For the longest time, Aarvi believed that powerful people were untouched by pain.
That men like Riyan Malhotra — polished, distant, impossibly controlled — lived behind walls so strong that nothing human could reach them.
But today, she saw something else.
Something raw.
Something real.
Something he didn't show the world.
A fracture.
Not in strength —
but in the silence he carried like armor.
As she sat in the chair across from him, the half-open bottle of water in her hands, she found herself staring at him differently.
Not as her boss.
Not as a billionaire.
Not as the man who intimidated the entire building.
But as someone… quietly broken.
And suddenly, she wasn't as scared of him as she was of what she felt when she looked at him.
---
Riyan felt her eyes on him
He pretended to review the files on his desk, but concentration was a lost battle at this point.
Her presence filled his office in a way numbers, meetings, and logic never did.
It was unsettling.
He didn't like losing control.
But with her… he didn't feel like he was losing control.
He felt like he was finding something he didn't know he ever lost.
He glanced up.
Aarvi quickly looked down, embarrassed.
But he saw the question in her eyes —
"What happened to you?"
And a part of him wanted to answer it.
A part of him wanted to let her in.
But letting people in always came with consequences.
He knew that better than anyone.
---
He broke the silence first
"Aarvi," he said, voice lower than usual, "you don't have to look at me like I'm fragile."
She blinked.
"I'm not… looking at you like that."
"You are."
Heat rushed to her cheeks. "I was just… thinking."
"About what?"
Aarvi hesitated.
She wasn't sure if she should say it.
But the truth slipped out softly.
"That you're not as untouchable as people think."
Riyan froze.
No one had ever said that to him.
No one had ever seen him enough to say it.
He let out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding.
"Is that what I look like to you?"
His voice was soft, almost curious.
"Untouchable?"
Aarvi nodded slowly.
"You carry yourself like nothing can break you."
His eyes darkened with an emotion she couldn't read.
"I'm not unbreakable, Aarvi," he said.
"I'm just… used to pretending I am."
Her heart tightened.
There it was again — that raw honesty he only ever revealed to her.
"But why?" she whispered.
He looked away, jaw tightening.
The struggle inside him was visible — as if telling her the truth meant giving her a piece of himself he wasn't sure he could afford to lose.
"Because when you let people know where you're weak…"
He paused.
"they don't protect it. They use it."
Aarvi felt her chest twist.
Not with pity —
but with understanding.
He wasn't cold by nature.
He was cold by necessity.
"Not everyone is like that," she said softly.
He looked at her.
"For now," he replied. "You're not."
The room grew quiet again.
Not uncomfortable —
just heavy with things neither of them knew how to name.
---
A moment too honest to ignore
Aarvi stood slowly.
"I should get back to work, sir."
He nodded, but something flickered across his eyes — something that looked a lot like disappointment.
She reached the door.
Then paused.
"Sir?" she said without turning.
"Yes?"
"You're stronger for feeling things," she said quietly.
"Not weaker."
Riyan inhaled sharply, the words hitting him deeper than he expected.
By the time he looked up, she was already gone.
But the silence she left behind didn't feel lonely.
It felt… healing.
For the first time in years, Riyan Malhotra realized something terrifying:
Someone saw him —
not the CEO,
not the billionaire,
not the power —
just him.
And she wasn't afraid of what she saw.