Chapter One Hundred and One.

Chapter One Hundred and One.
The next day…

Another frustrated groan tore out of Veda’s throat as her fingers clenched against the sides of her laptop.

The error screen blinked mockingly at her, flashing the same red message no matter how many times she tried to run the damn code.

"How the hell do I fix this?!" she hissed under her breath, glaring at the screen.

Her shoulders slumped as she let out another defeated sigh.

“This was running so well last night..” she muttered again, chewing on her lower lip.

Her irritation only grew, because deep down, she knew, this would have been so much easier if Varun had just allowed her a damn supervisor.

Someone she could lean on whenever she hit these roadblocks.

But no…Varun had to be controlling, always pulling the strings the way he wanted.

'If that stupid Varun hadn’t interfered, I wouldn’t be stuck like this' she cursed in her head, her temper burning hotter with every failed attempt.

'I can’t even test the new features properly.'

'God, I hate him so much.'

"Do you need help, Veda?"

Her head snapped toward the voice, and she found Kabir watching her from his space, his expression laced with a softness.

For the first time, without her usual defensive wall, Veda gave him a small nod.

Her patience was wearing thin, and she was dangerously close to losing her mind.

Kabir’s lips curved slightly. Something flickered in his chest, a quiet happiness at the fact that she had, even if just for a moment, chosen to lean on him.

"You still don’t have a supervisor?" he asked, his tone light but laced with genuine concern. “I think you should talk to the project manager about that. It’s not fair they’re leaving you stuck like this.”

Veda only pressed her lips together and gave another small nod.

'If only you knew, Kabir. If only you knew who’s really pulling those strings.'

Instead of saying it aloud, she let silence hang between them.

Kabir pushed away from his chair and walked over to her desk.

He leaned down slightly to peer at her laptop, eyes narrowing as he scanned the lines of code. But the moment he got closer, the faint scent of her perfume filled his senses, wrapping around him like a spell.

He froze.

His throat bobbed with a sharp gulp as the delicate fragrance invaded him, sweet yet subtle, fresh yet intoxicating.

He couldn’t even tell if it was her shampoo, her body wash, or the perfume itself.

All he knew was that it was hers, and it made his pulse pound like a drum.

Veda, oblivious, was still staring at her screen, waiting for him to say something useful.

When she finally glanced up, she was startled to see his eyes fixed on her instead, his face far closer than she’d realized.

Her brows arched slowly.

“Kabir??”

Her voice snapped him halfway out of his trance, but he still didn’t move.

His gaze was glued to her, almost helpless.

“...bir!”

She raised her voice again, sharper this time.

“Kabir!”

The sound jolted him completely. He blinked, stumbled back slightly, and straightened immediately like he’d been caught doing something wrong.

His hand rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly as he cleared his throat.

“I–I’m sorry. I…I…” He coughed to cover his stutter. “Ahem.”

Veda narrowed her eyes at him, confused. He looked…off. Weird. His expression was stiff, his jaw tight, and he seemed to avoid meeting her eyes now.

What’s wrong with him? Why does he look so nervous? she thought, frowning slightly.

Kabir forced a steady breath into his lungs, willing his racing heart to calm.

“I can help you.” he said finally, his voice more controlled now.

He bent down again, careful this time to keep a safer distance between them.

He didn’t want her to notice how shaken he still was…how that one second of closeness had set every nerve in his body on fire.

His eyes scanned through the lines of code.

"I hope I’m not taking too much of your time." Veda asked softly, watching him with a little uncertainty.

Kabir didn’t even glance at her, a faint smile tugging at his lips as he kept working.

"Not at all. I was just writing unit tests and documenting some code...nothing major."

He paused, brows furrowing as though he’d found something interesting.

Then he straightened slightly, his tone shifting to something more decisive.

"You know what? Share this repository with me on GitHub. Make it public so I can access it too. We’ll get this moving much faster if we work on it together. What do you think?"

Relief flickered across Veda’s face. She nodded quickly, a small grateful smile forming. "Okay."

Then did as she was told.

Kabir finally leaned back, giving her a quick look before heading back to his space.

Veda couldn’t help but give him one more appreciative smile as he sat down.

"What’s up, babes?"

The voice pulled her out of her thoughts. She turned and saw Shanaya striding toward her with that usual bold confidence.

"You guys ready?" Shanaya asked, already adjusting her bag on her shoulder.

Veda giggled lightly, while Kabir let out a long, lazy sigh, slumping back into his chair.

"Is it about to happen?" he muttered with mock weariness.

Shanaya rolled her eyes so hard it was almost audible.

"Obviously, genius. It’s our first meeting with the senior engineers. And I’m pretty sure none of them want us showing up late, or worse, skipping."

Veda pressed her lips together to hide her smile as she stood up.

"Come on, Veda, let’s go.." Shanaya said, looping her arm through Veda’s and tugging her toward the door.

Behind them, Kabir dragged himself up from his chair with another resigned sigh.

He fell into step, trailing after them, while other interns were already filing out ahead.

♤

The three of them joined the stream of interns heading toward the glass conference room where the senior engineers were already waiting.

The atmosphere shifted the moment they walked in, it was serious, nothing like their usual chatter-filled workspace.

The long oval table was filled with senior engineers, their laptops open, faces unreadable as they glanced up at the new interns entering.

Veda straightened her shoulders, clutching her notepad and laptop like it was a lifeline.

Shanaya on the other hand looked unbothered, her usual confident smirk plastered on her face as she guided Veda to an empty seat.

“Come on.” Shanaya whispered beside her, her arm brushing Veda’s in reassurance. “Just keep calm.”

Kabir slipped into the chair beside Veda, stealing a glance at her before quickly averting his eyes.

He couldn’t get that moment, her scent, her closeness, out of his head.

He shook himself, focusing instead on the front of the room where one of the senior engineers cleared his throat.