Mission Love - Chasing Mr. Right ✓

Thirty-two

Recap: Naveen cornered me in the alley.

"Talk about what?" I demanded, my voice wavering despite my best attempt to sound confident.

He didn’t respond immediately. His jaw tightened, his gaze drilling into mine, boring holes on my soul.I gulped, feeling the slightest creep. Okay, maybe not slight-est—but yeah.

"Do you hate me?" he asked suddenly, his voice low and steady.

I blinked, caught off guard. Hate him? My brain cells scrambled, flipping through every corner of my mind like they were frantically searching for a misplaced file. Did I hate him? The answer wasn’t exactly labeled and waiting for me to grab.

How was I supposed to answer it? Yes? No? Maybe? A bit!

"What are you talking about?" I shot back, sharper than I intended, my defenses kicking in. But I couldn’t stop the crack in my voice.

Couldn’t he hear it? Couldn’t he see the way my hands trembled as I waved them around in some vague, panicked gesture? Wasn’t that enough of a clue?

I didn't hate him, but I definitely fear him.

He didn’t flinch. Didn’t move. Just stood there, waiting.

"I didn’t steal the file,I would never steal it." he spat out all of a sudden, the words spilling out like they’d been caged for too long. His hands flexed at his sides, fingers curling, then straightening.
"Just think about it Aisha. We both worked on the project, pulled an all night, I had every opportunity to steal if I wanted to."

I opened my mouth, but nothing came out.

"That a*sh*le Ryan framed me." His voice sharpened, but it wasn’t anger that cut through—it was frustration, raw and biting.

"He’s got everyone looking at me like I’m some kind of criminal. But I didn’t take it. I wouldn’t—" His voice cracked, and he looked away, his Adam’s apple bobbing as he swallowed hard.

"So do you hate me now?" He repeated, again. The shadows softened the hard angles of his face, but the pain there was impossible to miss. And yet... a part of me hesitated.

"Then why disappear right after the incident?" I pointed out, "You could’ve fought back."

He let out a bitter laugh, shaking his head.
"They’ve taken everything from me, and no one listened. No one. There's no point, who'd believe me?"

"I would!" The words slipped out before I could stop them. My voice softened as I added, "What really happened that day, Naveen?"

For a moment, he didn’t answer. His gaze dropped to the cracked pavement beneath our feet, his shoulders rising and falling with uneven breaths.

"My landlord kicked me out the day before the file went missing." he began, his voice low, almost a whisper. Running a hand through his hair, his movements jerky, like he was trying to shake the memory loose.

"No calls, no warning. Just shoved my stuff out and changed the locks. I spent that night at the bus station. Do you know what it’s like trying to keep it together after that? To walk into work the next day like everything’s fine?"

My breath caught, as I imagined Naveen who's always so composed, so sure—sleeping at a bus station.

"By the time I found a room and came back, the office was in chaos. And Ryan..." He let out a slow, shaky exhale, his gaze fixed behind my shoulder. "Ryan was already planting seeds. By the time anyone bothered to ask me, they’d already decided I was guilty."