In the evening, after dinner, Sonam handed him her laptop with a grateful smile.
“Please fix it, bhai. Don’t look at my personal stuff too much, okay?” she joked, but there was a slight nervousness in her voice.
Keshav took it to his room around 10 PM. The house was quiet — Sonam had gone to sleep early, tired from the day. Kalpana was in her room, probably reading. Sanjay was still away. He closed his door, placed the laptop on his study table, and connected it to his own charger and external drive for backup.
While the laptop booted into safe mode and he started running diagnostics, his phone buzzed.
A new message from Kalpana Rao.
Kalpana Rao 10:07 PM Good evening, Aryan. I hope I’m not disturbing you. I was thinking about our chat last night. It stayed with me today. It’s been a while since I had such an honest conversation with someone. Thank you again for listening without any agenda.
Keshav’s heart jumped. She had messaged first again. He kept one eye on the laptop repair (backing up files, running disk check) and typed with the other hand.
Aryan Malhotra 10:11 PM You’re not disturbing me at all. I was actually hoping you’d message. Last night’s chat stayed with me too. You have a way of making even simple conversations feel meaningful. I’m glad it helped, even a little. How was your day after all the post-Holi cleanup?
He sent it and went back to the laptop. The repair was going slowly — corrupted system files, some driver issues. He started copying important folders to his external drive so he could reinstall Windows later if needed. While the files transferred, he kept glancing at his phone.
Kalpana Rao 10:19 PM My day was normal — college, some meetings, came home and rested. Nothing exciting. But your messages last night made the evening better. You have a kind way of putting things. Most people don’t take the time to make someone feel truly heard. You do.
Keshav smiled despite the guilt twisting in his stomach. She’s warming up to Aryan. She likes how I talk to her. While the files copied, he replied with the first soft flirt of the chat, keeping it respectful but clearly complimentary.
Aryan Malhotra 10:24 PM That means a lot coming from you. You seem like someone who gives so much to everyone around you — your students, your family. It’s easy to forget that someone like you also deserves to feel appreciated and seen for who you are, not just what you do. You have a warmth and grace that comes through even in messages. I hope you know that.
He hit send and immediately felt his cock stir. Soft flirt started. She’ll either pull back or respond well. He focused on the laptop again. The file transfer was almost done. He opened the user folders to check for any corrupted personal files before reinstalling.
That’s when he found it.
In Sonam’s “Documents” folder there was a hidden subfolder named “Private_Backup_2025”. It wasn’t password protected — probably because she thought no one would look. Keshav clicked it out of routine while organising the backup.
