a shrug and noticed Alex’s body go tense.
He removed his long hair off his face and Talia again wanted to run to him and thread her fingers through those black locks.
With a secret sigh, her eyes went to Mala who had this knowing look on her face.
She blurted something without thinking, "He needs a haircut!"
Alex who was observing the base of the castle tilted his head a bit, "Hmm?"
"Nothing!" Talia snapped.
He was closer and friendlier to Mala and sometimes this used to make her go crazy. The only time, he got friendly with her was when he wanted to stop her from expecting things or any kind of relationship from him.
It was more like a TED talk that a dad might want to give to his daughter.
***
Geena got out of the car; her gaze wandered around the village that was giving valley vibes.
"Beautiful!"
He was still laughing but then he rested his head on the ground and closed his eyes.
"Hey! Mister. Let’s go!" Geena placed her hands on her hips.
"Where?" he asked her, keeping his eyes closed.
Rolling her eyes, she tugged at his hand, "To discover this ... Oshi village of course!"
With closed eyes, he again started laughing, "Oshi? Ashua! It’s Ashua village because of Ashua Lake!"
"Yeah. Whatever. Now get your ass moving..." She felt frustrated when he didn’t move. She saw a man coming their way and approached him in a blink, "Excuse me. Are you a resident here?" When the man nodded, she clapped her hands, "We are tourists... and we ... want to know if we can find some activities around here. This place is beautiful by the way!" she showed him a thumbs-up sign, "Oshi... Ashua Village is beautiful."
She looked over her shoulder and could tell from here that he was trying hard to control his mirth.
"Can you guide us ..." the man nodded and pointed towards the north, "there is a small shop where the owner gives the bicycles on rent. John is the owner."
"Did you hear him?" Kneeling near Ethan, she shook him wildly, "Now get up. He said it’s the weekend and all the bicycles will be rented if we don’t reach there on time."
Ethan who had dozed off, got up and looked around, "Why don’t you go ahead, and I catch up on my sleep."
He straightened when saw her giving him that ’Don’t mess with me’ look.
"Fine!" he got up and brushed off the dust off his pants, "Let’s go!"
Geena happily hooked her arm through his and started walking to John’s shop.
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