Half Girlfriend

said in a baby voice.
I took that as a sign that she was in a good mood. I voiced what
had been haunting me for the past twenty-four hours.
‘You didn’t answer my question,’ I said.
‘What?’
‘The proposal.’
‘Baby, why are you doing this to us?’
‘I can say the same thing to you.’
We locked eyes for a few seconds. I came forward to kiss her. She
ducked, and my lips landed on her forehead.
‘What?’ I said.
‘That was sweet. I like forehead kisses,’ she said.
I gently took hold of her chin and raised her face. Our eyes met
again. I leaned forward to kiss her again.
She moved her face away with a jerk.
‘What, baby?’ I said. If she could call me baby, I could too.
‘No. No, Madhav, no.’
‘Why not?’
‘I don’t want to. I’m not comfortable.'
‘We did it earlier.’
‘Yes, okay, we did. But I thought about it and I don’t want to.’
‘You don’t want to be with me?’
‘I didn’t say that.’
‘Well, are you my girlfriend?’
‘No,’
‘What are we then?’
‘Friends?’
‘You allow friends to hold you like this?’
I had not let her go. She gently moved away.
‘Okay, I’m your half-girlfriend.’
‘What?’
‘Yeah. I’m close to you. We spend time together. We can have
affectionate hugs. But nothing more.’