Nandini felt a cool sponge being pressed to her cheek. Slowly, she opened her eyes. Gradually, her vision cleared and she saw Stella's relieved face.
"There you go girl" she said with a relieved smile and helped Nandini in sitting up. She still felt groggy. Stella gave her a glass of water.
"Drink it" she ordered. "Your face has lost all the color"
Obediently, Nandini sipped and it helped. Her head felt stable now. She looked around. They were in the first-aid-room. Immediately, she tensed.
"What had happened to me?" Nandini asked even as her mind had started recalling. Being late, skidding into the lift, getting stuck in it...
"You fainted. After effects of your claustrophobia" Stella replied.
"How did I come here?" Nandini asked in a tensed voice though she knew she wasn't going to like the answer.
"The gorgeous owner Mr. Manik Malhotra brought you" Stella replied with a smirk. "The man's quick! Caught you before you touched the floor. Carried you in his arms and deposited here with extreme care. Handled Russell too" she finished with a grin. Stella loathed Russell.
"Oh god no!" Nandini hid her face in her hands.
This couldn't be happening to her! Not on top of all the other disasters that had befallen her recently.
He was Manik Malhotra! MANIK MALHOTRA...Boss of her boss of her boss of her boss of her boss!
What had she said to him while they were in the lift? Besides calling him an opportunist and an idiot and a pervert, of course...
"What happened?" Stella asked in a surprised voice.
"My bad luck just turned worst" Nandini still hadn't removed her hands. God, what would have other people thought when they would have seen the owner carrying an employee to the first-aid room, that too a temporary employee? And what had she threatened him with? That she would report him to his superior! Oh great! So she would report about Manik Malhotra to Manik Malhotra! Perfect!
"Nandini, what happened?" Stella asked again.
Nandini quickly narrated the events of the entire morning. She was shocked when instead of sympathizing with her or telling her that she screwed up big this time Stella burst out laughing. So much for friendship!
"This isn't funny!" she said exasperatedly.
But maybe it could provide her with an opportunity to take the job of a clown in the circus. Many people seemed to laugh at her lately!
"I would give anything to switch places with you!" Stella giggled after she had stopped laughing. "Come on Nandini, you got kissed by one of the most handsome men on this planet and instead of trying to find an opportunity to share another lip lock with him you are cursing your fate?"
Aa groaned. It was fruitless to say anything to Stella. Being a sex siren, she attracted cute guys like magnet and after a hundred break ups claiming he was not 'the one', she was still a hopeless romantic at heart.
"I've always had a thing for Indian men" Stella continued dreamily. "And after seeing yours, I know I wasn't wrong".
It was just impossible!
"He's not mine!" Nandini said impatiently. Soon she would see that smirk on Russell's face when she would collect her things after Manik Malhotra fired her. At this rate of losing jobs, she wouldn't be able to survive in New York for long.
"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!
Manik Malhotra hadn't turned up in the last two months since she had started working at Malhotra's. According to Ella, he turned up for a few days, her bad luck that he had turned up today, threw his weight around while he was here and then left again, leaving underlings like Nandini at the mercy of floor managers like Russell Tails.
From what Ella had told her, Manik Malhotra was a very hard working man. His father had been a peon in a juice company and had met his soul mate, his mother who had been a Sales Manager at that time. They had quit their jobs and together, they had started their own brand of clothing. Within a year, they had emerged as the richest entrepreneurs with a most successful business and had become the proud parents of Manik and his four younger sisters. All the children were extremely good looking of course. And Manik Malhotra hadn't simply inherited his father's business. With his grit and determination, he had added more value and joined different aspects to it and continued its success story.
Also, Nandini had misinterpreted. Manik Malhotra wasn't a multimillionaire. He was a multibillionaire! Single. Thirty years old with his four sisters happily married, he was India's most eligible bachelor. She was sure he was a doting uncle and all his nephews and nieces would adore him.
"So, did you get your new boots?" Ella asked with interest. She was a sucker for scarves, nail paints and boots.
"What? Which boots?" Nandini asked in a confused voice as she looked down at her ruined boots. New boots? She couldn't take the risk of buying new boots again. She accepted she was crazy but not that crazy!
"Didn't Russell tell you? Mr. Malhotra had asked him to make arrangements for you to get a new pair of boots from the shoe department since Malhotra's owes you a replacement pair" Ella explained.
"Oh no!" Nandini muttered in dismay. So that is why Russell had been so angry. It wasn't because she had passed out on Manik Malhotra and embarrassed the staff but because Manik Malhotra had asked him to personally organize it, that too for someone Russell loathed. Now she understood what had Stella meant by handling Russell. Manik Malhotra must have made this request publicly!
Russell would have hated this because he was used to giving orders, not receiving them and according to Ella, no matter how pleasantly the request had been made, there had been a steely edge in Manik Malhotra's voice that had let everyone know that the suggestion had better be carried out or else Russell would answer to him for the omission. No wonder Russell had wanted to strangle her, Nandini thought with a grimace as she recalled his face when he had asked her to go home.
And by the way, why did Manik Malhotra think that Malhotra's owed her a replacement pair of boots? Yes it was true that her boots had got spoiled in Malhotra's lift but then, it hadn't been the lift's fault. Her own clumsiness had been responsible for that. Just what was the man thinking? Was he playing with her? Lulling her into some fall sense of security? He had kissed her after all, that too very thoroughly! Was this some way of...no, no, no! This was impossible. She stood nowhere in front of such a gorgeous billionaire and though there didn't appear to be any reason behind the kiss, she somehow didn't feel that Manik Malhotra was that kind of man.
"So what's he like?" Ella grinned with unabashed curiosity as she gave a flirtatious smile to a young guy who was a nerd and appeared to have just started university. Immediately, sweat broke out on his forehead and he left the store hurriedly. Nandini was sure that he would be pulling his socks for an entire week before mustering up the courage to ask Ella out on a date.
"Okay, I suppose" she replied in a dismissive tone, slightly surprised that the always-know-all Ella didn't know what Manik Malhotra was like!
"Come on, you can do better than that" Ella wasn't going to let go of the topic so easily.
"If you like the tall, dark and handsome type then he fits the bill" Nandini said with a shrug. Of course, Manik Malhotra was stark white but that didn't make him any less handsome.
"Doesn't everyone?" Ella chuckled. "Besides, I didn't mean what he looks like. I know what he looks like. I want to know more."
"Being stuck in a lift together isn't particularly conducive to getting to know what a person is like." Except she knew that Manik Malhotra stayed calm in a crisis, was self-confident, had a wicked sense of humor and gave bone-melting kisses...Not that she was going to tell Ella that! Otherwise tomorrow the entire New York would say that Nandini Murthy and Manik Malhotra had slept with each other!
Fortunately, Ella didn't broach the subject further. Surprisingly, rest of the morning was peaceful and by lunch time, her nerves had settled down a bit.
"Take this. You need it" Stella handed her a cup of coffee as she slid her lunch tray onto the table before sitting down opposite Nandini.
Nandini took the cup gratefully and without paying attention to how hot it was, took a large gulp of it. It made her feel better. Her mind had been so preoccupied because of the morning's events during work hours that she hadn't been bothered even by some of the more personal remarks made by her male customers. It was also the reason she was having only coffee for lunch. Her normally healthy appetite had deserted her today.
"Chill Nandini. Just relax" Stella said in a soothing voice.
"This could happen only with me" Nandini said dully. "My life in the last two months seems to have become a field of one disaster after another. Why was I thinking that working at Malhotra's would be any different?"
"Come on, getting stuck in a broken-down lift with the owner of the store is definitely a first!" Stella laughed. She still found the situation hilarious.
"I'm not sure Russell is going to forgive me for that" The man had thrown nasty glances at her all morning even though surprisingly, he hadn't uttered a word. And as far as the replacement boots Manik Malhotra had requested for her, he hadn't even mentioned them.
"What's the man's problem? He can hardly blame you for a malfunctioning lift" Stella scowled.
"You and I both know that Russell is-" Nandini broke off as she saw Stella was making faces at her across the table, her gaze moving pointedly on her left. What on earth-?
"Russell is what, Nanny?" an icy voice prompted her from behind.
It was Russell Tail's voice!
That was it! Nandini thought with an inner groan. Now she was definitely losing the job! Russell would kick her out for verbally abusing him in a public place and she might even spend a night for this in prison. God! She was just going to pick up her things from the staffroom, try to make her way home without further incident, get in the bed and pull the duvet over her head and stay there until this so-called festive season was well and truly over. Because it might be a happy time for others but for her it was truly a disaster!
She swallowed hard, slowly putting her coffee cup down before standing up to face the man who, at present, was her biggest enemy. Bigger than her stepmother and stepsister. "Russell" she greeted him lightly, forcing a bright smile to her lips, putting both hands behind her back and crossing her fingers before making the next remark. "I was just telling Stella how much I enjoy working at Malhotra's, and, what a wonderful manager you are to work for"
The crossed fingers didn't seem to be working, because Russell's face darkened considerably.
Not that she had expected it to work! She was sure that Russell was too aware about the fact that she didn't like him any more than he liked her. She decided to change the subject itself. "Were you looking for me?"
Russell continued to stare at her coldly for several long seconds and then abruptly, nodded his head. "Mr. Malhotra called down a few minutes ago. He's calling you upstairs in his office"
"What? Now?" Nandini gasped, glad she had had only coffee for lunch otherwise she actually might have been sick.
Russell's scowl deepened. "I hardly think that he meant tomorrow, Nanny"
Probably because, as they both knew, she wouldn't even be here tomorrow!
"Oh, I'll go up then" Nandini muttered awkwardly and turned to look at Stella. Without caring that Russell was watching them intently, Stella gave her a thumbs up sign and mouthed 'All the Best' with a grin.
Nandini groaned again as she moved away. Stella was hoping that Manik Malhotra had called her up for sharing another lip lock. What the...Whatever! She was going up to the top floor but she had no intention of using the lift! With the way her luck was going today, it would probably break down again.
And though she didn't wish to meet Manik Malhotra and would have avoided meeting him at all costs, she didn't wish to get stuck in the lift again either.