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CHAPTER – The First Sight

Dhruv had heard Rhea speak of her daughter many times—

smart, introverted, focused on her studies.

He had imagined someone polite, quiet, ordinary.

He had not imagined this.

Juhi stepped through the doorway with the late afternoon sun behind her, turning her into a silhouette before her features came into focus. A young woman—poised, elegant, nothing like the vague mental picture he’d held.

For a moment, Dhruv forgot to breathe.

“Dhruv,” Rhea said, beaming, “this is my daughter, Juhi. She just returned from her internship.”

Juhi lifted her eyes to him.

Calm. Steady. Observant.

Something inside him tightened—sharp, sudden, and impossible to dismiss.

He told himself it was surprise.

It wasn’t.

It was want—dark, immediate, overwhelming.

The kind of desire he’d spent his entire life keeping in check.

The kind that should not have touched him now, in this moment, for this woman.

He forced his voice into something steady.

“Hello, Juhi.”

She smiled faintly. Not shy. Not bold.

Just… aware.

“Hello, Dr. Dhruv.”

Her voice held a softness that did nothing to help him regain control.

Rhea didn’t sense the shift in the room, but Dhruv did.

He felt it like heat rising under his skin.

A pull he didn’t understand and desperately did not want.

Juhi stepped forward to shake his hand. A simple, polite gesture.

Her fingers brushed his.

That was all.

But the contact shot through him like a spark, far too electric for something so innocent.

He let go quickly—too quickly.

Juhi noticed. Her eyes flickered, curious.

Rhea laughed lightly. “Don’t be so formal, you two. We’re going to be family soon.”

Family.

The word landed like a stone in his chest.

Juhi’s expression didn’t change, but something in her gaze sharpened—

just for a second,

as if she had caught the exact moment his composure cracked.

Dhruv looked away.

“Let me get you something to drink,” Rhea said, leaving the room.

Silence settled immediately.

Heavy. Charged.

Juhi walked slowly around the living room, taking in the space, but Dhruv felt every movement like a pressure against his mind.

She stopped near a shelf, tracing the edge of a book with her fingers.

“I’ve heard a lot about you,” she said without turning.

He swallowed. “From your mother?”

She shook her head. “From people at the hospital. You’re… respected.”

He should have been pleased.

Instead, the compliment made something darker twist inside him—because spoken in her voice, it sounded like a lure.

Juhi finally turned to face him.

No smile now.

Just those steady eyes that seemed to look right through him.

“You’re not what I expected,” she said softly.

He wasn’t sure if that was good or bad.

“What did you expect?” he asked.

She considered him for a long moment. Too long.

“Someone colder,” she murmured.

“Someone harder to read.”

His heartbeat thudded painfully.

“You can read me?” he asked.

“A little,” she said.

It was ridiculous—impossible—that a single sentence from a woman he had just met could undo him like this. But the truth sank like a hook into his chest:

She saw him.

Too clearly.

Too easily.

And he—despite every barrier he built, every line he knew he shouldn’t cross—couldn’t stop looking at her.

Rhea returned then, cheerful and oblivious, the moment snapping like a thread pulled too tight.

Juhi stepped back politely.

Dhruv didn’t move.

Couldn’t.

As they talked, laughed, and settled into the evening, he remained silent, watching Juhi’s every gesture, every glance, every faint smile.

And in the quiet corners of his mind—

dark, unwelcome, undeniable—

a single truth pulsed:

He would never forget the moment he first saw her.

And he knew this desire… would not let him go.