CHAPTER 13 #3
Her stomach churned. She had said too much. She hoped he didn’t figure it out before her interview. She needed space. She needed strength. And she certainly didn’t need his permission.
“Can we please just sleep?” she said, her voice tired. “I’m not in the mood to argue tonight.”
She turned away from him, dragging the quilt back over her head, hiding herself from him, and from everyone else who didn’t deserve to know what she planned to do with her life.
But Reyansh remained awake. Whatever she was hiding, he would find out. Anyhow!
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The next morning, Aanya stepped out of the cab and stood before the towering building.
She was nervous. Multiple firms and IT companies had their offices within the structure, but she had come here for her interview at an interior design firm on the fourteenth floor.
After showing her interview call letter at the reception desk, she made her way to the elevators.
She had dressed as professionally as she could—crisp, semi-formal white shirt tucked into a sleek black business skirt. Her hair was tied into a neat, low bun, thanks to Navya, who had insisted on helping her google the right look for such an occasion. She wanted to look undeniably professional.
The elevator was packed initially, but as it ascended, people disembarked floor by floor. By the time it reached the twelfth floor, she was alone, until the doors slid open again.
And there he stood.
Reyansh Chopra.
He stepped in without a word and pressed the button for the eighteenth floor.
Aanya’s heart pounded. She opened her mouth to speak, but words tangled in her throat.
Just as the elevator halted on the fourteenth floor, her destination, she moved to exit, but his hand shot out, clasped her wrist, and slammed the button to close the doors again.
“You’re not going there,” he growled.
The elevator began rising again.
“Reyansh, let me go. I have an interview,” she snapped, yanking her wrist.
“I figured as much the moment I saw you walking into this building,” he replied, teeth gritted.
“Then why not just mind your damn business?” she shouted.
“Because you’re busy meddling in mine,” he shot back.
The elevator doors opened to reveal the logo of Chopra Group on the eighteenth floor. Aanya’s stomach sank. He had an office here too? She should have checked beforehand. He owned more than one office in the city. This was just another branch.
The staff inside rose immediately, startled to see their boss. Reyansh rarely visited this office and had just been here ten days ago. Still gripping her wrist, he dragged Aanya out of the elevator.
“Walk,” he snapped under his breath.
Realizing a scene here would only worsen things, she silently followed him to his cabin. It was as lavish as his primary one. He shut the door behind them, releasing her arm.
“You said my words don’t matter to you and yet here you are,” he bit out. “What the hell is this?”
“An eye opening,” she retorted. “And believe it or not, you’re the one who lit the spark. You’re right, Reyansh. I’m nothing, at least not to the world. I’m just Anand Malhotra’s daughter or Reyansh Chopra’s wife. I want to be known for something more. I want to be me .”
Reyansh was taken aback. He hadn’t dragged her here to embarrass her. He simply wanted her to understand that she didn’t need to throw herself at the world unprepared. But now, seeing the fire in her eyes, he realized he’d misjudged her.
“If you want to work, I’ll find something suitable for you. But not this ,” he said firmly.
She folded her arms across her chest.
“Why not this? Does it bruise your ego that I’m doing something without your help?”
“Don’t make it petty. My ego isn’t so cheap that I’d block my wife from doing something for herself.”
“It looked pretty cheap when you yanked me out of that elevator,” she bit back.
“I don’t care how it looked. What matters is, why didn’t you tell me? Why wasn’t I informed?”
“I don’t need your permission to stand on my feet,” she hissed. “And tell me, what are you really angry about? That I didn’t tell you? Or that I dared to look for a job right under your nose?”
His mouth twisted into a hard smirk.
“Decisions taken in haste end up in regret, Aanya. I’m not questioning your potential.
But let’s be real. You’ve never taken life seriously.
Do you honestly think you’ll survive a full-time job without losing interest after a week?
When people talk about you , they’ll also talk about me .
I won’t let my wife’s name be dragged through dirt because she couldn’t commit to something. ”
Her jaw clenched. That’s all he thought of her? An impulsive, spoiled brat who never saw anything through. Maybe he was right. Maybe that had been her past. But not anymore. And this was her first real test.
“I don’t need your handpicked options, Mr. Reyansh Chopra.
I want to find a job on my own, earn based on my skills, not your reputation.
If you can’t support that, fine. And if you think this breaks our deal, then I’ll wait.
I’ll give this interview after our two months are up.
Because by then, you won’t have the right to interfere in my life at all. ”
For the first time, he had nothing to counter her with. He stood there, silent as she walked out of his office.
There was something in her eyes today, a purpose he had never seen before. He realized then, with a startling jolt, that the woman he had dismissed for so long… had somehow become the axis of his world. Whether he liked it or not, every thought began and ended with her.
And she didn’t even know it.