Chapter 3: Close Quarters

The temporary Project Aurora war room was located on the 17th floor—glass walls, high ceilings, and far too little space for two people who could barely stand each other.

Kavya entered first, her heels clicking sharply against the polished tiles. She claimed the far end of the long table, plugging in her laptop without so much as a glance at Arjun, who walked in seconds later.

“Morning,” he said, tone neutral.

She didn’t respond. Just opened her notebook and began typing. Arjun smirked. Cold as ever.

They had three weeks to prepare a full-spectrum market proposal for the Aurora expansion: competitive analysis, risk forecasts, region-specific penetration strategies, and investor alignment decks. It was ambitious, even for two top performers.

They needed synergy.

Instead, they had landmines.

By lunch, they’d already clashed twice—once over branding tone, once over financial modeling assumptions. Kavya hated his projections for being “recklessly optimistic,” and Arjun accused her of “turning caution into cowardice.”

It was a miracle the glass walls didn’t crack from the tension.

But in the rare moments when they weren’t arguing, something unspoken lingered in the air. A flicker of awareness. The way her fingers paused near her collarbone when she was frustrated. The way he tapped his pen exactly three times before speaking. Neither of them acknowledged it, but it simmered like heat trapped under silk.

Later that afternoon, a surprise client call was scheduled with the European partners. Kavya clicked open the shared deck.

Arjun’s section was incomplete.

“What is this?” she snapped. “You were supposed to finish the comparative ROI slide.”

“I’m working on it. It’ll be ready by the call.”

“The call is in twenty minutes!”

He stood, walking around the table to look over her screen. “Relax, Mehra. Not all of us need six hours to build a table.”

Her jaw clenched. “Professionalism doesn’t equal perfectionism. It means showing up prepared.”

Arjun leaned closer, voice lower. “It also means not assuming the worst every damn time.”

Kavya stood. Too close.

The air between them crackled.

“Maybe I wouldn’t have to assume if you didn’t give me a reason,” she whispered.

They were inches apart now. Breathing each other’s frustration.

Then the room phone buzzed, shattering the moment.

She stepped back sharply, smoothing her blazer. “Get it done.”

He nodded, eyes unreadable. “Already on it.”

---

The call went fine.

Too fine.

The clients were impressed, the director gave a tight nod of approval, and Arjun—true to his word—had nailed the last-minute numbers.

Kavya hated how efficient they were when they weren’t arguing. Like it wasn’t just tolerance. It was something else.

Something dangerous.

She lingered in the conference room after the call, closing files and rechecking notes. Arjun didn’t leave either. He watched her from the other end.

“You always this hard on your teammates?” he asked casually.

“Only the ones I can’t trust.”

He chuckled softly, rubbing the back of his neck. “Guess I deserve that.”

She glanced at him. “You guess?”

“I didn’t change your presentation, Kavya. I swear. But I get why you think I did. And I don’t blame you for it.”

For a second, her posture softened.

Then she shut her laptop. “Let’s just get this done. And once it’s over, we can go back to ignoring each other.”

Arjun nodded slowly. “Right. Ignoring each other.”

But his voice carried something else entirely.

And neither of them looked away for a long time.

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