Sidharth's voice, firm: "Mihika, you need to leave."
Mihika's voice, sultry and insistent: "But I just got here. We haven't really talked in so long. I've missed you."
Every instinct told Advika to walk away. To give him privacy to handle this. But something made her pause, made her look through the narrow opening.
And her heart stopped.
Mihika was there, dressed in a skin-tight dress that left little to the imagination, her hand splayed across Sidharth's chest. And his hand was on her wrist, their bodies close, the lighting casting shadows that made it look... intimate.
Advika's vision tunneled. She couldn't see the tension in Sidharth's jaw, couldn't see that he was actually pushing Mihika away. All she could see was another woman touching her husband, and him not immediately removing himself from the situation.
"Advika."
She spun to find Nisha behind her, perfectly coiffed even at this hour, a small smile playing on her lips.
"I see you've discovered our little... situation," Nisha said softly, her voice dripping with false sympathy.
"What?" Advika's voice came out strangled.
"Mihika and Sidharth. They have history, you know. Before you." Nisha moved closer, her perfume cloying. "She's always been there for him. Always will be. You can't compete with that kind of connection."
"They're not—"
"Aren't they?" Nisha gestured toward the office. "Look at them. The way she touches him. The way he lets her. Some things never change, Advika. No matter how much you want them to."
"You're lying." But even as she said it, doubt crept in. All the months of Mihika's presence, Nisha's constant undermining, the way Sidharth never completely shut it down.
"Am I?" Nisha's smile widened. "I let her in tonight. Gave her the code to his office. Because I know what you refuse to see—you're temporary. A means to an end. But Mihika? She's permanent. She's one of us."
The words hit like physical blows. Advika stumbled back, away from the office, away from Nisha's poisonous smile.
"Where are you going?" Nisha called after her. "Don't you want to see how this plays out?"
But Advika was already running, her bare feet silent on the marble floors as she fled to the bedroom. Their bedroom. The one place that had started to feel like a sanctuary.
Now it felt like a cage.
She grabbed a suitcase from the closet, throwing it open on the bed. Her hands shook as she started pulling clothes from hangers, shoving them into the bag with no care for organization.
Nine months. Nine months of trying, of hoping, of falling deeper in love with a man who might never fully be hers.
She couldn't do it anymore. Couldn't handle the jealousy, the uncertainty, the constant feeling that she was fighting for scraps of affection while other women—women who'd known him longer, who fit into his world better—circled like sharks.
"What the hell are you doing?"
Sidharth's voice made her jump. She turned to find him in the doorway, his expression thunderous. His shirt was slightly disheveled, and the sight made her stomach turn.
"What does it look like?" She went back to packing, blinking back tears. "I'm leaving."
"Like hell you are." He crossed the room in three strides, grabbing the suitcase and throwing it to the floor. "You're not going anywhere."
"You can't stop me."
"Watch me." He planted himself between her and the closet. "What happened? What's going on?"
"I saw you," she said, her voice shaking. "With Mihika. In your office."
His expression shifted—surprise, then understanding, then anger. "Advika, that's not—"
