Rekindled | ✓

Chapter 22 - Cottage

"Rude." Rohan said grumpily.

"Continue." She stated boredly.

"People," Ayansh intervened. "Let's respect her choice."

"Fine." Emma agreed. "Let's start. And nobody will say the word that has already been said before and whoever isn't able to be quick with their answers is out of the game."

"Got it." Rohan clapped. "I'll go first. Moon."

"Moon, beautiful." Emma continued.

"Beautiful, mother." Sameer smiled.

"Mother, child." Ayansh mused.

"Child, bottle." Rohan grinned.

Emma grimaced. "Bottle, wine."

Sameer chuckled. "Wine, heartbreak."

"Heartbreak, love." Inaaya mumbled but nobody pointed it out, not wanting to break the flow of the game.

"Love, In- ," Ayansh caught himself before he could complete the word.

Inaaya froze, her eyes slowly coming to his, millions of emotions swimming in them.

Rohan and Emma raised their eyebrows in confusion, not understanding why did he stop himself.

Sameer's eyes widened and his gaze fell on Inaaya, his suspicion that there was more than what was seen on the surface between his boss and an employee of his intensifying.

"Complete it." Sameer prodded.

"Love," Ayansh began, calming himself, "intimacy."

Emma's eyes narrowed at that answer and Sameer's lips quirked.

"Don't mind me asking but," Emma let out a nervous laugh, "when people talk about love, the first things that usually come in mind are trust, understanding, communication and all that or a person's name. Intimacy is something unusual." The question swirled in her gaze.

"I strongly disagree." Rohan interrupted. "Love is intimacy in today's world. Physical intimacy, kisses and sex, it's all about that, isn't- " He bites his tongue when Emma widens her eyes and he realises he has goofed up by saying it in front of his boss.

Inaaya darts her gaze away, sighing while Ayansh stares blankly.

Emma shakes her head subtly in disappointment. "It includes emotional intimacy as well. What you were talking about was lust," she grits out. "Intimacy is- "

"To be close to someone." Ayansh cuts them off, his voice shutting every other sound in the room, turning every eye on the table towards him. Inaaya tilts her face and looks at him curiously. "The intimacy of being so close to someone that the sun itself feels envious of you. The impulse to protect their smile at any cost and the desire to lock them in your arms so they could never escape." His gaze flicker to Inaaya for a split second and her heart skips a beat as her toes curl. "It's the way everything seems to fall in place when they interlink their fingers with yours and the way your heart sighs when you wake up to their sight in the morning. The intimacy of letting them know your worst fears and deepest insecurities. The intimacy of sharing the view of the setting sun and stealing a kiss under the night sky as the stars watch you in a daze, fading in and out with the moon being the only witness. The intimacy of trusting someone so much that you give them your heart in exchange of yours. Even giving them the power to break it." He whispers the last line, his gaze connecting with Inaaya's, a soft, apologetic look piercing through her armour.

"Woah." Rohan's low, flattered voice breaks the unintentional silence that had encased them. "That was something."

Ayansh looks at him and purses his lips, shrugging awkwardly.