33. KIS--
The elevator doors opened.
Every head turned not with panic like when Vivan walked in, but with that alert respect reserved for someone who didn’t need a title to command it.
“Good morning, Mr. Yuvan.”
He gave a half-smile without breaking stride, sleeves rolled, watch glinting, walking like a man who never had to ask permission to exist in a room.
He went straight to Vivan’s cabin and pushed the door open without knocking.
Vivan didn’t look offended. He didn’t even look up.
Yuvan dropped into the chair opposite him as if it was his own.
“This,” he said, placing a file on the desk, “isn’t a basic leak. Whoever did this knew exactly what they were doing.”
Vivan flipped through the file, jaw set.
“Someone close,” Yuvan added, watching him.
He wasn’t wrong. The data trail suggested an insider.
But Something else caught Yuvan’s eye not the file, not Vivan but the line of sight.
Vivan’s gaze had drifted.
Directly down… to a cabin visible through the glass.
To her.
Even though the glass was tinted, Aarvi’s outline could be seen when someone stood close to the desk.
She was sitting there now, head bent, working quietly.
Yuvan’s mouth curved.
He watched Vivan look away, pretend to read, then seconds later glance back again.
Not once. Not twice. Enough times for a man like Yuvan who knew him too well to understand.
“She is Aarvi right?.... You look distracted,” Yuvan commented casually, pretending to talk about work.
Vivan didn’t look at him again.
Hand on the desk, eyes on the monitor, voice firm “I’m not focusing on her. I’m focusing on the file.”
‘‘Did I ask?’’ Yuvan asked tilting his head while raising a brow.
Vivan watched him for a second…
Where Yuvan gave a, humorless smile.
“It’s never about what you’re focusing on, Vivan. It’s about what you can’t stop looking at.”
Vivan’s jaw tightened.
“Drop it.”
Yuvan didn’t. He walked back to the glass wall, slow on purpose, and looked at Aarvi’s cabin, she sat with her head down.
Without turning back, he spoke “I’ll handle the leaks-.” A pause, then, “But this-” he tilted his head toward her cabin, “-this you’ll have to control yourself.”
That line landed heavier than anything said so far.
Vivan stayed silent.
No denial this time.
Yuvan turned back, voice lower now not teasing, not mocking just factual “You’re ignoring her. But you’re not able to stop looking at her.”
And this time, Vivan had nothing to say.
He just exhaled.
The discussion wrapped sharply no wasted words, no handshakes. Yuvan closed the file.
“I’ll trace who accessed the deck last,” he said casually, already turning away.
Vivan gave a short nod.
Yuvan was halfway to the door when he glanced again through the glass wall behind Vivan.
Down one floor, across the atrium, diagonally aligned with Vivan’s cabin, was her office. Clear from this angle.
Yuvan’s eyes didn’t just notice they lingered. Then he looked back at Vivan.
Vivan didn’t look at him, but there was a tension in the grip of his pen enough for Yuvan to smirk internally.
“See you in a bit,” Yuvan said & instead of going towards the elevators that led to the lobby, he turned toward the staircase that connected the executive floor to the one below.
And Vivan followed him with his eyes now.
Down the glass stairs, visible from above, Yuvan walked directly in the line of sight from Vivan’s cabin straight toward Aarvi’s office.
He knocked and then entered.
From above, Vivan’s jaw flexed once.
Fire lit. Exactly as Yuvan intended.
Aarvi looked up, surprised.
“Hey, Aarvi,” he greeted, casually taking the seat opposite her desk as if he belonged there.
She stiffened. He had never asked her name before and yet he said it confidently.
He caught his own slip but covered it fast. “Mr. Singhania mentioned you joined yesterday,” he lied smoothly.
Through the glass wall, Vivan could see them, Yuvan leaning forward.
Jealousy was not a word he would accept but the heat that climbed his chest was not calm.
Yuvan kept talking on purpose knowing he was being watched.
When Aarvi laughed softly at something he said, Vivan didn’t wait another second.
He picked up the desk phone.
His voice was clipped when she answered.
“Ms. Sisodiya. In my cabin. Now.”
Aarvi froze at the shift in tone, excused herself quickly and left.
Yuvan leaned back in his chair with a slow grin.
He had lit the fire. And he knew it was burning exactly where he wanted, in Vivan Singhania.
---
Aarvi walked fast. Thoughts clinging in her chest, What if he’s furious? What if I messed up something I don’t even know?
When she reached his office, she knocked twice and pushed the glass door open.
Vivan was standing near the table facing the city skyline, his back to her. The room was silent.
Sensing the environment she understood one thing, He wasn’t just serious he was angry in that silent, controlled, terrifying way only Vivan could be.
He didn’t turn.
Just spoke, voice low but clipped.
“Close the door.”
She did gently the click echoing louder than it should have.
Vivan inhaled once before speaking again, still not looking at her. “From now on… stay focused on your work. Not on… other things.”
His tone wasn’t loud, but it was laced with control, with something sharp and restrained. Aarvi frowned, confused. She opened her mouth to explain,“Sir, I was just—”
He turned then. Slow. His eyes found hers. Not anger exactly but something restless, something he clearly didn’t want her to read.
“You don’t need to explain.”
He stepped away from the window and walked toward her.
Aarvi instinctively took one step back not because she feared him, but because her heart reacted faster than her mind. He moved again, and she stepped back again until her back met the side wall near the glass.
He stopped just a breath away.
“Don’t.”
One word. Not a shout a command quiet, restrained, and dangerously calm.
She froze on instinct.
Vivan came closer. Close enough that she could feel the warmth radiating off him.
Her hand came up between them, lightly pressing against his chest, trying to push him away, But her eyes… they stayed on him.
And then she flicked a glance toward the glass wall, checking if anyone could see them.
That tiny movement made Vivan tilt his head slightly, following her gaze, closing the distance even more.
When she turned back from the glass they were inches apart.
His breath hit her lips. Her hand on his chest didn’t move. Her eyes didn’t leave his.
Neither of them spoke.
The world outside the cabin kept moving but inside, time stalled and they stood there on the edge that their lips might touch, if they moved even an inch.
Just then Vivan blinked that one second, a flash of Kiara in his mind like a slap of guilt.
His jaw clenched as he stepped back.
One step. Then another.
His chest rose once like he was swallowing fire.
His jaw flexed as he looked away, forcing distance between them.
When he finally spoke, his voice wasn’t harsh just tightly controlled.
“I.. I am sorry.”
No emotion. No crack. Just guilt.
He straightened his cuffs, still not looking at her. Another pause and then, quieter:
“…I shouldn’t have lost my composure. It won’t happen again.”
Aarvi’s fingers slowly dropped from mid-air to her side. Her throat tightened because of embarassement. She nodded once.
He still didn’t lift his gaze when he added, “You may leave.”
Aarvi turned and walked out this time without looking back her footsteps silent, but the hurt not.
When the door closed, Vivan shut his eyes for half a second not because he nearly kissed her but because he had let himself behave in a way he considered wrong.
His anger now was directed entirely inward.
And inside the empty hallway, Aarvi walked like nothing happened, but embarassment still crawled up her spine.