This update is dedicated to everyone whose name starts with letter "T"
....
A knock on the door disturbed our peaceful sleep. It's not a normal knock, infact it's a knock when someone goes into the bathroom when you have to poop so urgent.
Who could it be?
The clock showed 9:30 at night. I yawned my lazy limbs as Manik stood up to open the door.
The door was still getting opened half way someone busted inside. "I was away for few hours, Manik. Just a few hours and you couldn't stop that scientist of your girlfriend from creating a new mess."
"Will you calm down and speak?" Manik said placing his hands above Cabir's shoulder.
Cabir opened his mouth to speak but he looked at me all cuddled up in the bed and left a sarcastic laugh. "Ofcourse, princess is already here. What does it take for you to leave a peaceful day for Manik?"
"Hey, buddy. Speak with me and not her. Okay?" Manik stood infront of me shielding me from Cabir's angry eyes.
"Yes, Boss. Why don't you look what she has done and the decide?" He said and walked out of the room.
What's happening?
I stepped out of the cozy sheets and followed them who were walking towards the garage. As we came closer I saw few armed men were standing putting their heads down along with Alya.
Well, this didn't look like they are bowing to Manik but as if they are waiting for the punishment.
"What's happening Ms. Saxena?" Manik questioned Alya who is the only person on higher rank in this room.
She looked at her feet but did not raise her head nor spoke a word.
"Yes, Ms. Saxena, tell the Boss about your stupidity. He might promote you to a higher rank." Cabir encouraged Alya.
"Who's that?" Manik questioned and I looked at the same direction.
A man was unconscious in his brown trench coat, his hands and legs tied while his mouth is taped. I squinted my eyes to see properly and finally understood it was Dr. Raghav.
"My man!" I clapped with excitement gaining all the attention in the room.
Cabir slapped his forehead. "I told you not to get involved with Ms. Alya Saxena but you did. I told you to not get involved with Ms. Nandini Murthy but you did. Why am I even the Under Boss when you do not listen to me?"
"Cabir! Stop beating around the bush and come to the point." Manik questioned in a stern voice.
"Why don't you ask this idiot who sent men to kidnap a professor from the mainland following the orders of a princess?" Cabir yelled and the people in the room dropped their heads much lower than earlier.
Manik did not speak anything but analysed the situation by crossing his arms over his chest.
Cabir spoke once again. "Ms. Saxena, did you consider yourself powerful enough to work by yourself without informing your higher officials? Kidnapping is not under your wing then why on earth should you mess things? Who the fuck will bear the responsibility?"
Cabir slapped a soldier instead of Alya which made m understand the depth of the situation. Damn! It's quite serious.
"Nandini, she..." Alya began with her croaked voice which almost sounded like she is gonna cry.
Cabir stomped on his feet startling her. "Enough! Don't you dare take the princess name for your wrong doings. She is sheltered and doesn't understand the rules here but what's wrong with you? How could you forget your ranking and responsibilities?"
Alya finally cried out for the first time infront of everyone. She never loses her cool not atleast in a official meeting but tonight she did, she cried. She kneeled down infront of Manik and began speaking her perspective.
"The Boss ordered to follow the instructions given by the Princess and I just followed them. Please forgive me as I have never forgotten my rank or responsibility."
Cabir continued to taunt her for taking Manik's name for her wrongdoing. But Manik turned his feet towards my confused self and questioned me.
"What's happening here, Nandini?"
I shrugged.
"I don't understand why everyone is so serious. What's happening here Manik?"
"Look who's speaking." Cabir began to attack me with his words but Manik's glare stopped him.
"Who's that man and why did you want to kidnap him?" Manik questioned me with a gentle voice.
"He is Unbeatable man in the world, he is super smart and I want to get training under his guidance. I asked Alya to kidnap him from the mainland so that he could stay here and help me." I smiled.
Cabir scoffed. "See, these two women are never capable to do anything correctly. Why can't you listen to me for once and kick them out for your peace?"
Kick me out of Manik's life?
I glared at Cabir for uttering those words and immediately cupped Manik's cheeks in my palms and made him face me. "Manik, I want that man, please don't send him away. Please." I requested him with puppy eyes and a pout.
There was a pindrop silence in the room. It was broken by a huge laughter which belonged to none other than Manik.
Manik!!!!! He laughed openly in front of others without any care. He did not look like a powerful person in this room but he looked like the happiest person.
"My precious. Come here." He pulled me into a hug and rubbed my back while continuing to laugh.
"If you are done can we start with the punishment? All of them must be demoted from their ranks for their irresponsibility." Cabir uttered with a serious expression on his face.
Manik released me from his arms and faced Cabir. "Why are you getting so serious, Cabir?"
"Don't do that with me, Boss! Ofcourse, this is fucking serious. These idiots did not follow the protocol and just kidnapped a professor from a reputed university in his working hours. There is a huge chaos going on and the mainland will be knowing everything within no time. All thanks to the stupid women surrounding you the Empire is at risk."
"Nobody is getting any punishment, Cabir. Release them with a strike under their name and their ranking stays the same. The professor will not be going to the mainland until Nandini wants him to go, he stays here. And regarding the chaos in the mainland, you can and you will handle it, Cabir. You have handled situations more serious than this so it's a trivial matter to you." Manik instructed everything putting his palms in his pant pockets.
"You are not getting the point here, Boss. Someone must be held responsible for this act. We can not just let go things, it's an extremely serious situation. Tampering with the mainland is not easy." Cabir sighed.
"I will take the responsibility." Manik uttered and everyone in the room fell on Manik's feet except for Cabir and I.
"Retire for the night everyone." Manik said and held my arm to walk out of the garage.
Cabir followed us. "Manik, can you for once think like a Boss you are? Just because your girlfriend is involved doesn't mean you will change the rules according to your wish. That's called partiality which you in your right sense would never do."
Manik smirked.
"Oh, yes. I can and I will." Manik walked faster with me in his hold away from that place as Cabir looked on our retreating figures.
"I hope you won't regret it, once again." He shouted and Manik shook his head.
As we entered the mansion Manik looked at me from top to bottom. "You should have wrapped a shawl before coming outside in the chilly night."
I think he mistook my goosebumps for the cold air but they were for his actions back there. I tucked my hair behind my ears in embarassment and tried to go inside the guest room.
"Where are you going?" He questioned me.
"To my room." I said with confusion.
"That's a guest room and you will not be sleeping there as you are not a guest. You are mine and your place should be next to me." He said shutting the guest room door.
"I already told you we will be sharing the room only after the marriage, Manik. Wait for a few days, I will become smart under his training and we can marry and share the bed." I said crossing my arms over my chest.
He pulled me closer to him by my waist. "I don't care if you transform or not, I am not letting you do all this so that I can marry you. I am doing it so that you would be on my side atleast on this pretext instead of running away."
I gasped.
"Aren't you doing this to get a smart wife? Aren't you mad at me for kidnapping Dr. Raghav and messing with the rules?" He shook his head negatively.
"I will be mad only when you are not on my side. As long as you are beside me I will let you do anything you wish for, including your training classes or tampering the protocols."
I slapped his arm. "Yeah, you will do everything except for marrying me."
He sighed.
"Now come we have to sleep." He said holding my arm but I tried to free them as we walked along to our bedroom.
"Why? You can sleep on your own Manik. Earlier it was day time and I helped you sleep because you couldn't sleep in the day but it's night now. Why can't you sleep now?" I questioned along the way.
"Well, we agreed for 8 hours sleep and we have left it incomplete. Now, the time restarts and let's sleep for the 8 hours." He shrugged.
"How is that possible? We have to sleep for one hour or two hours more to compensate how come it's restarting to another 8 hours? You can not change the rules according to your wish Manik." I said getting inside the room.
"Oh, yes. I can and I will." He smirked. He kept his head out and called for a maid passing by the corridor. "Arrange the dinner in my room."
He shut the door and I sat on the couch with a pout. "That's cheating Manik. You are making excuses to sleep with me. If this is the case, you will not marry me as I am sleeping with you even the need for marriage."
"Really? You are in our room, our bed sleeping next to me but I can't touch you or hold you. Do you think it's easy for me? But I am alright with your pillow border as long as you stay infront of my eyes." He is acting like a child.
We both did not speak with each other for the next few minutes and the silence was broken by the maids bringing us the dinner. We sat down to eat our meal in silence and passed the dishes to each other without uttering a single word. The maids cleaned the area and we finally slumped on the soft bed.
Manik was on the other corner of the bed and so am I. We both stared at the ceiling and let the heartbeats to dominate the silent room.
It's okay, Nandini. Just a few hours and I can leave this room and begin my training.
I consoled myself.
"Nandini." He called me.
"Hmm." I responded.
"Tomorrow I have to go somewhere at 5 in the morning." He informed me.
Why is he telling me that information? We never speak about such things before as it never mattered to me. Those are his business works which doesn't relate to me in any way.
"Do you understand what it means?" He questioned once again facing me.
I turned to my left side to face him and shook my head negatively.
"It's 11 pm now and I have to wake up at 4 tomorrow morning. This means I will be getting only five hours sleep." The mischievous glint in his eyes is back. "You have to sleep in our room tomorrow as well to compensate our 8 hours sleep."
My nose flared as he manipulated the rules according to his wish. "You monster." I pulled one pillow from the border and began hitting him with it. "When will you sleep for the continuous 8 hour and let me go?"
He dodged my hittings while laughing. "Never."
...
How is the update?
What are your thoughts on Manik's reaction for the kidnapping?
What will happen next?
Guys! I gave into my period cravings and bought 1kg of Jalebi. I am trying to eat it from a few hours but it's not reducing. How should I store them so that it stays fresh for tomorrow?