After spending some time with Nandini yesterday, I decided to leave for Dubai today so that I can come back early to be with her and start our wedding rituals.

That reminds me, I should call to inform her about my plans.

I pick my phone from the bed and scroll through my contacts to find Nandini's number.

"Manik. Hi." Her voice is low. She sounds upset. Almost like she has been crying.

"Nandini what happened? Are you okay?"

"I'm...okay."

"Nandini." My voice is stern. I hope that makes her confess.

"I...messed up. Aditi had asked me to help her with an important presentation. Everything was fine. She was so happy with my work and then I just fvcked everything. I'm so stupid. Aditi was so mad. I feel so bad right now."

Before I could say anything, I hear a woman yelling at her.

"I can't believe you're on your phone right now instead of fixing the mess that you made." My face instantly hardens when I hear what she said.

Nandini quickly whispers an apology and hangs up the phone.

John walks in my room to inform me about the private jet being ready.

"Change of plans John. We're going to meet Abhimanyu at his office." Anger clearly heard from my voice.

We drive to their company and I see the receptionist standing up as she sees me.

"On which floor is Nandini?" First I need to make sure that she is okay.

"Mr. Malhotra, Miss Murty would be on the 6th floor."

I rush to the elevator with John closely following me.

The elevator door opens and I walk out. I see cubicle after cubicle. People working everywhere. My eyes scan each face in the room then I see her. There she is in the corner.

Her head bowed down and her face pale. She tucks the strand of hair that comes on her face behind her ear.

I take one step towards her when I'm stopped by a female voice that I don't recognize.

"Mr. Malhotra." The voice exclaims. She sounds surprised. Her eyes roaming on my face in admiration. It's just a pretty face sweetheart.

I roll my eyes at her. Her face is unfamiliar. She stares at me with eyes wide open.

I ignore her and move towards Nandini.

I stand right behind her and she turns feeling someone close to her.

She slowly moves her body around and looks at me. I see her eyes widen before she gets up from her chair.

"Manik." She whispers.

"You've been crying babygirl." I see her eyes red and swollen. It makes me uneasy. Almost angry and protective. I want to hide her and protect her from everyone and everything.

The woman who interrupted me before, comes near us and she calls Nandini and I see Nandini going from relaxed to stressed instantly.

"Aditi ma'am I-" The woman who now I know is Aditi, the one who is responsible for Nandini's state, doesn't let her speak.

"Mr. Malhotra, can I help you? I assume you are here to meet Mr. Murty but he's not on this floor." Her voice is irritating me.

"I assure you that I am where I should be. I'm here to meet both Nandini and Abhimanyu. And yes, you can help me. Show me where Abhimanyu's office is." I keep my tone professional.

Nandini's facial expressions change into confusion. She looks at me for answers but I don't tell her anything and follow Aditi.

She takes me to the top floor and knocks on Abhimanyu's office door.

We walk in and Abhimanyu stands up stares at me with wide eyes. What is it with people widening their eyes when they see me?

"Manik." He walks towards me. We shake hands and he tells me to sit down.

"I'll get going now. I just came to show Mr. Malhotra your office." Aditi starts to leave.

"Wait a minute. What I want to discuss involves you so you should stay." I turn my attention towards Abhimanyu who looks confused.

"I don't want to interfere in your company matters but since it involves my wife, I'll say it once and I hope this never gets repeated again. Your internship head, Aditi, has been yelling at my girl for making a mistake instead of helping her learn from it. Nandini is so scared and she is a crying mess. She'll probably get mad at me for telling you this but I would appreciate it if this kind of behavior doesn't get repeated especially towards Nandini."

I see Abhimanyu immediately getting tensed up and he looks at Aditi to confirm what I said.

Aditi bows her head and looks scared. You should be. If you were working in my company, you'd be fired by now.

"Thank you for informing me Manik. I'll take care of everything."

Abhimanyu stands up and walks towards his intercom.

"Find me a new internship head because Aditi is getting fired." Just then Nandini walks in and her eyes widen the moment she hears her brother.

"Abhi."

"Why didn't you tell me Nandini? Look at you. Oh my god. Come here." He hugs his sister tightly.

"It's not her fault. Don't fire her. I made a mistake. She had every right to be mad at me." She whispers to Abhimanyu.

Pulling her away from him, Abhi looks at her in disbelief.

"No matter what, she shouldn't be yelling at you Nandini. That's not how a supervisor should be. You have to make mistakes in order to learn. She is supposed to guide and teach you."

"Abhi it's okay. She's great and I have learned a lot from her. Please don't do this. Don't think as my brother, think as the CEO." I roll my eyes at her. She's too sweet.

Abhimanyu looks at me briefly and before turning to Nandini again and at that moment I knew he's going to fire Aditi no matter what she says.

"Nandini." I call out for her, trying to distract her.

"Manik you shouldn't have told Abhimanyu. You got worried for no reason." She walks towards me and stands in front of me.

"I don't and won't tolerate this kind of behavior towards my wife." My hand caresses her face and I move closer to her.

"I'm not your wife yet." She remarks.

"Yet." I whisper back.

"That's the only reason we're having this conversation babygirl. If you were mine, this wouldn't have happened in the first place." My tone is disapproving and disappointment clearly visible on my face.

"I'm so sorry. I know what I did was wrong but please give me one last chance." Aditi's voice makes us realize that we aren't alone.

"Aditi let's talk about this later. I'll think about everything and then I'll let you know about my final decision." Aditi leaves the room scared and anxious.

"Abhi." Nandini call out for him.

"No Nandini. Let me handle it." This makes her quite and she looks so cute. She reminds me of a child who stands in front of their parents after doing something wrong.

I take her hand in mine which makes her look at me.

"I need to talk to you." She nods her head at me.

Before walking away, I say my goodbyes to Abhi.

Nandini takes me to a café that is just in front of their company.

We sit down after ordering. My eyes not moving from her face.

"I called you before to inform you that I'm going to Dubai today."

"Oh. Are you leaving this evening?"

"No. I'm leaving right after we finish talking."

"I see." A young man puts our orders on the table. His eyes constantly moving towards Nandini's face.

I glare at him and I see Nandini looking at me confused.

"What happened?" She asks after he leaves.

"You have admirers everywhere Miss Murty."

She rolls her eyes at me.

"Did you roll your eyes at me? Again?" It amuses me every time that she does it. No one has ever dared to roll their eyes at me.

"I talked to mom yesterday and she said that the priest gave them an auspicious date for our wedding to take place. It's 3 weeks later."

Our families obviously went to the priest. In India, people just can't do anything without a priest. He probably looked at mine and Nandini's zodiac signs, the stars and the planets before settling on an auspicious date for a prosperous marriage.

"So basically a week after I come back." She nods her head and takes a sip of her iced coffee.

"Will that be okay Manik? The priest said that after that date, there isn't an auspicious day until after 6 months."

"That's too far away." I whisper to her.

"It's okay, let's go ahead with the nearest date." I take a sip of my coffee. Oh this is good.

"Are you sure? I know you're busy with the Dubai branch right now." Her voice conveying her concern and worry.

"I'll manage everything. Don't worry. I think I might come back earlier than I thought if things go as planned."

"Good because I need your opinion on my wedding dress." A smile forms on lips instantly.

"Of course Miss Murty. I wouldn't miss that excellent opportunity but I thought the groom isn't supposed to see the wedding dress before the wedding."

"I don't believe in superstitions Mr. Malhotra. I'll be very surprised if you do."

I shake my head. I certainly don't believe in those stupid things.

"I'm so excited to call Sabyasachi and get him to start designing my wedding dress." Her face glowing in happiness.

I stare at her, admiring the smile that adorns her face.

We talk a little more before I was reminded that I have to leave as my private jet was ready.

As I'm walking to pay, Nandini stops me in the middle.

"Let me pay please. You've paying for everything."

"Babygirl, there is no way I'm letting you pay. Don't argue with me on this because I'm not going to change my mind." She glares at me but I ignore her and clear the bill.

Just when I'm done and I turn to look at Nandini, I see the young man who had served us our coffees talking to Nandini and giving her a piece of paper. Is that jerk giving her his number?

I walk towards them and I hear Nandini laughing before shaking her head.

"I'm engaged. My fiancé spent so much money on this huge diamond, didn't you see it?" She lifts her hand and waves it in front of his face showing her ring.

I put my arm around her waist and pull her closer to me. She looks at me briefly giving me a smile before turning to the boy.

"You see, he's pretty handsome so I can't really take my eyes off of him to look at anyone else. I hope you find a beautiful girl but that girl is certainly not me." Giving him one last smile she gestures me and we walk out of the café.

We stand in front of my car. My hands move around her waist.

She stares in my eyes with a smile on her face.

"So you can't take your eyes off of me Miss Murty?" I tease her and I see her cheeks turning red.

"Of course Mr. Malhotra. I thought you knew about the effect you have on women."

"I don't care about other women Nandini. I only have eyes for you from the moment I saw you and I hope that you know that."

I lean forward and place a kiss on her forehead.

Her hand caresses my cheek before she pull me in a hug. I hold her tightly before pulling away.

"I have to go. Take care of yourself and please inform me if there's anything that is bothering you. I'll see you very soon." I whisper to her.

"Don't overwork yourself Manik. Eat and sleep on time. Call me whenever you have time." She almost sounds like my mother with that stern voice of hers.

She gives me a kiss on my cheek before moving away from me. She watches me as I move inside the car and waves her hand at me. I'm going to miss her. Babygirl. My babygirl.