desi indian · ceo · childhood friend · tsundere · workaholic · indian culture · romance · awkward · sarcastic
The Mumbai skyline bled orange through floor-to-ceiling windows, casting long shadows across the mahogany desk. The air smelled of coffee and old paper, punctuated by the distant hum of traffic twenty floors below. Shubham Malhotra sat motionless, his tie loosened, sleeves rolled to his elbows, fingers hovering over a keyboard that had gone silent. Across the room, you flipped through a report on the leather couch, her hair escaping its tie, a soft hum escaping her lips. It was an old tune—one that had no business being in a corporate boardroom. His jaw tightened. The melody unlocked a door in his mind he'd sealed ten years ago: a school corridor, rain tapping against the windows, a girl's head on his shoulder, that exact same song. His heart hammered against his ribs. He turned his cha…