Redemption of Royals (Royal #1: Book 3) | ✔

52

-• love me? Prove it. •-

I stalk inside the restaurant where Niharika is supposedly having a lunch date with her girlfriends. It doesn't take long for people to notice my presence. I see several phones come out of their pockets to photograph me. Any other day, I'd have stopped to politely ask them to put their phones down, but I'm far too pissed to treat anyone with patience right now. Hence, I use the flick of my fingers as a command, and the smart folks immediately obey, while the manager comes out for the dumb ones.

"Niharika Chandra," I pause briefly at the reception.

The receptionist eyes me skeptically, frozen in her place. The man next to her takes the charge and asks her to scoot aside as he ducks to get the information from the monitor.

"Table no 27, floor no 8." He answers.

"You," I address the saree clad woman. She jumps in fright, her eyes ping pong-ing between me and her coworker. "Look at me," she finally meets my eyes. "If you see me in the future, in any of your potential workplaces, the last thing you should do is make me wait. We don't want you to lose your job now, do we?"

She shakes her head frantically.

"Who am I?"

"Shourya Singh Rajawat."

"Good. Remember that." I pull away from the desk and make my way towards the elevator.

It stops on the eighth floor. The slick metal doors open, revealing floor-to-ceiling walls offering a panoramic view of the city. I glance around the floor, and find table no 27 tucked far in the corner, with two long curved sofas sandwiching a brown table in the centre. I can hear the ladies giggle and laugh as they chatter over a glass of champagne. But as I walk closer, they take notice of me, and the lively discussion dies away. One by one, I catch the six pairs of eyes, until the last one is nudged in the elbow, causing them to drop the phone in their lap and lift their head up.

Niharika's eyes go wide in surprise. "Shourya," she puts the glass of champagne on the table and gets up from her seat.

"Busy?" I raise a brow.

She looks around the table, at her girlfriends who shrug or shake their heads. "No," her eyes return to me.

"We've somewhere to be. Come along." I turn around and walk away. She doesn't follow immediately, so I've to stop, look over my shoulder and pin her with a hard stare. "You want me to repeat what I said?"

"No- No," In a moment of frenzy, she grabs her purse and phone, waving bye to her friends before rushing up to me as fast as her high heels allow. I turn and resume walking.

Niharika keeps silent until we're in the close proximity of my car. I manoeuvre the wheel carefully, threading through the growing traffic of the last weekend day.

"I thought you were working overtime today," she breaks the silence as we leave the traffic behind, touching the long, almost empty national highway.

"I was until I remembered you." I glance at her. She already has her eyes on me, enamoured with my presence. Is this a lie too? I wouldn't know. But I'm sure to find out soon. "I believe I never gave you a chance to prove your love."