MaNan FF 'THE GREEK GOD' by Alohomora Chap 62 Pg 144

Alright guys, before I begin let me tell you that the concept of this FF will be totally different from the show. Let's just assume here that Nandini and the Fab 5 gang have never met each other and are just normal people struggling to make ends meet. Hope you'll enjoy this story. Do leave your valuable comments. Would love to know how you guys find it. 😃

THE GREEK GOD

~Copyrighted material~

The young and bubbly little Nandini Murthy is super excited! It's her first week at her new job! She had managed to secure an excellent offer for the post of a "Corporate Receptionist" at a multinational engineering company in the heart of the city. Even her designation sounded real flashy!

Her work station, a humongous, boomerang shaped metal table with the state of the art facility was set in a huge carpeted, air conditioned, lobby. She had access to everything at her fingertips. The best computer and accessories. Multi-functional phones and a public address system which she had the full liberty to use in case of an emergency or any important announcement that had to be made. In short, she was happy with her work already. The office boasted of a multi-cultural, multi-national environment and this was something she could brag about in her CV. It was something that could pave her way to a better career.

But most of all, she just couldn't help but swoon to this HOT guy at work. Talk about the devil, there he is again!

Manik Malhotra, mid-twenties, tall, athletic and extremely charming makes his way out of the elevator and into the lobby. She receives his nod and warm smile with a flashy one as he deliciously carries himself to his department: Human Resources - the vicious department that is hated world-wide and is assumed to police other departments, stand in their way and suck the happiness out of their lives!

But Nandini wasn't thinking about how dangerous he could be, despite his designation - "Human Resources Officer". She was rather carried away at how mouth wateringly gorgeous he looked. How effortlessly he carried himself around. How he fearlessly voiced his thoughts in his sexy croon. His crisp, polished formals. His... his... oh God! She was going crazy!

Just then, her cell phone rings and snaps her out of her fantasy world. It's her friend Navya.

"Hello Navya?" Nandini answers.

"Hello darling," replies Navya in an amused chuckle, "what's up? At work?"

"Of course yaar," she replies with a massive sigh, "where else could I be?"

Just then, Nandini's office phone rings.

"Hang on a minute," says Nandini and goes on to answer the line. She finishes the call and hangs up, but as she does, her hand accidentally hits on the public address system button. To her ill fortune, she doesn't realize this. Worst part is, now everyone could hear what she says. Every. Single. Word.

"I'm back," she says to Navya.

Meanwhile, in the rest of the office, the employees are baffled to hear the speakers sputter to life with an "I'm back" resonating back at them. Even Navya's conversation is loud enough to be heard! They exchange confused glances amongst themselves.

"So how is your day at work? And how is your Greek god?" adds Navya.

"Oh, he's fine. Sooo fine," giggles Nandini.

"Damn," chuckles Navya, "you're seriously turning me on now girl. You've been blabbing about him for one whole week! I really need to see him now! I'm like dying here!"

Nandini just laughs proudly.

"Managed to find more about him by any chance?" asks Navya curiously.

"Yeah," replies Nandini as she blushes madly, "his name is Manik Malhotra."

"Ooo! Sexy!" Navya wolf whistles and grits her teeth.

"He's the HR Officer," Nandini continues.

"Ohhhwww, now that's dangerously sexy!" replies Navya.

"Well," replies Nandini, "I don't really know if he's dangerous. But he sure is sexy and umm..."

"Umm what?" questions Navya.

"He passes your nice ass' test with flying colours," replies Nandini shyly.

Navya bursts out into peals of excited laughter.

Meanwhile, in the HR department, there is pin drop silence. The six member team, including Manik, listens to every single word of the conversation. Thankfully for them, the HR Director of the group, Mr. Mukherjee, is out of the department. But certainly, he is somewhere around, listening to the erotic conversation of the girls.

Manik looks dumbfounded. No, not embarrassed. He's not even sure what to feel.

Back to Nandini, she's still at it, going strong, getting heated up by the second, completely lost in her fantasy world with her Greek god.

"Why don't you ask him out?" asks Navya.

"What?" asks Nandini, stunned. "Are you crazy? How can I just..."

"Just walk up to him and ask," snaps Navya, "you know, like lunch or something. Or just kick up a casual conversation."

"I don't know yaar," replies Nandini in a low voice, "I wish I could but you know... whenever I see him I just go weak in the knees. Like jelly. And my tongue starts swimming in an ocean of saliva. And I become blind! And even deaf! Trust me. I seriously have no clue what to do."

"Alright," replies Navya, "just feign an injury. Or pretend to slip and fall down when he's around. Or maybe just faint!"

"I think that it won't be necessary," replies Nandini, "I might actually faint. Maybe just fall if I'm lucky."

The girls start cackling at their own hilarious conversation.

"God," gasps Navya, "I tho would kiss him only! And to think of it, I haven't even seen him yet!"

"We seriously are crazy," laughs Nandini, "sitting and fantasizing like this. Weird."

"Really we are," laughs Navya, "you know... just capture his video on your cell phone the next time you see him."

"Navya!" Nandini can barely contain her laughter. Her face is rosy and her eyes are all teary. "To be honest, my tongue is swimming already," she giggles.

"You devil," laughs Navya, "you seriously are getting warmed up, aren't you?"

"Yeah," chuckles Nandini, "I guess so."

"Ahem-ahem," a voice startles Nandini. She turns around on her swivelling chair and is dumbfounded to see Clara, the HR Manager. Good God, I wonder if she heard anything.

Clara reaches out for the public address system button and turns it off. "It's not wrong to chit chat," says Clara sarcastically, "but make sure that it stays private."

Nandini just watches her with an open mouth as she flashes a quick smirk and walks away. What did she mean? This bullshit was on?!!?? Oh no... Oh no... Oh shit! Shit! SHIT!

"What happened?" asks Navya suspiciously.

"Just kill me," moans Nandini faintly, "I just want to die."

"But what happened?" asks Navya with an impending sense of doom.

"They heard everything," moans Nandini as tears of embarrassment builds up in her eyes, "every single thing."

"They?!!?" Navya is going mad now, "what do you mean by they'?"

"My office," sniffs Nandini, "everyone heard it. Shit. I want to hide. Under my table. Somewhere. Oh God. Just kill me."

"No wait," Navya attempts to console her.

"Oh my God!" gasps Nandini, "he's coming!!!"

"Who?" asks Navya, "Greek god?"

"Yesss!" Nandini hisses fearfully. She quickly turns away and pretends to be engaged in her conversation. Oh God. Let him just leave. I have never been so embarrassed in my whole f*****g life!!!

In a desperate attempt to disappear, she crawls under the table and pretends to be looking for her missing pencil. She waits under with bated breath and listens to footsteps fade away into the elevator. Thank God, he's gone. Phew!

Convinced that he's finally gone, she pulls herself up onto her chair and straightens up to get the shock of her life.

There he is! Right in front of her! Gloating at her. He had never left. He was right there. Waiting for her to crawl out of her hole. He was there at her table. Leaning onto it casually with one arm. He smiles mischievously as she gawks stupidly at him.

"Found what you were looking for?" he asks with a sly grin and a raised eyebrow.

Nandini is literally dumb now. "Ummm--- Y-y-yes. P-p-pencil!" Saying so, she quickly pulls out a pencil from the pen stand and dumbly flashes it before his eyes.

He just looks at it for a while before returning his steely gaze to her. And at that moment, she realizes with a wrenching feeling in her gut about how stupid she felt! Embarrassed enough to bang her head on the wall and disappear into her own kangaroo pouch. Goooddd!!!!

"Hmm, okay," he smiles with a glint in his eye that sends a huge surge of unbearable shame pulsing over Nandini's entire being. Of course, who was she kidding? He was no fool. He was one shrewd son of a gun! He very well knew that she wasn't looking for anything but was just trying to find an excuse to hide her sorry face. This knowledge makes her even more scarlet behind the ears.

"What's the time now?" he asks her in a low voice.

The feeling of having him so close, staring into her dumbfounded eyes and talking to her knocks the living daylights out of Nandini. She is simply unable to respond.

"Knock knock," he smirks.

"Erm," Nandini begins to clumsily search for the time on her desk, knocking over papers and files in the process.

"It's twelve PM now," he responds and makes her stop in her tracks. "I was planning to step out for lunch at one. Would love it if you could join."

Nandini is speechless. This was something she was dying to hear. On any other occasion, she would have just hopped around like an excited little bunny rabbit, but now... this was the height of embarrassment. She would do anything to just magically vanish from the face of the earth!

"I'll be down at the Red Label Cafe," he tells her and turns to leave. "Oh by the way," he stops for a moment, "loved your conversation. Really hilarious. I'll see you at one." He marks the end of their talk with a quick wink and returns to his department while Nandini just stares blankly at him with her jaw hanging open.

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~ CHAPTER TWO ~

"You can't be serious!" exclaimed Navya in utter shock.

"Actually I am," replied Nandini into her cell phone as she sat huddled like a limp rag on her chair, her voice barely audible. "You don't hear me laughing, do you?" she added drearily.

"Shit," whispered Navya frantically, "this sucks big time. This is embarrassing. This is..."

Nandini didn't hear the rest of what Navya said. Instead, her attention was on the group of guys from the Project Management team who walked past her table and towards the elevator. They threw quick glances at her whilst whispering and laughing amongst themselves. Some of them, struggled to smother their bursts of uncontrolled laughter, doubling over in a desperate attempt to catch their breaths.

Her heart sank from her chest to her guts with a huge THUD. Clearly, they were laughing at her! Obviously, they must have heard and enjoyed the epic erotic conversation that blared all over the office this morning. That very memory made Nandini want to bang her head to a pulp. She was dying in embarrassment!!!

It wasn't until a little while that she finally tuned in and heard Navya's voice over the phone. "Hello? Are you there?" Navya repeated.

"Yeah," replied Nandini with a massive sigh. "Unfortunately," she added wearily.

"Come on girl," Navya began in a pepped up tone, "it's okaayyy. Don't worry. Just chill. I'm sure that they haven't heard everything."

"Sorry to burst your bubble," replied Nandini faintly, "but they did. Word by word. Crisp and clear. There's nothing left to be heard. It's all as clear as daylight now. And the tiniest bit of impression I was planning to make just went poof down the drain."

She hardly had the energy to breathe. The severe adrenaline rush she had to endure some time ago had left her in a really cold and clammy condition. "I'm the laughing stock of my office now," she said through gritted teeth and added, "Am I lucky. Wow!"

"Come on," objected Navya.

"I seriously feel like resigning now," she said sadly.

"Nandini," Navya cooed softly, "it's going to be okay. Trust me. Don't do anything stupid. Just relax now."

Overwhelmed with fatigue, Nandini leaned back on to her chair and took a deep breath before continuing, "How can I when he asked me to join him for lunch? That's like adding salt to the wounds."

"He what?" Navya is startled. She couldn't believe her ears. "Really!!?"

"But I'm not going," she quickly replied before Navya could start bouncing on her toes in joy.

"What!??" barked Navya in disbelief. "What do you mean not going?"

"I'm not going," snapped Nandini in an irritated tone.

"Come on Nandini," began Navya in an attempt to convince her to change her mind, "don't be a wimp."

"Navya," sighed Nandini drearily, "I'm not a wimp! You seriously have no idea what kind of shit I'm going through now. If you were in my place you would have..."

Before she could get done with her sentence, the elevator slid open out of the blue and Manik stomped out and headed straight towards her.

Oh my God, panicked Nandini, OH MY GOD! He's coming here again! Again!!? Oh no! No-no-no!

She quickly swivelled around on her chair and pretended to not have seen him as she sat hunched upon her chair. Hah! As if it's going to work! Who was she playing with? With one of the most dangerous men in the world? An HR Officer?

"I thought I asked you to meet me at the Caf downstairs," he said sternly, "so why are you still here?"

Nandini is lost for words at his firm tone and the grim expression on his face. "Blub-blah-ab-bah-bah-" she sputtered foolishly. Her brain simply couldn't comprehend anything at all. It had gone into Auto Retard Mode.

"Meet me in my cabin right now," he said firmly, "now!!"

Without another word, he swiftly walked away and disappeared into his department.

This is it, thought Nandini with an impending sense of doom, it's over. All over.

"Who was that?" enquired a curious Navya who was still on the line, "was that him? Greek god?"

"Yes," whispered Nandini.

"Hmmm," she licked her lips, "he sounded so hot! So powerful."

But Nandini didn't care anymore. "I'm finished," was all what she could say with a throat that choked with shameful tears.

~ CHAPTER THREE ~

Moments later, Nandini walked through the swinging doors of one of the most feared, hated and deadliest places on earth - the Human Resources Department. And the moment she did, she felt like she had just entered a police station. The air in there gave her the creeps! She could hear the non-stop tack-tack of the keyboards, the humming and buzzing of fax machines and printers, the ruffling of papers, the loud THUP of the company stamp being punched down onto important documents for top management signatures...

Five zombies... oops sorry, "HR personnel" were at their work stations or in their designated cabins, supposedly hatching a new plot on how to screw up the lives of those who slogged day and night to build up that miserable company. But where's Manik?

There he is, thought Nandini dreadfully. The very sight of him made her feel so cold and clammy. She no longer felt so hot and flushed on seeing him. She no longer had the urge to strike up a conversation with him or find an excuse to just be near him. She wanted a ticket. A ticket to Pluto. Where she could disappear forever.

Meanwhile, an overbearing Manik stood at the door of the glass walled conference room, seemingly ready to bound out any moment. He held the door ajar and shuffled coolly on one leg as he rattled off sternly at the two timid men in the room. She couldn't make out what he said to them, but from the looks on their faces, it was obvious that they were in trouble. So this was what he did all day? Scaring the shit out of the employees and making them say their daily prayers? I suppose Navya is right. He is dangerous. Funny thing is, whenever I see this guy, he's on his feet, running around. Either his hormones are out of control or there are pins and needles scattered on his chair.

She was so lost in her own thoughts that she didn't even notice Manik whizz past her quickly. "Come along Nandini!" he merely breathed as he zipped past.

Nandini was so caught by surprise that she blindly stumbled into a plastic chair and toppled over it straight onto the floor!

The racket distracted the zombies momentarily. They abruptly looked up from their computers and watched coldly as Nandini hastily pulled herself up and straightened out her hair and clothes. Though she tried her best to pretend as if nothing had happened, she couldn't help but blush madly at the realization that she was being watched closely. God, this is the second time today! Why does it keep happening? I feel so STUPID!

Oh, if only she knew what was going to happen in a while...

Somehow, she managed to ignore boring eyes and reach Manik's cabin without looking foolish again. The door to his small, congested cabin was open. He wasn't at his desk. Instead, he was seated on his cosy ergonomic chair right in front of a file cabinet. He didn't notice her and seemed to be very busy and squeezed for time as he quickly browsed through the file in his hand.

Nandini stood at the door with an increasing feeling of uneasiness. "I-I'm here," she stammered.

That's when Manik noticed her. He looked up and turned to face her, still seated on his chair. "Come in, come in Nandini," he said in a hurry, "just give me five minutes. I'm into something. I'll just finish up quickly and be with you soon."

"Sure," replied Nandini and began to walk in, "no probl..."

Looks like Nandini woke up on the wrong side of her bed this morning. As she walked through the cabin door, she tripped over her own lousy, ill-fated sandal and flumped face down straight onto his crotch!!!

Whump!!!

"What the f-" Manik jumped up from his chair in utter shock and confusion.

Nandini hastily scrambled onto her feet, accidentally clawing and digging her hands into all of his restricted sections. "I'm sorry!" she gasped, "I'm so sorry! It was an acci..."

"Ouch! Good Lord God!" cried Manik in pain and surprise, "can you just sit down somewhere for God's sake?"

"Y-yes," she gasped breathlessly, "I'm sorry!"

"Sit!" ordered Manik sternly.

Nandini plopped down onto the empty chair in his cabin and made it creak awkwardly loud! The sudden noise startled her, making her jump onto her feet once again.

"I said sit!" he said firmly as he took a few cautious steps backwards, "stay!!!"

She plopped back onto the chair once again.

"That's right," said Manik breathlessly, "just relax. Cool it. It's okay."

Nandini trembled as she held on tightly to the arms of her chair. It's okay? She thought to herself as the recent events flooded her mind, what's okay? Falling down like that? On your... ugh... there... and... I can still... feel my face in there... God... this is the last straw... I don't want to live anymore. I've never been so embarrassed in my whole life!

Her eyes stung fiercely, threatening to fill up with hot tears of shame. But she fought it with all the strength she could muster. What's worse was that two of Manik's subordinates were at the door, taken aback by all what had happened. They had seen everything and probably even thought that she was giving him a nice time! The amused smirk on one of their faces made it so obvious!!!

"Everything's fine," said Manik in a low voice to his juniors, "you guys carry on. Everything's under control."

~ CHAPTER FOUR ~

Manik's face was redder than a beet as he bustled around his table and plopped noisily onto his chair. He quickly rolled up to his table and blindly scrolled through his e-mails whilst his mind wandered everywhere else.

His eyes were fixed on the screen and yet he could see a petrified Nandini seated rigidly before him. Outside, his ecstatic subordinates gleefully smothered their uncontrolled bursts of laughter into faint sniggers, happy that they had finally got to see Manik looking like a deflated hot air balloon.

The humiliation was too much to bear. He could pass out any moment! Today, his honour was almost dangerously compromised! That "cool, tough, authoritative, no-nonsense guy" image he had built for himself had just vanished into thin air, all thanks to Nandini. His team had feared and loathed him all these years for a reason - he was a guy who took no shit and took extra pleasure in making others dance to his tune. His stance and the way he carried himself around spoke volumes of confidence. MM, as he was most commonly known by everyone (or Manny by some), was the "man with the golden tongue", the guy "who could handle anything and everything under the sky." And now? Completely poof! At this point of time, he wasn't even in a position to handle himself.

Though he tried to, he couldn't get himself to make eye contact with Nandini or with anyone else. His eyes darted back and forth madly as he struggled to remember why he had called her to his cabin in the first place! All that "lap dance" which Nandini gave him a while ago had wiped out his memories and put his brains temporarily out of order!

And as for Nandini, that ticket to Pluto which she had been dying for seemed to have got to her after all. Soon after her "mind boggling performance" in Manik's cabin, her emotions had boarded the spaceship and left to the dwarf planet.

It was an extremely traumatic day for her! Any other girl would in her place would have put in her papers. The entire office had heard her conversation on that confounded public address system! They all came to know how she felt about Manik! She could have even sworn that she heard one of the jerks from the Project Management team call her a "loud speaker". And as if that wasn't enough, she toppled head over heels in front of all the zombies in the HR department, fell face down straight onto Manik's groin and took the extra liberty of intruding into his "private affairs"! I wonder what those Project Management guys would call me if they came to know about this, thought Nandini in a self-criticizing tone, cabaret dancer? This was undoubtedly the worst day of her life and yet she felt nothing. Though she had the HUGE urge to break down into loud sobs earlier, she was completely spaced out at the moment. Absolutely numb and petrified! She had even felt like running away before. But now she could hardly move a muscle!

Nandini didn't dare to look up at Manik either. She sat frozen on her chair with her eyes fixed on the beige carpeted floor. Yet, out of the corner of her eyes, she could make out that he was completely knocked out of track.

"Ermmm," began Manik in a low nervous voice as he scratched his temples furiously. His eyes were still on the screen as he continued, "you can leave. For now."

Nandini looked up at Manik meekly and her heart sank almost immediately. There was something in his grim expression and unsettled voice that told her that everything was doomed. That her chapter was closed. She suddenly felt the strong urge to break down crying once again. Without another thought, she prepared to shoot up from her chair and out of the cabin.

"Wait," he called out and made her go rigid again. Relieved that she still hadn't looked up at him, he finally found the courage to face her. "Why didn't you turn up downstairs this afternoon," he asked in an annoyed tone.

Nandini didn't reply.

"I called you for a reason," he goes on, "the invitation being official, you were expected to come."

Nandini was still quiet as she twiddled her thumbs and fidgeted on the chair. It creaked awkwardly loud and made her freeze again. Coming to think of it, I should have gone, she regretted, if I did, none of this would have happened. Damn! Damn! Damn! Well, there's no use crying over spilt milk now.

"I hope you have a good explanation. Yeah?" sighed Manik in exasperation.

Nandini was finally out of her robot mode. Her feelings which had gone on a mini vacation finally landed in her department of emotions. "I-I'm s-sorry," she stammered with her head hung low, "I-I..."

This is going from bad to worse, thought Manik drearily as she began to tear up in front of him. What's even more embarrassing was how more sets of curious ears and eyes trespassed his cabin, eager to pick up more information. Without second thought, Manik got up, shut the door securely (and wiped the smug smiles off his subordinates' faces) and returned to his seat.

"See look Nandini," he started off in a business-like tone, "you'd probably remember a girl called as Nora who turned up for an interview two days ago. Yeah?"

Nandini nodded whilst she quickly flicked off a tear.

"Good," he replied cheerfully, "she had come in to be interviewed for the post of a Corporate Receptionist. She got through all rounds and will be joining next week."

Nandini wasn't breathing anymore. His words gave her the biggest shock of her life. Corporate Receptionist? Which means, she'll be taking my place? But what about me? Oh no... no... no... I'm going to get fired. I'm gone. What will I tell my parents and friends? What will I do? What will happen to my career?

"So what I..." Manik continued but got cut off instantly by Nandini.

"I would like to resign," she said in a hoarse whisper.

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~ CHAPTER FIVE ~

It took a moment for Manik to comprehend what she said before he croaked "I'm sorry. What?"

"I'm going to get fired anyways. So I might as well resign." By now there was no closing the gates to her waterworks. Her own words intensified the incredible humiliation she had suffered today and she struggled to hold back her tears, dabbing furiously at her wet eyes in vain.

Manik quietly watched for a moment. He wasn't exactly surprised at her spontaneous decision to quit. She had a rather awful day indeed and he felt sorry for her. "Oh okay," he replied whilst trying his best to look serious, "so you mean to tell me that you're running away?"

Nandini had long crossed the breaking point of her emotional threshold and could no longer think straight. At this point of time, all what she wanted was to just run away, hide somewhere and burst out into loud sobs. Her tears just wouldn't stop flowing. "Please do the necessary formalities," she babbled as she got up hastily to leave. Somehow she had to get out of there before she broke down in front of him and embarrassed herself even more. "Let me know if you need anything else from me."

"Yes, there is something now that you mention it, just sit down for a moment and I'll explain." Manik gestured at the empty chair which Nandini had occupied a while ago.

But Nandini was already at the door, trying to pry it open. For some weird reason, it just didn't budge.

Manik crossed his arms and raised a serious eyebrow. "And by the way, that's locked."

Nandini felt even more stupid now. I must have looked so dumb pulling at a locked door like that! Now he's got one more reason to laugh! Ugh! Just kill me somebody! Her hand blindly groped around for the latch. Now where did this bloody latch disappear to? Oh God!

"Why don't you sit down for a moment," said Manik, "there's something I need to talk to you about. So if you could please."

He watched her with a teeny-weeny smirk as she quietly settled down, not daring to look up at him. She wasn't shedding anymore tears. It had literally frozen on her face a while ago. This girl is quite entertaining, he thought to himself, it seems like she's missing a couple of screws from her bonnet.

"Do you like coffee?" Manik picked up his phone and begun to dial an extension.

Nandini barely responded with an incomprehensible nod of her head. All what she could think about was her embarrassing conversation with Navya this morning. And here he is, sitting in front of her as if nothing had happened at all. Maybe he's just trying to be nice?

"Now coming to the topic. We've been growing like crazy lately. Middle East. Asia. North Africa. My hands are damn full nowadays. I guess it's pretty obvious from the state of my office." He leaned back onto his chair, completely relaxed and twirled a pen in between his fingers.

Nandini ran her eyes around his cabin, her head still low. It was indeed a mess. His table was loaded with files and papers. His mailbox was always full. Papers popped out from half opened drawers. His pen stand was empty. His dustbin overflowed with trash. Paper clips and other stationary were scattered around. It short, the cabin looked as if it had been hit by a violent hurricane. How on earth does he manage to get any work done in this shithole?

Just then, someone knocked on the door.

"I'll get that," said Manik and went for the door and returned with two cups of coffee. "Here you go." He handed over a steaming cup to Nandini who took it from him quite reluctantly. She felt all the more awkward and uncomfortable now.

"I've been handling the Middle Eastern region lately." Manik plopped back onto his chair with a deep sigh. "To make matters worse, Clara is serving her last month. And the company is not in a position to hire a new Manager. Which means, I'll be taking over her job. Now that'll be like a bomb because that leaves North Africa on my head too."

Nandini frowned, a bit confused. Why is he telling me all this geographical stuff? I've been highly allergic to geography since school days. The shit gave me nightmares.

"I really can't do it alone," Manik looked exasperated as he spoke, "I need someone who can help me out. Assist me in at least some of the functions in the beginning. I believe that you've already worked in the HR department before, yeah?"

Nandini finally looked up at him, this time, confused. I wonder where this is all headed to, she thought. "Y-yes, not too much really. Just took care of the joining formalities and the database."

"That's more than enough!" Manik looked excited as he said this. "That's something I really need help in, besides organizing stuff. I believe that's something you can do."

"M-me?" Nandini was stunned. He wants me to work with him? As his assistant? After all this? I thought I didn't have to see him again after today. "I'm sorry but I didn't really get you..."

"Which is why you'll need to listen to what a person has to say before jumping into conclusions," remarked Manik sarcastically. He was referring to the moment where Nandini blurted about wanting to resign because she thought that she was going to get fired anyways.

Nandini went rigid with embarrassment. Her ears visibly flushed red.

"Can we do that from now on? Giving the other person a chance to speak?" Manik raised his eyebrows. The corner of his lips curled up into a smile.

Yes, nodded Nandini sheepishly, her large amber eyes still found it hard to meet his steely gaze.

"Cool." Manik leaned creakily onto his chair. "Now here's where Nora comes into the picture," he filled her in. "I want you to hand your job over to her max within a week. Can you do that?"

"D-do you mean that I'll be working in HR from now on?" she asked curiously.

"Yes," replied Manik conclusively, "as an HR Assistant. Are you okay with it?"

Nandini remained quiet for a moment. This is an even huger leap for my career. It will also give me a chance to hide. Away from all mockers. But working with him, being so close to him. I would have absolutely loved it before. But now... all what I can think of is that stupid conversation I had with Navya, not to mention that fall. At present, all what I want to do is just resign and get out of here.

"I need to think," she finally replied.

"No problem," said Manik. "Can you let me know first thing in the morning tomorrow?"

"I'll try," she replied in a low voice.

"Cool. I'll expect a positive response." Manik got up and shook hands with her to mark the end of their conversation.

For the first time, Nandini felt the sizzling touch of his warm, rugged hand and was instantly electrified. She looked cold and clammy as her eyes batted rapidly and threatened to screw itself shut.

"Are you alright?" asked Manik in an amused tone. Clearly, he knew what was going on with her and was thoroughly enjoying himself. He was loving the way he made her feel.

She quickly cleared her throat and pretended that everything was normal. "Y-yeah," she stammered.

"Sure? You look like you're about to pass out or something."

"Y-yeah," she blushed uncontrollably, "I mean no. Everything's under control."

"Everything's under control," repeated Manik with a raised eyebrow and an amused smile.

"Yes." Nandini realized that their hands were still clasped and quickly let go.

"You still haven't touched your coffee," he reminded as she prepared to bolt out of the door.

"Oh, yes," she burbled, picked up the cup and hurried out through the open door.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Oh my God. ..what I read. This is a very different and very hilarious. I was laughing like a mad .😆 you are a jadugar of the words. You describe her very bad condition in very much hilarious way.😛I loved it. Post more soon. You maid my day...😉👏.waiting. ...

Originally posted by: bhagupur

Oh my God. ..what I read. This is a very different and very hilarious. I was laughing like a mad .😆 you are a jadugar of the words. You describe her very bad condition in very much hilarious way.😛I loved it. Post more soon. You maid my day...😉👏.waiting. ...

Awesum