AEOTM Chapter 7
Spark
Scritch~ Scritch~
As soon as she had entered her room, Ari sat cross-legged on the bed, pulling her songs notebook and a pen from her bag, which now lay haphazardly on the floor. Excited by her new inspiration for the tune— with a strong instinct that it might actually work this time—she retrieved her phone and opened a free online piano website. The notebook and pen rested on her lap, awaiting her attention.
Having known how to play the basics of piano notes—Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Da Ni Sa—since college, she began working out the tune, making small tweaks to fit her lyrics while humming and tapping on the phone screen.
After a while, she figured something out. Thrilled, she quickly jotted down the music notes above her lyrics in the notebook. Feeling a sense of accomplishment, she glanced at her watch: 4:00 p.m.
Her eyes widened. Stuffing her notebook into her bag, she rushed to freshen up— oh no! only a few minutes left before she had to catch the metro for her evening shift.
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Chime~
Ari pushed open the cafe door, which chimed - welcoming her. The cafe sparse, with only two customers at the tables, working animatedly on their laptops, was relatively quiet.
Her boss, Rams, was chatting with his wife - Maya, at the reception counter who was seemingly on her day off. While he only had a small smile on his face - on his otherwise stern face, his whole person seemed to radiate happiness because of his wife's presence at the cafe that evening.
Maya, a beautiful woman with a dusky skin-tone and curly locks, was very cheerful and gentle towards everyone. She worked as a Product Manager at a rising cosmetics-startup company, and seldom visited the cafe because of her hectic schedule.
“Good evening!", greeted Ari with a smile.
“Good Evening to you too, Ari!” Maya returned the greeting, beaming, while Rams only nodded with a small smile.
Walking into the kitchen, her hands at the back tying her apron, Ari took in the familiar scene – Tina in the far corner, chatting on her phone with earbuds in (her classic ‘Don’t approach me’ mode ON), and Ravi staring out through the glass at the reception area, wearing a complicated expression.
Shaking her head a little, Ari smiled. “Hi Ravi! What are you staring at with the world’s burden on your shoulders?” Ravi turned towards her, his exaggerated expression that of a man making a solemn decision with his life at stake. “ Hey...to you too... Say, Ari, do you think...maybe I should just get married? The boss seems soooo happy – almost like a proud cat showing off his territory – every time Maya visits the cafe.”
Amused, Ari laughed softly at her friend’s comparison. “Don’t let our boss hear you, especially when the salaries will be credited next week!” Ravi rolled his eyes and smirked, “Oh please~ Boss is practically glued to Maya when she’s here, with all his attention on her. Mob characters like us don’t even enter his field of vision.”
A gentle laugh came from the kitchen door. The duo turned to the door to find Maya standing there chuckling, with a hand covering her mouth. Rams, standing behind Maya, glared at Ravi though his expression quickly softened when Maya patted his shoulder as if to say take it easy.
“Gossiping behind your employer’s back?” she teased.
-TBC-
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