Her Prince Charming

CHAPTER 3

"You know, he didn't leave your side until the doctor assured him that you are fine" Stella said with her oh-that's-so-sweet-smile.

Embarrassment reddenedNandini's cheeks again. Could this day get any worse? Definitely not!

"I think we should get back to work" she said dully. What she meant was not we, you. She won't be an employee of Malhotra's after today!

Stella shook her head. According to her, there were two possibilities if a girl didn't ooh and aah when a gorgeous guy kissed her. Either she was not straight, or, she was mentally unstable! In Nandini's case, she was certain it was the latter.

They came out of the room and as if by magic, Russell appeared in front of them. He glared at Nandini.

"I see that you have woken up" he said accusingly.

Woken up? She hadn't been sleeping for God's sake! She had fainted!

"You could have informed that you weren't well and taken a day off. It would have saved us all from the embarrassment you caused today" Russell continued.

Yeah right. So that you could fire me at that moment itself! But actually, that would have been a lot better than passing out on Manik Malhotra.

"Go home, Nanny" Russell never called her by her proper name. Nandini knew he did it deliberately. "You have done enough for today"

So now Russell was taking out his frustration on her. But he hadn't asked her to leave permanently. Also, he hadn't handed over her paycheck yet. Did it mean she still had the job?

A ray of hope surged in Nandini's heart. If this was the truth, then she wasn't being sacked. Thank god!

"I'm absolutely fine now, Russell" Nandini said politely. "And I would like to get back to work please"

"I won't tolerate you passing out on any customer!" Russell snapped.

Yes, she still had the job! Hurray!

"That won't happen" she assured him. Because none of the customer would be as yummy as Manik, no, Manik Malhotra. No getting personal with first names, but then why hadn't he told her his name? Don't get distracted. DON'T GET DISTRACTED! And returning to the customers, also, they wouldn't be multimillionaires who didn't reveal their identity as the owners of prestigious stores to a temporary employee. It was clear Russell didn't trust her a bit but miraculously, he left without a word. Stella whistled. She too had been expecting Russell to retaliate in some way.

"It seems Christmas magic has started working" she chuckled and giving a quick kiss to Nandini on the cheek she left.

Nandini sighed. Christmas wasn't her favorite festival. In face she didn't like any festival now. She used to celebrate every festival with her father with great pomp and show but after his death, that excitement had simply died. Aryaman and Riddhima forced her to celebrate every festival with them but even they knew it wasn't the same for her. Anyways, now was not the time for brooding. Fortunately, despite all the mishaps of today, she still had a job. Time to get back to it!

"Mr. Malhotra visits the store in every few months" Ella, another sales girl, permanent though, explained as she folded a pair of sexy black lingerie and kept it in a box.

Ella was a real gossip queen. She knew everything about everyone. Her talkative nature helped her immensely in interacting well with the customers and she proved to be a good source of entertainment for Nandini in their free time. Nandini had asked about Manik Malhotra and as expected, Ella had proved that she had more knowledge than Wikipedia!