I reach for my phone instead.
This isn’t something I ever planned to show her. It’s not polished. It’s not poetic. Just notes. Half-sentences. Fragments of moments.
But maybe that’s why it matters. Because sometimes, truth lives in the small things.
I scroll through my Notes app and tap open the file labeled “Aditi Wins.”
I push the phone gently toward her.
She blinks, confused, then looks up at me. “What’s this?”
I don’t answer. I just tilt my head toward the screen. Read it.
She sets the mug down, still watching me warily, then picks up the phone.
Her eyes scan.
Pause.
Then narrow.
“Handled the Prakash mess without crying,” she reads aloud. Her voice is soft, disbelieving. “Convinced the vendor to deliver early. Didn’t back down from Sharma…”
She trails off. Her brows knit.
“These are all… me?”
I nod. “Wins. Yours. Things you did when no one was watching. Or when you thought no one noticed.”
Her throat moves as she swallows.
“A lot of these I don’t even remember,” she murmurs, scrolling further. “You wrote all this?”
I sit forward, resting my elbows on the desk. “Every time you doubted yourself or downplayed something. Every time you looked like you wanted someone to say ‘well done,’ and no one did. I wrote it down.”
She doesn’t speak for a long moment. Her hands tremble slightly as she holds the phone.
“But I made a mistake today,” she says, not looking at me. “And a big one. If I hadn’t—”
“Don’t.” My voice comes out low, almost a warning. “Don’t do that.”
Her gaze finally meets mine, wide, guilty, and raw. “But I messed up, Abhimaan. I should’ve double-checked the proposal. I missed the clause in the contract. We lost the entire deal.”
“So?”
She looks at me like I’ve lost my mind. “So… we lost money.”
I shake my head. “We can make money again. Deals will come and go. You? I don’t get another you.”
The silence between us stretches.
Then I add, quietly, “Just because you made one mistake doesn’t mean you get to erase everything you’ve done right.”
Her lips tremble, and she presses them into a hard line. “Why don’t you say that about yourself then?”
I blink.
“What?”
