The distance began immediately.
Riyan stopped calling Aarvi into his office.
Instructions came through email.
Meetings happened with other staff present.
His voice, when he spoke to her, was polite… and empty.
Professional.
Exactly the way he had promised.
Exactly the way it hurt.
Aarvi told herself it was necessary.
She told herself it was temporary.
She told herself it didn't matter.
But every time she typed his name at the end of an email, her chest tightened.
---
The office felt colder
People stopped whispering as much.
The rumors faded the moment the closeness disappeared.
From the outside, it worked.
From the inside, it felt like something was being slowly pulled apart.
Aarvi noticed the little things.
The way he no longer waited for her to finish speaking.
The way he didn't ask if she had eaten.
The way he didn't notice when her hands trembled.
And she hated herself for missing it.
---
Riyan was suffering too
From behind his desk, he watched her struggle in silence.
He noticed everything —
the dark circles under her eyes,
the way she flinched when someone raised their voice nearby,
the way she swallowed emotions and pretended they didn't exist.
But he didn't step in.
Not because he didn't want to.
But because stepping in would hurt her reputation again.
And hurting her was the one thing he refused to do.
---
They passed each other like strangers
One afternoon, Aarvi walked past his office carrying files.
Their eyes met for a split second.
No warmth.
No softness.
Just restraint.
She looked away first.
And that — that hurt him more than any rumor ever could.
---
She broke quietly
By the end of the week, Aarvi sat alone at her desk long after everyone left.
Her screen was still on.
Her hands were still.
Her composure… wasn't.
Tears slid down her cheeks silently.
Not loud.
Not dramatic.
Just tired.
She didn't cry because she loved him.
She cried because she missed being seen.
---
He couldn't ignore it anymore
Riyan stood in the hallway, watching her through the glass.
She didn't know he was there.
She didn't know he saw her wipe her tears and straighten her shoulders like nothing happened.
Something inside him snapped — not violently, but painfully.
Distance was supposed to protect her.
Instead, it was breaking her.
---
The moment before everything changes
He turned away before she could see him.
He walked back to his office, closed the door, and pressed his hands against the desk.
"This isn't working," he muttered.
He had underestimated one thing:
How much it would hurt to love someone from a distance you created yourself.
And for the first time since the rumors started, Riyan realized —
The next choice he made wouldn't be about the office.
Or the rules.
Or the whispers.
It would be about her.