Stupid in love ✔

14~ "The practical application of tit for tat."

Bright sunlight fell on earth, blinding the vision of a five year old boy as he tried to raise his head to the sky. He finally gave up and walked down the garden with his hands in his pockets. He glanced at the direction of his mother and pouted feeling angry. Here, he bought her to play with him but she occupied herself, talking to other women after a while. Feeling defeated, he approached her and asked if he could play on the slides. "Only if you promise not to wander off like last time," his mother spoke warily.

"Promise," he said quickly, wanting to jump on the slides as soon as possible.

"Pinky promise," his mother said in a childish tone while holding out her pinky finger.

Vansh Baweja let out a frustrating groan but linked his pinky finger to her's anyway. "I'm not a small child, Ma," he defended to which his Mrs Baweja chuckled and ruffled his hair.

"But you'll always be one to me," she said with a warm smile.

He played with the slides and swings but soon got bored. He watched other kids play in groups and kicked the ground under his feet. It reminded him of his two elder friends from his neighborhood who had recently moved out. For now, he had no one to play with. He was lonely. He wished he could make some friends but didn't know how to approach them. Just then his eyes fell upon a petite boy, getting his hands dirty in the mud. He looked about the same age as him and furthermore, he was alone. 'A perfect chance,' Vansh thought. With a smile playing on his lips, he went ahead to stand near the petite boy.

In order to make him notice, Vansh took out a yo-yo from his pocket and started playing with it.

The other boy sensed the presence of a boy playing with his yo-yo but ignored as he was too busy making his castle by mixing dry and wet mud together. Time passed with both of them stealing glances at each other but they still didn't speak. Just then an uncle who was busy talking on phone passed by and accidentally bumped into the boy's back. In order to balance himself, the boy placed his hands on the mountain of mud destroying his distorted castle in the process. The man barely paid attention to what he did and continued on with his phone conversation.

The boy dug his fingers on his shorts feeling disheartened. He blinked his eyes to stop the tears from falling while Vansh simply watched him blankly. But his sadness soon turned into rage as he picked a few pebbles nearby and started hitting the back of the man who was responsible for it.

The man who was talking on phone whimpered and turned around to face the boy who hit him. Vansh placed a hand on his mouth getting shocked by the boy's actions.

The man quickly approached the two boys while rubbing his back. "Urgh, what are you doing boys? Didn't your parents teach you not to throw stones at others?" He confronted, exchanging glances at both of them with raging eyes even though Vansh was innocent.

"And what about you, Uncle Scrooge? Didn't your Mumma told you to watch while walking. You are an old man and still you don't know how to walk. Shame, shame, shame," the child accused in a mocking tone. Vansh's jaw dropped at the boldness of the boy.

The man's face turned red in anger and pulled the boy's ear. "You kids are so annoying, I swear. Let me teach you two a lesson first."

"Try it, loser," he whispered with a naughty smile and suddenly started crying loudly, grabbing attention from the onlookers. The man quickly removed his hand from the boy's ear and tried to shut him up but he only sobbed harder. He caught Vansh looking at him and nodded his head with a pitiful face, eyeing him to cry along. Vansh hesitated at first but when the boy eyed him again, he let out a loud cry. The boy stifled back a laugh hearing Vansh's fake cry that sounded like a lousy singer who was forced to sing with a sore throat. Two Aunties, one of them being the petite boy's mother approached them to know what was going on. The man tried to explain amidst the fake cries of the two boys but in vain.