A/N. I think this needs more editing and some more polish, but in the favor of rolling out an update sooner, here it is. Enjoy :)

The clock had struck three. She pulled out a leather bound book from the bookshelf behind his desk. They had spent a good deal of the day going over details of each other's lives. She was surprised by the amount of information she already new about him. His taste in music, his love for Italian food, his choice of drink, his political views, his religious views, his outlook of life. They were pretty much a perfect match for each other. On paper. She reminded herself.

She also learnt a lot of new things about him. That cooking was his way to unwind, that he loved going on long walks to clear his head, that he had a golden retriever growing up and that he wanted a dog, but with the amount he travelled it didn't make sense. And so much more. The more she found out about him the more she thought they could be really good friends. But he always withdrew the moment he realized he was showing some emotion.

He was "Emotionally Unavailable" alright. But beneath all that "rational" behavior, she sensed a deeper vulnerability that she had only seen slip out on very rare occasions. Now she knew how deeply rooted it was within him.

She looked at the vintage-looking book she had pulled out and flipped it open. There were pictures. Lots of pictures.

There was a picture of his parents holding a tiny baby. She recognized the younger self of his father and her mentor Dev, he looked so like son it was almost alarming. She looked at the flushed looking woman holding a baby. He looked so much like his father, but he had his mother's smile. Those dimples popping out. She flipped to see pictures of his mother and a little girl in a frock hugging her very pregnant belly. She flipped to a picture of the girl holding a baby, with her father next to her. The adoration with which the little girl held the baby was so pure it was almost tangible. She flipped the page to see pictures of the girl now looking like she was in her early teens kissing a young boy on his cheeks. A picture of two boys in jerseys, one in his late teens the other looking like a pre-teen, with their arms slung around each other, their laughter captured perfectly by the shot. She flipped to see the girl, now a woman standing in a white dress on her wedding taking vows with on the guys. The younger guy, now in his late teens, standing where the best man stood. The next photo was of the best man, now in his early twenties, holding a baby in his arms, while the married couple flanked either side of him. She flipped to see the next photo of a little girl with the same smile as two other people in the photo, with the man, the father smiling on.

"I see you have really made yourself at home"

She jumped at his voice, and she turned to see him holding two mugs of what she assumed was coffee. He had a hard intense look on his face, but it was blurred by his usual facade of calm.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to snoop. I was just curious." She rushed to explain herself, shutting the photo album close. She was worried this might be a sensitive topic for him, and that she had accidentally crossed a line.

He shrugged setting the mugs on the desk, his eyes still intense, but his face losing some of its intensity. "It's okay. It's not like you don't already know everything there is to know about my life."

She looked searchingly into his eyes and asked, almost in a whisper. "Why do you keep these hidden away?"

He tensed a little at her question before going back to his default mode and replying in an even tone, "I don't really see the point of having these all over the place. They are memories, and they are in the past."

She wanted to press further, ask more questions, but she decided now was not the time and that there would be time in the future.

She decided to change the topic to a happier one and spoke in a what she hoped was a cheery tone. "How is Simi? Last I heard from your Dad she was preparing for a test. It's so weird that she's so big now."

It worked, his face glowed with joy and light filled his eyes at the mention of his niece and he replied in a happy tone,  "She's is practically a lady now. She is doing really well. She is loving math more and more everyday. Hates gym though."

Aisha nodded, "She was never big on sports. But she was always so creative and imaginative. I remember all the tea parties she made me attend."

They picked up their mugs and sipped coffee in comfortable silence before she broke it.

"I'm glad you are doing so well with her."

He looked her directly in the eye as he responded, his voice earnest, "I think you are the one to thank for it."

She shook her head, not wanting to take the credit, it made her feel like an outsider when he thanked her for it. "I didn't really do anything"

He smiled a small non-smile. "That's a lie. I have only you to thank for when it comes to where I am at with her. And I can never thank you enough for it."

*** Three Years Ago ***

"How is Simi? I haven't met her in so long. Did she do well on her performance? I know she was nervous about it. Didn't really get a chance to check in with her later. Got busy with work." Aisha asked in a polite tone as she stared up at her brooding boss.

Aisha hadn't met Simi or Dev in the last few weeks. They were so busy with the launch of the new features, that her team had been working extra hard to meet the deadlines. She hadn't seen Mr. Ray in a month for that matter. He had been busy himself, managing various companies, and flying to different cities. She knew it was odd that she called him "Mr. Ray", especially given she called her father Dev and American corporate culture didn't really demand honorifics. But after he had squashed all her attempts at friendship she had made a deliberate choice to annoy him. And she knew it annoyed him. She had no idea what made her come up to him during the launch party and him personal questions. But well, she missed his family and if he was the part of them she could access at the moment, she would take it. She had plans to meet them next week, so getting a few updates from him wouldn't hurt. But the look on his cold hard face suggested otherwise.

"She is as well as a six year old can be. What performance are you talking about?" He asked in that overly professional manner he assumed with her.

He didn't know about Simi's performance? That girl had been going on and on about it for months now. And he didn't know! She felt a twinge of anger at the lack of attention her little friend received from her only Uncle.

"She was fairy in her school play. It was last Wednesday. Didn't you go for the performance?" She asked in a sharp tone, her eyes narrowed.

She could see him tense, a look of pain flashed on his face before it disappeared and he replied in a clipped tone, "I had an important client meeting."

That's all the explanation she got from him as he started walking away to the balcony of the restaurant away from the room they had reserved for their private party. His words, or lack of them, fueled an anger in her bloodstream. Powered by the anger and a slight drunkenness as a result of sleep deprivation from all the late-nights she had pulled at work recently, she found herself following him out to the balcony.

Once they were both out she spoke, now beyond disguising her anger, in an openly accusatory tone, "She should be more important. She is old enough to remember these things now. You need to put your child's happiness before work at times like these."

He spun around surprised to find her there, his face going hostile as he bit out harshly, "She is not my child."

She felt a deep slice of pain at his words. He couldn't mean that could her? She blinked the tears she felt creep into her eyes. The child was an angel, with so much love to give. She didn't deserve this treatment from a man she loved the most in the world.

She spoke, her voice sounded like venom to her own ears, "You are her legal guardian! And she is your niece Mr. Ray! Your sister's daughter!"

He responded in his trademark distant voice, "You don't have to guilt trip me. Pa must've gone to see it. It's all the same. I don't think she would have noticed I wasn't there."

His detachment only seemed to irk her further, it was an effort to not go nuclear on him. "Of course she would've! Mr. Ray, she is a sensitive child. And she is unusually perceptive and intelligent beyond her years. You need to take a more active role in her upbringing..."

"That's quite enough!" He took a step towards her, his voice angry as his face dropped its schooled detachment to show a mixture of pain and anger. "You have absolutely no right to say anything about my personal life!"

She took a step towards him, refusing to back away, as she knew she was right in this matter. "On the contrary, as a friend of your father and your niece, I have every right to call out the man who is causing them both pain."

His face visibly crumbled as he exclaimed in anguish, "I am not causing them pain!" 

And then just as quickly as he had let loose, he seemed to have registered the increase in his decibel, as he turned away from her and spoken a much calmer voice, "You cannot be serious about this. Miss Divan I am warning you. We are in our work environment and I am your boss."

She moved so that she was now facing him once again and spoke to him in a clear voice, "Your father is the CEO of the company, he hired me and he is my boss. You are a senior employee who has no reason to threaten a high performing employee."

He looked surprised at her words, looking at her as though she had lost it. He sputtered incredulously, "No reason? Threaten? Lady you are cornering me in the middle of a launch party and laying some heavy accusations on me. How is that no reason? Your behavior is unprofessional."

She shook her head, this was familiar territory, this back and forth between them, and this time she knew beyond a doubt she was in the right. "This is a social event organized by the company and I was not talking to you as an employee."

He narrowed his eyes as he realized she was not going to give up easily on this. "No. You clearly weren't. You were talking to me as a friend. We are not friends!"

She ignored the jab at her. She knew they were not friends, and that too wasn't her fault, it was his.

She shook her head and went on, "No we aren't! But I love your father as my own and your niece as my own. Each time you fail to be there for them I get to see the disappointment on your father's face and the hurt on Simi's. That child deserves much more than what you are offering her. That child deserves more than a legal guardian. She deserves a loving Uncle. She deserves a loving parent."

She knew she had crossed a line that had never been crossed, but this had been weighing down on her for quite sometime now. And he needed to hear this, if not from her then from someone else. But he seemed to have distanced himself from everyone else, so she felt like she was as good as the next stranger to drill some sense into this robot.

But what she didn't expect was for him to have a complete breakdown. And that threw her off.

He looked haggard as he almost shouted in her face, "Yes she does! She deserved a mother and a father. I deserve my sister and my best friend to be here and alive. But life isn't sunshine and rainbows Miss Divan. They are both gone far away. Do you realize how difficult it is took look at a child who looks exactly like your dead friend? Do you realize the pain I go through when her smile shows off her dimples in the exact place where her mother's used to? Do you realize the pain my sister caused me when she left me all alone? Do you realize my sister was not just my sister but she practically raised me? That child deserves more than me. That child deserves the world. That child...That child"

He looked so broken, his eye turning bloodshot. She felt compelled to put a comforting hand on his shoulder. She knew he had to take up a lot of responsibilities after his sister and his bestfriend had died three years ago. She had heard from his father how much of a doting uncle he had been to his niece. But all that had changed after the accident. He had withdrawn himself from the world, and put in all his focus into his work. His father had told her that he suspected his son hadn't given himself the time to grieve. That his wounds had never healed. Looking at him now she realized how right his father was.

"She does. She does. But don't you see you can give her that? Your mother wasn't around growing up, but your sister stepped up and raised you. Gave you motherly affection. Now it's your turn to give Simi that. She loves and adores you. It's your turn to give her the love and adoration she should get."

"What if I'm not enough? What if I ruin things for her?"

He looked so devastated in that moment that she hugged him without giving it a second thought. He held on to her tightly.

"Do you love her?" She asked in a quiet tone.

"More than my own life." He responded against her hair.

She broke the embrace and looked him in his tear filled eyes before firmly saying, "Then you will be enough."

"I don't know anything about raising children", he confessed.

She smiled a little smile, "Well you will get help. She has teachers, you can get counselors or read books. It's basically like learning a new skill. And your father is there to help you out. And I'm there too."

They stared at each other for a minute, before she felt him slowly withdraw, his face going back to his normal self as he masked his vulnerability from her. He cleared his throat and she felt a different pain grip her. It was stupid of her to hope for change from this man. She turned around to walk back inside, she was almost at the door when she heard his voice.

"Thank you so much Ms. Divan. I promise to never let Simi and my Dad down again."

She looked over her shoulder to respond to him, "You don't have to thank me for it. I did this for them, I care about them."

"I know. That's why I am thank you." He spoke, the sincerity in his voice seemed to touch her heart.

She felt a sudden need to run away from here. Her mind told her to leave before something dangerous happened. So she mumbled a goodnight and did just that. All the way home she willed herself not to figure out what the something dangerous was. And not to figure out what her heart hadn't stopped beating since the moment he had clung to her as if she was his lifeline.

A/N.
Hello wonderful people!

So this one was loaded! :D

What do you guys think about the little flashback? How do you feel about the tiny glimpse into  Aaditya and Aisha's history?

Thank you all the readers for reading, voting and commenting.

Love,

AnjaaniWriter