Aara sensed it before she could explain it.
The feeling of being watched clung to her like humidity—heavy, persistent, impossible to ignore. It wasn't the familiar intensity she associated with Kabir. This was colder. Distant. Anonymous.
She noticed it on the walk back from the bus stop, when footsteps slowed every time she slowed. She noticed it again near her house when a black sedan idled longer than necessary before pulling away. By the time she reached her room, her hands were trembling.
---
Kabir felt it too.
At 2:13 p.m., his phone buzzed with a single message from an encrypted contact.
UNKNOWN EYES. NOT OURS.
Kabir's jaw tightened.
He closed the file on his desk and stood, already calling Rahul. "Move the perimeter," he said quietly. "Discreetly. No uniforms. No obvious cars."
Rahul paused. "Is this about—"
"Yes," Kabir cut in. "And listen carefully. No one touches her. No one scares her. If I hear a whisper—"
"I know," Rahul said. "I'll handle it."
Kabir ended the call and stared out through the glass wall of his cabin. Control had always been his armor. Today, it felt thin.
---
That evening, Aara stayed late in the library. She told herself she was overreacting, that stress made patterns where none existed. Still, when she stepped outside, dusk pressing down on the campus, her heartbeat quickened.
The same black sedan.
Parked across the street.
Her phone vibrated.
Unknown Number: Get home safe.
Aara froze.
Another message followed.
Don't look back. Walk normally.
Her throat went dry. She did as told, every nerve screaming. Halfway down the block, headlights flared. The sedan moved—then stopped abruptly as a motorcycle cut between lanes, blocking it.
Aara didn't see what happened next.
She only felt a hand on her elbow.
"Come," Kabir's voice said softly.
She turned, shock colliding with relief and fear. He stood close, too close, eyes scanning the street with lethal focus.
"How did you—"
"Later," he said. "Now."
He guided her to his car without haste, without panic. To anyone watching, it looked ordinary.
It wasn't.
---
The drive was silent. Aara hugged her bag to her chest, trying to steady her breathing.
"Someone's following me," she said finally.
Kabir didn't deny it. "Yes."
Her head snapped toward him. "You knew?"
"I suspected," he replied. "Today, I confirmed."
"Who?"
Kabir's grip tightened on the wheel. "That's not a question I want you asking."
Anger flared. "You don't get to decide that."
He glanced at her, and for once there was no dominance in his gaze—only urgency. "Aara, listen to me. This isn't about curiosity. It's about survival."
The word sent a chill through her.
He pulled up outside her building. "From now on, you don't walk alone after sunset. You don't share your schedule. And if anything feels wrong—anything—you call me."
She shook her head. "This is exactly what I asked you not to do. You're taking over my life."
Kabir exhaled slowly. "I'm keeping you alive."
She opened the door, then paused. "I don't want to be part of your wars."
His voice dropped. "Neither did you choose to be."
---
That night, the city paid its price.
In a warehouse on the outskirts, Kabir stood under harsh fluorescent lights as one man knelt before him, bleeding and shaking.
"Who sent you?" Kabir asked, calm as ice.
The man sobbed. "I-I didn't know who she was. Just a job. Surveillance only."
Kabir crouched to eye level. "You looked at her."
"I swear, I didn't touch—"
Kabir stood. A nod.
The lights went out.
---
Rahul found him later, alone, washing blood from his hands.
"You promised restraint," Rahul said quietly.
Kabir didn't look up. "I promised safety."
"You're blurring the lines."
Kabir met his gaze. "The lines moved the moment they noticed her."
---
Across the city, Aara sat on her bed, replaying the evening.
Kabir's voice. His urgency. The way the street had gone quiet.
For the first time, fear shifted direction.
It wasn't just fear of Kabir anymore.
It was fear for him.
And somewhere in that dangerous realization, Aara understood the truth she had been avoiding:
Whatever shadow had entered her life—
Kabir Rathod was standing between her and it.
Whether she wanted him to or not.
🖤