Chapter 12
Promise Day
The cream-colored envelope appeared sometime before lunch, perfectly centered on her keyboard when she returned from a quick bathroom break. No courier had come by, her colleagues had seen nothing.
Her name was printed on the front in the same elegant font as all the previous cards. The office hummed with the usual activity, but Raghav’s door remained closed, his office empty since he’d left for the conference room just a while ago.
Carefully, she slid open the envelope and pulled out two thick, embossed tickets to the Mumbai Philharmonic’s special performance of Bach and Tchaikovsky. A month away. The accompanying note read simply: “Experiences worth remembering.”
Ishani’s thumb traced the embossed letters on the tickets.
The Mumbai Philharmonic was nearly impossible to get seats for, especially for their special performances.
She had mentioned her love for classical music exactly once in this office, during a late dinner with Raghav.
The conversation had shifted to stress relief, and she’d admitted that Bach’s cello suites cleared her mind like nothing else.
Her eyes flicked toward Raghav’s still-empty office, the afternoon sun casting shadows through the blinds he’d left partially closed. Her heart gave a treacherous little leap before logic stomped it down.
‘Stop it, Ishani. It’s not him. Raghav Khanna doesn’t do romantic gestures. He acquires things—companies, properties, results. Not hearts.’
Yet the evidence kept stacking up like a tower of perfectly aligned documents. Each gift was so precisely tailored to her likes, to details she’d only ever revealed in his presence.
“Oh my god, are those concert tickets?” Kavya materialized beside her desk, startling Ishani from her thoughts. “Let me see!” She plucked them from Ishani’s fingers before she could protest. “Mumbai Philharmonic? These are impossible to get. There’s a six-month waiting list!”
Within minutes, a small crowd had gathered around Ishani’s desk again. Unlike yesterday’s cooing over the puppy, today’s atmosphere crackled with investigation energy.
“Samrat likes jazz, not classical,” someone pointed out. “It can’t be him.”
“Maybe he’s trying to impress her with his cultural side,” another argued.
Kavya’s eyes lit up with sudden inspiration. “We should start a betting pool! Put money on who we think it is. Winner takes all when the secret admirer is finally revealed.”
Before Ishani could object, Kavya had grabbed a stack of sticky notes from her desk and was writing names on them. “Samrat,” she announced, slapping the first note on Ishani’s desk. “Ten to one odds.”
“The new VP from tech,” someone called out. “He keeps finding reasons to come to this floor.”
“That intern from legal who stares at Ishani in the cafeteria.”
The suggestions flew faster as Kavya scribbled names, assigning odds with the confidence of a seasoned bookie. Cash began accumulating in her desk drawer as colleagues placed their bets.
“This is ridiculous,” Ishani protested, though a small smile tugged at her lips. “I don’t even know half of these people.”
“That’s what makes it fun,” Kavya replied, counting bills. “Mystery and romance—the perfect office entertainment.”
“And completely against company policy.”
Raghav’s cold voice cut through the chatter like a blade. The group froze, then scattered in different directions, leaving only Kavya standing beside Ishani’s desk, her hand still holding a wad of cash. Raghav stood three feet away, his expression as welcoming as a tax audit.
“Gambling on company premises is explicitly forbidden in the employee handbook, Ms. Singh,” he said, his gaze fixed on Kavya. “Section 4, paragraph 6, if memory serves.”
Kavya swallowed visibly. “It’s just a bit of fun, Boss. Valentine’s Day spirit.”
“Coordinate the Jakarta presentation materials today. All three versions,” he replied, as if she hadn’t spoken. “I want them on my desk before you leave. Complete with metrics analysis.”
Kavya’s eyes widened. “But that’s—”
“A task well within your job description. Unlike gambling.” His tone made it clear the conversation was over.
As Kavya gathered her sticky notes and money, her shoulders slumped, Ishani felt something snap inside her. A flicker of defiance that had been building with each day’s strange tension.
“It was harmless,” she said, standing from her chair to face Raghav directly. “Just colleagues having a bit of fun.”
Raghav’s eyebrows rose fractionally. “Fun has its place. That place is not during work hours.”
“It was a five-minute distraction,” Ishani countered, aware that the entire floor was now watching their exchange with the attention of a tennis match audience. “And punishing Kavya with extra work is excessive.”
His jaw tightened. “I don’t recall asking for your input on management decisions, Ishani.”
“And I don’t recall needing permission to defend a friend, Boss.” The title came out sharper than she’d intended.
Raghav took one deliberate step closer, towering as he looked down at her. “The betting ends now.”
Ishani didn’t back away, though her pulse hammered against her ribs. “What exactly bothers you about it? That people are having fun, or that they’re speculating about who’s interested in me?”
The air between them thickened. Someone at a nearby desk dropped a pen, the sound unnaturally loud in the tense silence.
“What bothers me,” Raghav said, his voice dropping lower, meant only for her despite their audience, “is that these gifts are escalating.”
His proximity made it hard to breathe evenly. They stood close enough that she could count his eyelashes, see the tiny flecks of amber in his dark irises, catch the scent of his mint from his breath and something darker.
“I can manage these things myself,” she challenged quietly, holding her ground despite her racing heart.
Raghav’s eyes darkened, something fierce and possessive flashing in them before he controlled it. “Someone is watching you too closely, Ishani. That doesn’t concern you?”
The question hung between them, loaded with more than its simple words. His gaze dropped to her lips for a fraction of a second before returning to her eyes, the gesture so quick she might have imagined it.
Before she could answer, he stepped back, breaking the tense bubble that had formed around them. “The betting stops,” he repeated, his voice returning to its normal volume. “And Ms. Singh will complete those presentations today.”
He walked away before Ishani could respond, leaving her standing by her desk, breathless and confused. The weight of his words settled around her—not just their literal meaning, but something deeper in his tone, intimate, concerned, edged with something that felt almost like... possession.
Ishani slumped into her chair, glancing at the concert tickets next to the plush puppy on her desk.
Valentine’s Day was just two days away. That meant two more gifts would arrive, following the same pattern.
She felt a nagging sense that the mystery behind these gifts was much deeper than just a secret admirer.
It was a trap, carefully constructed. But who was the hunter, and who was the prey?
Hug Day
A collective gasp rippled across the executive floor as the elevator doors slid open. The sound drew Ishani’s attention from her computer screen. She turned, then froze, her coffee cup suspended halfway to her lips.
Emerging from the elevator was the most ridiculous sight she’d seen in Khanna Consolidated’s pristine offices—a delivery person almost completely hidden behind an enormous teddy bear.
Not just large, but massive—at least five feet tall, covered in plush brown fur, with a red t-shirt bearing the words “Hug Me Instead” in bold white letters.
The bear’s face peeked over the delivery person’s head, its stitched smile seeming to tease the shocked silence that hung in the office.
“Delivery for Ishani Rao,” the person announced, voice muffled behind the wall of fur.
The receptionist rushed forward, her heels clicking against marble as she helped navigate the bear through the narrow path between desks. Together, they staggered toward Ishani, the bear’s limbs bumping into desk corners and computer monitors as they passed.
“Where do you want it?” the delivery person asked, clearly eager to be rid of his burden.
Ishani remained frozen, acutely aware of every eye on the floor watching her. The bear was absurd. Extravagant. Completely inappropriate for a corporate environment. Yet beneath her professional embarrassment sparked something else—a small, rebellious pleasure at the sheer audacity of the gift.
“Just... here is fine,” she managed, pointing to the space beside her desk.
The bear landed with a soft thump, its stuffed arms splaying outward as if ready to embrace the entire office. The delivery person handed Ishani a small cream envelope before hurrying back to the elevator, clearly glad to escape the awkward scene.
Kavya appeared at her side instantly, eyes wide. “Your secret admirer has officially lost his mind,” she whispered. “This is next-level insanity.”
Before Ishani could respond, a buzz of whispers swept across the floor. Heads turned toward the conference room, where a door had just opened. Raghav emerged, followed by three serious-looking executives in dark suits. His sentence cut off mid-word as his eyes locked on the teddy bear.
His expression shifted from professional neutrality to thunderous rage in the space of a heartbeat. The muscle in his jaw jumped. His shoulders stiffened. The executives beside him took instinctive steps backward, sensing the sudden danger radiating from their CEO.
“Continue without me,” Raghav told them, his voice deceptively calm. “I’ll join you shortly.”
They nodded and retreated, clearly grateful to escape whatever was coming.
Raghav crossed the floor in measured strides. As he approached, the office fell completely silent.
He stopped directly in front of Ishani’s desk, eyes fixed on the bear with such intensity it seemed he might set it on fire through sheer willpower.
“Remove that ridiculous toy immediately,” he commanded, voice tight with barely controlled anger. “This is a professional workplace, not a carnival.”
The demand hung in the air between them—clear, direct, and utterly reasonable coming from a CEO concerned with workplace professionalism. But something in his tone, in the possessive edge to his anger, sparked that rebellious flame in Ishani’s chest again.
Without breaking eye contact, she rose from her chair. She stepped around her desk slowly, deliberately. The office seemed to collectively hold its breath as she approached the bear.
Instead of picking it up to remove it as ordered, Ishani wrapped her arms around its soft middle, hugging it to her chest. The bear’s head towered above hers, its arms flopping forward to encircle her shoulders as she squeezed it.
“I think it’s nice,” she said, her voice calm but clear enough to carry. “A little reminder that not everything needs to be serious all the time.”
Raghav’s nostrils flared. His hands clenched into fists at his sides, knuckles turning white with the pressure. The silence around them deepened, employees frozen at their desks.
His eyes darkened as they met hers over the bear’s soft shoulder.
The same possessive heat she had noticed before flared up again, strong and clear.
For a brief moment, something different flickered across his face.
It wasn’t anger, it was something more raw, more intense, as his gaze fell to her arms wrapped around the bear.
Then, just like that, it vanished, hidden once more behind his professional facade.
“Have it your way,” he said, his voice dropping to a dangerous octave that sent a shiver down her spine. Without another word, he turned on his heel and walked back to his office, the glass door closing behind him with precise control that somehow felt more threatening than a slam.
The blinds snapped closed one by one—sharp, decisive movements that blocked his office from view.
The entire floor remained silent for three heartbeats after his exit before erupting into hushed whispers. Kavya appeared at Ishani’s side, eyes wide with a mixture of horror and admiration.
“Did you just... deliberately disobey him? While hugging a giant teddy bear? In front of everyone?” Each question rose higher in pitch than the last.
Ishani released the bear, her heart pounding against her ribs with the delayed realization of what she’d done. “I guess I did.”
“You’re either very brave or completely insane,” Kavya whispered. “No one defies him. Ever.”
Ishani returned to her seat, placing the bear beside her desk where it loomed like a plush bodyguard. Her hands trembled slightly as she turned back to her computer, the adrenaline of her small rebellion still coursing through her veins.
What had possessed her to challenge him like that?
It wasn’t like her to be defiant, especially not publicly.
Yet something about his reaction to these gifts, his barely contained fury, his attempts to dismiss them, the way his eyes followed her whenever she touched them, pushed her to test the boundaries between them.
If Raghav was indeed the sender, as she increasingly suspected, then his public disapproval was just another layer of his game. And if he wasn’t... well, then she’d just defied her boss for no reason other than stubborn pride.
Throughout the day, she caught colleagues stealing glances at her, some concerned, others impressed. No one approached Raghav’s office. His blinds remained closed, a clear signal that he wasn’t to be disturbed.
By late afternoon, Ishani had almost convinced herself that the incident was over.
But as she reached for a file, her hand accidentally brushed against the bear’s fur.
The moment she touched it, Raghav’s blinds twitched.
Just enough for her to catch a glimpse of him standing there, watching her with that same intense focus.
He’d been tracking her all day, even hidden behind those blinds.
Ishani fought a small smile as she deliberately stroked the bear’s arm, a tiny gesture of continued defiance.
Tomorrow was February 13th—Kiss Day. The thought sent a flutter of anticipation through her stomach. What would he send next? And how would she respond?
The game between them was shifting, evolving into something dangerous and thrilling. And despite all logic and professional sense, Ishani found herself looking forward to the next move.