Can we try again?

Twelve.

Oma has been my friend for ages; therefore we have our ways of communicating without actually using words. An eye contact is enough for either of us to understand what the other was saying.

"What's he doing here?" was what her eyes were asking me, but what came out of her mouth was a simple and shy, "Hello."

"Hi," Buchi greeted, standing up. "I'm Buchi, Samira's . . . uhm . . . friend" he motioned to me. "I don't know if you remember but I was here some weeks ago."

"Oh yeah. Yes, I do remember." Oma said and she looked at me again, desperately wanting to know why he was in our living room.

I'm sure Buchi sensed the slight tension in the room as our eyes were secretly trying to convey messages to one another, so he quickly added, "I came to see how Samira's doing, you know . . . after everything that happened."

Oma looked at me again, eyebrows raised. This time, the message I received was, "Do you two have something going on? Are you two dating?"

But obviously, what she came out of her mouth was, "Oh that's really sweet of you."

Buchi grinned, his dimples very evident. It made him look so attractive.

Stop it! I mentally scolded myself for that thought.

"It hasn't been easy, but she's a brave girl," Oma commented on my behalf and gave me a wink and I smiled.

"I bet she is." Buchi said.

I didn't say anything, but just looked at Buchi looking at Oma. It was obvious that he liked her and it was also obvious that Oma was oblivious to it.

"Have you had anything to eat or drink?" Oma said, as she tossed her bag on the floor beside the chair. "There's some stew in the fridge. It won't take long to boil some rice."

"Oh no," I flapped my hands. "I already asked him. He doesn't want anything."

"Why?" she said this looking at me, and then turned to Buchi. "Why? You should join us for dinner."

"No, I'm fine actually." Buchi shook his head. "I'm not that hungry."

"Come on," she persisted. "I insist you should join us. If you're a friend on Mira's, you're also my friend, and you'll have to eat with us." She winked at me as she said the word 'friend'.

"No, you idiot! It isn't me he likes. It's you. You! You're the one he's after." I desperately wanted to say to her, but I didn't.

Buchi chuckled and then said. "Okay. Fine. You win. I'll stay for dinner then."

"Good," she clapped her hands excitedly. "I'll go and get the rice on the cooker now. You two, just wait here." She winked at me.

Oh God. This was frustrating. How could she be unaware of the way Buchi was staring at her? Was she blind? I needed to let her know.

"I'll come with you Oma, to help."

"Help?" she asked, looking confused. The thing is, I never volunteer to help her out in the kitchen. She always has to blackmail me for this to happen. "Uhm, don't worry, it's just plain rice. It's not hard to cook."

"Oma, I need to help you with the thing." I placed emphasis on the word 'thing,' giving her a strong look with my eyes. For a moment she looked perplexed and then she caught on.

"Oh yes, the . . . thing." She shook her head and laughed which was a bit over the top and I could see that Buchi was finding the whole thing amusing too because he shook his head. "I forgot about that. Yes, I need your help please."