Kabir didn't usually bother with lunch. Cafeterias were noisy, chaotic, full of predictable people. Yet today, as he moved through the hum of clattering trays and murmured conversations, he noticed her. Anaya.
Not because he wanted to—it wasn't desire yet—but because she was… unpredictable. Her steps were careful, yet somehow unguarded. The tension in her shoulders, the quick dart of her gaze, the faint hesitation in her movements—it all registered in his mind like data points on a spreadsheet.
Across the room, Rhea hovered near her, a spark of chaos in an otherwise orderly space. Kabir observed silently, cataloging every detail: Anaya's flush, the way her fingers brushed a stray hair, the subtle exhale when Rhea teased her. Amateurish, yes—but fascinating.
He didn't move. That would be too obvious. A predator never rushes; a predator waits, observes, measures.
Then, a moment that made the calculation worth it. Anaya's eyes flicked toward him. Not fear, not curiosity exactly—but a mixture of both. She froze, and every twitch, every micro-expression told him more than words ever could. Her fingers hovered over a paper stack, almost touching the edge. A heartbeat of hesitation. He cataloged it, stored it.
He shifted subtly, posture perfect, gaze fleetingly meeting hers. A nod. So slight, so controlled, it could have been missed entirely. Recognition. Calculated. Nothing indulgent.
That was enough. It always was.
She tried to refocus on her lunch, but the pull of awareness lingered. Kabir noticed it—the small, involuntary movements betraying her presence in his mind. She didn't realize how visible she was, and he didn't intend to tell her. Control was everything. Fascination, even more.
Rhea's laughter floated over, but he ignored it. Predictable chaos. Anaya was the variable, the anomaly. Not easy to understand. Not easy to dismiss.
A faint trace of her scent lingered—a subtle perfume he didn't need, yet cataloged anyway. Details mattered. Everything mattered.
A tiny spark of curiosity flickered inside him, inconvenient, but welcome. She disrupted his order in ways he hadn't anticipated, and that was… interesting. Not pleasure. Not frustration. Just observation.
She was impossible. And Kabir didn't ignore impossible.
As he returned to his desk, hands steady, posture rigid, he allowed himself a single thought: this variable, Anaya, wasn't leaving his system anytime soon. Whether that was a problem or an opportunity didn't matter yet. He would find out.
Because Kabir never ignored a challenge. And he never lost games.