CH 15 Unexpected People
The Malhotra mansion's dining hall roared with life laughter, chatter, the clatter of cutlery. Kabir flicked peas at Raghav's little son, who shrieked in delight. Meera scolded, but her laughter betrayed her. Aditya tried to keep order, but even he couldn't hide the tug of a smile.
The double doors slammed open.
Silence.
Aarav entered. Calm. Commanding. Every head instinctively turned as his presence hit like a stormfront. Rain clung to his coat, but his eyes unreadable scanned the room like a predator measuring prey.
"Bhai!" Kabir's grin was a knife in the calm. "Tumhara intezaar hi kar rahe the!"
Raghav chuckled, his son giggling again. "Ab Raj tauji ki seat se uthega hi nahi."
Meera poured water for him, her voice soft but curious. "Late night at the office again?"
Aarav's hand brushed his pocket. A small object pressed against his palm a toffee. Ordinary, meaningless. Except tonight, it wasn't.
Aditya's smirk cut the silence. "Kuch zyada hi khamosh lag rahe ho, Arav. Office mein kuch... interesting hua kya?"
Kabir leaned forward, eagerness sharp as a blade. "Ek baar sach batao na... kya chal raha hai?"
Aarav's gaze swept over the room. Calm. Deadly. "In the office... sometimes people arrive who can change everything."
A hush fell. Even the laughter stopped. Meera tilted her head, curiosity sparking. "Change everything? Sounds serious."
Kabir's grin widened, sharp and knowing. "Ah! Someone's hiding something!"
Aditya's chuckle was low, dangerous. "When Aarav says 'change everything,' it's never ordinary."
Aarav didn't elaborate. He picked up his cutlery. Silence. Respect. Fear. The faintest twitch at the corner of his lips almost passed for a smirk. The toffee remained in his pocket. A secret. A weapon. A memory.
----
The mansion slept. All but Aarav.
His suite was dim, gold light slicing the darkness. Jacket off. Tie loosened. But nothing could shed the storm inside him.
Hand on knee. Other hand probing his pocket.
The toffee.
A tiny, absurd thing. Yet heavier than any sum of money, any weapon, any empire he'd ever controlled. Its wrapper crinkled between his fingers, loud in the silence, mocking him with its simplicity.
He saw her clearly: stubborn, defiant, drenched, muttering under her breath. Leaving it behind. A challenge. A marker.
Aarav leaned back, storm-grey eyes sharpening, hardening. A man who controlled everything now found himself tethered by something as trivial as candy.
He clenched his fist. Decision. Control. Power. Obsession.
The drawer opened. Revolver. Files. Notebook the instruments of his empire. Slowly, deliberately, he placed the toffee in the corner, separate. Sacred. Dangerous.
Aarav exhaled. Mask back on: hard, unreadable, lethal. Yet a corner of him had cracked. Her defiance, her persistence, her tiny act it mattered. More than it should.
Not now. Not ever. He would not push her out.
The toffee sat there, unassuming. But it carried a weight that could shift worlds.
And tonight, Aarav's world had just tilted
NEXT DAY
MALHOTRA INDUSTRY
Aarav's Cabin
His cabin door knocked
Come in
He said without looking up from his file.
When he looks up its ashiana there and he froze seeing her in this state his eyes got dark hand balled in fist under the table.
Then-
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