He Named Her Asher

"I am good, better than I thought I would be. Stop worrying about me that much. I am perfectly fine!" Anna assured her as far as she could by making her voice more assertive.

"This is great then," Kiera genuinely smiled this time. Then again, she twitched her brows.

"Hey, what exactly happened in between you two, huh?" Kiera turned back to continue squinting her eyes again.

"What? What do you mean by two?"

Annabelle played the innocent card. She was making one kind of face as if she was wronged by her. But Kiera isn't someone to pay attention to her crocodile's act. Her full focus is still on the topic.

"You and my brother, Anna."

"Your brother? You mean that guy? Heh… In which world are you living? Don't you know me? Have you ever seen me fancying a guy?"

Though Anna said that she herself knew that Theodore was not a mere guy. He was young, handsome, and looking closely, she could guess he was not some weird doctor. She encountered this kind of fine man before but he was different. She doesn't know on which side he was different, but somehow he was to her.

Anna didn't allow any man to get this close to her except her school guy friends which were a long time ago. But Theodore was someone who made her feel safe, secure. She couldn't keep her guard around him no matter how hard she tried. But somehow, she is not into knowing the reason for these weird changes on her. She just wants to do as her heart says. She wants to anticipate every step of her life like in old times. It's been a long since she felt this kind of excitement and anticipation in her life. That somehow felt good to her.

But Kiera was not worried about that, she was worried about something else. She also wanted Anna to have someone by her side though she herself gave up on her love life. She wasn't successful, that doesn't mean she despises love herself. It was Anna who had some weird thoughts about love. Actually, she needs a person who can make her believe in love. A man who has patience, who understands the value of other persons connected to his life. She needs this type of man.

The fact is, it can be any fine man but not her cousin. His temperament just doesn't match with her. To be exact, Theodore can never be the right man Anna needs in her life. She needs someone who can inspire her to live happily, not anyone who is always ready to give her anxiety, insecurity.

Annabelle is like an ever-smiling star. It was her specialty to shine, she wasn't suitable for something that is painted black. Black and white, if these two things collide, one will engulf another. Anna was a friend, a little sister to her. She was someone Kiera wanted to protect, protect to the end. Knowing all of it, she just can't pretend not to know anything. Choosing Owen was still wrong for her, no matter how much she says it was okay. She can't let the same thing happen to Anna, right?

Anna was kept hanging as Kiera didn't say anything for a long time. Anna just can't read her expressions which were changing constantly due to the deep trail of thoughts inside her mind. Suddenly, she came back to the present as Anna pinched her cheeks to get some attention.

"What happened?" Anna asked, being a little worried about her weird behavior. Why does this girl think so hard about a single thing every time?

Kiera looked at her eyes as if she wanted to get something by looking at those. Anna liked her blue eyes. Whenever she looked at them, she felt calm inside her, but today, it was something different that she remembered. It was not some calm picture, but it was something that made her heart anything but calm. Her heart was racing as if it had taken part in a marathon.

Theodore, his ocean wave-like deep voice, his calm composed self, it was all flashing through her mind. What is this? Just because they are cousins, now she is having weird thoughts looking at her eyes?

*Anna, you need a proper rest. Or else you are gonna ruin your own reputation. *

Anna was mumbling on her own when Kiera took her hands in hers again. What is it with her again? Her serious face is now scaring her.

"Anna…," she slowly started, "Can you promise me something?"

"What?" Anna felt a bit curious but at the same time nervous about her behavior.

"I know, I am being silly, but still…. It's just… it is making me super anxious, you know?"

Anna frowned a bit.

"What is it? What exactly happened? You have been acting weird since you came."

"Anna…. Just whatever you do. Don't get involved with Theodore, okay? He is just too much to handle." Kiera completed her sentence as she gently put her hands on Anna's cheeks.

The moment she spelled those words, Anna stopped breathing as if someone had taken the air around her to breathe. She couldn't say anything in an instant. She didn't know for what reason, she got cold feet as if she had lost something she shouldn't have lost.

Funny, isn't it? She never tried to think it further herself properly and she already got a red signal.

Anna shrugged a bit as she just wanted to drop the whole topic.

"Hey, why are you spewing nonsense? What is even going on with this big head?" Anna said as she tapped on her head.

"Did you ever see me fall for any man, huh? Did you? You didn't, right? I was not someone for those. Before you became my manager, I even avoided all the men co-workers. There were so many men, I didn't choose any of them at that time, so why now? Right now, I just want to assemble my life a bit in order. And your brother is not that good, okay?" Anna did her best to assure her.

Kiera was quite convinced. She was glad that she could spell those words without hurting her feelings. Little did she know, Anna was already feeling quite conflicted right now.

"So… you know now that I don't have any heavy feelings for him. So, tell me about you two. I am so curious, man! How on earth do you have an older cousin who is this close to you?"Anna was relieved to see Kiera's expressions softened.

"Err… he is not that close. But yes, he is someone I only interact with now. Keeping contact with him doesn't give me hard feelings like others do. He himself is kinda like me, doesn't care about people around him, not giving a damn about others' wishes and opinions."

This topic was something Anna thought she could concentrate on as she was waiting for Kiera to tell her more about him. But now, for some reason, she was feeling a bit suffocated. She wanted Kiera to stop though she couldn't say so. Today, Kiera was much more talkative than usual. It was good that she was opening up to her. But somehow Anna couldn't feel happy. Her mind was full of some other thoughts. Something so foggy that she can't even decipher herself.

Kiera could guess that Anna wasn't feeling good. She excused herself after reminding her that she needs to select a new genre to start writing a new novel. Anna nodded slightly absentmindedly as she was busy going through her inner turmoil.

**** **** **** **** ****

Ayan was sitting on the sofa holding his niece in his arms. Now, he can hold her properly; she doesn't cry like before whenever he takes her in his arms. That little girl also started to like his uncle.

Ayan was fond of children. He always found them adorable though he himself was an adorable young man looking like a baby.

These days, Ayan was in a quite bad mood. After that day, his brother and sister-in-law never asked about that girl; they could feel he becomes gloomy whenever they try to mention her so they kinda gave up on asking. Ayan also doesn't want to think about her for a while as he always felt sad and lonely whenever her thoughts came to his mind. Whenever he felt lonely, he would hold his niece and play with her; and when he does that, he feels much calmer.

Mary requested Ayan to give his niece a name though he didn't have any idea what to give her. But whenever he looked at her, she reminded him of Abby. He was sure 'Abby' wasn't her real name. But somehow, he wants to believe that it was hers though.

Ayan looked at his niece as he was wandering through his thoughts. Suddenly a thought came to his mind. This girl was a blessing, a wonder to him as she made a way to help her uncle to find his first love though she didn't know how she did that. But she was really a wonderful blessing to him.

He looked at her lovingly and said slowly, "Asher, Asher it is."