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~ CHAPTER FIFTY-NINE ~
Nandini's bewildered stare was instantly transformed into a wide, dumbfounded gape as Manik pulled out a big, adorable basket of red roses and handed it over to Mukherjee.
"Happy birthday Nandini," said Mukherjee with a warm smile as he extended the basket towards her.
She let out an almighty gasp and cupped her tunnelling mouth just like one of those stunned divas, ecstatic at having been declared winner of the Miss Universe contest.
"Oh my God!" she gasped and laughed at the same time. Her eyes brimmed with joyful tears.
Pleased at her reaction, the team applauded and bellowed with laughter. Manik just stood there grinning like a fool from ear to ear as he watched on. He blushed to a deep shade of red as he felt quite warm inside, happy and satisfied at the fact that he had finally managed to bring a huge smile on her face, big enough to compensate for all the tears and pain that he had given her over the days. At least, that's what he thought!
"Oh my God!" Nandini couldn't control her laughter. "Oh my Gawd! I thought... I thought something else!"
"What? That your ass got fired?" joked Cabir.
This made Nandini and the rest of them cackle even harder.
"We know that it was a bit tooo... too much," said Mukherjee with a pleasant smile. "But it was all worth it. Right guys?"
"Obviously!" agreed Mukti.
Having finally got a grip on herself, Nandini accepted the flowers from Mukherjee with an unbelievable blush creeping up her cheeks. "Thank you sir," she smiled in exhilaration. "Thank you so much."
"Ah!" exclaimed Mukherjee and shot a quick glance at his team. "The real credit goes to Manik." Saying this, he gave his leading man a couple of approving pats on the back. "He's the one who came up with this brilliant suggestion."
Nandini's 100 watt smile instantly faded away to a dull 40.
"Manik?" mouthed Dhruv in disbelief. How can Manik come up with something like this? Can't be.
Other curious set of eyes were on Manik already. Having suddenly become the centre of attraction, Manik quickly looked down timidly, cleared his throat and played with his ear lobe. He felt very uncomfortable.
Nandini squinted at him questioningly as she held onto the basket of flowers. On one hand, she was clearly touched at his lovely gesture, aware that he was trying to make up for the damages he had made. And on the other hand, she wasn't ready to play along with any of his dramas as of yet, however sweet they may be.
As for Cabir, he simply shot a vicious glower at Manik before storming out of the room without even uttering a single word. The entire team gaped dumbfounded at the scene. "Cabir?" Mukherjee called after him in surprise but he paid no heed. He simply marched to the nearest window, poked his head out and looked around curiously.
"What is this guy doing?" Mukherjee wondered aloud.
Manik was disturbed. I think he didn't approve of my idea. He must be still mad about all what had happened.
As the team watched on, Cabir stepped away from the window, wrung his jaw thoughtfully and rolled his eyes before returning to the conference room.
"Cabir," Mukherjee sounded serious. "What's going on?"
Cabir was still lost in thoughts. "Nothing. Was just... checking."
"Checking? Checking what?" asked Mukherjee.
"Whether anything was abnormal," replied Cabir grimly.
"Abnormal?"
"Yeah," replied Cabir. "Like whether the sun rose in the west instead of the east for instance... or probably pigs flying like birds... something like that?"
The HR gang exchanged confused glances. But Manik got it. Cabir and his usual leg-pulling tactics. But Mukherjee was still stern and concerned at the same time. "Cabir," began Mukherjee with a deep sigh. "See look. If you need a day off to just relax... think about things... I really don't mind. Take rest and get well soon."
"Arre no boss," replied Cabir with an amused smile on his face. "I haven't lost it. It's just that... you know... out of ALL the people... MANIK... had to come up with something like this! Which is... weird and AWESOME at the same time! And un-buh-lievable! So I felt like something was wrong. Like maybe there could be tortoises running around. Or probably Newton's apples were flying up instead of falling down?"
"You're a clown Cabir," laughed Mukherjee, deeply amused. The rest of them join in laughing and applauding. Manik's one positive and sensible move had definitely put all of them in the best of spirits. Well. Maybe not all.
"Maybe he upgraded his manual on employee motivation," Dhruv added shyly.
"Wah!" Cabir exclaimed in utter surprise. "Now it's pukka! Something is definitely wrong! I mean... Dhruv! The sweet little sixteen! Our kiddo? Has started to crack jokes?!!? And that too in public? Come here..." Cabir bustled off to Dhruv, pulled him into a tight hug and squeezed the air out of him. "Let me kill you!!"
"Ahhh! Ahhh!!" Dhruv squeaked like a mouse.
Mukti cackled like a hyena at this scene. She was clearly enjoying herself like the others.
Cabir finally let go off Dhruv. But he still had a strong arm around the poor little guy's shoulder. "But jokes apart," he continued, "let me tell you that this was an excellent suggestion! How come we never thought of this before? I say that we should do this every year!"
"Exactly," Mukti agreed. "We should make this a practice."
"For everyone," added Dhruv.
For some weird reason, Manik felt unbelievably guilty as he noticed that Nandini was observing him closely. The bold look in her eyes told him that though she was moved at the honour that was granted to her today, she didn't approve of it only because it was his idea. He could feel a strange fluttering in his tummy as he tried to look in her eyes.
"Rightly said," Cabir agreed in unison with his colleagues. "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. Right?" That was when he noticed that Manik was lost in Nandini's penetrating stare. "Right Manik?" he asked a bit louder in order to get his attention.
Startled to hear his name ringing in the conference room, Manik quickly looked away from Nandini. "Yeah, right," he answered after clearing his throat nervously.
"Whatever," said Mukherjee in a serious tone. "My birthday's coming up next month. So you guys had better think of something good. Or else I'm going to kick your asses."
They laugh at his comment. "Alright-alright!" Mukherjee interrupted. "Let's get to the main part. The cake!"
"Ohhh the cake! I can't wait!" Cabir moaned in anticipation.
Having got his cue, Manik pulled out the cake box, opened it up and laid it flat out on the table. It was a lovely, tempting, Black Forest cake topped with huge peaks of white fluffy cream, glossy red cherries and a generous layer of luscious chocolate flakes.
"Mmm, that just gave me a foodgasm," Cabir rubbed his growling tummy.
"Eyuck!" Mukti slapped his arm. "You just killed my appetite."
"Come on Nandini," Mukherjee urged her to start the celebrations. Manik offered her the knife and gestured with his eyes to cut the cake. Though hesitant at first to liaise with Manik for anything at all, she finally gave in to the high spirits that was in the air. She felt oddly good and embarrassed at the same time as her colleagues burst into the classic "Happy Birthday" song whilst she cut the cake. Manik just clapped his hands along and bit his lips. He felt too embarrassed to sing but was enjoying every bit of what was happening now.
She cut out a generous chunk and allowed the first bite to Mukherjee followed by Cabir, Mukti and Dhruv. Each of them took a bite and offered half of the piece in return.
It was now Manik's turn for the cake. She felt her hands go weak as he prepared to take a bite out of it. It wasn't in the best of her interests to share this kind of a moment with someone whom she loathed so much. And before she knew it, she dropped the piece with a messy plop to the floor.
"Oh shit!" hissed Cabir.
Manik shot his eyes up at Nandini. They were filling up with a hell lot of steam by the minute. He knew that she had did that on purpose.
"Oh no," said Dhruv quietly. "That's not a good sign."
"Why? What will happen?" asked Mukti curiously.
"It's a very bad omen," he whispered fretfully.
Mukti noticed the worried look on Nandini's face and snapped back at Dhruv irritably. "Seriously Dhruv, do you actually believe in this bad omen bullshit?"
"It's not bullshit," he answered with a wink.
"Really?" asked Mukti.
"It's okay guys," came Manik's grim reply. There was something in his tone that told Nandini that he was not pleased with what had happened just now. "Not to worry. There's a remedy for that too."
Nandini squinted at him in question. Remedy?
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