[Author's POV]
After lunch, the office settled into its usual post-meal lull. The clinking of plates in the cafeteria had faded, replaced by the low hum of keyboards and the occasional shuffle of papers.
From behind the glass walls of his cabin, Aarav sat back in his chair, his gaze fixed, not on the spreadsheet open before him, but on Priya. She was at her desk, her head bent slightly as she typed, a loose strand of hair slipping forward to graze her cheek.
He wasn't watching her idly, he was calculating, thinking, planning. How to get her back in here. How to make her stay longer this time.
He tapped his pen against the desk, leaning forward and opening a few random files on his laptop, eyes skimming for something... anything... that could be stretched into a discussion long enough to keep her seated across from him.
Nothing tempting enough appeared, so he reached for his phone and dialed Ritvik. "Yeah?" came Ritvik's voice, muffled with the sound of chatter in the background.
"Do we have anything pending?" Aarav asked, his tone deceptively casual. "Something discussed but unfinished? Any files I should take a look at?"
There was a beat of silence. "A lot," Ritvik finally said. "Why?" "Just send it to me." Aarav's voice left no room for questions.
He cut the call before Ritvik could speak again.
Across the office, Ritvik stared at his phone, muttering under his breath. "Idiot's not asking for work. He's plotting something." Still, two minutes later, he dumped twelve bulky files into Aarav's inbox.
Aarav scanned through them until one caught his attention, a document with enough complexity to easily stretch into an hour-long discussion, perfect.
He reached for the intercom, pressing the button. "Priya," his voice came smooth, deliberate. "Come to my cabin. Bring your laptop and some note-taking materials."
[Aarav's POV]
I pulled up the file Ritvik had sent, the "perfect excuse" to keep her here longer.
"Priya," I began, my tone casual but deliberate, "this is a new AI integration proposal for our upcoming client. We're building a predictive analytics dashboard for retail inventory, real-time stock updates, demand forecasting, and automated restocking triggers."
She nodded, opening her laptop, eyes scanning the document like she'd been doing this for years. "So... you want me to analyze the scope?" she asked.
"Not just analyze," I said, leaning toward her screen. "I want us to map the workflow, data ingestion points, API connectivity, machine learning model outputs, everything."
As I explained, I leaned closer, letting my arm brush hers under the pretense of pointing at her screen.
She didn't flinch, just kept typing, the faint scent of her shampoo drifting to me every time she moved.
"There," I said, my fingers ghosting over hers as I guided the cursor. "If we use a hybrid model, rule-based plus neural network, it'll give us better accuracy in seasonal demand."
Her hand stilled for a second under mine, and I felt that tiny, almost imperceptible pause. I didn't remove my touch immediately. I wanted her to feel the heat of my skin, even if she'd pretend not to notice.
Minutes passed like this, work, proximity, casual touches I could excuse as nothing but "accidents." Then I saw it, a single strand of hair slipping down her left cheek, catching the light as it curved toward her lips. I don't know if it was the sight of it or the thought of how soft it would feel between my fingers, but my right hand, the one she'd bandaged, lifted before I could stop it. Slowly, deliberately, I tucked that strand behind her ear.
Her head turned toward me at the touch, and our eyes locked. For a breathless second, it was just us, her wide-eyed and still, me on the verge of saying something I probably shouldn't.
And then, bang. The door swung open. "Bro-" Ritvik's voice filled the room before his brain caught up with the scene in front of him.
Priya blinked, looked at him, and something shifted in her expression, like a wall slamming back into place. She stood abruptly, gathering her notebook and laptop so fast it almost looked rehearsed.
"I'll... send you the draft," she said, her voice clipped, avoiding my eyes completely. And before I could say a word, she was gone.
The door shut behind her, and I was still staring at it when my glare snapped to Ritvik.
"Don't you have hands? Can't you knock before coming in?" I bit out.
He raised a brow, completely unfazed. "I always come in like this. You never said anything before, so why today, you bastard?"
I leaned back in my chair, my injured hand curling into a fist. "Because today, you picked the wrong time."
He tilted his head, eyes narrowing like he'd caught something in my tone. "Why are you acting like I ruined your honeymoon?"
"Just tell me why you're here," I said, voice sharp.
He dropped into the chair across from me. "I sent you a dozen files in one go, so I thought I'd better come and help you sort them out, most of them need immediate attention."
He leaned back, studying me with that annoyingly perceptive gaze of his. "So...She's the one you've been dreaming about, right? The reason you suddenly visited the Software Development department last week for no apparent reason?"
I didn't answer right away, just tapped my pen against the desk. But there was no point pretending with Ritvik. He's known me too long, he reads my silences better than my words.
"Yes," I said finally, my voice low but certain. “It's her. The moment I first saw her, I knew she was the right girl for me. And today—" I paused, exhaling slowly. "Today, I was this close to making her feel something too."
His brow lifted. "You love her?"
A humorless smile touched my lips. "More than I've loved anything in my life. I don't just want her, Ritvik. I want... everything. Her smiles, her anger, her silences, hell, even the way she avoids looking at me sometimes. I want it all."
Ritvik's smirk faded into something more serious. "Aarav... be careful. She's your employee. This isn't just some casual chase. If you push too fast, you'll scare her off. And if you mess this up, you don't just lose her, you create a storm in the company."
I leaned back in my chair, my injured hand resting on the armrest. "I'm not going to scare her off."
"That's exactly what guys say before they screw it up," he shot back. "You're intense, too intense sometimes. Give her space. Let her come to you."
I met his gaze, unwavering. "I don't have time to play games, Ritvik. I've already lost years pretending love would just... happen. When it's real, you don't wait. You don't hope for the perfect timing, you make it happen."
He exhaled heavily, shaking his head. "You're impossible."
"Maybe," I said with a faint, defiant smile, "but one day she'll see what I see... and when she does, she won't want to leave."
He shook his head, standing up. "Just... try not to burn down the office in the process, lover boy."
But instead of leaving immediately, he paused by the door, a sly smirk creeping onto his face. "Tell me something, Aarav... you were about to kiss her if I hadn't walked in, weren't you?"
I froze, my jaw tightening. "Ritvik..." My voice was low, warning.
He just grinned wider.
"Get the hell out of my cabin before I throw you out myself, you nosy bastard."
Ritvik laughed, unbothered, and had the audacity to wink at me before finally turning the handle.
"Thought so," he murmured, slipping out into the hallway.
I exhaled sharply, rubbing a hand over my face. The man was infuriating.
[Author's POV]
Priya sank into her chair, her hands automatically reaching for the keyboard, though she didn't type a single word. The screen in front of her blurred, her mind stubbornly replaying the scene in Aarav's cabin.
It wasn't as if he'd never been close to her before, but today, the closeness had felt different. Every time he leaned toward her laptop to explain a detail, the air had grown warmer, thicker. And when his injured hand, of all things, had brushed her cheek to tuck away that stray strand of hair... it was as if time had stumbled.
Her mind scoffed at the memory, quick to lecture her. It's nothing. He's your boss. Don't read into it. But her heart refused to fall in line, thudding stubbornly, whispering that there had been something in his eyes. Something that had made her forget where she was, who he was, and what lines existed between them.
She drew in a deep breath, straightening in her seat, as if posture alone could steady the war inside her. She didn't want to believe it, didn't want to admit that for a second, she hadn't wanted to move away.
And then Ritvik stepped out of Aarav's cabin, still smirking from their heated back-and-forth. He turned toward his own office but didn't get more than a few steps before his gaze snagged on the desk directly in front of the glass cabin.
He let out a low whistle. "That sneaky bastard... put her right there so he can watch her without moving an inch. Tactical genius with the personality of a dictator."
Changing course, Ritvik sauntered over to Priya's desk. Her mind had been drifting far, far away, until the sound of footsteps dragged her back.
"Hi," he said easily, as though they'd met before. "I'm Ritvik, bha-" He almost slipped out with bhabhi, but caught himself at the last second. "-Ritvik. Senior Project Architect."
Priya offered a polite smile, "Good afternoon sir."
He glanced at her nameplate, leaning down just enough to read it. "Priya," he repeated, testing the name. "Nice name... suits you perfectly."
She tilted her head. "Thank you, sir."
A grin curved his mouth. "It's gonna match perfectly."
She frowned slightly. "Match in what, sir?"
"Nothing," he said quickly, waving it off, though the smirk stayed.
Ritvik grinned, then muttered under his breath, "No wonder he's losing his mind... you're beautiful. But damn, he's impossible to work with when he likes someone."
Priya blinked. "Did you say something, sir?"
He straightened, plastering on a wide smile. "I said Aarav's the best boss you could ask for. Brilliant mind. Sharp instincts. Sometimes a pain in the ass, well, most of the time a pain in the ass, but still, the guy gets results."
She hid a tiny smile at his candor.
"And," Ritvik added with a conspiratorial wink, "he's secretly got a heart. Don't tell him I said that, or he'll fire me just to maintain his scary image."
Priya gave a small laugh, clearly unsure how to respond. Ritvik, satisfied with himself, tossed her a friendly nod.
From inside his cabin, Aarav had a clear view of the whole interaction. He couldn't hear a word, but the way Ritvik lingered, and how Priya's lips curved at something he'd said, was enough to spark an uneasy restlessness in his chest.
[Aarav's POV]
I leaned back in my chair, jaw tight. I couldn't hear a damn thing, but I didn't need to. Ritvik's body language was loud enough, leaning on her desk, making her laugh, taking his sweet time like this was some coffeehouse meet-cute instead of office hours.
And her... she was smiling. Not the stiff, polite smile she used with strangers. No, this one was softer, almost amused.
I knew Ritvik, he wasn't a threat. He'd flirt with a lamppost if it gave him attention. But that didn't mean I liked him standing there, talking to her like they were already friends.
My fingers tapped against the desk, impatient. This wasn't about her smiling at him. This was about the fact that it wasn't me making her smile like that.
Ritvik finally nodded at her and strolled away, looking far too pleased with himself. He didn't look in my direction, but I knew, oh, I knew, he'd done this just to poke at me. I clenched my jaw, already planning how to make sure Priya wouldn't have the time or the reason to entertain him again.
I dropped my hand to the desk, my fingers drumming against the wood. "You were going to kiss her if I hadn't come, weren't you?"
Ritvik thought it was a joke, but it wasn't. Not for me. That moment wasn't some random impulse, it was the closest I'd been to crossing the invisible line I'd drawn for myself. And the way she'd looked at me... hell, there'd been something there, whether she wanted to admit it or not.
I wasn't going to let it slip away. Not because of a badly timed interruption.Not because she'd walked out without a word. I'd get her back in this cabin. I'd make her stay longer than she planned. And next time, I wouldn't stop at just tucking her hair behind her ear. The corner of my mouth tugged upward at the thought.
[Author's POV]
The day wound down, the usual hum of keyboards and low chatter fading as employees began gathering their things. Priya shut her laptop with a soft click, her mind still annoyingly tangled in the memory of Aarav leaning close, his hand brushing hers, the heat of his touch when he'd tucked that strand of hair away.
She told herself it was nothing, an accident, a boss merely trying to explain work, but her heart kept replaying it, stubbornly ignoring her logic. She slipped her laptop into her bag, stood, and smoothed down her kurti. The hallway was quiet except for the distant sound of the cleaning staff. She didn't notice, at first, the shadow behind the tinted glass of Aarav's cabin, still and unmoving.
Aarav leaned back in his chair, elbow on the armrest, watching her. He didn't call out. Didn't stop her. But his eyes followed every step she took toward the door, as if committing the sight to memory.
At the entrance, she paused for a breath, a strange heaviness in her chest, before stepping out into the evening air. Aarav's gaze stayed fixed on Priya until the glass door swung shut behind her. Then, without shifting in his seat, he reached for his phone and hit a number on the speed dial.
"She's leaving the company," Aarav said, his tone low and precise.
On the other end, his man, his private eye, replied instantly, "Okay, sir. I'm ready with my bike."
"Good," Aarav murmured. "And when are you going to give me the full information about the man who's been following Priya?"
There was a brief pause before the reply came. "Sir, tonight. I'll have everything by then."
"Bring it to my house the moment you get it," Aarav ordered.
"Yes, sir."
"Alright," Aarav said, glancing through the tinted glass toward the front entrance. "Now get ready, she's almost out."
"Understood," the man said, the line clicking dead a moment later.
Aarav slid the phone onto his desk, his jaw tightening. Outside, the streetlight had just flickered on, casting long shadows across the pavement, shadows he intended to keep Priya safe from, whether she knew it or not.
But somewhere beyond those shadows, the city was already swallowing her into its restless evening.
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To be continued.......
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