~She comes and goes like a storm, yet she fails to realize the pain she gives my heart~
-Affu-
In India
Mother's Hen Restaurant
"You know, my father owns a lot of Hotel apartments. Why don't you try working under him? He's going to love having you as his Hotel Manager." Nandini blinked sweetly at the waiter, which she's been doing for the past 5 minutes, along with a few heart-melting-sugary comments.
And Manik stared at her, with his eyes as red as a drop of blood could get.
"Oh! A Manager of a Hotel Apartment?" the waiter asked, widening his eyes. "Why not? You're talented, right? Oh! I'm not even gonna do any recommendation and make you suspicious about my motives. But I sure can recommend my father's hotels to you, for applying a job." Nandini said, fluttering her eyelashes, and the waiter just stared on dreamily.
And Manik clenched his fists so hard that it started to leave nail marks on his own skin!
"But I don't have any educational qualification in that field." said the waiter, and Nandini waved her hands in air, in dismissal. "That's not necessary. My father looks at a person's talent, rather than at his education level." Nandini grinned. "Yes, he doesn't. So much that he didn't care when his daughter asked him to give her 20 lakhs to help her boyfriend from his debts." Manik said, and Nandini threw him a glare.
"Boyfriend?" the waiter exclaimed, and Nandini smiled sweetly at him. "He meant ex-boyfriend." she said, and the waiter nodded. "So...you always had poor boyfriends? I mean, economically." the waiter asked.
"Yup! She did." Manik answered before Nandini could. "Both economically and in character wise. You can't expect a relationship to go on, when both sides are violent." he added, and Nandini stomped on his foot, to which Manik held her hand and pressed it closer to his thighs.
"Oh! But she's such a sweet girl." the waiter commented, smiling cheekily at Nandini, with his cheeks flushed. Nandini grinned, while Manik glared on. "Yes! She is. So sweet that you could see honey dripping out of her mouth, because of overloaded honey in her body." Manik commented sarcastically, and Nandini coughed, while the waiter stared at Manik blankly.
"Oh my God! Isn't that Harshad?" Nandini exclaimed, in a fake tone, while staring at the guy who just entered the Restaurant, and Manik's gaze on him hardened. "Oh yes! You know him?" the waiter asked, and toned his volume down. "He's the owner of this Restaurant. Quite scary boss he is." the waiter added. "I'm glad you let me know about your father's hotel. Maybe, I would need it in future. Between, do you have his business card?" Nandini smirked internally at her victory.
"Oh sure, I do. But for now, let me badmouth about that guy." and she started to curse while staring at Harshad. Manik chuckled, while the waiter stared on, horrified. "Stupid good-for-nothing-bed warming-flirt. Do you even know what he did to my sister? He broke her heart. He got her pregnant and said she can do whatever she wants with her unborn baby." and Nandini sniffled, while Manik stared at her aghast.
She's such a drama Queen.
"What?" the waiter asked, feeling concerned for Nandini. "Yes! He ditched my poor little stupid sister. Oh the look on her face, when he said that." she cried, and then threw a look at Manik, who was still staring at her all shocked. "Why aren't you consoling me? What type of best friend are you?" she barked at him, and he nodded before pulling her to his chest, which was truly unexpected.
"It's okay." Manik hugged her, and kissed her head while rubbing his hands on her arms. The waiter felt pity for Nandini, who was struggling hard to get out of Manik's torture. She didn't mean anything mushy with her demand.
"Yes. Your sister deserves much better." the waiter said, and Nandini peeked from Manik's arms, which were shielding her from the guy. "Yes! But I want my revenge." she said, and the waiter stared at her clueless.
"How?" he asked, and Nandini smirked, getting out of Manik's death grip.
***
"What if he finds out the truth?" the waiter asked, sweating profusely. "Then, he will fire you." Nandini said, casually. "And that's a good thing?" the waiter's eyes widened.
"It is, if you do not want to work here. It is not, if you want to work here. You are free to make the choice, you know. Like how the Indian constitutions says you are free to speak, have a choice, and so on. I don't mind following India's constitution, though I don't have much knowledge in anything related to India, apart from it's history. Thanks to my schooling." Nandini spoke, while grinning sweetly at the waiter, whose heart melted at her smile, though nothing she said made sense to him.
"Why don't we get done with this thing?" Manik let out frustrated sighs, and the waiter nodded, before moving towards Harshad's table. "You are going to spill everything about the stuffs you wrote in that piece of paper." Manik glared at Nandini, once the waiter left.
"You forgot to add 'patience' in your coffee, today." Nandini commented, while staring at the waiter, who placed a tray on Harshad's table, and left towards the Kitchen. "I forgot to add 'anger' too in my coffee, which explains why I haven't exploded till now." Manik gritted at his teeth, and Nandini nodded still busy in staring at Harshad and his actions.
And finally she saw the brat's attention towards the note in the tray. He opened and read it, frowning, looked around, stopping his gaze at a particular woman in a thigh length frock, who stood up and left the Restaurant. Harshad smirked, standing on his toes, ready to leave.
"That was way too easy. Perks of having hormones which are more than enough." Nandini smirked. "I wonder what shit you wrote in there. Between, you didn't reply t--" his words came to an abrupt halt, when Nandini pulled him along with her, and out of the Restaurant.
"Care to explain the location?" Manik asked, and she nodded in negative. "Not a chance." she replied, and he nodded. "I thought so." he said, and she grinned, running while dragging Manik along.
***
"Hey, Fluffy...uh and her G.C. Also, I would like to add that G.C. wasn't expected in here." Manik gaped at the loud woman. "Neither were you expected, Mrunal!" he said, and Mrunal just grinned before pointing at Nandini, who looked around the corridor they were in.
"Is everything ready, Mruno? Harshad is going to reach here, within one or two minutes." Nandini said, and Mrunal grinned. "Yup. The girl took the longest route to reach the apartment. He would never reach before you guys could." Mrunal said, and Nandini nodded. "I'm going to make chocolate sundae for you, then." Nandini said, and Mrunal rolled her eyes. "Do I look like a fan of it?" she asked. "Yep. Anything with chocolate in, is your favorite. Sometimes I wonder that you might get married to a girl too, if she was made of chocolate." Nandini commented, shrugging her shoulders.
"Excuse me, girls!" Manik intervened, before Mrunal could come up with a reply to Nandini's comment. "FYI, I'm still here, and before you guys shout a reply to that, let me get this straight. Don't tell me you're arranging a girl for that annoying Reddy, so that you could get proofs against him." Manik added, and the girls grinned.
"You got us right, Grumpy coffee." Nandini patted at Manik's arms, who took hold of that hand and glared at her. "That's not a good job, Lilliput. It's not a good thing that he sleeps around, and here you're arranging a girl for that. Even though, your intentions are good and different." Manik said, scolding Nandini, who let out a sigh.
"Damn! How come you're born in this century, Grumpy coffee? You should have born in that time where staring at your opposite gender even for a second, makes you all red like a vampire's eyes." she pointed out, but the intensity of his anger didn't waver.
"Alright! Calm down. So the thing is...the girl we got belongs to Cad's group. She's good at martial arts, which is not Harshad wants, right now, but it will come in handy if he tries anything hormonal on her. And no, she's not here to sleep with him, but pretend like she wants to. Got everything straight, now?" she asked, and Manik stared on, before nodding.
"Fine. If that's all about it. But why didn't you tell me before?" he questioned. "Because, we were in a Restaurant, and I didn't want anyone to hear about my plan." she said, and he nodded again. "Maybe you should continue with that plan of yours, cause we're on red alert mode." Mrunal said, when she saw Harshad entering the corridor.
"Call her up, Mruno." Nandini said, dragging Mrunal and Manik, to hide behind a pillar. "He's here." Mrunal spoke on the phone, and they saw the same girl Harshad followed, getting out of one of the rooms, with a phone clinging to her ears.
"Yeah, Dad. When are you leaving? I'll leave now." the girl said, and Mrunal rolled her eyes, because it was her who the girl was talking to, in reality. "Get his a** under control, girl." said Mrunal before hanging up, and Nandini looked at Harshad, who was approaching the girl.
"Mrunal!" Manik took her name firmly that she slapped her face. "I need to have filter, when your G.C. is around, fluffy." Mrunal said, and Nandini nodded. "I know. It's quite hard to live with him." she replied, and Manik threw a glare at her. "Let's do the glaring session, afterwards." she said, angling his face to the side, where the drama was unfolding.
They saw Harshad speaking to the girl, who was leaned on the closed door of her room. He leaned further, and the girl caressed his jawline, with her other hand going towards his shirt's button.
"That brat!" Manik hissed under his breath, and looked at Nandini and Mrunal, who were enjoying the show with anticipated breaths unlike him. He looked back at the scene, to see their faces inches apart from each other. He shook his head and palmed his eyes. For sure, he has seen couples kissing on movie screens, but this is nothing like pure love and all. This was pure seduction, and he refuses to watch it with his virgin eyes.
Nandini glanced at Manik, to see him looking elsewhere while rubbing at his nape. She smiled at the goodness in him, before looking back at Harshad and the girl. "Don't worry. They are not going to do anything in front of your sanskari eyes." Nandini whispered to Manik, who glared at her, before looking back at the girl and Harshad, just to see them entering inside the girl's room.
He breathed a sigh of relief.
"Yes! Finally." and Nandini opened the laptop she was having with her. Both Manik and Mrunal peeked into the Laptop screen, just to see what's happening inside the girl's room.
"You got a camera in Reddy's apartment room. That's impressive, you know." Manik commented, though he couldn't stand the scene where pure seduction was happening.
"Yup! I told you the girl is smart." said Nandini. "And I don't think it's her idea." he said, and she grinned up at him. "You know me well." she said looking back at the screen.
"Now put a break on your romance, and have a look into it." Mrunal commented, and both Manik and Nandini glared at her. "It wasn't romance." they said, and she nodded. "Sure thing!" she dismissed the topic.
Soon enough, Harshad was standing shirtless, and inching closer to the girl's face. They could also hear their purring voices and the dirty conversation they were having with each other. Nandini stood with her anticipated breath, when Manik palmed her eyes.
"Grumpy coffee!" she whined, when he held her tight. "He's shirtless. Don't look." Manik glared at Harshad for standing shirtless because his Lilliput was around. While Nandini tried to let go off Manik's palm over her eyes. Mrunal ignored them and stared at the screen, with her utmost interest.
And finally, Harshad fell on the ground, with the girl smirking at him.
"What happened to him?" Manik looked at the screen, confused, and Nandini pushed him palm away. "Did he faint? Did he faint?" she asked, breathing heavily, and voila, there Harshad Reddy is. On the floor. All unconscious!
"Apparently, he did." Mrunal smirked, and Nandini had a victory grin on her face.
"But how?" and Manik turned towards Nandini for an explanation. "Did she have any syringe in her hands?" Manik asked, when Nandini shrugged. She squinted her eyes at him. "Not bad! For a sanskari, you're way too intelligent." she said, and he rolled his eyes.
"I watch movies." he said, and she nodded. "That explains why! My Appa loves movies, hence this was planned." and she shrugged her shoulders, when they saw the girl coming out of the room, and walking away.
"I thought she would talk to you guys about Harshad's situation. I mean, you do have a plan for the consequences, right?" Manik asked, and Nandini nodded. "She's not going to stay in India. She'll leave today itself. Nobody will have any evidences of her stay in India, even if Harshad gets her picture and try finding her out. I took care of it. She didn't come to us, so that the CCTV Cameras don't help that pleasure sucking chameleon in the future." said Nandini, and Manik stared at her.
"You mean, you haven't switched off the cameras in this corridor?" he asked, stunned. "That wasn't required. The girl will be gone, and we never stood in front of the cameras. The entrance to this corridor that we used is different from the ones used by everyone, where there are no CCTV cameras present. Rudy Bhai has his sources." Mrunal said, and Manik took his mobile out.
"What are you doing?" Nandini asked, when Manik snatched Nandini's Laptop from her. "Your password?" He asked, and she stared at him wordlessly. "Appa'sOrangeJuice" Nandini replied, and Manik hid his smile, before getting into action.
"Hey! It's the girl on screen." Mrunal stated, dumbfounded, and Nandini stared at Manik, blankly. He just hacked the CCTV Footage. "Yeah, it is. And these are the clips of your friend and Harshad. You have no idea what a Reddy could do to you, with just these clips. Even if the girl won't be here, Mrs. Reddy will never let her son whine about anything. She's going to find this girl, if not now, then in the future when nobody even remembers about this incident." Manik said, and worked his fingers on the laptop.
"There! They are erased. The camera is also switched off for a while." Manik said, shutting the laptop off, and disconnecting his mobile from it. "Its Mrs. Reddy we're talking about, and I don't want to take any risks. She shouldn't get to know about your plan. Never. She's a witch in disguise." Manik said, handing over the laptop to a shocked Nandini.
"And you're a wolf in disguise. A sanskari's disguise." Nandini exclaimed, confusing Manik. "You just hacked the Hotel's CCTV Footage." she added, and he rolled his eyes. "Computer was my second interest, during my school days." Manik said.
"So the saying is true. Silent killer is better than any other attacker." Mrunal commented, and Manik glared at her, while Nandini agreed to it, without any arguments.
"Come on. Let's leave." Manik took hold of Nandini's hand, and started moving. Mrunal followed them with her gaze glued onto the entwined hands of Manik and Nandini.
"And she says there's nothing going on, between her and her G.C." Mrunal rolled her eyes at it.
***
"Grumpy coffee, you're scaring him." Nandini sighed at Manik, who was glaring at the waiter in front of him. The same waiter who helped them get Harshad behind the girl.
"I am not." said Manik, and towered over the trembling guy. "Now listen! You're not going to open your mouth about this to anyone. You have no idea, what I can do to you. I'll get you a job in another Restaurant. Not today, but after one or two weeks, so that nobody gets suspicious about you. But you wouldn't speak a thing about it to anyone, not even to your colleagues that you might leave this job. Understood?" Manik asked, and the waiter nodded in positive.
"He should have opted for Law and Order." Mrunal whispered in Nandini's ears, who rolled her eyes at it. "Apparently, Law and Order people will have to witness seduction cases too, and I doubt he would stay sane if he comes across another seduction." Nandini said, and Mrunal nodded in understanding. "Valid argument." she said.
"When Harshad Reddy comes to you for explanation, you're going to say that one girl told you that she's Harshad's girl and would like you to pass a message to him. That's how, the note got into the tray and then to him. But you wouldn't say a thing at all, if Harshad doesn't even remember you. Get it?" Manik used his stern voice again, and the waiter nodded again.
"Ye-yes sir." he replied, and Manik nodded before taking hold of Nandini's hand and walking away, with Mrunal following them behind, towards her car.
"And yeah!" Manik moved towards the waiter again, while Nandini got settled herself in his car, like how Manik asked her to. "Forget about her." said Manik to the waiter, who frowned. "She might have smiled at you sweetly, but that's not because she's interested." he stepped forward, and the waiter gulped.
"Because she's mine." he declared, and the waiter's eyes widened. "My girlfriend. So don't ever dare to look in her way." Manik's voice was anything but calm, and the waiter nodded at him, with his head shaking profusely. "Good." Manik nodded, before getting in his car.
Nandini smiled brightly at the waiter and waved her hand at him. "Thanks a lot, flushed strawberry!" she shouted when the car moved, while the poor waiter ran away, not wanting to wake the Lion up.
At night
"Come down!" Manik spoke over the phone, and hung up. Soon enough, the door to her home was opened, and she walked out. "Kya hai, Grumpy coffee? It's 11 at night. I need to sleep." she yawned, before standing in front of him.
"Oh! So...good night, Lilliput?" he muttered sarcastically, and Nandini glared at him, before rubbing at her face. "Remind me why I'm friends with this sanskari-sleep deprived-coffee." she muttered, while standing beside him, leaning on his car. Manik chuckled hearing her, before handling her a bottle.
"And may I know what this thing is?" Nandini questioned, nevertheless, she accepted the bottle from him. "You know you can use your eyes. At least, once in a while." Manik commented, and she nodded. "Yup. I do use them. In fact, I was just using them in the morning, while brushing my teeth. Every corner of the inside of my mouth, to make sure if they were white or yellow." she replied, and Manik palmed his face in exasperation.
"Orange juice?" she exclaimed, staring at the bottle in her hand, in horror. She looked back at him to see him grinning at her. "Don't tell me you're going to make it your job to make me drink orange juice every day. Heck! I have my Appa for that, and it's more than enough." she exclaimed, throwing her hands in air, and he palmed her cheeks, halting her rant.
"Lilliput! Breathe in and breathe out. Now!" he chided, and she did as per he asked her to. Smiling at her, he let go off her cheeks, not before grazing the with his fingers. "Now! I was just making sure that you drank today's ounce of orange juice, as you were complaining in the car that you forgot doing so." Manik said, smiling and she stared at him, blankly.
"And why would you do that?" she asked. "Because someone loves her Appa so much that she drinks orange juice every day, though she hates it with passion." he replied, and she giggled, before taking a sip from it.
"Sure, I don't. How sour it tastes, especially when you don't add sugar to it." she said, making faces. "Not every orange is sour, Lilliput." Manik rolled his eyes at her.
"Nope. They are. I always get sour orange juice."
"Then, its your bad luck."
"Yup. I do have bad luck. An example is standing beside me." she grinned, and he glared at her. "Shut up." he said, and she shrugged. "I don't think I can drink this thing if my mouth is shut." she replied, and he groaned out loud.
"Remind me why I got you orange juice!" he said, and she laughed out, and for a moment, he was too lost in the glee that formed on her face that he didn't blink.
"You know, my Appa is going to love you." she said, out of the blue, and he stared down at her, surprised. "He always wanted to have a son along with me. But Ma never was able to give birth the next time, due to certain complications. Although that saddened them, they were happy with me. But Appa always said he likes sons who are quite mature and man-like in character, and maybe that's why he never had a son because I'm anything but mature ." Both Manik and Nandini laughed at it.
"He would definitely like you." she said looking at him, and he smiled. "I'm looking forward to meet him." and somehow that comment of his warmed her heart. Her father is the most closest man to her, and now Manik is somewhat close to her heart too. She wonders how and why!
"Good night, then, responsible coffee." she said, and he rolled his eyes, nevertheless smiled at her. She was about to move, when she stepped back and hugged him, taking him by surprise.
"Thanks...for today and the juice." she broke the hug and rushed from there, while he stood still, and touched his chest where he could still feel the warmth of her skin, when she hugged him.
It felt different!
Maybe, it's because it's the first time she initiated a hug.
Or maybe it's something else!
***
Hey guys! How are you doing?
How was the chapter? Do let me know through your comments.
With love,
Affu.