Yearning for My Team Leader
Priya pov
As the elevator doors slid open on my floor, a sense of quiet contentment settled over me. The evening with Amit had been exactly what I needed – a gentle reminder of the happiness blooming in my personal life amidst the excitement of my professional one. I smiled to myself as I walked towards our apartment door, still feeling the warmth of his forehead against mine. That unexpected, tender gesture… it had unlocked a floodgate of emotions I'd kept carefully guarded for so long.
I fumbled with my keys, the click of the lock echoing in the quiet hallway. As I stepped inside, the aroma of Maya's familiar lavender incense filled the air. She was perched on the edge of the sofa, her laptop precariously balanced on her knees, but her attention snapped up the moment I entered. Her eyes, usually sparkling with amusement, held a keen, almost predatory gleam.
"Well, well, well," she drawled, a knowing smirk spreading across her face. "Look who finally decided to grace us with her presence. And judging by that dreamy expression, I'd say someone had a rather nice evening."
My cheeks flushed instantly. Maya had an uncanny ability to read me like an open book. I tried to play it cool, hanging my bag on the hook by the door. "Just a relaxing evening, Maya. Went for a movie."
Her eyebrows shot up. "A movie? Alone? On a Wednesday?" She punctuated each question with a dramatic pause. "Don't tell me… it was him."
There was no point in denying it. Maya would pry the truth out of me eventually, and honestly, a part of me was eager to share. The events of the past couple of days felt too significant to keep bottled up.
"Okay, fine," I conceded, a small smile playing on my lips. "It was Amit."
Maya practically squealed, abandoning her laptop with a thud. She bounced up from the sofa and rushed towards me, her eyes wide with anticipation. "Amit! My Amit? Our Amit? The one you've been mooning over since… forever? Tell me everything! How did this happen?"
My heart did a little flutter at her words. "My Amit." It had a nice ring to it, even if it wasn't quite reality yet. "Well, you know he's been working from home for ages, barely coming into the office."
Maya nodded, her expression suddenly serious. "Yeah, it was like he vanished. You were so bummed."
"I was," I admitted. Amit… he'd been my quiet crush for so long. His intelligence, his calm demeanor, the way he led our team – I admired it all. But with him working remotely for the past year, those fleeting glimpses in the office, maybe two or three times in all that time, weren't enough. I'd almost resigned myself to just admiring him from afar.
"And then?" Maya prompted, her eyes shining with curiosity.
"And then, two days ago, he came into the office," I said, my voice a little tight. "He was… resigning." The thought of him leaving the company, leaving my orbit completely, had sent a jolt of panic through me. It felt like I'd almost lost my chance before it even began.
"Resigning? No way! I didn't hear about that," Maya exclaimed, her hand flying to her mouth.
"Yeah. And that's when… that's when I felt like I had to say something, anything. I couldn't just let him walk away." I took a deep breath, the memory of that conversation still vivid. "And then… he told me he'd actually recommended me for the lead on the new project."
Maya's jaw dropped. "Seriously? He put in a good word for you?"
"He did," I confirmed, a surge of gratitude washing over me. "And then yesterday, I got the promotion, the project lead. It was… incredible."
"So, the party?" Maya connected the dots. "That was to celebrate?"
"Exactly. And I… I invited Amit. I thought, with him leaving, it might be my last chance to… you know… try." My cheeks warmed again.
"And it worked!" Maya squealed, clapping her hands together. "Tell me everything about the party! Was there flirting? Did sparks fly?"
"It was nice," I said, trying to downplay the nervous energy that had thrummed beneath my polite conversation with him all evening. "Just a small gathering at that Italian place near the office. Everyone was happy about the promotion."
"But what about him?" Maya persisted, wiggling her eyebrows.
"Well," I continued, a soft smile creeping onto my face, "after the party, he offered to drop me home. He was on his bike."
"A romantic bike ride under the stars?" Maya sighed dramatically.
"It was… different," I admitted, the night air on my face, the closeness as I sat behind him, the unfamiliar intimacy of it all. "And when we got to my building… I just… I didn't want the night to end. So I invited him up for tea."
Maya gasped. "You invited him up? Priya Sharma, you bold thing!"
"I don't know what came over me," I confessed, a nervous laugh escaping my lips. "We had tea, just talking. And then he was about to leave, standing by the door… and he just… he kissed me. On my forehead."
The memory sent a shiver down my spine. It was such a gentle, unexpected gesture, but it unlocked something within me. All the admiration, all the quiet longing from the past year, the fear of losing him forever… it all came rushing to the surface.
"And then?" Maya leaned forward, her eyes wide with anticipation.
"And then…" I trailed off, my cheeks burning. "And then I couldn't resist anymore. All those feelings… I just… I kissed him."
Maya let out a whoop of delight, throwing her hands up in the air. "You go, girl! Finally! After all this time! What happened? What did he say? What did he do?"
I recounted the rest of the evening, the hesitant exploration, the shared vulnerability, the undeniable connection that had finally found its voice. I told Maya about the lingering kiss at my doorstep, the tenderness in his eyes, the promise of something more hanging in the air.
As I finally drifted off to sleep later that night, Maya's excited chatter still echoing in my ears, I couldn't help but smile. My quiet crush, my team leader who was about to leave, had somehow become something… more. The future was still uncertain, with his resignation looming, but for the first time in a long time, a genuine, hopeful warmth filled me. Maybe, just maybe, this new chapter in my career would also usher in a new, unexpected chapter in my heart.