Emotional intelligence (EI) is essential for effective stress management and may influence cardiac responses. This study seeks to investigate the relationship between EI and heart rate variability (HRV) due to limited physiological data, contributing valuable insights into this unexplored connection and its potential impact on overall well-being. A cross-sectional design with non-probability convenience sampling (n = 55, after adjusting for a 10% non-respondent rate) was utilized in this study. Trait emotional intelligence questionnaire short form-30 (TEIQue SF 30) and e probe 8.0.8 software to record heart rate variability at three different times, i.e., baseline, stress induction, and recovery, for 5 minutes each. The serial subtraction method for stress induction induces acute mental stress in laboratory settings. The results conclude that HRV may be a physiological correlate of trait emotional intelligence (TEI) in acute mental stress.