“Yes, just the three of us, unless you want to invite someone else,” Rajat added pointedly, glancing toward Karan.
Mishti looked at Karan then, searching his face for a reaction.
“Don’t look at him,” Abhimanyu said lightly. “He won’t mind us stealing you. Right, bro?”
“Get out of this room,” Karan said, with fake anger.
The men shrugged and turned to leave, with Mishti almost ready to follow them, when Karan’s voice echoed in the room again. “Not you, Mishti,” he said. “I need to talk to you.”
Rajat raised his hands. “Alright. Fifteen minutes,” he said cheerfully. “After that, we’re stealing her for making dinner plans.”
“Out,” Karan snapped.
Abhimanyu chuckled before dragging Rajat along, both discussing the names of restaurants in the city to take Mishti.
The moment the door shut behind them, Mishti looked away from him. Her gaze wandered everywhere in the room but him because her last night’s heavy emotional talk under the alcohol effect, followed by the bitter words from Kanika today, still lingered in her mind.
Karan crossed the space between them.
“What happened?” he asked. “Last night you couldn’t stop talking. Making grand promises about how I would regret everything I have done to you.”
She kept looking away.
“What happened now? Has the cat finally got your tongue?”
Mishti finally lifted her eyes to his. The softness he was used to seeing there had receded.
“I heard even you were quite protective of me last night,” she said evenly. “You did not let Komal take care of me. You carried me yourself. You brought me to the room. You stayed long enough to put me to bed.” Her brows arched. “So tell me, what changed today? Did you purposely assign me the most difficult project here? Because you expect me to fail? Because you believe I will not live up to anyone’s expectations?”
Karan’s expression hardened, and in a single stride, he closed the distance between them. She lowered her gaze in fear without meaning to. But Karan pulled her chin up with his thumb, forcing her to look at him.
“I assigned you the most difficult project to start with, not because I expect you to fail. I gave you this workload so you stay occupied here, so I can have some peace without you demanding my attention all the time.” His fingers remained at her chin as he continued. “You know very well how much I dislike even the sight of you. I’m already handling you enough at home. And now I don’t want you to get into my head even at the office.That project will keep you busy, so I don’t have to deal with you constantly.”
Mishti gently but firmly pushed his hand away and nodded once. “Fine.”
The single word unsettled him more than any argument would have. “I know I don’t matter to you. Time and again, you have always made it clear you don’t like me having around,” she continued. “But I will prove that trusting me with this project was not a mistake.”
Her spine straightened as she met his gaze without fear this time. “Because whether it is relationships or professional responsibility, I never lack commitment.”
With that, she turned and walked out of the room, leaving Karan standing there, still surprised with her cold defiance.
***************
After his conversation with Mishti, Karan headed straight to Kanika’s cabin, but it was empty.
Her assistant stood up the moment she saw him.
“Where’s Kanika?” he asked angrily.
“She’s in the new cabin,” she said, hesitantly. “The one assigned to Mishti ma’am.”
Karan was not very surprised and already sensed where this was heading. Kanika never retreated when her pride was wounded. Still, the knowledge that she had gone into Mishti’s space was enough to sour his mood.
He turned on his heel and headed straight there and pushed open the door. What he saw inside blazed his anger all the more.
Kanika stood at the centre of the cabin.
The entire room, which was decorated to welcome Mishti today, was in disarray. All the files, folders and stationery from the desk were lying on the floor now. The flowers, even the small gifts that Rajat and Abhimanyu had insisted on for Mishti’s welcome, had been swept aside without mercy. Some layoverturned, others scattered, as if the room itself had offended her.
