The rain continued to lash against Vikram's bedroom window, mirroring the restlessness in his mind. He sat at his desk, but his thoughts weren't on the company's quarterly reports. They were on Nila.
He remembered the way she stood next to him under the umbrella earlier that evening. He had noticed how she tried to maintain a distance, yet her presence felt like a magnetic pull. He purposely tilted the umbrella towards her, letting his own left shoulder get soaked. He didn't mind the cold rain; he only cared that she remained dry.
A Guarded Heart
Vikram opened his personal journal. To the office, he was the strict, focused leader. But in these pages, he was just a man captivated by a woman who didn't seem to realize her own impact.
"She thinks I don't notice the way she looks away when I catch her staring," he wrote.
"She thinks I don't see the tiny smile she hides behind her files."
"Does she know that her silence speaks louder to me than any words could?"
The Fear of the Unknown
He leaned back, sighing. He wanted to tell her. He wanted to ask her why she was so guarded, why she carried her secrets like a heavy burden. But he was afraid. What if expressing his feelings ruined the professional bond they had built? What if he misread her shy glances?
He picked up his phone and looked at her contact name. He started typing a message: "Are you home safe? The rain is still heavy."
He stared at the screen for a long time, his thumb hovering over the 'Send' button. Finally, he deleted it.
"Not yet," he whispered to the empty room. "The time isn't right yet."
Outside, the rain began to fade into a soft drizzle, but the storm inside Vikram's heart was just beginning to gather streng