Page 56 of Cherish my Heart

I raise an eyebrow. “Something wrong?”

“Yes!” she says, eyes wide. “How—how can you ask me to go to Jaipur?”

I stand slowly and walk around the desk, stopping only when I’m too close for comfort. Her breath catches. Her shoulders stiffen. I can see the panic rising in her eyes. It’s not fear. It’swariness. Of me. Of herself. Of what she’s starting to feel and doesn’t want to admit.

I tilt my head slightly. “You’re my assistant. It’s your job to be with me in meetings.”

She takes a small step back, bumping into the chair behind her.

“But—” she starts.

“But what, Aditi?”

She opens her mouth, closes it, and opens it again. No words come out.

“But what?” I repeat, softer this time, almost teasing.

After a pause, she mumbles, “Nothing,” and practically bolts out of the cabin.

The door swings shut behind her.

And I laugh. Quietly. To myself.

Not because it’s funny. But because it’s easier to laugh than admit how badly I need her nearby.

“This will be fun,” I say under my breath, staring at the door like I can still see her standing there.

And more importantly—this will keep her safe. From him. From the mess I’ve dragged her into. From the truth. She won’t be out of my sight now. And that’s exactly how it needs to be.

CHAPTER 31

ADITI

“I am screwed.”

Kajal doesn’t even blink. Just arches a brow and continues smearing lipstick on her already-too-red lips. “You said that exact line yesterday, Aditi. Can you please be a little less predictable?”

I groan and let my head fall forward, my forehead thudding softly against the desk. “No, this is a different kind of screwed. Like a whole new flavor of it.”

She squints at me through the screen. “Do enlighten me. Because from where I’m sitting, it looks like the same obsessive spiral of you doing mental gymnastics about your boss.”

I sit up, flailing my arms. “I am in agony, Kajal. Can you be a little serious?”

She rolls her eyes and tosses her lipstick aside like it’s personally offended her. “Okay, fine. What is it now? Did he reject you? Did he fire you? Or worse Did he—”

“No!” I exclaim, “I didn’t even get to talk to him about that. And obviously, I couldn’t. We were in the office.”

Kajal bursts out laughing. “Is that so? Wow, how professional of you.”

I roll my eyes. “Besides, it would be his loss if he rejected me.” I flip my hair back, even though I know it would sting if he did reject me, which says something because I rarely feel bad about words coming out of a man's mouth.

She cackles like a villain. “Okay, okay. So what happened now?”

I huff, folding my arms. “He wants to go to Jaipur.”

Kajal’s face blanks out. “So?”

“For a meeting,” I add, like that makes it obvious.