"I officially hate Simmi." Kriya told Aashi over lunch the other day. Aashi let out a laugh.

"What'd she do to piss you off?" Even in the short time they knew each other, Aashi had learnt enough about Kriya to know she was very easy going and there were probably just a couple people in her life that she despised.

"There isn't one but multiple reasons. Her obnoxious nature for one. Always butting into other's business for another."

"Alright. It's clear you hate her then. Poor girl. You know, if you just told her who you really are, you wouldn't have to bother tolerating her every day."

"Then where'd be the fun?" Kriya winked at her, as a thought coming in her mind.

Aashi's phone rang. After listening to the person on the other hand, she called Kriya. "Kriya, can you go give this file to Mr. Shekhawat? He needs it for his meeting." Kriya got up from her desk and taking it from her hand, exited to enter Swayam's room.

"You need this?"

He shook his head. "Not really. I needed an excuse to see you."

Kriya gave him a look. "Swayam, this is office."

"Fine, then we'll talk business. I need your signature on these."

"Sure." She took a pen from his desk and signed them where he told her to.

"Perfect." She walked till the door and just before opening it, turned to face Swayam again.

"Swayam?" He waited for her to continue. "About our conversation yesterday... it looked like you wanted to say something?"

He shook his head, "Nothing important."

She wanted to take his word, but couldn't. He was hiding something. He was hiding from her how it felt to see Kriya spending more and more time with Rey when she wasn't in the office working. He had noticed her texting him every now and then, and he wasn't the type of person to tell someone who to talk to and who not to. As much as it hurt him to feel that he was once again losing her, he had to let her decide for herself what she wanted out of life.

××××××××××××

The rest of the day, Kriya could hardly focus on her work. She couldn't figure out what Swayam could be bothered about. He had never hesitated to tell her his problems, and share. Now, he was keeping things from her, even though she had asked what the issue was.

A pair of fingers snapped in front of her eyes. She blinked to see Vihaan standing in front of her. "Shall we?" He asked and she quickly nodded, getting up from her chair. They had to attend a meeting. They would only get to observe, for now.

Swayam and Kriya's eyes often met. His intense gaze on her gave her goose bumps. She fought hard to not shiver in his looks.

"The deal is final then Mr. Shekhawat." Mr. Bowen said at the end of the presentation, getting up and shaking hands with Swayam.

"Perfect. I shall have the clauses added as discussed. Ms. Rai, I would like them at my desk in the next hour." He turned instructing Kriya. Her eyes widened. He was doing it on purpose. She knew it. He knew she wasn't able to pay any attention at all - all thanks to him only. She glared at him. He simply walked out discussing with Mr. Bowen.

Aashi walked up to Kriya to hand her the main file when she heard her mumble. "I take back what I said to him yesterday. I hate him." Aashi laughed in return. Walking in the room, Kriya whined. "He knows very well I wasn't paying attention."

"And why weren't you?" Aashi teased. She had seen them in the meeting room and guessed why Kriya wasn't paying attention.

"Aashi!" Kriya groaned, being teased. With pouting eyes, she asked. "Can you help me?"

Aashi nodded and handed her the notes she had taken during the meeting. "Good luck!" Kriya hugged her happily for she was saved and got to work.

Just few minutes before the hour time limit, she handed the file to Swayam with a victorious smile on her face. He was impressed. "Apparently, you weren't distracted enough." He pretended to be sad.

××××××××××××

Swayam turned to Vihaan after the phone call ended. "Sorry for that. There's just a lot of work to be done."

"Ah, I agree. You have my sympathies. One week and I already feel like hell. Anyway, we looked over the files of all employees that you'd handed over and have narrowed a list of those who look suspicious. Go over them and let me know if you doubt any of them?"

Swayam took the file from him and started scanning the names. "It's hard to believe someone working for me would want to harm us." He admitted as he did.

"Sometimes, the ones closest to us are our biggest enemies."

"Touché."

His finger stopped at one name. "Kriya?" He looked at Vihaan.

He explained, "I know she just started, but she's definitely hiding something. Her records don't match up either."

Swayam went off laughing. This was amusing. Vihaan was suspecting the one for whom he was working here to protect. Vihaan looked at him, confused. "What?" He asked.

Swayam dialed an extension on the office phone. "Yeah, can you come in?" After putting the receiver back in its place, he turned to Vihaan. "You'll see in a second."

A couple of seconds later, Kriya walked in the cabin. "Yes?" She asked, not dropping her guard seeing Vihaan there. She further walked in when Swayam ushered her over. He got up and then walked over to her side.

He walked her to his chair and made her sit there. "Sir?" She asked, she was completely lost as to what was going on, and so was Vihaan.

Swayam turned to Vihaan, standing beside the chair. "Vihaan, meet the owner of Rai Enterprise." Kriya went on to stop him, but he hushed her. An understanding started to cross Vihaan's face. Swayam confirmed, "And yes, my wife. Kriya Rai Shekhawat."

All Vihaan replied with was, "Wow." Out of all the assumptions he had made of her hiding something, this hadn't been one of it. "I did not see that one coming."

Kriya frowned, as she got up. "Why? I don't like you."

He chuckled, "I had to. He suspected you to be the mole because you were hiding this. And you love me."

Amusement crossed her face as she turned to look at Vihaan. "Really? Me? That's... funny. Well, I'm glad then that you told him. I don't fancy being arrested."

Vihaan stood up. "I am so sorry, ma'am. I didn't mean to accuse you or..."

Kriya stopped him, "It's alright, Vihaan. I know you didn't. If anything, I am relieved that you are doing your job well. If you hadn't caught on that I was hiding something, then I would have been worried. And please, no one here but Aashi and we know who I am. I'd like for it to stay as such."

He nodded, "You got it."

Swayam informed him, "I'll look over the list. Thanks Vihaan, for everything you are doing. I know it can't be easy to work as an intern."

Vihaan gave a smile and took his cue to leave. Kriya turned to face Swayam, "So, what happens next?"

Swayam sat back on the chair once again and took the file with the list. "The list of suspects is a bit longer than I would like." He admitted. There were about thirty names on it, and he didn't like the thought that one of his own employee was out to harm her.

Kriya put a supporting hand over his, leaning back on the desk. "Hey, we'll get through this too."

Swayam nodded, wanting to believe her. He didn't doubt what she'd said. He knew that as long as they were together, no one could harm them. He smiled up at her, kissing her hand. "You should go now..." He said after moments of silence.

She didn't have to heart to leave when he looked so vulnerable, but knowing she had to go back to her desk, she stood on her feet and pressed her lips softly on his cheek. Not saying anything and just letting her eyes speak, she left the room.

Hearing the door click shut, he sighed and got up from his chair. Behind him, he turned to stand by the glass window, looking out over the city.

××××××××××××

Swayam walked into Aashi's cabin. "Aashi, can I get Lawrence file? We need to start working on that next." Aashi got up to fetch the file from the file cabinet behind her. "Oh, and Kriya, since you've shown understanding in Mr. Bowen's assignment, you can join us in creating the sketches."

"Sure sir." Kriya replied standing up. "Thank you." She gave a flaunting look towards Simmi, who returned the look with a cold glare. Kriya knew that it wasn't a fair fight or a fair victory, but a victory nonetheless.

Simmi got on to trying to impress Swayam and get him on her side after seeing he had practically handed Kriya Mr. Bowen's project. Kriya rolled her eyes seeing how hard Simmi was trying and humiliating herself in the process.

"You do know he has a wife right?" Nicole told her when she saw how Simmi was trying to gain his attention.

"We've never heard her name nor him talking about her. For all we know, he probably doesn't love her anymore."

Kriya tried to control her anger. She least cared about what Simmi was saying about her indirectly. She was not able to handle how she was talking about Swayam. Aashi placed her hand atop Kriya's to stop her from getting up and pouncing on Simmi. For that, Kriya silently thanked Aashi.

"We are not here to talk about Mr. Shekhawat's personal life." Aashi give them both a serious glare. They got back to their work and composed themselves.

××××××××××××

"I want you to fire Simmi." Kriya said walking into Swayam's cabin.

"Excuse me?" Swayam looked up from the laptop screen.

"You heard me. Fire her."

"Gladly, love. Can I at least know why I am to fire her? You know, in case she asks."

She frowned. "She's talking nonsense about you."

"And it affects me because...?"

"It affects me! I can't sit in the same building as her when she is talking shit about you."

He got up and made her sit down. "Calm down sweetheart. And now tell me what actually happened."

Kriya replayed the conversation. "She's talking nonsense about how you're like others and not faithful to your wife."

Swayam smirked. "We both very well know I'm faithful to you. Let the dogs bark."

"I would. But the barking is just too loud. It hurts my ear." She pouted.

Swayam somehow managed to calm her down and send her back to her desk. He promised her he'd take strict action if he caught her out of line again but could not simply fire her and ruin her career for one comment she made being immature.

××××××××××××

"Ma'am, these are for you." The receptionist came up to Kriya and handed her a bouquet of red roses. Kriya looked at them confused. Seeing no note, she thought they must be from Swayam and blushed. She did wonder why he would send them here when he could give it to her personally at home. She let the thought go as she took in their fragrance.

During lunch, Aashi brought the pastries she had ordered. Nicole, Vihaan and Simmi were sitting with them as well. "Exactly the way you love them." Kriya was about to ask how she knew but then thought better of it. Who else would tell other than Swayam? She spotted him walk by the canteen. He winked at her. She blushed and with eye movement, called him over.

They all started getting up as he walked closer to them. With a hand movement, he asked them to sit. "What are we celebrating?"

"Surviving a month of internship." Nicole said. Kriya got up and fed him a piece from her spoon itself.

"Yummy." He wanted to spend some time with her but everyone around were making it difficult. "After lunch, could you come to my cabin? We need to finalize the blueprints." He told her. She could very well see his intention. She nodded. She wanted to spend some time alone too away from everyone's eyes.

"Yes, I'll call you back later." Swayam ended the call when Kriya entered the room. "Finally alone." He hugged her. "Do you have any idea how hard it is to act as if I don't know you?"

She laughed. "We've done it before during college."

"That was a different time." He objected. "You weren't around me always at that time." Though, he knew it was almost the same. The only difference was that she would be at college while he'd be here, in the office. The distance kept him in the office, but it didn't meant it was any easier. As she thought of college, she remembered Rey. He had said his internship was tough since he was working with his father at his company. She decided to text him later when she got back to her desk to see how he was doing.

××××××××××××

Swayam entered Aashi's cabin. "Can you keep this somewhere safe till tomorrow?" He handed her a necklace set.

"Oh yes, your wedding anniversary is coming up." She spoke and proceeded to kept it in the locked cabinet. "It's next month, isn't it? You already bought her a gift? Nice."

"You know how she gets about gifts." He commented. Kriya loved gifts.

Simmi saw the opportunity and smirked. Just wait and watch Kriya.

××××××××××××

Swayam had been waiting for Kriya to finish with her work so they could leave together. Kriya entered his office and asked, "Hey, Rey just texted me. It's been a while so we thought of grabbing dinner. You're going to be come?"

Swayam denied, "Actually, why don't you go ahead? I've got a few things left to finish up."

She frowned slightly, "You sure?" She would've liked them all to have a night out. He seemed to be stressing a lot lately.

He nodded, "Yeah, sure. Have fun."

"Okay, I'll probably be home by 9."

He nodded again, staring at his blank laptop screen, pretending as if a word document was on and he was reading it. "It's fine." It was his way of letting her know it didn't matter to him when she got home.

"Okay..." She trailed off watching him a second longer. When he made no attempt to look at her, or say anything else, she let out a silent sigh and left his office. Returning to her desk, she gathered her belongings and proceeded for dinner.

Watching her leave, Swayam closed his laptop screen with a heavy heart.

That night, Swayam was looking for some old project files in his study room. Kriya mostly never moved his things, but he knew she had cleaned up the place over the weekend and that had led to things being shifted from one place to another.

He would have kept flipping through the files had the familiarity of one document not stood out. It was a document he had himself carried with him for a long time before he had presented them to Kriya. She had been furious and refused to accept them. Through the translucent cover of the file, her signature on the bottom flashed signs of warning.

She had signed them.

The Divorce Papers.

It was the final straw that shattered his heart into pieces. 

authors note:

Keep on the lookout for the Q & A tomorrow (: 

PS: It's a busy week, so I'll be replying to all the comments on this book so far sometime next week. 

What do you think Swayam will do now that he's found them?!