The office lights of Golden Bright Limited turned on at exactly 9:00 a.m.
Yashvardhan entered through the employee gate, not the glass doors. He wore a faded uniform, an ID card hanging slightly crooked, and the expression of a man who had learned not to look anyone in the eye.
"Peon section, hurry up," the security guard said without looking at him.
Yashvardhan nodded and walked inside.
His day began the same way every day.
First, files.
He carried heavy folders from one department to another, moving silently through corridors lined with framed awards and smiling photographs of people who never noticed him. Managers called him by his designation, never by his name.
"File table par rakh do."
"Director ke cabin mein le jao."
"Careful, don't touch anything."
He followed orders without reaction.
Then came the meetings.
Inside the conference rooms, executives discussed profits, expansion, foreign deals. Yashvardhan stood in a corner, pouring tea and coffee, refilling cups, collecting empty ones. Sometimes conversations stopped when he entered. Sometimes jokes started after he left.
No one knew that the company breathing in profits existed because of money that once came from a man just like him.
At noon, a senior manager snapped his fingers.
"Coffee. Strong."
Yashvardhan brought it.
The man tasted it and frowned. "Too much sugar. Learn something or stay useless."
Laughter followed.
Yashvardhan lowered his eyes and took the cup back. Humiliation had become routine. It didn't shock him anymore. It didn't anger him either. It simply existed.
By evening, his legs ached. His hands smelled of paper and spilled tea. He signed out from the peon register and walked back through the same gate he entered from.
No one stopped him.
No one remembered him.
Outside the building, the Golden Bright Limited logo shone brightly against the night sky. Yashvardhan looked at it for a second longer than usual, then turned away.
He didn't know why.
The house was quiet.
A small rented flat. Clean. Minimal. Functional.
Sanaya Khatri sat on the sofa, laptop open, phone pressed between her shoulder and ear. Her voice was calm, professional, controlled.
"Yes, Prince, I've approved the proposal. We'll discuss the merger tomorrow."
She paused, listening.
"No, I'm fine. Just tired."
Prince Khatri's face flickered on the video call screen briefly before the call ended.
Sanaya closed the laptop and exhaled.
Yashvardhan entered the house quietly. He removed his shoes, placed them neatly, and walked toward the kitchen.
"Dinner?" he asked softly.
Sanaya nodded without looking at him. "It's on the stove."
He served himself and sat at the dining table. They ate in silence.
Sanaya's eyes never left her phone. Emails. Messages. Numbers. The weight of Golden Bright Limited rested on her shoulders. She was the CEO now. The only daughter. The only decision-maker.
Her father, Mukesh Khatri, had died a year after her marriage. A sudden heart attack. One moment alive, the next gone. Since then, everything had changed.
Yashvardhan didn't remember much about his life before this house, before this marriage, before this job. His past felt like a locked room with no key.
Sometimes, at night, he felt restless without reason.
Sometimes, he dreamed of unfamiliar places and unfamiliar power.
Tonight was one of those nights.
After dinner, Sanaya stood up. "I have an early meeting tomorrow."
She went into the bedroom and closed the door.
Yashvardhan washed the dishes. He turned off the lights and lay down on the sofa, staring at the ceiling.
A dull headache throbbed behind his eyes.
Images tried to surface, then disappeared.
He closed his eyes.
Outside, the city moved without him. Inside, something stirred quietly, unnamed and unnoticed.
In the morning, he would wake up again.
Wear the same uniform.
Enter through the same gate.
Carry the same files.
Serve the same coffee.
For now.
End of Chapter 1