Page 19 of Yes Boss
Ishani paused at the door, raising her knuckles to knock. Through the narrow gaps in the blinds, she saw him bent over his desk, focused on documents as if nothing had happened that morning.
She paused at the door.
Through the narrow gaps in the blinds, she saw him bent over his desk, focused on documents as if nothing had happened that morning.
She knocked once, softly.
“Enter,” came his clipped response.
The office felt different with the blinds down. Smaller. Contained. Strips of Mumbai sunlight cut across the desk, illuminating his hands while leaving his face in shadow.
Ishani stepped in, the warmth of the coffee grounding her.
“Coffee,” she said, placing the cup at the exact corner of his desk where he always preferred it. Close enough to reach, far enough to avoid accidental spills on important documents. “And I wanted to thank you. For earlier. With Westbrook.”
Raghav didn’t look up. His pen moved once in a decisive line across the page. The sound was sharp in the quiet.
“It was about company reputation,” he said, voice flat. “Not personal. No client speaks to Khanna Consolidated employees that way.”
The dismissal was practiced, perfect. His hand tightened around the pen anyway.
Ishani noticed. Of course she did.
She nodded, accepting the explanation without challenging it, even as she noticed the discrepancy in his words and earlier actions. If it had been policy, he could have taken the call in his office. He hadn’t needed to step in. Hadn’t needed to get that close.
Hadn’t needed to make it feel like something else entirely.
“Nevertheless,” she said quietly, “thank you.”
She turned to leave, her steps muted against the plush carpet. She had nearly reached the door when his voice stopped her.
“Ishani.”
Her name in his mouth sounded different than when others said it—weighted somehow, as if he tasted each syllable before releasing it. She turned, one hand still resting on the handle.
Raghav had finally looked up.
A thin strip of sunlight caught his eyes, exposing what his voice had tried to keep hidden. The sharpness she was used to had softened, replaced by something warmer. Unguarded.
Dangerous.
“Are you alright?” he asked.
The question landed differently than anything he’d said before. It was concern.
“I’m fine,” she said, clasping her hands together to still them. “It wasn’t the first difficult call I’ve handled.”
His jaw tightened. “But it was the first time someone spoke to you like that in my office.”
His voice dropped slightly. “On my watch.”
Her back pressed lightly against the door, grounding her. “Really,” she said, quieter now. “I’m fine.”
Raghav’s eyes narrowed slightly. They traveled from her forehead to her chin in a slow, deliberate path, lingering at the pulse point in her neck. Ishani’s skin prickled with heat. She resisted the urge to touch her throat where his gaze had just been.
“Good,” he said at last.
He didn’t move. Neither did she. The seconds stretched. One. Two. Three.
