ch 56 GET OUT
Aarav's POV
The car rolled at mansion and Aarav glanced at his side and saw Ashiana was slept on seat her lips parted face peaceful in sleep.
Arushi's voice honeyed, but laced with that subtle venom only a seasoned manipulator could master.
"Don't you think she's too much sometimes, Aarav?" she said, leaning forward from the back seat.
"So picky... and such an attention seeker." She gave a soft scoff, flicking her hair back. "Honestly, the way she acts it's like she needs the whole world to revolve around her."
I didn't answer immediately. My eyes flicked to the passenger seat.
Ashiana was fast asleep head tilted slightly, hair falling over her face,
her small hand fisted in the edge of my coat like it was her lifeline.
Even in sleep, she clung to me.
Something in my chest tugged.
"Arushi," I said finally, voice low but edged with warning. "Be careful with your words''.
She laughed softly, misunderstanding the tone. "Oh, come on. You know I'm right. She's—"
"She's mine," I cut in calm, controlled, but enough to silence her instantly.
The car went quiet. Only the sound of the road beneath the tires filled the space.
I reached out, brushing a loose strand of hair from Ashiana's cheek,
careful not to wake her. "And when something's mine,"
I added softly, glancing at Arushi through the rearview mirror, "I don't let anyone speak against it."
Arushi looked away, her lips pressing into a thin line.
I leaned back, my arm resting on the console beside Ashiana,
watching her chest rise and fall with each slow breath.
Too much, Arushi had said. Maybe she was.
Too much laughter. Too much chaos. Too much warmth.
But she was also everything I didn't know I needed and I wasn't about to let anyone forget that.
NEXT MORNING
I was half-listening to the client on the other end of the call,
eyes scanning through the files spread across my dresser.
"Yes, the figures will be mailed in an hour," I said flatly, adjusting the cufflink.
The soft click of heels on marble made me glance at the mirror and there she was.
Arushi. Draped in an elegant silk dress, perfume heavy in the air,
confidence practically stitched into every step she took.
Before I could reach for my tie,
she was already there fingers brushing mine as she lifted it.
"I've got it," she said smoothly, looping the tie around my neck.
Her touch lingered longer than necessary, her tone deliberate.
Then, with a smile that was meant to look casual but wasn't, she said,
"Aarav, don't you think it's time you need someone in your life now? Someone bold... beautiful... hot... who can make you look even more powerful in front of the world?"
Her words hung in the air like perfume sweet but suffocating.
I didn't answer at once. Instead,
I tilted my head slightly, studying her reflection in the mirror.
She looked pleased with herself sure that her confidence,
her charm, her years in London made her the kind of woman men fell for easily.
"Someone like you?" I asked finally, voice calm, unreadable.
She smiled wider, looping the final knot on the tie.
"Well, it's obvious, isn't it?" she whispered.
"You and I... we'd be perfect. You've got the empire, I've got the grace. Power looks better when shared, Aarav."
I let out a small breath of amusement more a smirk than a smilr
and leaned forward slightly, my voice quiet but sharp.
"Arushi," I said,
"power doesn't need to look better. It needs to be better."
She blinked, confused for a heartbeat.
I straightened my tie myself, stepping just enough away from her perfume cloud.
"And for the record," I added, eyes locking with hers in the mirror,
"I already have someone who makes me powerful not by standing beside me,
but by being mine."
Her face stiffened the smile fading.
Before she could speak, I picked up my coat, ended the call with a tap,
and said simply,
"You can join us for breakfast if you want. But next time, knock before walking into my room''.
AT brEAKFAST TABLE
She sat across the table, eyes lowered, her spoon moving absently in her bowl but barely lifting to her lips.
The clinking of cutlery and light chatter from the others filled the dining hall,
but she seemed detached her silence louder than any words.
Ashiana wasn't usually this quiet.
Normally, she'd be the one teasing Raj to finish his milk,
or trading light jabs with Kabir over whose report was better.
But today... nothing. Not even a glance.
Her hair framed her face loosely, hiding her eyes from me,
yet I could feel the distance. Something was running through her mind
too heavy, too consuming.
Across the table, Arushi was talking to Meera and Prerna about some gala she attended in London.
Her voice, as always, carried that polished confidence.
I barely registered the words.
My focus stayed fixed on Ashiana on how still her fingers were,
how she'd lost herself in whatever storm was brewing inside.
I set my cup down quietly. "Ashiana," I said, voice steady but low.
No response. She just blinked once, as if waking from thought,
and nodded faintly without meeting my gaze.
Arushi's laugh rang out beside me a sharp contrast to Ashiana's silence.
I felt irritation crawl under my skin.
Something was off with her. Something she wasn't saying.
And if I knew her and I did it wouldn't be long before that silence broke into something deeper.
AT OFFICE,
ASHIANA'S WORK FLOOR
Ashiana sat at her desk, files open but untouched, her pen rolling slowly between her fingers.
Outside the glass window, the city gleamed in the morning light calm,
distant,
cruelly unaware of the chaos spinning in her head.
Her mind replayed the moment from Aarav's room again and againthat voice, that laugh, that line.
"You and I... we'd be perfect. You've got the empire, I've got the grace."
The words coiled in her chest like a thorn.
She had left before hearing what Aarav said next there in his room
when Ashiana gone to his room to see him but she listened Arushi and Aarav 's talk
standing at door only and left from there half listening.
because she could'nt.
But that silence was killing her now.
Her heart and her thoughts were at war.
Was Aarav really... going to marry Arushi? she whispered under her breath, her throat tightening.
Then who was I in his life? Just a game? A distraction?
She clutched her chest lightly, as if trying to stop the ache from growing.
No... no, Aarav isn't like that. He can't be.
Her eyes glistened.
The thought of him with someone elsethat someoneburned her from within.
Then she straightened suddenly, determination flickering through the haze of doubt.
No more overthinking, Ashiana. Enough of this.
you misunderstood him before too.. but not this time.
She pushed back her chair, stood up quickly, and grabbed the file from her desk.
Pehle jakar Aarav se baat karti hu.
(I will first cleaar things with him)
Because if there was one thing she couldn't live with it was not knowing the truth.
AARAV'S CABIN
Ashiana's heels clicked softly on the marble floor as
she stepped into Aarav's cabin the air inside thick with authority and focus.
He sat at the long conference table, headset on, eyes sharp and jaw tight,
speaking with his Dubai clients. His voice was calm, controlled... but there was tension in it.
She quietly moved to the couch, clutching the file close to her chest.
He's still working... I'll wait, she thought, watching him,
searching his expression for even a flicker of the warmth she once saw there.
But the meeting turned sour fast.
The client's voice grew louder through the speaker, and Aarav's patience snapped a sharp "enough" cutting through the air.
He ended the call abruptly, yanking out the Bluetooth earpiece and tossing it on the table.
His knuckles pressed against the desk, jaw tight with fury.
Before she could get up, Arushi who had been sitting across him rose instantly and walked to his side.
Her tone was soft, sugary.
"Aarav, calm down, please. They're not worth ruining your morning for..."
She rested a hand lightly on his arm.
Something inside Ashiana flared anger, jealousy, hurt everything at once.
Before she could think, she marched forward and shoved Arushi back.
The sound of her head hitting the wall behind made the whole room freeze.
Arushi gasped, clutching the back of her head, a small cry escaping her lips.
Ashiana's breath hitched; the realization hit her like ice. "I–I didn't mean—" she began, stepping closer.
But Aarav's voice cut through the silence like thunder.
"Enough, Ashiana!"
His tone was sharper than she had ever heard.
He turned toward her, eyes blazing not with the cold amusement she knew,
but with raw anger.
"What the hell was that?!" he snapped. "Get. Out."
She blinked, stunned. "Aarav, I—"
"I said get out!" he shouted, the authority in his voice making her flinch.
The file in her hand trembled.
She opened her mouth to speak again, but nothing came out.
Swallowing hard, she turned around, tears blurring her vision as she walked out of the cabin
the sound of her own heartbeat drowning out everything else.