LOSING YOU

Chapter 88- Instagram Stories

Kabir's POV...

It's raining heavily by the time I reach home. I enter the house and find Myra watching Frozen for the hundredth time, a bucket of ice cream on her lap, the spoon in her mouth, and her eyes wide with admiration when Elsa's dress transforms as she yells "Let it go" on the screen. I walk towards her and gently pull the spoon out of her mouth. Her eyes immediately flicker towards me and she smiles. "Hey! Come, sit here." She says, patting the sofa beside her, I settle in the sofa and pull her in my lap, the back of her head snuggles inside my chest, the smell of butterscotch and milk engulfs my senses, a chuckle escapes me as she absent-mindedly lifts a scoop over her head, trying to feed me the ice-cream. Her eyes never leave the screen, I lean my face closer to the spoon, take a bite, and smile when she offers me a freshly used tissue paper, I grab it and dab it in the corners of my mouth, even though there is no ice cream in my face.

Sometime later, I put Myra to bed, grab both the keys, and leave the house. I drive in absolute silence as my mind is a warehouse of thoughts. All kinds of thoughts, the guard smiles at me and opens the gate, I park the car and walk out until I'm staring at Siya's building. I have no idea why I'm here. She's not even there in that apartment. Ever so hesitantly, I take the elevator and stare for a good thirty seconds at the door before pulling out the set of spare keys from my back pocket and unlocking the door. What the hell am I doing? This is not something that I should be doing, I push my way inside despite every cell in my body screaming at me to turn back and go home to Myra. I turn on a switch but there's no light, "Shit," I mumble to myself and recharge the electricity bill, and the room lights up. To my surprise, everything is covered in plastic. Of course, everything is covered in plastic. Siya Mehra lived here...

I walk further into the house and a smile covers my lips as the warmth of the dust-filled space fills me. I open the door to her bedroom and remove the covers. My sight is greeted by a lilac bedsheet with a floral print on it, I take off my shoes and lie down on the bed. This bed doesn't feel the same anymore. It smells like... not Siya. The ceiling keeps staring at me, my eyes fixed on the fan as it moves slowly, silently, patiently. Suddenly, I prop up on the bed and unlock my phone. It's been ages since I've used my Instagram. I log in and casually check my profile. A few million followers and a DM flooded with nudes. I start scrolling through the thousands of posts of the few people I follow. Ava's wedding pictures, Fatty's new farmhouse, and all that. Then, like every other fool, I tap on the first story uploaded. A few posts from Hamilton, a picture of Dad eating the chocolate cake Mum made, and after a few mindless taps, I pause... my thumb glued to the screen along with my eyes.

It's Ava's story.

There's a picture of Siya laughing- bold red lips, a silver cowl neck dress, shorter hair, and are those highlights? She looks different, in her hand, she's holding a champagne-filled glass with a lipstick stain on it. The background is dim and cheery. A nightclub. My eyes shift to the other half of the picture, a huge guy with striking blue eyes and dark hair, wearing a suit that might be somewhat of the same price as the ones I wear. I hate him already. He's so ugly. His arm is hidden behind Siya, he's probably holding her waist and maybe he had cracked a joke to which she laughed when the picture was clicked. I don't like the way he's sitting so close to her, I mean the asshole's nose is almost inside her ear, I don't like the way his arm is touching her body, and hell I absolutely hate the way he's staring at her perfect face like he wants to keep her, love her, devour her. Under the picture, it's written: These two <<3, along with two earth emojis and two red hearts. I'll kill Ava. I hate her so much. I hate this guy. I hate my life. She's happy. She's laughing. She has moved on. And that sucks.
I immediately search for Siya's ID, and to my surprise, she hasn't blocked me, not yet. I tap on her story and god- fuck me. She's wearing a pink sports bra and black yoga pants. Woah. It's a mirror selfie of her in a gym. Her body is soaked in sweat. The bottom of the bra is darker due to the wetness and I... I want to lick those- No. No. I don't want to lick anything off anybody. Especially not the droplets of sweat from my ex-girlfriend's cleavage. I smile at the picture- "When Miss Ava sends you to the gym, you go to the gym. XOXO." This is so adorable. Why are my emotions so fucked up? I go on to the next story. "And how I love Target!" The same guy again, Siya is sitting cross-legged inside a shopping cart filled with stuff. With a pair of ridiculous neon orange sunglasses on, the tag is resting on her nose and she's pouting as her hands are in "thumbs up", the man is smiling, and how I hate his teeth. Ew. And who wears ripped jeans anyway? What an ass. I like Siya's purple oversized t-shirt though... Anger and hatred rush into my veins as look at the disgusting son of a bitch again. I press my phone to my ear and patiently listen to the rings. She picks up the call on the fifth ring.