*NOTE pg 7* The misery of unrequited longing

Arnav Singh Raizada's body worked on auto pilot. He would drive to his office, drink his black coffee, sludge through the meetings, bark at his employees, negotiate deals with his clients - but his pained heart remained fixed on one thought alone, rather one person.

That was Kushi Kumari Gupta.

No, he could no longer call her Khushi Kumari Gupta Singh Raizada.

Not when she refused to look him in the eye, refused to allow him to make amends and vehemently rejected his pleas to give him space in her life once again.

He knew that he had lost all hope the minute he found out that she had left for good.

Him calling her the biggest mistake of his life was the last straw, worse still that he dared to bring up the contract marriage again. Even he knew there was only so much a person could take and it seemed that he had fallen from grace forever.

But even when his mind told him there was no use trying and that he should let her live her own life for good - his heart refused to let go of that small fragile thread of hope it was still holding onto. Not when he was seeing her beautiful face everyday as she sauntered up and down his company - correction, the company he took over because he knew she had joined there as a data operator.

</p><p>She refused to talk to him, to look at him, to even be alone with him - she had already made it very clear to him in no uncertain terms, the day the contract ended that she never wanted to be a part of his life again.

He had tried multiple times to get her to speak to him at least but she would not budge - so alert as to avoid ever having to cross paths with him.

And he did not want to force her again, not yet. Not after everything he did to her, not after guilt and pain at what the only love of his life had endured at his hands gnawed at him at every waking moment.

Maybe she wouldn't talk to him yet but he could atleast be close to her, hear her voice here. She wouldn't face him ever, but he could look his fill and absorb as much as his senses could take and more.

There he was standing at the glass windows of his cabin looking down at her desk, gazing intently at her bent over profile with so much abject and naked longing.

He unabashedly stared at the object of his love and desire, while to her he no longer existed.