Chapter 2

Aadhya’s POV

I noticed him before anyone announced his arrival. It wasn’t because he made noise. It was because the entire floor went quiet.

Not the kind of quiet that comes from discipline or rules — but the kind that spreads instinctively, like every person suddenly became aware of something powerful entering their space.

Advik Singhal walked in with Reena his Secretary and two board members, his expression unreadable, his steps steady and unhurried. He didn’t scan the office like someone unfamiliar with it. He moved like someone who had already memorised the place, as if the walls and glass partitions were just extensions of his authority.

People straightened in their seats. Conversations died mid-sentence. Even the air felt different. I tried not to look at him. Truly, I did. But my eyes lifted on their own.

He wasn’t what I had imagined a billionaire CEO would look like. No exaggerated confidence. No charming smile meant to impress. Just quiet control. Sharp features, calm posture, and eyes that seemed to measure everything without wasting effort.

And somehow, those eyes paused on me. Just for a second. But it felt longer.

A strange tightening formed in my chest, like I had been acknowledged without being spoken to. Like something had shifted slightly in the balance of my very ordinary day.

I immediately looked back at my screen. I wasn’t supposed to be staring. I was just an executive assistant. Invisible. Replaceable. One of many.

At least, that’s what I believed until ten minutes later.

“Aadhya Suryavanshi.”

I looked up to see Reena standing beside my desk.

“Mr. Singhal wants to see you. In his cabin.”

For a moment, I thought she had said the wrong name.

Me?

There were senior managers on this floor. Department heads. People who had worked here longer than I had even been alive. People who actually mattered.

“I— is there some issue?” I asked carefully.

“No,” Reena replied, but her face gave nothing away. “He just asked for you.”

That didn’t comfort me. At all.

The walk to his cabin felt longer than usual. Every step echoed inside my head. I adjusted my ID card, smoothed the fabric of my kurti, reminded myself to breathe like a normal human being.

This is just a meeting. He is just a CEO.

I have faced pressure before. But the moment I entered his cabin, I realised how badly I was lying to myself.

The room was large, minimalist, all glass and dark wood. The city spread behind the windows like a living painting. Advik stood near the window, hands in his pockets, not even seated.

He didn’t turn around immediately.

“Close the door,” he said.

His voice wasn’t loud. But it didn’t need to be.

I closed it quietly. Only then did he turn.

Up close, his presence felt different. He wasn’t intimidating in an obvious way. There was no visible threat, no aggression. Just a kind of composed stillness that made you aware of your own movements, your own breathing.

“You ate Aadhya Suryavanshi,” he said.

“Yes, sir.”

He looked at me for a few seconds. Not in a personal way — more like he was observing how I stood, how I reacted, how much space I occupied in the room.

“You handled the investors’ documentation yesterday.”

“Yes.”

“No errors.”

“I double-checked everything.”

A pause.

“Why?”

The question caught me off guard. “Because… accuracy matters, sir.”

The corner of his mouth shifted slightly. Not a smile. Just a minimal reaction.

“From today,” he said calmly, “you report directly to me.”

The words didn’t make sense at first.

“I am sorry?”

“My personal executive assistant resigned last week. I’ve been observing the floor since yesterday.” His gaze remained steady. “You’re the most efficient.”

The way he said it made my stomach tighten.

“I— thank you, sir. But I’m already assigned to another department.”

“That assignment ends now.”

There was no irritation in his voice. No argument. Just a decision.

I hesitated. “Sir, I’ll need approval from HR and—”

“You already have it.”

He turned towards his desk, picked up a file, and placed it in front of me.

“Your first task. Arrange a meeting with the Korean delegation by 4 PM today.”

I glanced at the digital clock on the wall.

1:40 PM.

“Sir, they usually require at least two days’ notice.”

He looked at me again, completely unbothered.

“Then you have two hours to do what usually takes two days.”

My heart skipped.

“That’s… not realistically possible.”

Silence followed. And in that quiet space, I became aware of something.

He wasn’t testing my professional skills. He was testing me.

“I will try,” I said finally.

Something changed in his eyes. Not approval. Not doubt.

As I turned to leave, Suraj(his PA) entered with a tablet.

“Sir, the call from Zurich,” he said in a low voice.

At the same moment, Advik’s phone rang. The screen displayed an international number. He answered in a language I didn’t recognise.

But his voice changed. Not the words — the tone.

The calm doctor-like presence vanished. The air in the room felt heavier, colder, like the man behind me had shifted into someone else entirely.

I didn’t mean to listen. But one sentence slipped through.

“Send the clearance. I’ll handle it personally.”

There was no emotion in his voice. No hesitation. No curiosity. Just command.

I walked out quietly, my pulse uneven. Two hours later, I stood outside his cabin again, my hands still slightly trembling.

The Korean delegation had agreed. I didn’t even fully understand how it had happened. A chain of calls, permissions, contacts I didn’t know I had access to.

When I told him, he didn’t look impressed.

He looked… satisfied.

“Good,” he said. “You adapt fast.”

He paused, then added, almost casually,

“From today onwards, Aadhya… your time belongs to me.”

I laughed nervously. “Sir, I still have a personal life.”

His gaze held mine. Steady. Unblinking.

“Not for long.”

And for the first time since I met Advik Singhal, I felt something I couldn’t name. Just the strange, unsettling feeling of being chosen.