2:30 PM - Workshop Session
The afternoon workshop on “Entrepreneurship Strategies” was held in the main auditorium, and Aanya had agreed to participate in a panel discussion with three other business professionals. The room was packed—standing room only—with students eager to hear her insights.
Reyansh sat in the front row, phone out, recording everything. Not because he needed the content for class, but because he wanted to capture Di in her element. She was brilliant up there—answering questions with precision, offering insights that made even the other panelists look impressed, commanding the room without even trying.
He was so focused on watching her that he almost didn’t notice when someone slid into the empty seat beside him.
“Is this seat taken?”
He glanced over and found a girl—probably a year or two older than him, with long dark hair and a confident smile.
“Uh, no, go ahead.”
“Thanks!” She settled in, then did a double-take. “Wait, you’re Reyansh Malhotra, right? The one who organized this whole thing?”
“That’s me.” He offered a polite smile before turning back to the stage.
“I’m Diya. Third-year MBA.” She leaned closer. “You did an amazing job with the festival. And getting Aanya Rajvansh as chief guest? That’s incredible. How did you manage that?”
“I just asked her.”
Diya laughed. “Right, because it’s that easy to get a meeting with THE Aanya Rajvansh, let alone convince her to spend a day at a college festival.”
“It is when she’s your cousin.”
“She’s your—” Diya’s eyes went wide. “Wait, you’re HER cousin? The one she smiled at this morning?”
“She smiles,” Reyansh said defensively. “Just not… publicly. Usually.”
“Oh my God.” Diya was looking at him with new interest. “So you two are close?”
“Very close. She basically helped raise me.” He said it with unconscious affection, his eyes drifting back to Aanya on stage.
“That’s so sweet. She seems really different when she’s around you—like, less intimidating?” Diya tilted her head. “You must be really special to her.”
“I mean, we’re family, so—”
“No, I mean REALLY special. The way she looks at you…” Diya trailed off meaningfully.
Reyansh frowned. “What do you mean?”
“Nothing!” Diya said quickly. “Just that it’s nice to see the Ice Queen has a soft spot. Hey, since you’re connected to her, do you think you could introduce me? I’d love to ask about internship opportunities—”
On stage, Aanya’s gaze swept across the audience and landed on Reyansh.
And found him sitting very close to a pretty girl who was leaning into his personal space, touching his arm, laughing at something he’d said.
Something cold and sharp twisted in Aanya’s chest.
She was still answering the moderator’s question—something about risk management strategies—but her brain had split into two tracks. One continued speaking professionally about calculated risks and contingency planning. The other was wholly focused on the girl touching Reyansh’s arm.
Who is she? Why is she sitting so close to him? Why is he smiling at her?
“Ms. Rajvansh?” The moderator prompted. “Would you say emotional intelligence plays a role in business decisions?”
Aanya’s attention snapped back. “Absolutely. Emotion without logic is chaos. Logic without emotion is tyranny. The best leaders balance both.”
Her eyes flicked to Reyansh again. The girl was showing him something on her phone now, their heads bent together.
“Though I’d argue that certain emotions—jealousy, for instance—have no place in professional settings,” Aanya continued, her voice perfectly even even as that cold feeling spread through her chest. “Jealousy is possessiveness without justification. It’s wanting something you have no right to want.”
Several audience members shifted uncomfortably, not sure why the temperature in the room seemed to have dropped ten degrees.
Reyansh, oblivious, was politely looking at whatever Diya was showing him, trying to find a way to extricate himself from the conversation without being rude.
“Thank you, Ms. Rajvansh,” the moderator said, moving on to the next panelist.
But Aanya barely heard the rest of the discussion. Her eyes kept returning to that girl. That stranger who was touching Reyansh like she had the right. Who was making him smile. Who was—
Stop, she told herself firmly. You have no claim on him. You’re his cousin. His mentor. Not his… not his anything else.
But knowing that and feeling it were two different things.
3:45 PM - Post-Panel Reception
After the panel ended, there was a small reception in an adjacent room with refreshments and networking opportunities. Students swarmed the panelists, eager to make connections.
Aanya was immediately surrounded by aspiring entrepreneurs asking for advice, requesting business cards, pitching ideas. She handled it with her usual grace, but her attention kept drifting.
Looking for Reyansh.
Who was across the room, still talking to that girl.
“Ms. Rajvansh?” A young man was asking her something. “What would you say is the most important quality in a business partner?”
“Loyalty,” Aanya answered without thinking, her eyes still on Reyansh. “Trust. Knowing that they’re yours and yours alone—”
She caught herself.
“I mean, knowing that they’re committed to the partnership exclusively. No competing interests.”
The student nodded, scribbling notes, not noticing her slip.
Priya appeared at Aanya’s elbow, following her gaze. “That’s Diya Mehra. Third-year MBA. She’s actually really smart—top of her class.”
“I didn’t ask,” Aanya said coolly.
“She’s also been trying to get close to Reyansh all semester. Ever since she found out who his family was.”
Aanya’s jaw tightened almost imperceptibly. “Is that so?”
“Yeah. She’s kind of notorious for networking her way up. Not that there’s anything wrong with ambition, but…” Priya lowered her voice. “She’s not interested in Rey for Rey, if you know what I mean.”
Oh, Aanya knew exactly what she meant.
And suddenly that cold feeling transformed into something hotter. Something dangerous.
Something she’d spent years learning to control in business negotiations, but had no practice controlling in personal matters.
Because she’d never let anything become personal enough to matter.
Until Reyansh.
“Excuse me,” Aanya said abruptly, cutting off the student who’d been mid-question.
She crossed the room with purposeful strides, her heels clicking authoritatively on the floor. Students parted before her like water.
“Rey,” she said as she approached.
He turned immediately, his face lighting up. “Di! The panel was amazing! You completely dominated—”
“We need to leave soon. I have a call scheduled for five PM.” It was a lie. Her entire day was cleared.
“Oh! Okay, yeah, let me just—” He turned to Diya apologetically. “Sorry, I have to go—”
“Wait!” Diya pulled out her phone. “Can I at least get your number? You know, for networking purposes? Since we’re both in business management—”
“Actually,” Aanya said, her voice dropping to that particular temperature that made board members tremble, “Reyansh won’t be in business management.”
Everyone within earshot went quiet.
Reyansh blinked. “I won’t?”
“I’m creating a new position at Rajvansh Industries specifically for you. You’ll start after graduation. We’ll discuss the details later.” She placed a hand on his elbow—a possessive gesture that looked casual but wasn’t. “Now, we should go.”
“But Di, I thought you said I could choose whether to join the company—”
“And you’ll choose to join.” She said it with absolute certainty, already steering him toward the door. “Because it’s the best opportunity you’ll ever have.”
Reyansh let himself be guided, mostly because when Aanya got that particular tone, arguing was futile.
But he looked back at Diya with an apologetic smile. “Sorry! Maybe I’ll see you around campus—”
“He won’t,” Aanya said pleasantly. “He’ll be quite busy. Come along, Rey.”
They left the reception, leaving behind a room full of people who’d just witnessed something very interesting.
“Did she just… mark her territory?” someone whispered.
“Over her COUSIN?”
“That was the most passive-aggressive thing I’ve ever seen.”
“Passive? That was just aggressive.”
Priya and Arjun exchanged significant looks.
“We need to tell someone about this,” Arjun muttered.
“Tell them what? That Aanya Rajvansh is possessive of her cousin? They’ll say we’re reading too much into it.”
“Are we though?”
They watched through the window as Aanya and Reyansh walked across the courtyard, her hand still on his elbow, his head bent toward her as they talked.
“No,” Priya said slowly. “I don’t think we are.”
4:15 PM - Campus Garden
Aanya had dragged Reyansh to a quiet corner of the campus garden, ostensibly to “decompress” before heading home. In reality, she needed to get him away from that girl and regain her composure.
They sat on a bench beneath a gulmohar tree, its red flowers providing dappled shade.
“So,” Reyansh said carefully, “that was intense back there.”
“What was?”
“The whole ‘Reyansh won’t be in business management’ thing. You kind of announced my entire future in front of everyone.”
Guilt flickered. “I apologize. That was presumptuous of me.”
“It’s okay, I just—” He paused. “Were you jealous?”
Her entire body went rigid. “Jealous? Of what?”
“Of Diya. She was just asking about internships, and you swooped in like—I don’t know—like you were worried she was going to steal me away or something.”
“That’s absurd. Why would I be jealous of a college student?”
“I don’t know, Di. You tell me.” He was looking at her with those perceptive eyes, the ones that sometimes saw too much. “You’ve been acting weird ever since the panel. Did something happen?”
“Nothing happened.”
“Then why did you lie about having a call at five?”
Damn. He’d noticed.
“I didn’t—”
“Di, your poker face is amazing in business, but I’ve known you my whole life. I know when you’re lying to me.” He shifted to face her fully. “What’s going on?”
She could tell him. She could confess right now that seeing him with another girl had made her feel things she had no right to feel. That the thought of him giving his attention to someone else made her want to destroy things.
That she was in love with him.
But instead, she said: “I was protecting you.”
“From what? Diya?”
“From people who want to use you for access to me. To the family. To Rajvansh Industries.” It was partially true, which made it easier to say. “That girl wasn’t interested in you, Rey. She was interested in what you could give her.”
His expression softened. “Oh. You were… you were looking out for me.”
“Always.”
“You don’t have to, you know. I’m not seven anymore. I can handle myself.”
“I know you can. But that doesn’t mean I’m going to stop protecting you.”
He smiled, that soft smile that made her heart ache. “My fierce, protective Di.”
If only he knew how fierce. How protective. How possessive.
How utterly, devastatingly in love.
“Come here,” he said suddenly, opening his arms.
“Rey—”
“Just come here.”
She let him pull her into a hug, his arms wrapping around her shoulders, her face pressed against his chest. He smelled like cologne and festival food and sunshine, and being this close to him was both the best and worst kind of torture.
“Thank you,” he murmured into her hair. “For today. For every day. For always having my back.”
She closed her eyes. “You never have to thank me for that.”
“I know. But I want to.” His arms tightened. “You’re the most important person in my life, Di. You know that, right?”
And you’re the only person in mine, she thought. In every way that matters.
“I know,” she whispered instead.
They stayed like that for a long moment, wrapped in each other, the world fading away.
Neither of them noticed Arjun taking a photo from across the garden.
Or the fact that he immediately sent it to the family group chat.
5:30 PM - Family Group Chat
Arjun: [Image attached: Aanya and Reyansh hugging under a tree]
Arjun: So this is happening
Shakuntala: Is that from today’s festival?
Arjun: Yep. Right after Aanya got VERY territorial over Rey with another girl
Meera: Territorial how?
Arjun: Swooped in, announced she was creating a special position for Rey at the company, basically told the girl to back off without saying the words
Vikram: That doesn’t necessarily mean anything…
Arjun: Dad. Look at the photo. LOOK AT IT.
Shakuntala: They’re hugging. They hug all the time.
Arjun: Not like THAT they don’t. That’s not a cousin hug. That’s a “you’re mine” hug.
Meera: Arjun, are you sure you’re not reading too much into this?
Arjun: Priya Sharma witnessed the whole thing. She said Aanya looked ready to murder someone. Over REY.
Vikram: Maybe she was just being protective?
Arjun: There’s protective and then there’s POSSESSIVE. This was possessive.
Shakuntala: What do we do about it?
Vikram: Do we need to do anything? They’re both adults…
Arjun: Dad, they’re COUSINS.
Vikram: Legally. Not by blood.
Arjun: Still. The optics alone…
Meera: The optics are the least of our concerns. What concerns me is whether Aanya has acknowledged these feelings. Or whether she’s in denial.
Shakuntala: My money is on denial with occasional moments of clarity that terrify her
Arjun: And what about Rey? Does he have ANY idea?
Priya: [Added to group by Arjun]
Priya: Hi everyone! Arjun said I should share my observations from today.
Priya: Reyansh has zero clue. Like, absolutely zero. He talks about Aanya like she hung the moon, but in a “that’s my amazing older cousin” way, not a “I’m in love with her” way.
Priya: Aanya, on the other hand… she watches him like he might disappear. And when that girl was flirting with him, I thought she was going to freeze the entire room.
Shakuntala: So Aanya knows and is suffering in silence. Rey is oblivious.
Priya: Basically yes.
Meera: This is a disaster waiting to happen.
Vikram: Should we talk to Aanya?
Arjun: And say what? “Hey, we noticed you’re in love with your cousin, want to discuss?”
Vikram: …point taken.
Shakuntala: We wait. We watch. And we hope Aanya doesn’t do something drastic.
Meera: Define drastic.
Shakuntala: With Aanya? Could be anything from confessing her feelings to running away to another country to avoid them.
Arjun: Great. So we’re just waiting for the bomb to explode.
Shakuntala: Essentially yes.
Vikram: I hate this family sometimes.
Shakuntala: You love this family and you know it.
Vikram: …fine. But when this blows up in our faces, I’m saying I told you so.
6:45 PM - Rajvansh Mansion
Aanya and Reyansh arrived home to find the entire family gathered in the living room, clearly waiting for them.
“How was the festival?” Meera asked brightly. Too brightly.
“It was great!” Reyansh said enthusiastically. “Di was amazing! You should’ve seen her speech—people were literally taking notes—and she did this panel discussion that was so smart, and—”
“We saw,” Arush interrupted, holding up his phone. “You’re trending on Twitter.”
“I’m what?”
Arush turned his phone around. Sure enough, #AanyaRajvansh was trending, with thousands of tweets about her festival appearance.
@DelhiUStudent: “Aanya Rajvansh just told us to be ambitious but stay human and I’m CRYING. The Ice Queen has a heart! 💕”
@BusinessMajor2026: “Did anyone else notice how Aanya Rajvansh’s entire demeanor changed around that one guy? Her cousin? Like she became a different person?? 👀”
@CampusGossip: “THEORY: Aanya Rajvansh is not actually scary. She’s just scary to people she doesn’t care about. Evidence: That smile she gave her cousin. I have FOOTAGE.”
@MBAStudent: “Video of Aanya Rajvansh getting territorial over her cousin is making the rounds and honestly??? The chemistry??? [Video attached]”
Reyansh scrolled through the tweets, his expression growing increasingly uncomfortable. “Chemistry? We’re cousins! People are so weird—”
“Let me see that,” Aanya said, taking his phone.
She watched the video someone had filmed at the reception. Watched herself approach Reyansh with that expression—the one she thought she’d been hiding. Watched the way her hand had lingered on his arm. The way her eyes had tracked him.
The way she’d looked at him like he belonged to her.
“Oh,” she said softly.
The family was watching her carefully.
“Di? You okay?” Reyansh asked.
“Fine. Just tired.” She handed back his phone. “It was a long day. I’m going to rest before dinner.”
She left the room quickly, her composure intact but clearly strained.
The moment she was gone, Reyansh turned to his family. “Okay, what’s going on? You’re all acting weird.”
“Weird? Us? Never,” Shakuntala said innocently.
“Nani, I’ve lived here my whole life. I know when you’re hiding something.”
“We’re not hiding anything, beta—”
“Then why is everyone looking at me like I’m about to step on a landmine?”
The adults exchanged glances.
“Rey,” his father said carefully, “have you noticed anything… different about Aanya lately?”
“Different how?”
“The way she treats you. The way she looks at you. The way she is around you versus how she is with everyone else.”
Reyansh frowned. “I mean, yeah, she’s softer with me. But that’s normal, isn’t it? She’s always been like that.”
“Has she?” Meera asked gently.
“Yeah. Since I was little. Di has always been protective and caring and…” He trailed off, something clicking. “Wait. Why are you asking me this? What did those Twitter people say?”
“Nothing important—”
“Dad. What did they say?”
Arjun sighed. “Some people think that Aanya’s behavior toward you is… more than familial.”
Silence.
Then Reyansh laughed. “That’s ridiculous. Di loves me like family. That’s all.”
“Are you sure?” Vikram asked.
“Of course I’m sure! She’s my cousin! She helped raise me! Just because she’s nice to me doesn’t mean—” He stopped, his expression shifting as memories flickered. “Wait…”
“What?” Shakuntala leaned forward.
“No. No, that’s—” Reyansh shook his head. “You’re all reading too much into it. Di is just protective. That’s her personality.”
“Beta—”
“I don’t want to talk about this anymore.” Reyansh stood abruptly. “Di had a great day. She gave an amazing speech, she connected with students, she was happy. I’m not going to let internet trolls ruin that with conspiracy theories.”
He left the room, his footsteps heavy on the stairs.
The family sat in silence.
“He’s in denial,” Kavya said quietly.
“Or he’s right and we’re all seeing things that aren’t there,” Vikram offered weakly.
Shakuntala shook her head. “No. We’re seeing exactly what’s there. The question is, how long can they both keep pretending they don’t?”
8:30 PM - Aanya’s Room
Aanya sat at her desk, laptop open, pretending to work. But her mind was elsewhere.
On that video. On those tweets. On the way people had noticed what she’d spent years trying to hide.
Her feelings for Reyansh weren’t subtle anymore. They were visible. Observable. Evidence-based.
A knock on her door.
“Come in,” she called, knowing who it was.
Reyansh entered, closing the door behind him. “Hey.”
“Hey.”
“Can we talk?”
Her heart sank. “About?”
“About today. About what people are saying online.” He sat on her bed, looking uncharacteristically serious. “Di, I need to ask you something, and I need you to be honest with me.”
“Always.”
He took a breath. “The family thinks… people online think… there’s speculation that you—that we—” He struggled with the words. “That your feelings for me might be more than just family.”
There it was. The question she’d been dreading.
She could lie. Should lie. Protect them both from this conversation.
But she’d promised him honesty.
“What do you think?” she asked instead.
“I think people see what they want to see. I think they don’t understand that family can be close without it being romantic. I think—” He paused. “I think you love me the way you’ve always loved me. As family.”
She should agree. She should nod and smile and let him believe that.
But she was so tired of pretending.
“And if I didn’t?” The words escaped before she could stop them. “If I loved you differently—what would you say?”
Reyansh went very still. “Di…”
“It’s a hypothetical question, Rey.”
“Is it?”
They stared at each other, years of unspoken things hanging between them.
“I—” Aanya started.
Her phone rang, shattering the moment.
She glanced at the screen: Singapore Investors - URGENT
“I have to take this,” she said, grateful for the interruption and hating herself for it.
“Yeah. Okay.” Reyansh stood. “We can talk later.”
He left, and Aanya answered the phone, discussing profit margins and market expansion while her heart shattered.
Because she’d almost confessed.
And she still didn’t know if that would have been the best or worst decision of her life.
[End of Chapter 5]
Author’s Note:
OH BOY. THINGS ARE ESCALATING!
Major Moments:
Aanya getting jealous and possessive (visible to EVERYONE)
The family group chat discussing their relationship (they ALL see it now)
Rey starting to question but still in denial
That ALMOST-CONFESSION at the end (I’m screaming!)
They’re both aware something is different but neither wants to name it
What’s Coming:
Reyansh can’t un-see what was pointed out to him
Aanya struggling with her almost-confession
External pressure as more people notice their dynamic
Someone (probably Kavya or his father) needs to force a real conversation
The tension is building toward a breaking point
Questions:
Should Aanya have confessed?
When will Rey realize his own feelings?
Who should push them to talk—family or circumstances?
Team “They Should Be Together” or Team “This Is Complicated”?
Next Chapter: The Aftermath - Rey can’t stop thinking about that question, Aanya pulls away, family intervention brewing
COMMENT YOUR REACTIONS! I need to know what you’re thinking! 💔🔥
[Chapter 5: 5,600 words]
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