Understanding, maybe. The kind that hurt.
Shaurya, predictably, was insufferable about the whole thing.
"Bhabhi," he said one afternoon, dropping into the chair across from her in the library with a grin that could have lit up a stadium. "My brother told me to bring you these."
He set a small package of Belgian chocolates on the table.
"He sent you to deliver chocolates?" Nimisha asked.
"He was in a meeting. Couldn't come himself." Shaurya's grin widened. "He actually called me during the meeting to ask if I could bring them to you. His exact words were: 'Shaurya, stop whatever you're doing and take these to Nimisha. She likes Belgian chocolates.' And then he hung up."
Nimisha stared at the chocolates.
"I've never seen him call me from a meeting for anything except emergencies," Shaurya continued. "You are apparently an emergency-level priority now. This is the best day of my life."
"Stop enjoying this so much."
"I absolutely will not." He leaned forward. "He also asked me, and I quote, 'Does she seem happy? Is she eating properly?' Bhabhi. He asked about your eating habits."
Heat crept up her neck. "He's just—"
"In love with you? Yes. Deeply, catastrophically, and completely without knowing what to do about it." Shaurya sat back with satisfaction. "It's beautiful to watch."
"He's not—"
"He called me from a meeting about chocolates." Shaurya raised an eyebrow. "What would you call it?"
She had no answer for that.
That Evening - Samarth's Office, 8:47 PM
Nimisha had noticed the light under Samarth's office door when she passed, and the absence of any sounds from the kitchen suggested dinner had been cleared away without him eating.
She shouldn't care. It wasn't her responsibility.
She cared anyway.
She knocked once before pushing the door open.
Samarth sat behind his desk, surrounded by files and his laptop, tie loosened, reading glasses she'd never seen him wear before perched on his nose.
He looked up, startled.
"You haven't eaten," she said.
"I had—"
"I asked the cook. You haven't." She crossed to the desk, setting down the plate she'd brought from the kitchen. "Eat."
He looked at the food, then at her, something shifting in his expression.
"Sit down, Nimisha."
"I just came to bring you—"
"Sit."
She sat in the chair across from his desk.
