🎶 Numb Little Bug - Piano Version
Published on 29.09.2022
❝ do you ever get a little bit tired of life?
like you're not really happy,
but you don't wanna die;
like you're hanging by a thread,
but you gotta survive. ❞
🥀
Inaaya looks around to find everyone busy and heaves a breath. She was never a fan of parties so this felt the right moment to leave considering she didn't have anything to contribute more and was neither surrounded by people, forcing herself to give a polite smile and getting engaged in conversations she was least interested in. She grabbed her jacket and hung it by her arm. Just when she was about to turn towards the exit and take a step forward, a shrill voice called her name, making her sigh and halt.
"Inaaya," the voice called again, merrily and she turned around.
"Felix," she muttered and gave him an amused smile, pretending to be surprised and happy to see him here when in reality, she had been trying and had been successful until now to not attract his attention. It wasn't as if she didn't like him but she was tired to hold a conversation especially when he's known to engage people in long ass talks.
Felix jogged towards her, a charming smile stretched across his face, his dirty blonde hair bouncing lightly. "I was searching for you the whole night!" He said cheekily, running a hand through his hair.
"Me?" Inaaya pointed towards her, feigning surprise.
"Ofcourse." He grinned. "The prettiest boy looking for the prettiest girl."
"Oh, god." She scoffed and rolled her eyes, chuckling. "That was cringe."
Felix rubs the back of his neck sheepishly. "Maybe it was," he admits, "but you look really pretty." He adds sincerely.
Inaaya looks down at herself. She was wearing a deep red cocktail dress which ended just below her knees and had a crew neck. It was simple if anything and her hair was left open in an elegant hairstyle in a way which accentuated their wavy form. "You don't have to lie so blatantly but thank you." She gave him a warm smile. "You don't look too bad yourself." She remarked playfully.
A coy smile curved up on his lips. "Oh, the honour of receiving a compliment from you. By the way," he outstretched his right hand and lowered himself, "can I be lucky enough to receive another honour of dancing with you?" He raised his brows expectantly.
Inaaya's smile vanished and she looked at him apologetically. "Felix, I'm sorry but.... I need to leave." She answered, wringing her fingers.
"Oh," his face fell and he straightened himself. "Not even one dance?" He tried his luck.
Inaaya pursed her lips. "I would've but... I really need to go. I've even called the cab."
He tries not to look much dejected and forces a smile onto his face. "I was actually going to ask to atleast let me drop you but," he shakes his head and breathes out, "my luck doesn't seem to like me much right now."
She let's out a dry laugh.
"You won't even have a drink, right?" He tries again, futilely.
Inaaya pouts and shakes her head slowly. "You know I don't drink." She did but only with Maya and if Akira joined them but he didn't need to know that.
"Ugh." Felix groans. "Why are you even leaving this early?"
"Why do you keep trying when you know there's no chance?" She asks instead, smiling sadly.
"Because you're special." He flashes her a charismatic smile, all the previous disappointment fading away. "And maybe one day, you'll realize I'm so much better and come running to me." He winked and she laughed.
"Do you say this to every woman you know?" She narrows her eyes.
"At workplace? Nope."
"I thought I was special." She says, feigning offence.
"Oh, you're pretty girl." He softens his eyes and forwards his hand.
Confused, Inaaya frowns but keeps her hand in his as he encloses his fingers around them and twirls her without any warning, taking her by surprise. "But there's a dearth of chivalrous guys so gotta keep the ladies happy." He voices out innocently.
Inaaya widens her eyes in amusement before falling into laughter. "You know what, carry on. I must leave."
"I had my way to have a dance with you." He emulates the twirl. "I can't drop you to your house but atleast let me accompany you till downstairs?"
She hesitates for a moment but gives in. "Fine." She smiles and starts walking towards the exit, pulling on her jacket simultaneously as he follows her.
After coming out of the hotel where the party was held, Inaaya waits for her cab with Felix standing beside her.
A gusty wind blows making her clutch her jacket closer, strands of her hair falling over her face and blocking her vision.
"Seems it's going to rain." Felix comments, shoving his hands in his pocket.
"I hate rains." She murmurs, tucking back the strands of her hair. "I hope I reach home before it starts rain- ," she stops suddenly when her gaze drifts to a far end and Felix confused by her behaviour, follows her line of sight.
"It's Daniel, isn't it?" She asks, squinting her eyes.
"Yeah." Felix mumbles. "He's talking to someone.... but I can't see the person's face. It seems like a guy though."
"It's a guy for sure." Inaaya says assertively. "But don't know who he is."
"It isn't any of our concern. Why are you so curious?"
Inaaya blinks, realisation hitting her. "That's- that's true." She replies, surprised by her own behaviour. "Forget it." She chuckles and shakes her head, turning her gaze away when the person seemed to be sitting inside the car and Daniel seemed to be making his way back to the hotel.
Just then a cab pulls in front of her, catching her attention.
"Ah, it's time Cindrella."
"Felix, stop it!" Inaaya shrieked, an unwilling blush creeping up her neck and cheeks at the amount of endearments the guy keeps showering on her.
Felix smirks, satisfied. "I like when you blush."
"I'm leaving." She huffs and opens the door for the backseat.
"I hope this friendly flirter was a good company for whatever limited time he could spend with you." He adds dramatically as she gets into the cab.
"Terrible!" She says, faking a horrified expression and he laughs.
"Felix?"
A voice calls him and he turns around.
Daniel's gaze move from him to Inaaya and his expression suddenly changes to a more sombre one. He quickly masks it away and pulls on a cheerful face but Inaaya had already caught upon it.
"You're leaving?" He questions Inaaya.
"I'm tired and have a mild headache so yeah... " She trails off.
He nods in understanding before looking at Felix. "And you?"
"Wherever the party is." He grins.
"Then let's go." Daniel chuckles.
Felix waves his hand at Inaaya as he goes back inside with Daniel.
The cab pulls away and Inaaya was about to lean back in her seat when instinctively, her eyes wander outside, an indescribable feeling tugging at her chest.
"Stop the car!" She screeches suddenly as her eyes fall on something.
The driver applies the brakes, making her jerk forward slightly, her hand flying to her front, planting itself on the back of the passenger's seat to not let her head slam into it.
Before the driver could ask anything, she speaks up. "I'll be back in a second." She opens the door and steps out.
It had started drizzling. She walks towards the pavement and bends down to pick up the material that caught her eye.
A handkerchief.
She looks around but finds no-one. She stares down at the white handkerchief in her hand, confused by her own behaviour. It was the same place where Daniel was talking to a guy few moments back. The handkerchief most probably belonged to Daniel or that unknown guy.
It was simply a handkerchief, nothing much important but she didn't know what propelled her that she decided to push the handkerchief in her purse, making a mental note to ask Daniel about it the next day.
Maya opens the door for Inaaya. The smell of cinnamon hits her nostrils as she enters.
"Wow. What's that?" She takes a deep inhale of the smell lingering in the air and sighs in bliss.
Khushi appears in the living room, munching on a bite of cookie in her hand and her face splits into a broad smile when she notices Inaaya.
"Ina didi." She chirps and runs towards her.
Inaaya gets on her knees and spreads her arms as Khushi runs straight into them. "Khush!" She exclaims joyfully, surprised to see her at this time and engulfs her.
When Khushi pulls away, she removes her sandals and jacket and keeps her purse on the table.
"Why didn't you tell me that Khush was here?" She asks Maya, feeling slightly disappointed. "I would've been back sooner."
"Oh, you're here." Akira catches their attention before Maya could respond. "We had a deal," she says looking at Maya, "and she basically won and as a consequence, she demanded me to make snickerdoodle cookies for her."
"That's fine but y'all should've told me if you two were coming here." Inaaya forces a smile on her face to not let her obvious disappointment be evident and makes her way to her room.
Khushi sits in front of television, watching her cartoons.
"It's good you're back. I doubt the cookies would've remained till late." Akira serves some of them when Inaaya comes back after freshening up and takes her place on the couch.
Her mouth falls agape as she stares between Maya and Akira. "Y'all weren't even planning to save some cookies for me?"
Maya who was busy scrolling on her phone freezes before looking up at Inaaya who clearly seemed shocked and Akira as usual seemed unbothered as she pulled her knees up leaned back on the couch. "Akira was planning to take the rest of the cookies with her." She says with a straight face.
Akira snaps her head towards Maya, furrowing her brows. "I wasn't." She states.
"No need to lie babes." She chuckles.
Inaaya whips her head towards Akira, staring at her with hurt. "I know you don't like me much but this... this is a little extreme. I mean, you weren't even planning to keep two cookies for me aside?"
Akira looks at Inaaya, her face void of any emotion. "You really think I would do that?"
"Ina," Maya calls out. "You got the cookie. Doesn't matter if Akira was planning to not give you any. Forget it."
"Best F is lying."
A childish voice blooms, making them all look at the source.
"She wanted to eat all the cookies by herself. She even fought with me because she didn't want to give me any cookie." Khushi says with an angry frown as she looks at Maya, a pout adorning her mouth.
Maya hisses. "Weren't you watching your cartoon?" She grits.
Akira tries to contain her smile.
"You fought with a kid?" Inaaya says ib disbelief, a strange expression marring her face.
Akira beckons Khushi towards her, making her sit on her lap as Maya constantly threw daggers at the little kid.
"The cookies were for me." Maya mutters in annoyance. "Snickerdoodles are my favourite and Akira makes them the best. I can't compromise."
Inaaya scoffs. "Even Khush acts more mature than you."
"Oh, shut it." She shrieks in defiance. "Anyways, you were at a party, having delicious food so it made sense if I didn't want to share any cookie with you."
"Sharing is caring." Khushi mutters, earning a proud look from Inaaya and an irritated one from Maya. "Mumma says." She adds, pushing herself closer to the said woman.
"Didn't your Mumma tell that you shouldn't interrupt when elders are speaking?"
"Maya!" Inaaya glares at her. "Get your act together."
"Fucking hell!" She yells.
Akira's hand fly to cover Khushi's ears in a quick moment.
"Don't curse there's a kid in here!"
"Don't curse there's a kid in here!"
Inaaya and Akira both scream at the same time, making Maya flinch on her spot, looking at the two women in fright who were staring at her with a murderous glare.
"Sorry." Maya murmurs slowly. "But- but this is unfair." She argues meekly. "You two are being unreasonable and biased and partial- "
"Biased and partial mean the same." Inaaya corrects her.
"Fu- ," Maya closes her mouth and purses her lips when Inaaya's glare intensifies. She turns at Akira to find her looking at her in the same manner. "I hate you two!" She whines and they both give her an impassive look, raising her annoyance. "I hope- I hope- ," she looks at Inaaya, "I hope your new boss makes your life hell." She turns her gaze to Akira. "I hope you're forced to eat all those vegetables that you so passionately dislike." She spats and gets up, stomping to her room.
Akira shakes her head at that behaviour.
"She's such a kid at times." Inaaya mutters.
"Mumma," Khushi rumbles, tugging at Akira's wrist, making her look down.
Akira instantly removes her hands covering her daughter's ears. "Sorry," she mouths as Khushi rubs her ears.
"What- "
"Listen," Akira shuts her up and points an imperative finger. "If you heard something in the last couple of minutes, you didn't."
"Exactly. You didn't." Inaaya adds in agreement.
"Understood?"
"Understood?"
Khushi looks between the two women with a sullen and confused face and gets down on the floor. "Tom and Jerry." She says grumpily and gets back to watch the cartoon.
Akira breathes a sigh of relief and Inaaya chuckles inaudibly.
"Anything interesting?" Akira asks, initiating conversation.
They hear footsteps approaching and clench their teeth to keep a straight face and not burst into a laugh as Maya comes back with a bag of doritos and settles back in her place.
"I can't let y'all have an interesting conversation without me." She says, feigning an attitude.
"Yeah. But you can cast a curse on us on the smallest of things." Akira says sarcastically.
"As if her jinx ever works." Inaaya mutters under her breath. "Moving on," she starts, "I do have some new information."
"And what is that?" Maya asks eagerly as if the last few minutes never existed whereas Akira waits patiently for Inaaya to continue.
"So I had a small speech to deliver in the beginning of today's event, giving a warm welcome to everyone who came and thanking them and all." She shrugs. "And after that, I caught up with Daniel. He's Mr Stevens son if y'all don't remember." She clarifies immediately. "And while conversing with him, I got to know about the company's name." She smiles.
"Whose company?" Akira asks dumbly.
"The one who's going to undertake every other company." She replies in an exaggerated manner.
"Stop asking stupid questions." Maya dismisses Akira. "Name please." She focuses back on Inaaya.
"IA Enterprises." She says without missing a beat. "Has any of you ever heard the name?"
"Didn't you google?" Akira asks instead.
"I have zero idea about business, let alone the companies."
"I didn't google." Inaaya says, picking up a cookie. "He's going to come tomorrow, we'll know anyways. And I haven't heard about this company ever. Probably because I never showed any interest in the Indian market. Akira?" She calls out as she sees Akira in a deep thought. "Do you know about it?"
She looks up, her brows still pinched together. "No but.... as in the letters IA?"
Maya laughs. "Obviously, it has to be the letters. What's wrong with you today?"
Inaaya clicks her tongue. "Actually I'm confused too. My first thought was obviously the letters but then... then I thought what if it's the Hindi word आइए (aaiye)?"
"I A?" Maya inquires, puzzled. "What's the difference?"
"In hindi, it's a word which means to come." Inaaya explains. "It's bizzare but what if that's his company name. Unorthodox way to keep a company's name but it piques an interest in people's mind for sure."
"Well, that does make some sense." Akira agrees, albeit still looking slightly disturbed for some reason. "I think I should leave now."
"Stay back." Maya says, a yawn escaping her mouth.
"I did- "
" -on Sunday." Inaaya completes her statement. "It's raining right now. It's better if you stay back tonight."
"I- "
"Don't argue Akira." Maya cuts her off. "I really don't understand why don't you simply shift here. You don't even have to pay me any rent like Inaaya since you already help me with the bakery."
"I'm not freeloading- "
"Then pay rent."
"And make you more rich than you already are?" She raises a brow. "No, thanks."
Maya looks from the corner of her eyes and finds Khushi looking at them. "I'm sure Khush would want to stay back for the night. She's tired. Aren't you baby?" She turns her head at Khushi.
Khushi gets down from the beanbag she was sitting on and hastily walks towards Maya. Hugging her leg as Maya leaned more towards her and held her shoulders, she looked back at her mother with puppy eyes. "Please, Mumma."
Akira stared back at the two with parted lips. "Unbelievable." She breathes out and then her gaze follows Inaaya who quietly tiptoes towards the duo and stands on the other side of Khushi in silent support.
"I don't have any choice, do I?"
-
Everyone had gathered in the large conference room on the second floor. The arrangements were all done to welcome the new boss, nothing extravagant since he had personally requested to not take extra efforts for him, they tend to make him uncomfortable. Daniel was present there too beside his Dad, a bouquet of white lilies in his hand and a gift about which she didn't have any idea was held by the woman on his side.
Inaaya stifled a yawn, bored of the praises and speeches and pre introductions that seemed to be never ending. She fidgeted on her spot as she stood in the corner of the last row, her heels aching due to the black pumps she was wearing. The pen loosely being held between the fingers of her left hand. She glanced at her phone when its screen came to light to find another missed call from Akira. She had been busy since the time she arrived at her workplace so had put the phone on silent and now, it had five missed calls from Akira and two from Josh.
She shoved her phone back in the pockets of her pants when another round of applause echoed and immediately joined her colleagues in the same. No offense, but she never understood the point of too many speeches before some important occasion, especially when you already knew what was being spoken. Apart from the name of the successor, they seemed to be knowing a lot about him.
"You might not know him personally but you're very much familiar with him. Or atleast most of you would be." Mr Stevens added quickly, eliciting a chuckle from many. "At the age of 26, with his vision and ambition, sincerity and discipline, hardwork and ethics, he has achieved what most of us could only dream of. I'm proud of him," his voice softens and Inaaya notices how's there a familial feeling as he speaks about him. I wish I could share more about him and my relationship with him but I guess I'll keep if for some other time."
Inaaya rolls her eyes at the comment, lowering her head as if Mr Stevens hadn't said more than enough. A sharp cheer and applause follows after something Mr Stevens says which takes her aback, stunning her, making her look ahead and around. For a second, she believed that maybe the loud, enthusiastic response was because "he who should not be named" has arrived but she found people mumbling to each other and the next moment, she finds why were they mumbling.
"Yes, he's indeed the founder of IA Enterprises." Mr Stevens says, a grin plastered on his face. "I see many of you have already heard about him, especially girls." Sheepish giggles are heard in the air making Inaaya frown in displeasure. Mr Stevens has always been this friendly and warm; people respected him a lot not because he demanded it due to his position but because he had earned it but right now, Inaaya couldn't help but dislike him a little for some unknown reason.
Just then, a woman quietly enters the conference room, her eyes running over the crowd and sighing in relief when she's soon to find Inaaya. She walks over to her and taps her shoulder.
Inaaya turns over to her.
"There's a call for you at the reception. It has been redirected to this floor outside."
"Okay, I'll get it." She says, slightly fazed and makes her way out, the woman leading in front.
Was it Akira since she had already been trying to call her? Was it something really important and she was careless to ignore it? Akira rarely called her and she even wasn't someone who would ask others for help. So, Inaaya didn't pay any heed and if it was that important why didn't Akira leave any message? Was it about Khushi? Is she okay? Questions, followed by concern, followed by fear slithered its was in her mind.
She immediately pushed her hand in her pocket to pull out her phone, her gaze following her action, her hair falling to the front, covering the side of her face. Before she could take out her phone to check if there were more missed calls or any new message, her body collided with another, jerking her back slightly, making the pen in her hand drop to the floor.
"Tch." The sound came out of her mouth, her forehead creasing in mild frustration that was brewing up and she bent down to pick up her pen without a second thought or glance, unaware that the person with whom she collided did the same.
Life should come with a heads up. There's weather forecast which helps you to plan for your day; life should also have something similar. She had carried an umbrella today because the forecast said it might rain and even though it hadn't till now, she had atleast been prepared. But how do you prepare for life?
Lightning sparked outside, thundering rumbled in the sky but nothing matched the way her heart hammered in her chest as her hand brushed against his, making her freeze as if she was caught in some kind of time travel. She didn't look up, didn't even have to, just stayed silent and still as if this would pass soon and she'll realise it was just a wave of sick nostalgia that had washed over her and now, when it's gone, she's back to feeling cold and empty and normal.
But it was meant to stay this time.
The touch, she assumed to be cold but was warm. The brush, she thought to remind her of heartbreak made her heart flutter in hope. The feeling meant to make her mourn over the distance she believed was impossible to bridge, made her a silent promise to stay.
***
I'm so excited to write the further chapters even though I've zero idea of how to progress the story but I know there's going to be a truckload of parallels and I'm so up for them!
Any views on Akira and Maya? They'll play a significant part in the story and have more role than Alisha and Nikita and Ayansh's friends had in the preceding story.
Hope you're enjoying it so far. Don't forget to vote and comment. It makes my day 💕
• Thank you for reading •