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N A N D I N I

At any point of life, you'd meet many people. And most of the people you'd meet would be the ones who'd try to push you down, who'd tell you you're not enough, who'd always degrade you. But it's you who has to believe in yourself over them. You have to choose to shine in the darkness of your life just like the stars shine even in the darkest and coldest of nights. Because life is not a movie, and there's no hero out there to save you. You have to save yourself.

"Nandini, are you sure you'd be okay? You don't have to do this, you can work anywhere else..," Zubin pleaded for the fifteenth time in the past one hour as I got down of his car and walked towards his window, leaning in to talk to him. I wonder what would I have been doing without him today, probably still sleeping on that parks bench.

"Zubin, I want to do this. I want to show him that he can't just enter my life when he likes, destroy everything and then walk away. He doesn't have any right to control my life and yet that's what he's been doing. And this time, it's to show him that I'm much stronger than he thinks. I wouldn't run away, I'd face him!" I smiled weakly and he sighed.

I knew he was still worried about me and that was absolutely clear on his face and the creases above his eyebrows. "I'm sure Zubi, I'd be fine," I increased my smile a bit and on purpose used the name I used to call him when we were small children and even he couldn't help as that small smile took over his face.

I held his hand in mine and softly kissed it, "thank you for being there," I whispered and he smiled, tucking my hair behind my ear. "I'm just a phone call away, okay?" He smiled and I nodded before he drove away. And just as I turned behind, once again I felt some light flash in my eyes, which was probably because I hadn't slept the entire night.

Entering inside his office building was like entering the doom of the dead. The atmosphere had some unknown vibes that I couldn't decipher and I hated the way people were staring at me as if they were looking at some alien and not a twenty year old girl.

Nervously knocking the door, I entered inside his cabin. "How're you doing this morning, princess?," He was smiling for a change as he picked his head from the heaps of files and I couldn't help but notice how his eyes looked just as beautiful as they were, and it didn't look that he hadn't slept the entire night just like me. I was yawning every two minutes and he smelled as fresh as a flower.

"So, you decided to work, huh?" He snapped as he got up from his chair walking towards me and my breath tightened as I took a small step backwards. I don't have to be scared, I have to fight him back.

"I decided to fight, Manik," I smiled slowly looking up and meeting his eye. He looked amused by my answer and the flashed on his face for a second before he covered it up with the sinfully beautiful smile of his. My love for him was like a spiral that had no ground to land into and I couldn't help loving him a bit deeper every time I looked at him.

"It's going to be sir for you, not Manik," he snapped back with that smile vanishing and it was as if I was watching the transformation of him from a beautiful angel to a sinfully hot devil and I was hopelessly in love with both his sides without thinking about the consequences of loving him.

"Alright, so your task number one is.... you have to clean the store room!" He said casually and just as much as I tried to hide the shock, my mouth opened a bit and my eyes widened. Clean? The? Store? Room?

"What? What are you staring at me for? I told you about the job, and here is it~ the job of a clerk,"  he snapped back and I felt too dumbfounded to even speak a word ahead, and of course it was my mistake. I shouldn't have taken up the job offer without even asking what the job was because what better do you expect from a devil?

Without saying a word, I turned to leave. "Uh Oh, giving up, are we princess?" He smirked and I gritted my teeth, turning back to face him once again.

"No, sir. It seems that you don't know me yet, because if I say something, I will do it. I promised you last night that your heart may be dark, but my determination is strong enough to survive in the shadows of your dark heart. I'm not giving up, I'm just going to the store room," I answered calmly without a stroke of tension or anger on my face because that's what he wants. He wants to break me down, and I wouldn't let him do that.

"I'm impressed princess! But you don't have to clean the store room of Malhotra Industries," he smirked and I squeezed my eye brows at him. Has he lost it?

"You have to clean the store room of Murthy Industries," he smiled and the smile on my face vanished. Murthy Industries had always been my second home, especially my fathers cabin. I used to come there after school and wait for Dad to complete his meetings so that we could go home together for lunch. I have so many memories there, I used to walk in and out of there like an empress and now I was nothing but a clerk there.

"Okay sir," I whispered in a low tone, turning to leave. I had clutched my hand to my jeans pocket as tightly as I could to control the pain from flowing out as emotions and tears. I could afford anything but tears.

"Nandini!" He called out and I stopped again, waiting for him to speak further. He has to tell me that he was doing all this just to test my determination, that he will not appoint me as a clerk, or even better, he will not appoint me to work in Murthy Industries. "I am really not that cruel as I seem to be, so here's a helping point. The door of the store room can be opened only from outside, so do not let yourself get stuck in," He laughed dryly.

"Thank you sir!" I whispered and I didn't care if it reached him or not because I had already walked away. Both the buildings were bang opposite and I couldn't help but think of the time when I was sitting in dad's cabin once when I was younger, peeping across the window and I had seen Manik for the first time. He was no singer, he was just a teenager like me at that time, a few years elder to me, and I had fallen in love with the way he smiled.

He didn't look like a monster back then, he just looked like a happy person, with that real smile and careless laughter and I couldn't help but think that what happened to him in just the three years that I went to London to complete my studies that he became such a cold hearted person. When I came back, he was a rock star and every girl's crush, which made my craze of looking at him through the glass windows even more and I couldn't fall in love with the minutest details of him like the mole above his lip.

I didn't even realise when I reached the store room door as I was so lost in the beautiful thoughts of my past and I pushed it apart as the dust and darkness of the room welcomed me.

"Paapaa I want to go inside!" The six year old me cribbed putting my hands across my chest.

"No baby, you should never go inside because there is only dust and darkness, and paapaa's girl deserves only light and sparkle, okay?"  He smiled kissing my forehead as he picked me in his arms and I hugged him close to me.

That were the days I felt I would never let my father would never leave me. I have never been in any real problem because before the problems could even touch me, my dad removed them off my life. But if he had to leave me in such darkness and so much to strive for myself, why did he even save me in the first place? I miss you dad, I love you.

Wiping a lone tear from my eye, I slowly entered inside and finding the switch board, I switched on the dim light in the dark room which was huge and dusty with files and files and they were all scattered here and there and I had no idea where to begin from.

Wrapping my scarf around my mouth and nose and taking a heavy sigh, I slowly began putting the files back into their place, arranging them in order and cleaning the section after every two shelves. It was tiring, but the music I switched on in my phone helped me kill time.

Slowly and soundly, I was done with all except the last sections. Drawing the stool from the side, I climbed up, putting files in their order when my eyes fell on a nameless folder in a very similar dark blue and black, as I slowly gripped it and a small smile spread over my lips as I brushed my thumb over the first page.

I wondered what was my personal folder doing here, hidden in the store room? This folder had all my secrets, from my first crushes to my obsession for songs, it had all of them, every single detail. And from the last page, popped out a picture, my most treasured picture.

Keeping the folder aside, I held the picture in front of my eyes and before I knew, I was already smiling. It was him- Manik Malhotra, five years back, laughing carelessly as a young boy, his eyes shining. And the best part about this picture was that it was clicked by me, when I was leaving for London, I decided to take his picture as a beautiful memory.

But I had no idea back then that my most beautiful memory would turn out into my worst nightmare. His only name brings comfort to me and sends chills down my spine and both at the same time. His eyes are dark, and yet there's something beautiful shining in them. Every time you look at him, you'd only wonder how can he be so perfect? And his voice, it's melody. Everything time he takes my name, I feel like it's a dream-

"Princess?"

Suddenly hearing a husky and cold voice that brings me warmth in the dead silence made me hustle and jump in my place, and before I knew, I had already slipped down the stool.

Closing my eyes and preparing to fall down and hurt my butt, I had closed my eyes, having no hope to save myself, when I felt strong hands gripping my back and under knees as my body never touched the ground and my head hit a strong chest.

I slowly opened my eyes only to be lost in the most beautiful brown orbs made in the universe. I bet God had taken one days holiday from work just to especially design this man standing in front of my eyes.

"Can't you keep your hands off trouble, princess?" He seemed pissed as he left me back to my feet and I shamelessly wanted him to hold me in his arms for a little more time. Even after being homeless, his arms felt home for my heart.

"Just like I can't keep my hands off you, sir!" The words left my mouth before I even registered and my eyes widened as my mouth was left hanging open at the words I just uttered. FUCK. I. DIDNT. JUST. SAY. THAT.

Just to my delight, he hadn't heard what I said as all his attention was focused on the picture that fell of my hands to the ground. He squeezed his eyes because he had realised that the beautiful creature in the picture was none other than him. I was in some trouble already.

Before he could grip the photo, I bent and grabbed the picture from his finger tips, hiding it behind my back. He looked down to me, his arms folded across his chest as he squeezed his eyes at me and I looked everywhere but at him.

Slowly and lightly, just like a monster, he took a step towards me and I took one behind and this continued until my back touched the door and the door closed, sandwiching me between the closed door of the store room and him.

"The door of the store room can be opened only from outside, so do not let yourself get stuck in," his words played in my ear.

My eyes widened as I realised I was stuck but before I could think ahead, I felt some hot breath falling on my face. I looked straight and our noses were just a centi metre ahead, our breaths mingling with each other as my eyes got locked in with his perfectly just like two magnets attract each other. Eye contact was a dangerous thing, especially if you look into a pair of dark eyes that are already looking at you.

His hand traced my back and my racing heart was skipping beats, as I felt magic at every point his hand touched my back until his hand gripped mine slowly, making me feel shivers in all the hotness around me.

I was stuck in the store room. And I was not stuck alone.

This was surely not ending well~

Me and Manik Malhotra, locked in one room.

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