HER QUEST-Magic In The Blood

Chapter 20

Someone or something was calling out to her. She tried to block the noise. She was not yet ready to face whoever was out there. After a while, the noise stopped. Smiling and being grateful, she snuggled deep in her covers.

  Abruptly, she was jostled out of her dreamland when the phone started ringing again. Searching around her bed and under the pillows with one hand, she tried to rub off the sleep from her eyes with other. The phone stopped ringing just as she noticed it on the nightstand.

  Grumbling, she reached out to take it and it started ringing again. Frowning, she answered without checking the id, "Hello," she mumbled.

"Ah, good morning ma'am," the voice on the other side was male and he continued after a slight hesitation, "Am I speaking to Miss Sonia McKinnon?"

"Yeah. That's me. And good morning to you, too."

"Okay. Uh, ma'am, if you don't mind coming out to the front gate, then I can deliver your bike to you personally."

Instantly, all the sleep flew away as she sat up straight, "What? My bike?"

"Yes ma'am."

"Just hold on. I will be there in five," she cut him off and bolted to the bathroom to wash her face and brush her teeth.

  Getting out, she flew down the stairs and out of the door. The delivery man, no, he was a boy of about her age, was standing outside the gate with her bike parked beside him. She ran to him, barely holding her excitement.

  Opening the gate, she directed him the way to the garage. Once there, she ran her hands over the handles of the bike. The boy cleared his throat making her look up at him.

He was beaming down at her just like she was at him. Getting out a slip of paper from his pocket, he handed it over to her with a pen, "You have to sign here."

  She scribbled out her name on the dotted lines and he pulled out yet another package from his side bag.

"Here," he handed over the package to her, "the registration and other papers."

"Thank you," she smiled and checked the documents before placing them over James' car beside her.

"My pleasure, and Congratulations," he said winking at her.

  A soft giggle escaped her mouth at that.

"By the way, my name's Jade," he introduced.

"You know mine," she shrugged a shoulder.

He laughed. She liked him. The easy laugh.

Ian never laughs so freely, she thought, then immediately frowned, where did that come from? She shook her head to clear her thoughts and looked up at Jade. His soft brown eyes were looking at her as if expecting an answer.

  "Sorry?" She asked as she tucked a few strands of her hair behind her ear.

"I asked do you know how to ride it?"

"Ah, no," her hand reached out once again to touch the vehicle.

"I can teach you," he offered.

"Err, thank you so much," Sonia saw him smiling and continued, "but my friend promised to teach me. In fact, you probably know him. Dim- Dimitri Richards," at this his smile wavered a bit, "I think he'll be here any moment now," Sonia couldn't help herself from smiling. She couldn't wait to start riding the beauty.

"Ah. Well then, I think I must get going," Jade began.

Sonia looked up at him and instantly felt guilty, "Hey, would you like to have something? Tea, coffee?" She offered, but he declined.

"No, I'm good. I just have to hurry back. Good day and congratulations again," he gave a quick smile and turning around, hurried out.

  "Good day to you too," Sonia called out to his retreating form.

She looked back at the bike and let out a squeal, jumping up and down like a small girl. Quickly, she took out her phone and sent Dim a picture of the bike.

  She needed to break the news to someone else too. Dashing in the house, she ran up the stairs. Reaching Ian's room, she rapped her knuckles on the door. When he didn't answer, she banged the door with the palm of her hand.

"Ian, open up," she called out, getting restless by the second. She banged again but still he didn't answer.

  Too excited to care for any manners, she barged inside and rushed to his bed. He was sleeping peacefully, unaware of all the banging. But that changed in the next minute.

Sonia shook his shoulder, making him grunt something incoherent in his sleep. He simply turned away from her flipping on his stomach.

  Sonia heaved out a breath. His face was almost buried in the pillows. Unable to contain herself anymore, Sonia jumped on his bed and placing both her hands on his back, shook with all her might.

"Wake up, sleepyhead," she shouted.

He was up in a wink. Disoriented, he looked at her.

"What am I doing in your room?" He asked.

"It's your room, buffoon," she replied.

  Ian looked around, rubbing his eyes, "Then what are you doing in my room?"

  "Come with me. I want to show you something," she grabbed his hand and got off the bed trying to yank him up.

"What?" He yawned but gave in and let her drag him away.

"You'll see. Come On," she kept dragging him all the way down the stairs and out of the house.

"Sonia. It's Saturday. I was sleeping. Where are you taking me?" He kept complaining all the way to the garage, "Are you out of your mind? What do you wanna show me. It's so early, and you are dragging me to show a-" he stopped abruptly as his eyes fell on the vehicle, "- bike," he whispered, his eyes going wide.

  Slowly, he approached it and ran his fingers over the handles much in the same way as Sonia had.

He turned back to her, "Where did you get it from?" He asked but didn't let her answer, "When did you get it?"

"Yesterday," Sonia replied.

He knitted his brows, thinking over it.

"Remember when Dim and I were late. It was due to this. I saw it in a shop and Dim helped me buy it," she explained.

"Why didn't you tell any of us?"

She shrugged, "We both decided to tell you all after it arrived."

  "So everyone else knows?"

  "Umm, actually, I couldn't wait so I got you," she bit her lip.

"And does your buddy Jake knows about it?" He asked, his voice turning a bot sharp.

"No. I wanted to tell someone and I was too excited, so I informed you," she smiled.

  "And in your excitement, you practically jumped over me and dragged me here instead of calling your usual companion," he spoke as if figuring out a complicated problem.

Sonia felt blood rushing to her face, "You didn't answer the door. I had no choice," she defended.

  "Won't Jake be hurt that you forgot him?" He asked raising a brow.

Sonia thought over it. Ian knew the instant an idea formed in her mind as her eyes lit up, the gold shining in them.

  "I can make it upto him," she said as she smiled up sweetly at him, "With just a little help from you."

  Ian understood what she was implying, "What? Are you mad?" He shook his head, "Call him. He will happily come here. I am not going anywhere this early," he waved his hands in dismissal.

"C’mon, you get the first ride," she reasoned.

"Really?" He asked sarcastically, "Oh but I want more than that."

"Deal. What?" She asked.

Ian narrowed his eyes, "Not now. Maybe some other time. But you owe me one."

"Yeah, whatever," Sonia waved off.

  Ian's lips quirked up at seeing her expression, "Keys," he extended his hand.

  Quickly she dropped them in his palm. Shaking his head, he straddled the bike and started the ignition.

Sonia squealed and clapped her hands, jumping again.

Ian let out a chuckle despite himself, "I will be honoured if you get on, princess," he mocked.

  Smiling wildly, Sonia hopped behind him and he drove out of the garage and through the gate, directly to Jake's house.

  It was just a few moment's drive, but with Ian, it was breathtaking and exiliring. Once he stopped, Sonia got off and dashed into the house calling out loudly, "Jake! Come down fast!"

In a flash, Jake, Emm and their parents came rushing into the main foyer looking bewildered.

"What's the matter? What happened?" Emm asked reaching her. The expression on his face fit to kill. He saw Ian enter the house and glared at him, making him gulp down uneasily.

"I bought a bike," she exclaimed, and the lot let out a collective breath.

"You scared us," Cassandra spoke as she came over and engulfed her in a hug, "Thank God you are alright," she pulled away and caresses her face, "Now where's that thing?"

Sonia smiled as she took her hand and much like she had done to Ian, dragged her outside as others followed to admire her possession.

***
  Thirty minutes later, after waving bye to everyone and hugging Cassandra and Jake, she got back behind Ian as they returned home.

  As Ian was getting off, her phone pinged indicating a message. She took it out of her pocket to read it. It was Dim,

  - Hey, congrats sweetheart. I'll be there in an hour or so. Had something urgent come up. Sorry, love. See ya soon.

  Sonia's lips curved into a smile as she typed in a quick reply,

   - Okay. No problem. No hurries. Take care.

  She turned around and bumped straight into Ian. She was about to fall back but he steadied her by her arms.

  Getting herself together, she smacked him on his arm, "You shouldn't peep into someone's phone."

  "But you are not someone," he said and slung his arm over her shoulders, "are you now, sugar?" He asked cocking up an eyebrow and smirking down at her.

"You can call me anything you want for today," she smiled.

"Right now I'm hungry," he replied dryly.

  "Come on then. I so happen to be in my rarest of sunny moods, you can get a treat out of it," she laughed and skipped ahead of him.

  Not believing his luck, Ian quickly sent a prayer of thanks to the heaven and followed her.

  ***
  She made him and James wait for an hour in agonising torture over the mouth- watering scents from the kitchen before she - along with his mother brought platters of food out.

  Ian sat at the table, staring at the dishes. There was literally heaps of delicious smelling food before him.

"Wow," his dad was the first to break the silence, "What's all this?"

  "I thought to make some Indian cuisines for you today," she answered hesitantly.

  Gingerly, Ian took a green looking flat bread from a plate and cut it with a fork and knife.

"No no," Sonia jumped in, stopping him in his actions, "You have to eat it with your hands," she explained.

  He broke a piece, "Okay?" He asked and she smiled in response.

He put it in his mouth, afraid of its taste. But instead, his eyes closed as his taste buds exploded. He opened his eyes to see the others looking at him for his input.

"It's amazing," he grinned widely, as he broke off yet another piece.

  Almost instantly, James took a bite and moaned in delight.

  "Wonderful, girl," he complimented and urged her to sit next to him, "You have a great talent in cooking," he patted her head and them reached out to take another one from a different plate.

  "What's this called?" He asked.

"Alukaparathey," Caroline quipped and Sonia laughed at her wrong pronunciation.

"Actually, its potato stuffed bread," she tried to explain.

"It's heavenly," James said after a bite.

  "It tastes better with butter," she passed him the bowl.

"Yeah," James eyes twinkled, "here, Ian eat this. It's better than waffles."

  Sonia could only smile at that. They loved anything she made. Perhaps that was what it meant by love. Her smile widened when Aunt Carol made a plate for her urging her to start eating. She took a deep breath as she vowed to never lose that love.

                              *****
Hello everyone! *waves warily*
I know I have been MIA for so long. I will try to update the next chapter pretty soon. It's nearly done.

  And hey, guys, thankyou so much for your support.

  This is the highest rank so far. And I am so grateful to you guys for this.

Love ya beautiful people.

Till we meet again. :)
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