Mira wasn’t the type to get distracted by a smile.
But Riyan’s wasn’t just a smile. It was a quiet nudge—unbothered, unhurried—like he had all the time in the world to wait for her heart to respond.
She tried to keep her distance.
She ignored his coffee offers, kept her replies short in meetings, and even changed her usual lunch timings. But Riyan? He didn’t push. He didn’t chase. He simply… stayed.
When she skipped the cafeteria and started bringing homemade lunch, she found a note slipped next to her lunchbox one day:
“I hope this tastes as serious as you look during meetings.”
—Riyan.
She tried not to smile. She failed.
---
The thing about walls is—they don’t fall all at once. They crumble quietly, piece by piece.
Mira noticed it one evening, when she stayed back late at work.
Her laptop crashed. Panic set in. Important files were on the verge of vanishing forever. Everyone else had left. She was alone… or so she thought.
“Trouble?” came a familiar voice.
She looked up. Riyan.
“I thought you left,” she mumbled.
He stepped closer. “Saw your light was still on. Need help?”
She hesitated. But then, she nodded.
In minutes, he managed to fix it. Just like that. Mira stared at him, surprised.
“You’re full of surprises,” she said.
Riyan leaned back in the chair beside her, stretching casually. “Nah. You just haven’t paid enough attention.”
And just like that, she laughed—a real laugh, not the polite one she gave to colleagues or clients.
He looked at her differently then. Not like someone trying to impress her, but like someone who genuinely enjoyed watching her laugh.
Mira felt something stir. Something she hadn’t let herself feel in a long time.
---
Over the next few weeks, Riyan became a pattern in her life.
He texted her random jokes at midnight.
He knew when she needed silence and when she needed distraction.
When she had a terrible headache during a long presentation, he quietly left a peppermint tea on her desk with a sticky note:
“For the warrior who doesn’t know how to rest.”
She didn’t know what scared her more—his sweetness or how badly she wanted to believe it was real.
---
One rainy Friday evening, he offered to walk her to the bus stop.
“You don’t have to,” she said, clutching her umbrella.
“I know,” he replied, “but I want to.”
They stood silently, watching the rain fall like soft music around them. The city lights blurred in the puddles, and the air smelled like fresh beginnings.
She turned to him. “Why me, Riyan? There are so many girls who’d fall for you in a second.”
He paused.
“Because you don’t fall easily. And I think love means more when it’s earned.”
Mira’s breath caught.
He didn’t reach for her hand. He didn’t try to touch her.
He just looked at her like she mattered. Like he was choosing her, without expecting her to choose back right away.
And that… that was the moment Mira realized—
Love wasn’t crashing in all at once.
It was quietly sneaking into her heart, like an unexpected guest who already knew where the key was hidden.
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