The next morning, Astha walked into the office to find Priya waiting for her near the coffee machine, her arms crossed, an amused expression on her face.
“So,” Priya said, sipping her coffee, “I take it you already know what happened at the party?”
Astha frowned. “What do you mean?”
Priya smiled. “Oh. So you don’t know.”
Astha sighed. “Just tell me, Priya.”
Priya leaned in slightly. “A couple of idiots thought it would be fun to start a bet on ‘who could thaw the ice queen.’ Some of them even tried their luck already.”
Astha’s expression didn’t change. She simply exhaled, taking a slow sip of her tea. “That’s nothing new,” she said calmly. “Men love betting on things they can’t have.”
Priya gave her a look. “You’re really not even a little bit mad?”
Astha shrugged. “I’m used to it.”
Priya shook her head. “Well, Verma wasn’t. He overheard it and absolutely destroyed those guys. I don’t think they’ll ever look you in the eye again.”
Astha raised an eyebrow. “Arin?”
Priya nodded. “Yup. He went full-on furious. I’ve never seen him like that before.”
Astha sighed, shaking her head as she grabbed her files. “He shouldn’t have wasted his energy. It doesn’t bother me.”
Later that day, as they drove home, she glanced at Arin. “You shouldn’t have interfered.”
Arin, who had been staring out of the window, turned to look at her. “What?”
“What happened at the party.” Astha kept her voice casual. “Priya told me.”
Arin’s jaw clenched slightly. “And?”
Astha sighed. “And I don’t care. It happens all the time. People will always talk. Let them.”
Arin didn’t reply immediately. He exhaled, then shook his head. “You should care, Astha.”
She raised an eyebrow. “Why?”
“Because they don’t get to talk about you like that.” His voice was quiet but laced with something she couldn’t quite place—anger, protectiveness, something else entirely. “They don’t get to reduce you to a joke.”
Astha studied him, surprised by his intensity. “I don’t need defending, Arin. I handle things my own way.”
“I know you do,” he said, his gaze still dark. “But that doesn’t mean I have to stand by and let them do it.”
She wasn’t sure how to respond to that.
After a pause, she smiled slightly. “I didn’t take you for the angry young man type, Verma.”
Arin let out a humorless chuckle. “Neither did I.”
For the first time, Arin felt something completely unfamiliar to him—anger that wasn’t about himself, but about someone else. He had never experienced this kind of protective fury before, and he wasn’t sure what to do with it.
But one thing was certain.
He wasn’t going to let it go.
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