Nandini's POV:
The sun was shining, the birds were singing, the flowers were blooming, the temperature was just about perfect, and all I wanted to do was spin around in circles with my eyes closed until I collapsed.
So (even though I was at a mature age of seventeen) that is exactly what I did.
Closing my eyes - I could still feel the warmth of the sun beating down on them - I took a deep breath, spread out my arms and spun.
My feet danced across the ground and the wind ripple across me, blowing through my shirt and sending the long strands of my brown hair everywhere. A giggle peeled from my lips; I couldn't help it, after all, I felt like I was flying.
Or at least...I did before I crashed into something.
"Uhmph!"
Or...maybe, actually, someone?
I felt a strong pair of hands grab my shoulders, keeping me balanced as I took a stuttered step to the side. It didn't take long before I realized I was currently pressed up against the chest of the person who I had crashed into. And a very masculine chest it was.
Oh boy...
Fearing, I cracked my one eye open slowly, only to find an intense pair of brown eyes gazing down at me. They looked amused.
"Oh. My. God. I am so, so sorry!" I yanked myself away from him so that I was standing level - okay, maybe not level, seeing as he was a few inches taller than me - with him. My hands flew to my mouth as I took in his dark brown hair and angular jaw.
Manik Malhotra.
One of the hottest guys in our school.
The one who's popular, but aloof and serious.
And let's not forget, one of the most sought after guys in our entire school.
The one who I've had a crush one for a while now.
And of course...me being me...I just had to crash into him.
"I didn't realize...I'm sooo sorry. You aren't hurt are you?" Dear god, could anyone stop the words that babbled out of my mouth?
Manik smirked, and his eyes twinkled as he raised an eyebrow. "Shouldn't I be the one asking you that?"
"Uhm..."
"So what exactly were you doing, anyway?"
"Er..." You know, the best time to be flabbergasted is when talking to an amazingly hot guy. Honest. Try it sometime. See how much fun it is. Not.
"I was just...spinning."
"I could see that," he said, his face still dancing with laughter.
"It's just a nice day outside, and it's the first nice day we've had in forever and...yeah, you know what? I think I'm going to go this way," I said, pointing in the direction behind him and angling myself past him, walking away as quickly as I could while still holding onto what little dignity I had left.
"Hey, wait up!"
Oh god, he didn't, did he asked me to stop? I ducked my head and walked faster.
"Hey, you can't just walk away like that!" he panted, falling into pace beside me.
I looked up at him. "And why not? It's a free country after all, isn't it?"
"Yeah, but you can't just crash into someone and walk away from them."
Oh we were so not having this discussion, were we?
"What, do we have to exchange license and registrations now or something?" I heard him chuckle and I shot a glare at him.
I wasn't trying to be funny.
Has anyone else noticed how my beautiful, wonderful winter day seems to be heading in the completely opposite direction? "Besides, I believe I just did."
"Just did what? 'Cause I'm pretty sure you didn't give me your license..."
I growled. "I meant...ugh, nevermind."
"Besides, maybe if I got your license, I could find out your name."
Rolling my eyes, I looked over at him. "You would have thought that going to the same school since forever would have helped you with that," I snapped.
His eyebrows creased together. "You go to my school? That's funny...I don't remember ever seeing you there."
"Somehow that doesn't surprise me," I forced through gritted teeth.
"Oh? Why's that?"
"Because you're The Manik Malhotra, King of the School, God of the Students, the embodied form of Apollo himself!" I threw my hands up in the air and waved them around for sarcastic influence.
It didn't work.
Manik considered me for a moment before stopping where he was and breaking out into laughter. Good god, I was having trouble figuring out why anyone fell for this guy. Especially myself. Was this the same Manik Malhotra who wandered the halls at the school, or did he have an annoying twin?
I kept walking.
Then sighed in frustration as I heard footsteps coming up behind me.
Before I knew it, Manik was walking backwards in front of me, so he could talk to me face to face. "Did you honestly," he panted, pausing to grin, "Just compare me to Apollo The Greek sex god?"
Oh he so wasn't going to let that go, was he? "Do you have a problem with that?"
He raised his eyebrows. "No...no, it's just, I've never been compared to a sex god before."
"Plus I'm pretty sure he's not the god of sex."
"Oh."
"Yeah, so...don't get your hopes up."
He grinned cheekily at me. "Get my hopes up for what, exactly?"
I chose not to answer that question.
Manik was still walking backwards, not bothering to look where he was going. Glancing past him, I could see the trouble in that direction.
"Tree." I screamed.
"Tree?" He questioned
"Tree." I said again
"What the hell are you talking abou"oomph!"
Oh yeah, you guessed it, he slammed right into that completely stationary tree. (Poor tree). This guy's an absolute genius ladies and gentleman!
I threw a glance over my shoulder at him as I walked by. He groaned and pushed himself away from the tree, shaking his head. Once more, he jogged to catch up to me.
"Hey, that's not nice, what if I'd been hurt, huh?"
I just shook my head at him. "You have a habit of running into things, don't you?"
He smirked. "You were the one who ran into me, not the other way around." He stopped again. "Which reminds me, I never got your name."
"God," I threw back over my shoulder, not bothering to stop. Maybe now he'd leave me alone and I could forget this ever happened. All I had wanted out of today was to enjoy the nice winter weather; this was the complete opposite!
"hey," I heard him mutter. Then he raised his voice as he called out to me, "you have beautiful eyes!"
I stopped dead in my tracks. How did he know...?
I turned around slowly to face him.
"That got your attention, didn't it?" he said, a large grin spreading across his face. My only response was a defeated grumble as he fell into step beside me again. We walked in silence for a while, until I finally turned to face him so that I was now the one walking strangely - sideways, to be exact.
"Why are you following me?"
He smirked. "Why not? It's a free country, after all, isn't it?" He asked, throwing my previous works back at me. I rolled my eyes.
"Do you ever give a real answer?" I asked, switching to walk in front of him (walking sideways was really a pain.)
Manik shrugged. "Maybe I do, maybe I don't."
I crossed my arms over my chest.
He jutted his chin out, like a strange nod. "Bike." He screamed
"Bike?" I asked
He nodded, flicking his eyes behind me. "Bike." He emphasized the word.
"Ookay." Was he talking in code or something?
"Hey, kid, watch it!"
My eyes wide with sudden comprehension, I looked behind me, in time to - you guessed it - see a bike hurtling towards us. I froze like a deer in the headlights.
The next thing I knew, Manik's hands were on my arms, spinning me around and out of the path before we both collapsed onto the ground, Manik sprawled on top of me.
Groaning, he lifted his head to look at me, his eyes searching mine. "You okay?"
I nodded, dumbstruck. "You...you just..."
He grinned. "See, that is what you're supposed to do if you see something that might cause bodily harm on someone else."
What was he...? Oh...right...the tree. Hah. Haha. I knew that.
I could feel my cheeks heating up.
"Uhm...are you going to get up anytime soon?" I asked him with little annoyance
His eyebrows creased together, and then he looked down. He grinned as though he had just our predicament for the first time.
"What if I don't want to?"
"Well..."
"What if I told you that I let you crash into me earlier?" My eyes widened in shock. He hadn't! Had he?
His voice was getting progressively lower. "What if I used it as an excuse to talk to you, hmm? Then what?"
"Uhm..." I was at a loss for words. Manik watched me intently.
"What if I told you I knew that we've gone to the same school since forever, and I've known your name all along...Miss Nandini Murthy." The way he said my name, in that deep, husky voice, sent a shiver through my body. He let out a measured length of breath, trying to keep his composure.
Leaning closer, he murmured into my ear, "What if I told you, that all I really want to do right now..." His voice had made my spine completely rigid. What was he doing?
"Is this..."
And then his lips crashed into mine, soft and warm.
For a moment, I was too shocked to respond, and, with my apparent lack of enthusiasm, Manik began to pull away. But before he could, I arched up to capture his lips with mine, dragging him back down to me. He froze for a second before he smiled...his lips curling up against mine.
Reaching up, I twined my fingers through his hair, pulling him closer to me. He complied, and his body pressed against mine as he dropped kisses down my neck. I gasped involuntarily.
And then my mind...my screwy, screwy mind, slammed back into my head.
"Manik..."
"Hmm?"
"Manik, wait..."
Reluctantly, he pulled his head away from mine. Shaking hair out of his eyes, he looked down at me intensely, panting slightly, like me. "What's wrong?" God (or Apollo) bless him, he actually looked worried.
"Nothing...I just...what does this all mean?" I asked a bit confused
He grinned, and brought a hand - the one that hadn't somehow found its way to my waist - to my cheek, stroking it lightly, "It means..." he began, his thumb still massaging my face. "It means you're my Aphrodite."
I wrinkled my nose at him and he frowned, looking slightly hurt.
"What?" I asked
"It's just...I'm pretty sure that Aprodite and Apollo were, uhm, related? So wouldn't that be like..."
He silenced me, placing a finger over my lips. "You think too much," he murmured. I nodded violently in agreement, and he leaned down, ready to kiss me again.
I shoved my hand between our faces, and he pulled back.
Raising his eyebrows, looking amused and slightly miffed (an overall adorable combination, I might add) he looked down at me. "Yes?"
"Did you just compare me to a Greek sex-goddess?"
The corners of his lips twitched up. "Do you have a problem with that?"
"No, it's just...I've never been compared to a Greek sex-goddess before," I replied, batting my eyelashes as I playfully threw his words back at him.
"Well, I don't think she's the goddess of sex," he mused, raising his eyes as he thought.
"Oh."
"However..." he looked back down at me, a grin dancing across his face. "I'm pretty sure she's the goddess of beauty."
"Oh?" I murmured, gazing up at him, my eyes wide, curious.
"Yup," he said, his grin widening. "And love." He tucked a lock of my hair begin my ear. "And you, love, are the most beautiful woman I have ever known."
Okay, I know it was a clich line, but it still made my stomach flutter happily. Returning his grin, I snaked my arm around his neck and brought him down to my level, pressing his lips against mine.
He chuckled, and snaked one arm under my back to pull me closer to him, the other hand cradling my head, his fingers running through my hair.
I couldn't help but smile back.
The End
My other works:
Manan FF - our love story
Manan OS- jealousy and it's effects
CID
Ishaani
