Page 15 of Born in Ruin

And on that note, she opened the door and slid into the car, her furious gaze spearing into the night through the windshield.Ishaan got in on the other side, his blood churning, bile rising at the back of his throat. He drove, quick and efficient, to her home a few minutes away, pulling up to the curb and leaving the car idling as he got out and opened the door for her.

Mayukhi got out, murmured a thank you and walked into the entrance of the apartment with her head held high. He watched her go, regret and shame a toxic cocktail in his gut.

“Mayukhi,” he called out when she was almost to the elevators.

She turned, her dress fluttering around her, a burning flame against the darkness that consumed him.

“I apologise,” he said, loud and clear. “I was wrong. You have my word that it will never happen again.”

He saw her smile, a small curve of her lips. “Don’t worry about it Adajania. I’m sure you’ll be wrong again. Often.”

And with that she disappeared into the elevator leaving him alone in the darkness.

EIGHT

Mayukhi

A bolt of bright yellow chiffon streamed over her desk as her team flittered around her dragging other swathes of material and lace to layer it with.

I apologise. I was wrong.

How many men had said that to her before last night?

Zero.

“What do you think, Yukhi?”

She snapped out of her daze at the question and focused on what had been spread out over her table. Her soul shuddered at the monstrosity laid out for her approval. Apparently, she employed blind idiots with the taste of frogs in a swamp.

Annoyance had one eyebrow shooting up as she met the hopeful gaze of her head of design. Shawn Braganza swallowed hard as he opened his mouth to defend his creation. Mayukhi held one single finger up to silence him and he shut his mouth immediately. With another flick of her wrist, the fabric andthe gazillion accessories were hastily cleared out of her room, leaving only Shawn and her.

“Okay, Yukhi,” he sighed, sitting down across from her, his ripped jeans and tight white t-shirt screaming more bad boy gone wild than fashion designer. But when he wasn’t being a nightmare in yellow, he was one of the best. “Let’s go over the vision board for this line again, shall we?”

She pulled up what they’d frozen on last time and projected it up on the big screen across the room. Bright yellow seared her retinas making her groan inwardly. On the outside, she just shook her head.

“We’re not doing this,” she muttered. “Fucking daffodils are not in season. Let’s rework this from the ground up.”

“We don’t have time to rework this from the ground up. We launch in three months.” Shawn shook his head. “What’s with the mood?”

Before she could snap back at him, her assistant, Payal, stuck her head around the door. “Yukhi, there’s someone here to see you.”

Irritation flared at the interruption. “Not now, Payal.” She turned back to her laptop, changing tabs to some of the design boards she had open. “We need to pivot.” She pointed to one of the boards with warmer orange tones. “This is the palette we should look at. And-“

The door to her office opened again. “I said not now, Payal,” she snapped, without looking away from the screen.

“Well, I’ll be sure to tell Payal that.”

The lazy drawl had her hackles rising. She didn’t look away from her screen as she said, “Not now. I’m working.”

“Yes now, Kraken. It’s important.”

She heard Shawn snort like a stuffed up pig at the ‘Kraken’ and her irritation tipped over into fury.

“Adajania,” she said, her voice covered in frost. “Get out.”

“Careful Kraken.” If her voice was frosty, his was pure ice. “You shouldn’t forget who you’re talking to.”

Shawn’s smile disappeared, a frown appearing between his brows as he glanced between them.

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