Inaya reached the apartment she shared with her best friend Aditi, and placed the gift package on the tea table with a sigh.

"Again?" Aditi asked in delight.

"Yeah," Inaya said with a shrug,

"What is it this time?" Aditi asked as she reached for the package herself.

"A crystal piece." Inaya said and heard Aditi gasp in awe as she saw the piece.

"Oh my! This is so beautiful. And definitely expensive, unlike the last two gifts." Aditi said thoughtfully.

"Expensive? How did you figure that one out?" Inaya asked curiously.

"See this hallmark carved here? The small, barely there one? That is one of the most famous jeweler's marks." Aditi said.

"Oh," that's all Inaya could say.

"First gift was on valentine's. Second one on your birthday. Why would he give this randomly today?" Aditi asked thoughtfully.

"It's my one year anniversary at Birla Industry." Inaya said.

"Oh man!! An admirer since your day one. He must be pretty crazy about you." Aditi said with a grin.

"Or he could be a pretty dangerous stalker," Inaya said.

Inaya's phone rang at that time and it was a call from her elder sister Eesha.

"Hello di,"

"Inaya? Do you have a date for the reception yet?" Eesha asked without wasting time on pleasantries.

Inaya rolled her eyes.

"No. And I don't need one, di." Inaya said in exasperation.

"Yes. You do. I don't want them to think that you are still hung up on him." Eesha said furiously.

Him being Maanav Thappar, her ex fiance. Who also happens to be the groom.

Maanav was her high school sweetheart, to whom she got engaged as soon as she got out of the college.

Everything was going well and happily in her life, until Kashvi Patel, her estranged cousin came to their village to visit her grandparents for the first time.

Inaya, being a friendly person by nature, had warmed up to Kashvi pretty fast. And she had never seen what was happening behind her back, until Maanav confessed that he had fallen out of love with her and fallen in love with Kashvi/

It had become so difficult for her to stay in her hometown after that. The sympathetic glances were too much to bear.

And she had fled.

Now she has moved on. And she is okay to go to the reception. But her sister is worried.

Even if she wants to, where is she going to find a date by the weekend?

****

Laksh found Inaya sitting alone in the cafeteria. The presentation she had been doing extended beyond the lunch hour, and she got late for the lunch.

Don't ask how he knows her whereabouts. He just did.

He ordered a coffee for himself and before he could stop himself, his legs took him towards her table.

"Mr Birla," Inaya greeted him, when she saw him. The surprise in her voice was unmistakable.

"Inaya," he replied in his usual terse tone.

Inaya looked up at him, waiting for him to say something.

But God help him, his mind went blank.

She continued to stare at him expectantly and finally when he was able to piece together a coherent thought, he asked the first thing that came in his mind.

"Is this chair taken?" He asked, against his better judgement.

Inaya looked up at him startled. She stared at him for a moment and looked around the cafeteria, at all the other empty chairs and tables.

Laksh cursed himself for being such an idiot.

"Uh no. It's not taken. Help yourself please," Inaya said.

"Thank you. I, ah, hate to eat alone," Laksh said the most stupidest thing he could ever say.

"You are not eating." Inaya said with a smile.

"I hate to drink alone too."

He saw Inaya raise an eyebrow at his excuse.

"Interesting. Because I rarely see you drinking or eating any way but alone." Inaya couldn't help pointing it out.

Laksh was too busy digesting the implication of her statement to be bothered by the statement itself.

Obviously she'd noticed that he generally spent his time alone.

She'd noticed him.

He couldn't imagine why a woman like her would pay attention to a man like him.

"Just because I drink and eat alone, doesn't mean I like it." He said softly.

He was surprised by both having spoken the words and by the discovery that they were true.

Inaya nodded.

"Then by all means, stay as long as you like. I will be glad to keep you company." She said with a smile.

That surprised him, too. But before he had a chance to ponder she continued.

"I am off for the rest of the day. So I have no work. But I am waiting for my sister, Eesha. She will be here soon to take me shopping." She uttered the last word with such loathing that he couldn't help chuckle.

"Don't like shopping?" He asked curiously.

"Let's just say, there are a million other things that I prefer doing."

"I thought a love for shopping was encoded into that second X chromosome you women have," he said lightly.

"Ah, ah, ah, Mr Birla, that narrow-minded assumption about women encoded into your Y chromosome is showing." Inaya retorted playfully.

"Touché," he said, grinning.

And then he realised how strange it felt to be doing that, too, because he so rarely did.

What was even stranger was that Inaya grinned back. Women hardly ever smiled at Laksh. Probably, he thought, because he rarely gave them a reason to.

But Inaya Kaur was a woman he would like to have smiling at him more often.

And not just because she had such a beautiful smile, either. But because of the astonishingly good way it made him feel to see it.

"Eesha di is a good shopper. And she has an amazing fashion sense. Which I absolutely lack." Inaya said.

"And you need fashion advice because?" Laksh asked.

"I have a family function to attend," Inaya said and Laksh saw that her smile has dimmed a little.

Yeah, family functions tend to do that for him too.

"Not much into family functions huh?"

"Oh no. I love family gatherings. It's just that, this function....Ah leave it." Inaya said, shrugging/

Laksh wanted to know what had happened to make that beautiful smile of hers falter. But he didn't want to pry.

"Inaya." They both looked up to see another woman coming towards their table.

"Mr Birla, this is Eesha. My sister. Di, this is my boss." Inaya made the introductions.

"Did you ask someone Inaya?" Laksh heard Eesha ask after exchanging pleasantries with him and saw Inaya glaring at her in return.

"I don't need a.." Inaya began to protest.

"You do," Eesha said authoritatively.

"Something wrong? How can I help you?" Laksh asked and he saw Eesha's eyes lit up in excitement.

"Why don't you ask him?" Eesha asked excitedly.

Inaya shook her head in no. She was horrified at the mere suggestion. How can she ask her boss out on a date? Even if it is a fake one!

"What is it?" Laksh asked curiously.

"Inaya needs a date for a family function this weekend. Would you be willing to volunteer? Otherwise the rest of the family would be giving her sympathetic looks which would irritate the hell out of us." Eesha asked directly.

"Dii," Inaya hissed and covered her face with both her hands.

"Since you are friends, why don't you help us out?" Eesha asked, without giving the other two an opportunity to talk.

"So what do you say Inaya? Why don't you ask Mr Birla to accompany you to the reception party on sunday?" Eesha asked cheekily.

A/N

Here goes the next shot!

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SF ❤️