I WAS ALWAYS YOURS

FIVE

I'm still trying to come to terms with what happened today at Manik's office. The shock of it all has left me reeling. I had been hired as his personal assistant, a role that seemed straightforward enough. Yet, today took an unexpected turn.

After that, Manik offered to drop me off at home. The ride was silent, heavy with an unspoken tension that neither of us acknowledged. Until, out of the blue, he broke the silence. 

What he said, and the way he said it, only deepened the shock I was already grappling with. The question caught me off guard. His eyes remained fixed on the road, his hands steady on the wheel, as if he were navigating not just the streets but also the delicate terrain of our conversation. "In these three months," he continued, his voice steady and unyielding, "why didn't you come to our house?"

I was taken aback, struggling to find the right words. The question seemed to carry a weight of unspoken meaning, and I could sense the subtle tension in his tone. The matter of fact in his voice, combined with his focused gaze on the road, made the inquiry feel even more intense.

I tried to piece together an answer, my mind racing through the days that had passed, each one filled with its own set of reasons and excuses. But the truth was, I hadn't really thought about it deeply until now.

I took a deep breath, trying to steady my racing thoughts as I prepared to answer. 'Maybe it's because I had my exams,'  'Or maybe it's because I was trying to distance myself from Dhruv.' But honestly, the truth was more complicated than that. The most important reason is you. Whenever I'm around you, I feel this intense tension. I can't control my growing feelings for you, and it's overwhelming. Especially after that incident—me hitting you on the lip, and you stepping in to protect me from Nav—it made me fall for you even harder.

I glanced over at him, his expression still focused on the road, and I could feel the weight of the silence pressing on me. I thought - 'I just needed to distance myself,' 'from you, from my best friend's father who I have more than just a simple crush on. I can't even define it as a crush—it's love. I know it's love." The silence that followed was charged, as if the entire car was holding its breath, waiting for the next moment, the next word, I was, searching for the right words to explain the real reason.

The car came to a gentle halt, jolting me back to reality. I looked out of the window and saw that we were parked in my driveway. The familiar sight of home contrasted sharply with the emotional whirlwind I'd just experienced.

As I prepared to step out, the weight of my unspoken answer pressed heavily on me. I hadn't truly answered his question, the one that had unearthed my deepest feelings. He wasn't just my best friend's father or my new boss—he was the man I was falling in love with.

I glanced back at him, his profile illuminated by the soft glow of the dashboard lights. The silence between us felt different now, charged with the unsaid and the unacknowledged. I knew that this moment would linger in my mind long after I stepped out of the car.

With a deep breath, I tried to steady myself before opening the door. The realization of my emotions, so raw and tangled, made it clear that things between us were far more complicated than I'd ever anticipated. As I closed the door behind me, I couldn't help but wonder how our paths would intersect moving forward, knowing that the truth was now out there, even if it hadn't been spoken aloud.

I froze with my hand on the door handle as he called out my name, his voice carrying a tone that made my heart skip a beat. "Nandini," he said, and it felt like the sound of it echoed in the still night air.

I turned slowly, feeling a lump form in my throat, my emotions a tangled mess of anxiety and longing. I had been so preoccupied with my feelings that I forgot to thank him for the ride, and now, with his voice breaking through the silence.