An Ounce of Hope (gxg)

Chapter 5

"Have you thought of a name for him?" Aelia asked.

The new born who had fallen asleep was now placed in his cot. Now Aelia was sitting beside Nina's bed.

"Yes. I actually decided on a name when I found out it was a boy." Nina replied, smiling.

"Well?"

"Nathaniel Jasper Adams, or in short, Nat."

Aelia smiled.

"I love it. It suits him." She said.

"I love it too. The middle name is after my friend Jasper. When we were in high school, we came to an agreement that I'll name my child's middle name after Jasper, Jasper will name it after Danny, Danny will name it after Shelby and Shelby will name it after me." Nina chuckled.

"That's a smart arrangement but what if one of you doesn't want a child?" Aelia playfully raised her eyebrow.

"Then he or she will change their own middle name to the assigned one."

Aelia chuckled.

"Fair enough."

Nina smiled at Aelia and realised how thankful she was that this stranger showed up at her door and stayed by her side through one of the most important time of Nina's life.

"Thank you." She suddenly said. "I haven't said this at all but I'm actually very thankful that you showed up to check on me. I know you aren't much of a people's person." She said the last sentence teasingly.

Aelia smiled. "Its alright." She said. "You guys sent me cookies so I couldn't just leave you in pain."

Nina laughed. "The cookies! of course. You mean the ones you so brutally left hanging on your doorsteps?"

"Hey! In my defense, haven't you heard you shouldn't accept cookies from strangers?"

"That doesn't apply to your next door neighbors and I put my heart and soul into those cookies. Thank you very much." Nina playfully huffed.

"You make them?" Aelia asked, a bit surprised.

"Who else will make them? Had you met the other person who lives here, you would never question which one makes those cookies."

"Thank you for the cookies then. One of the best I've ever had."

"Correct yourself: The best you ever had, the best you'll ever have." Nina bragged with a proud smile.

"Let's not get too ahead of ourselves." Aelia let out a small laugh.

"You're just disrespecting my cookies
now." Nina faked being offended.

"How did I disrespect them exactly?"

"By not properly acknowledging their awesomeness."

"Of course. That's what I did." Aelia shook her head with a smile.

"Well I, Aelia Robin, thank you, Nina Adams, for blessing my life with those heavenly cookies which are without a doubt the best I've ever had." Aelia stated a bit over dramatically.

"Anytime." Nina said flipping her hair and then she burst out laughing. Aelia just chuckled while admiring the girl in front if her.

It had been so long since she had found herself joking around with someone. She probably had no one in her life except her two friends who she had pushed away a bit far to keep her solitude. She hadn't realised how much she actually missed it until that very moment.

Suddenly the door of the apartment burst opened and Danny practically shouted,

"WE'RE HERE. WE ARE HERE."