Jessica softly smiled at him and ruffled his hair before pronouncing, "Veronica… Her name is Veronica Lopez."
Hearing the beautiful name, a different kind of tingling sensation erupted in his little heart and he felt immense happiness just by recalling her name...
He looked at her angelic face and muttered in his soft baby voice, "Veyonica.."
Both of the mothers laughed out loud at his wrong pronunciation which was really cute while Reuben just frowned at them, not understanding the reason of their laughter...
Reuben sat properly on the bed and asked sweetly, "Can Ben hold Veyonica?"
Looking at his expectant face, the two women smiled and Victoria placed Veronica on his lap before saying, "Hold her carefully. She is very small. So be aware that she doesn't get hurt."
Reuben cutely nodded his head and hold her small hand which made Veronica immediately wrap her little fingers around Reuben's index finger in a reflex...
Scrutinizing her face very thoroughly as if he was trying to remember every single details of her small face, Reuben smiled and touched her right cheek very much tenderly with his free hand...
Feeling Reuben's small hand caressing her bubbly and chubby cheeks, Veronica's lips curled up and soon she broke into a toothless smile which earned a low chuckle from Reuben in return.
After that Reuben used to visit Veronica from time to time with his mother as he loved to play with her.
Veronica also got used to Reuben and whenever he would come to their home to visit her, she would show him the most innocent and cutest smile and like this...time started to pass very fast...
----
Five years later…
Smith's Mansion…
A huge round of laughter could be heard from the garden area. Small pair of legs were running here and there in the garden while playing.
Five women were sitting on the small yet comfortable benches drinking tea and watching their children playing with each other while laughing and giggling.
"They are looking so happy altogether. Isn't it?" Mrs. Wilson asked sipping her tea.
"Yeah.. They are. By the way, why didn't Jack's mom came today?" Mrs. Johnson asked.
"She was a little busy today. That's why she couldn't come, instead she sent Jack with me.." Mrs. Lopez replied.
"Wahhhhhhhhhh…."
Suddenly a loud cry broke the mothers from having their pleasant conversation and they ran towards the children with a panicky heart.
Amelia was sitting on the ground, crying loudly while holding her knees tightly with her hands which had a small scratch on it.
"What happened Amy? Why are you crying baby?" Mrs. Smith aske getting scared.
Amy hiccupped in between crying and complained pointing her little index finger towards Lucinda, "Aunty… Lucy pushed me hard, making me fall on the ground. And now it's hurting."
Mrs. Wilson glared at Lucinda who was also in the brink of tears and scolded her, "Lucy.. Why did you push her? Isn't she your friend?"
Getting scolded by her mother, tears started to fall on Lucinda's cheeks which made her already red cheeks more redder.
Veronica immediately rescued her friend from getting scolded and said in her sweet voice, "No Aunty.. Lucy didn't push Amy. She was with me all the time. It was Amy who tripped on the stone and fell off. Don't scold Lucy please..."
A seven year old Henry also joined Veronica before saying, "Yes Aunt. Vero is right. Lucy never pushed Amy."
Reuben also supported Lucinda and said, "Yes.. Vero never tells lie."
Mrs. Jones who was both Andrew and Amy's mother, picked Amelia up from the ground and inspected her scratch and said, "Amy.. It's not even a big scratch then why are you crying so much? And you shouldn't blame others unnecessarily baby.."
But Amelia was not ready to accept her defeat and said, "No.. I'm not lying. Lucy really push…"
"Stop pushing your own fault on others, Amy. I had seen with my own eyes that you got tripped yourself...
Moreover, stop behaving like a crybaby for such a small matter and try to be a little strong like Vero and Lucy.." Andrew scolded Amelia which stopped her from saying anything more.
Neil and Jack just observed the whole fiasco and shook their heads like some elder people while Louis just ignored her and continued playing with a stick..
Years passed by and the children became more close to each other...
-----
Ten more years later…
Elite National School…
Now the children had already grown up into beautiful teenagers.
Andrew was the eldest among them as his age was eighteen that time and he had already started his college.
Reuben, Neil, Jack and Henry were seventeen years now whereas Veronica, Lucinda, Amelia and Louis were fifteen years old.
The girls were sitting in the canteen, talking about some new movies that had recently released...
At that moment, the five boys just came back from the basketball court, finishing their practice session.
As soon as they reached near the girls, Reuben pulled Veronica's hair which made her glare at him as she snapped in irritation, "Why do you always do this, Ben? Didn't I tell you not to pull my hair?"
"Yeah… You told me but I chose to not grant your wish. So I'll continue pulling your hair as much I want.." Reuben said casually, shrugging his shoulders as he took a vacant chair from the nearest table and placed it beside Veronica before sitting on it.
Amelia's eyes travelled to Henry who was sipping water. He was looking really s.e.xy with his sweat filled body and hair.
She quietly pulled a chair out beside her so that Henry could sit there. Instead Henry make a round of the table and sat beside Lucinda who was smiling at him.
Jack took the vacant chair beside Amy while Louis and Neil also followed him.
"So where were we? Yeah...we were talking about the movie." Lucinda started their previous conversation again.
"Yeah… The lead actor is so much handsome. Whenever I just see his videos or pictures, I fell in love with him again and again.." Veronica said dreamily.
This arced Reuben's interest and he threw daggers at Veronica who was going on blabbering about that so called handsome actor.
His jealousy increased and he freaked out really loud, "Stop saying other man's name in front of me. I'm much more handsome than your so called hollywood actor.."