"There was no need to rush Nandini" Manik eyed her across the width of his desk as she stood facing him puffing hard, her face flushed from the effect of running up the stairs.
It would be better to go back to her old habit of waking up early and doing ten rounds of running every day, Nandini thought breathlessly. Her father had developed this habit in her when she had been five years old and she had done this ever since. He used to run with her and encourage her to push a little more when she would be on the verge of giving up. As a result of this, she had been the fastest runner during her school and college days. It was always heart-warming to see her father's face glowing with pride whenever she used to win a shield for sports and show it to him. He had never missed any of her annual functions or Sports Day for as long as he had lived. Later, they had to stop running together because her father's health had started deteriorating and he had become too weak to run. Still, he used to come to the garden to watch her while she ran. She had continued this habit even after his death. But since last year, she had got too busy to run.
Her previous job had become more demanding which hadn't left her with much time to do anything else and after she had been kicked out she had been so busy in job hunting that she hadn't remembered to run. Thanks to her parents' genes that despite eating so much chocolate after every break up and almost no work out at all she was still in shape but she hadn't realized until now just how much out of condition she was.
Although the real reason for being so uncomfortable and jittery, she knew, was seeing Manik Malhotra again. While climbing up five flights of stairs, her heart hadn't been hammering because of lack of stamina but because she was going to see him.
And as expected, Manik Malhotra was completely calm and relaxed as he sat back comfortably on a leather seat behind an expensive desk, his jacket hanging neatly behind the door and his muscles almost visible through his white silk shirt.
He really was one of the most handsome men she had ever seen. Stella had been right about that part at least.
"I didn't rush" she assured him, still a bit breathless. "I just preferred to walk up rather than use the lift."
He grinned with understanding. "I can't blame you for that after this morning" he commented as his gaze moved down the length of her legs. "No new boots yet?" his dark brows raised.
Not ever likely to be, if Russell had his way!
"Not yet" she evaded, having no wish to enter in a negative conversation about one of this man's managers. She knew who was going to come out worst in that talk.
"Hmm" Manik looked at her quietly for a moment. "Do sit down Nandini" he invited smoothly.
Why was he talking her to sit down? Was he doing this so that there was no danger of falling down when he fired her? Maybe. Well, he needn't worry. She had no intention of doing that or becoming hysterical again. Now that she had calmed down she didn't feel that what happened in the lift earlier had been entirely her fault! Okay, maybe most of it. But if he had just told her his full name rather than just saying Manik, then she would have at least stopped herself from calling him insulting names. In fact, it wasn't fair of him to blame her at all!
"I will stand please, if you don't mind" she said carefully. She hadn't been given the chance to justify herself properly when she had been kicked out of her last job. She was going to make sure that it didn't happen again this time as well. She was going to have her say whether this man liked it or not!
"I can see that you have recovered well from your ordeal" Manik said in a mocking tone. Apparently, this man too, like Russell, wasn't used to having his orders not followed. Whatever, she wasn't getting any closer to him. And what did he say just now? Ordeal? Exactly which ordeal was he referring to? Being stuck in the lift, fainting or discovering that the man who had kissed her was Manik Malhotra himself?
Because she wasn't going to forget that kiss! She had been completely overwhelmed at that time, responding to the kiss in spite of herself, and now that she had come to know that the man doing the kissing had been Manik Malhotra, the multibillionaire of the worldwide Malhotra's chain, she felt that the kiss was more...huge!
"Yes. I'm fine now. Thank you" she said stiffly. Couldn't he get over with this quickly?
"Anything wrong Nandini?" Manik asked with a mild frown.
"You behaved badly this morning too, you know" she launched straight into a preemptive defense as she frowned at him. "For instance" she continued before he had time to interrupt "if you hadn't kissed me, I wouldn't have called you those names!"
"An opportunist, an idiot and a pervert" he reminded her silkily.
Nandini winced. No, Manik Malhotra certainly wasn't going to forget that in a hurry.
"Well...yes" she agreed reluctantly. "But I was upset. And frightened. And, slightly hysterical and...I shouldn't have called you those names, I realize that, but I don't think that you should fire me because of that! It wasn't as if I was screaming and shouting all over the place. I just panicked for some time, that's all. I don't like lifts. I have never liked them. I don't like dark much either. But I really think you kissing me was much worse than anything I did to you-"
"Nandini, could you please back up a few sentences?" Manik interrupted in a quiet but firm voice. His tone had become serious.
"To which one?" Nandini asked warily.
He shook his head impatiently. "The part about me firing you" He stood up to move around the desk, tall and powerful in the small office. "You think I called you up here to fire you?" He was frowning darkly.
Nandini was confused. "You mean you didn't?"
He leant back against the desk, looking at her confused expression. "As a matter of fact, no" he told her. He was slightly bewildered. "My managers deal with that sort of thing."
Yeah, yeah. Managers like Russell Tails, Nandini thought with an inward groan. Because even if Manik Malhotra didn't intend firing her, she was sure that Russell would find a reason for doing it because of her earlier remarks in the staff room.
"Why is it that every time I mention managers...I noticed a certain...restraint between you and Russell Tails earlier" Manik explained slowly.
Restraint. She wished she knew the answer of this question herself. She didn't know why but Russell had taken a dislike for her from the moment the man from the management had taken her to the third floor and introduced the two of them. As far as Nandini knew, she had never met him before, so it eliminated the chances of any past encounter due to which Russell might hold a grudge against her. Also, there wasn't anything she had said or done to the manager, because she needed this job too much to be anything but patient, completely compliant and agreeable to anything he asked of her.
And wow, Manik Malhotra, in the short span of time he had seen them together, had noticed that restraint. The man had eagle's eye! No wonder he was so successful, thanks to his exceptional observation skills.
But then, she couldn't tell him what Russell had done with her. He had deliberately shifted her to the lingerie department so that she would get embarrassed by the every now and then obnoxious remarks of her male customers. He had wanted her to get angry when a male customer shamelessly checked her out from top to bottom so that he could pounce on her at that moment itself and sack her for not handling the customers properly.
Her years of practice with Sakshi and Soha had gifted her with enough patience to tolerate this nonsense. That's why she hadn't provided Russell with a chance, till now, to fire her. It didn't mean that she wasn't reaching at the end of her patience though!
"And considering I asked Russell to arrange a replacement pair of boots for you several hours ago..." Manik continued slowly.
"Oh that's my fault!" Nandini interrupted him quickly. She couldn't afford to have another ugly scene with Russell. The man had been dogging her footsteps ever since she had started working at Malhotra's and had been barking at every opportunity and even when there hadn't really been any opportunity. If Russell received another call from Manik Malhotra reminding him about the replacement of her boots than he would certainly blow up something. No, she really couldn't afford that! "I haven't had the time yet."
"Really?" he murmured.
"Yes, really" Nandini tried to speak in a firm voice, aware that this man was now standing mere inches away from here. Because of her boot's heels she was almost reaching to the level of his eyes. And she was also aware that he had kissed her and she had accidentally touched him where she shouldn't have! His perfect face. That scene brought red color to her cheeks. "We've been very busy this morning" she said quickly in order to stop herself from concentrating on that moment. "Besides, it's only one boot. And it isn't that damaged, and it was my fault anyway." She hoped that he wouldn't give her legs that lingering glance again. She was still shaken from the last time he had done it. Although that steady brown gaze on her face wasn't exactly calming either. Manik opened his mouth to contradict her but Nandini beat him to it. "There's no need to replace my boots."
"Fine, Nandini" Manik wasn't smiling any more. "I'll call Gel in the shoe department myself when we've finished here. You can go and see her during your afternoon break, if that's what you prefer."
What she really preferred was him forgetting the whole incident and if he really didn't intend kicking her out of the job then letting her get back to work. Because as far as she knew, she had attracted a lot of attention for today. She didn't want or need any more of it.
"Alright. Can I go now?" she asked, eager to escape before he changed his mind about firing her for defying his orders. Besides, her lunch break was about to get over in a few minutes, a glance at the wrist watch told her. If she was late than Russell wouldn't waste a moment in holding her at gunpoint.
"Not yet" Manik said easily. He seemed least concerned about the length of time she had already spent up here. "Actually, I've been reading your employment file-"
Nandini's head snapped up. "You've been doing what?"
This man was the owner of hundreds of stores having thousands of responsibilities on his shoulders where as she was merely a temporary sales girl, so why on earth was he taking such an interest in her file?
Could it be because of that kiss they had shared in the lift? No, no. That wasn't possible! Harshad had called her a lousy kisser. They had tried to kiss once when they had returned after watching a late movie show. But something had stopped her and she had backed out at the last moment. She had kissed him on his cheek instead. When they had broken up, when Harshad had broken up with her basically since he had found Soha more beautiful, he had added that one of the reasons he couldn't be with her was because she was a lousy kisser. Her pride had received a big blow after that and she hadn't come out of her room for one whole week. It had taken many enormous bars of chocolate along with hurling some extremely bad abuses for Harshad by Aryaman and Riddhima to make her step out of her room.
It had taken a bit of time but with the help of her friends Nandini had realized that Harshad didn't deserve her where as she deserved someone a lot better than him. She had even started believing that she wasn't a lousy kisser, and after today's morning she was sure of it! She didn't know whether Manik Malhotra had liked her kiss or not but she did know that on a scale of one to ten she would definitely not rate her kiss zero. Of course, Manik's kiss had surpassed the score of ten as well but then, he was an experienced thirty years old man for God's sake! She was sure that he was the man who had had lots of practice in kissing and now was capable of delivering a perfect kiss. He would have had the chance of kissing more expert females who kissed better than her so it ruled out the chances of him taking a personal interest in her file because of that kiss!
"I went through your file" Manik continued calmly as he turned slightly to pick up a folder from the top of his desk and opened it to glance at its contents. "According to this, you have A-levels in Mathematics, Economics, English, French, Spanish and German." He was frowning as he continued. "With a first class degree in Social Science and Business Studies. And your last, apparently first job was with Malcolm Hawkins of Hawkins International." He looked up with his blue eyes narrowed on her speculatively.
Nandini watched him quietly. Her body had stopped working. The only thing that filled her mind was confusion, that why was this man interested in her qualifications?
"Aren't you-over-qualified to be working as a salesgirl?" Manik asked softly.
Of course she was over-qualified! But she couldn't tell him about the things which weren't written on her application that had resulted in her taking this job or rather any job! at Malhotra's.
"I don't understand why are you interested in my job profile" she finally whispered softly, not knowing what else to say. She couldn't tell the truth, of course. But the question of why was he interested in her file was nagging her.
"The thing is Nandini..." Manik stood up. His one eyebrow rose mockingly as she automatically took a step back away from him. "The thing is" he repeated "that I need a PA for the next six months or so. And with these qualifications, you appear to be more than qualified for the post. So, how about," he leaned forward "you giving up the job of salesgirl" his mouth quirked with amusement "which you obviously aren't enjoying-"
"I never said that!" Nandini gasped.
"-in order" he continued as if she hadn't interrupted him, "to become my PA for a minimum of six months?"
Nandini couldn't believe her ears! He just couldn't be serious!
So far in their acquaintance she had attacked him with her umbrella, threatened to report him for his...forget that!, called him several rude names, and instead of firing her as she had expected him to do, he had turned around and offered her a dream job!
And a job, which she couldn't possibly accept.