Quick transmigration To change my fate

WORLD 3 : Entertainment World

Chapter 16 : a filing....cabinet.

Kian's nose was starting to fog up the glass. He had been like that for a solid two minutes. Palms flat, face pressed, mouth slightly open. If you squinted, he looked like a tragic goldfish who had just realised that tank was a metaphor.

Lewis hadn't moved.

He was still standing exactly where Ruhi left him. One hand half-raised, like he had been about to reach for her. The other was shoved in the pocket of his office slacks - still in his button-down from the board meeting he had bailed on to come here.

A sales associate walked past, asked if he needed help finding a size, and Lewis said " No. " without looking at her.

His voice didn't sound like his.

Outside, through the glass, Ritvik was cradling Ruhi's face.

Kian made a strangled noise " Oh my god. Oh my god! He is touching her face. Bro, Bro. That is my sister's face. There are rules. I wrote them on a napkin. I laminated it. "

Lewis didn't answer.

Because outside, Ruhi was smiling.
Not her press-junket smile. Not her 'I am about to renegotiate your contract into the ground' smile. The small, real one she only used when she thought no one was watching. The one Lewis had caught maybe four times in the decade he had known her. Usually after a 16-hour brand shoot, when she thought he had already left the office.

And she was giving it to Ritvik.

A kid. Her brother's best friend. Who showed up straight from a movie set looking like he had rolled through hair and makeup, got the 'distressed lead' treatment, and sprinted here because Kian told him Ruhi was shopping with Lewis.

Kian whacked the glass " DUDE. IS HE GONNA-- "

Ritvik kissed her.

The sound Kian made could only be described as a kettle dying. " NOOO. NO. No. NOT The Kiss. Not In The Phoenix Mall. Not to Tum Hi Ho~ (IT'S ONLY YOU~). That Is Emotional Manipulation By The Mall DJ. I am calling security. I am security's worst nightmare. "

He slid down the glass until he was crouching, hands in his hair. " I have known that boy since kindergarten. I taught him how to tie his shoes. And he uses that knowledge on my sister? Looking like he crawled out of a film set? The distressed jacket was for close-up, Ritvik, not for committing crime against my sanity."

Lewis finally blinked. Slow.

He had known Ruhi for ten years. Since college,when she was 17 and he was 18, and she had cornered him after a fest event to argue why his marketing pitch for the college play was 'derivative and lazy'. She had been terrifying then. She was still terrifying now.

Ten years of client dinners. Of red carpets. Of her calling him at 11 p.m. because a brand pulled out last minute and she trusted him to fix it with the board. Ten years of him telling himself it was professional. That the way his chest got tight when she laughed was not his business.

Ten years of waiting for the right moment.

And she picked the kid who brought lunch.

Kian was still spiral-mumbling " --and what do I tell mom? 'Hey Ma, remember how you said Ritvik is basically your third son and we are practically related? Yeah, so your third son is kissing Di (elder sister) in mall. Also he looks like he fought a wind machine.' She is gonna have a heart attack. she is gonna drop her chai (tea). She is gonna call Aunty and both of them will short-circuit. Lewis. Lewis Bhai (elder brother). Say something. Be my adult supervision before I file a missing persons report on my own dignity. "