His obsession, My cage

Chapter 1

Anika thought her first day at Singhania Enterprises would be normal.

It was not.

The entire 25th floor was empty. Just one cabin. One name plate.

Reyansh Singhania - CEO

"Ma'am, sir is waiting," the secretary said, her voice shaking a little. "He said no one else should be on this floor today."

Anika's heart was beating fast. She had heard stories about Reyansh Singhania. The man who bought three companies in one year. The man who never smiled in any photo. The man who... was obsessed with perfection.

She opened the door.

He was standing with his back to her, looking at the city. Black suit. Tall. When he turned, Anika's resume fell from her hands.

"You," she whispered.

Three years ago. College farewell. The senior who had never talked to her, but whose eyes she always felt on her. The senior who had sent her an anonymous gift every birthday. The senior everyone said had left the country.

"You cut your hair," he said. It was not a question.

Anika touched her short hair. She had cut it last week after her breakup. How did he know her old hair?

"Sir, I... I am here for the junior content writer interview..." she stammered.

Reyansh walked to his desk and picked up a file. Her file. But it was not the resume she had sent.

It had photos. Her photos. At the college canteen. At her old office. At the cafe with her ex-boyfriend Rohan last month. The last photo was from yesterday - her buying vegetables with her mother.

"What is this?" Anika's voice was now scared.

"This is the last three years of my life," Reyansh said calmly, as if he was talking about the weather. "Do you know how many boys I had to remove from your life, Anika? Rohan was the fifth."

Anika stepped back, her back hit the door. "You are crazy! You were stalking me?"

"I was protecting you," he corrected. He came closer. He did not touch her, but he was close enough that she could smell his perfume. The same perfume she had smelled in college corridors.

"Rohan cheated on you. The one before him, Karan, wanted your father's property. The one before him was a drug addict. I saved you."

"By following me? By clicking my photos?" She shouted.

"By loving you," he said. "When you were crying in the library because you failed in economics, I was there. Two benches behind. When you got your first job and danced in your room, I saw it from the building opposite. You never saw me. But I never stopped seeing you."

Anika was crying now. She was not sure if it was fear or something else. Because a part of her... a part of her had always wanted to be seen like this. To be someone's only thought.

"Why did you call me here then?" she asked.

Reyansh finally smiled. The first smile.

"Because now I don't want to watch you from far. I want you here. On this floor. Where I can see you. All day."

He slid a contract towards her. Not a job contract.

Personal Assistant to CEO. 24/7 availability. Salary: Rs. 2,00,000 per month. Condition: Cannot resign for 1 year. Cannot date anyone else during the contract.

"This is illegal!" Anika said.

"This is obsessed," Reyansh said. "I am obsessed with you, Anika. Since the day you came to college in that yellow dress and asked me for directions to the library. I have waited 1095 days to say it. I am not going to wait anymore."

He took her hand. His hand was warm. Hers was ice cold.

"You have two options," he whispered. "Sign it and stay with me. Or don't sign it and I will still make sure no other company in Mumbai hires you. Because if you are not mine, you will be no one's."

Anika looked at his eyes. They were not cruel. They were desperate. Like a man who has been thirsty for years and finally found water.

She knew she should run. She should scream. She should call the police.

But her hand... her hand picked up the pen.

"What happens after one year?" she asked, her voice barely audible.

Reyansh leaned in, his lips almost touching her ear.

"After one year, you will be so obsessed with me, you will beg me to extend it."

She signed.

Outside, the entire city was moving. Inside that cabin on the 25th floor, time had stopped. A girl had just signed her freedom away to a man who had loved her from the shadows for three years.

He didn't love her like a normal man. He loved her like a prayer. Like an obsession.

And obsession, once it starts, never ends.

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