Chapter Ten The Commercial Flight #3
She assumed it was simply another manifestation of his overwhelming guilt—a desperate attempt to be accommodating, to avoid stressing her before her trip. She wasn't particularly concerned about the deep, psychological reasons behind it.
She was simply, profoundly relieved.
The prospect of going home, of leaving the estate, the foundation, and the huge, complicated presence of her husband behind, however briefly, washed over her like a cool rain.
For the first time in a very long while, Anshira felt a genuine lightness in her chest. The deep, ingrained sadness might still linger in the corners of her dark eyes, but as she thought of her parents, she could finally see something resembling hope on the horizon.
The end of this nightmare was visible. And she knew, with absolute certainty, that her parents would feel that exact same, profound relief when they saw her walk through their door.
“Alright,” Anshira agreed quietly, a small, genuine smile—the first he had seen in over a year—touching the corners of her lips. “We will discuss it when I return.”
Rovanth watched that small smile bloom, and he felt his heart perform a violent, agonizing somersault. He would have burned his entire empire to the ground just to see her smile like that every day.
With nothing left to object to, Rovanth accepted her plans.
He stood there for a moment, looking at her, intoxicated by the sudden lightness in her demeanor. And then, driven by a desperate, illogical impulse that bypassed his brilliant, analytical brain completely, he spoke.
“I will have Vikram book two tickets, then,” Rovanth said smoothly, his tone remarkably casual for a man whose heart was in his throat.
Anshira blinked, the small smile vanishing into utter confusion. “Two tickets?”
“Yes,” Rovanth said, holding her gaze with absolute earnestness. “I will accompany you to Pune.”
For three long seconds, the silence of the study was absolute.
And then, Anshira laughed.
It wasn't a bitter laugh, or a cold scoff. It was a genuine, melodic sound of thorough, unadulterated amusement that shocked them both. Her eyes crinkled at the corners, looking at the impeccably dressed billionaire CEO as if he had just suggested they fly to the moon on a bicycle.
She teased him, her voice infused with a sudden, sparkling disbelief. “You? Rovanth Kalresh-Dhen, the undisputed heir of the KDG empire... you are going to fly commercial?”
Rovanth looked at her, captivated by the sound of her laughter. He didn't care that she was mocking him. He didn't care about the absurdity of the proposition. He looked into her dark, amused eyes, and he laid a microscopic piece of his heart bare on the Persian rug between them.
“Anshira,” Rovanth replied, his voice dropping to a low, quiet hum of absolute, unshakeable devotion. “I would go anywhere with you. Commercial flight, or otherwise.”
The laughter died in Anshira’s throat.
She looked at him, the sheer, raw intensity in his eyes catching her completely off guard. For a fraction of a second, the undeniable gravity of his words hung in the air, vibrating with a meaning she was unprepared to process.
But the fortress she had built around her heart over the past year was too thick, the walls too high to be breached by a single, earnest declaration. Her practical, scarred mind immediately intercepted the emotion and recategorized it.
She let out a small, dry sigh, the amusement fading back into her usual, detached stoicism.
“Your guilt must be truly overwhelming, Rovanth,” Anshira responded dryly, shaking her head slightly, reading his profound devotion as nothing more than a desperate, tragic attempt at penance.
The words struck Rovanth like a physical blow to the sternum. He physically flinched, the air rushing out of his lungs, but he forced himself to remain standing, accepting the punishment he so thoroughly deserved.
“I don't need an escort,” Anshira continued, her tone gentling slightly, mistaking his visible pain for a bruised conscience.
She offered him a final, polite nod. “You have an empire to run. You have work to attend to. Please, just stay here. I will simply go spend a few quiet days with my parents, and I will return soon after.”
She turned around and walked out of the study, her footsteps fading down the long, opulent corridor.
Rovanth was left standing alone in the quiet room.
He looked out the massive window into the dark, sprawling grounds of the estate, the sheer magnitude of the mountain he had to climb looming over him.
He had offered her his presence, his loyalty, and a willingness to step out of his world just to be near her.
And she had looked at him, smiled, and brushed it off as an administrative symptom of his own regret.
He closed his eyes, leaning his forehead against the cool glass of the window.
He was a man who had commanded thousands, orchestrated multi-billion-dollar mergers, and bent the reality of the corporate world to his will.
But as he listened to the silence of the massive house settling around him, Rovanth Kalresh-Dhen realized that earning back the trust of the woman he loved was going to be the most terrifying, impossible fight of his entire life.