A sigh left Hridyanshu's mouth as he walked towards the kitchen. He loosened the tie and left the bag on the sofa. He was tired and hungry, the meeting went on for hours and he had locked himself in the office to go through the documents. He was working on a critical case. He cannot leave the office until midnight.

He walked into the kitchen in confusion when he saw the light on. Nalani froze when she saw the shadow on the floor. She pulled her gaze up and looked at the entrance. Her body relaxed when Hridyanshu walked towards her. She was sitting on the middle kitchen island with a fruit bowl in her hand. A cup of tea was sitting beside her.

"Nalani."

"Hridyanshu." A smile started playing on Nalani's face. "When did you come?" Nalani looked at the time and back at Hridyanshu. "20 minutes ago." Hridyanshu stood beside her and leaned his body as he relaxed. "Tense?" Nalani hummed eating her mango. "A bit nervous but I know they are going to shine on stage." Hridyanshu nodded his head and picked up the teacup. Nalani glanced at the teacup and raised her brow.

"Let me have this, I will make you another one after some time." Nalani smiled, "sure." Hridyanshu stood straight and sat on the island beside Nalani. He sipped the hot simmering tea while Nalani finished her fruit bowl. The sweet corn was boiling and, thankfully, she added extra corn. "You can have the extra corn." Hridyanshu's gaze went to the boiling corn. He made a hum as he watched Nalani's swinging legs.

A sigh left Nalani as she thought of the day. "How was your day?" Hridyanshu asked. Nalani placed the bowl beside her and leaned her weight on her elbows. "It was hectic. We had to run all over the place to look into everything and make sure everything was in place."  Hridyanshu finished the tea. "How was yours?"

"Busy day, we had some issues with our client and had to revisit the places for documents." Nalani got off the island to look at the corn. "Is that the reason why you were late?"

"Yes, I was going to call you if you needed a ride but Vedant mentioned that your friend was going to drop you." Nalani looked at him in surprise. "I was going to call you but I had to stay back and, thankfully, Madhav was present. He dropped me at home." Hridyanshu hummed, going to the wash basin to wash the cup. "Do you like to eat pasta with corn? However, the pasta is a leftover which I ate two hours ago."

"It's fine, I would be thankful to eat something." Nalani smiled and handed the pasta bowl to him. She warmed the food but she was in no mood to finish the pasta. "Thank you." Hridyanshu took the box. "So are your parents coming tomorrow?"

Nalani blew a raspberry, turning off the gas. "Achan and Amma are busy, they won't be able to attend." Hridyanshu stopped eating and looked at her. His parents are out of the station, Vedant is going to California tomorrow and Vidha is in New York for a business meeting.

"Who is coming with you tomorrow?" Nalani gave a sad pout without knowing. "I will be all alone tomorrow. No one's going to be there and I have to go alone." Nalani didn't want to get upset by asking Hridyanshu when she knew he had an important meeting tomorrow. Hridyanshu didn't say anything as he bit down his lower lip.

Nalani gathered her hair together and started tying it into a bun. Hridyanshu blinked his eyes as he watched her. He quickly looked away when she raised her arms to tie the bun. She was wearing a saree and it was quite a sight watching her from behind, but he didn't want to make the mistake of checking her out. Or rather he didn't want Nalani to catch him looking at her.

"Do you want me to make tea for you?" Nalani thought about it. "Nope, I don't want to drink now." Hridyanshu sat on the island even though there were island chairs. Nalani joined him soon after, with corn placed on the plate. They enjoyed their food in silence. It was past 3:00 am.

"When will you be leaving?" Hridyanshu questioned, looking at Nalani. "Hmm, I will be leaving around 6:00 am. The event begins at 9:00 am."

"When is your meeting?" Hridyanshu picked the corn from the plate. "10:00 am."

"It would be impossible for you to attend the event with me." Hridyanshu nodded his head. No words were spoken after that, they finished their dinner in complete silence before bidding good nights and going to their suits.

*

Nalani applied the kajal carefully as she ran out of time. She applied light makeup to cover her dark circles and the pigmented areas on her face. Her long hair was tied in a perfect bun with lilies adoring her bun. She wore a black and golden brown saree. Nalani loves to dress up and her closet is filled with sarees and jewellery.

She kept it simple and only wore less jewellery. She hired a cab for the day. They would be dropping her off at the event. Her phone kept ringing as she did the last touchups before hurrying. The palace was empty by the time she got into the cab. She didn't know if Hridyanshu had left the office or not.

By the time she reached the venue, her students were in the dressing and make-up room getting ready. Immediately, she got into work mode and didn't have the time to eat anything. In between, she took a break to have filtered coffee while looking at the parents who had arrived.

The volunteers were helping the parents settle down in their seats, juices and snacks were being passed down. Sweat was dripping down her forehead. She used her hankie to wipe it off her forehead. "Here." Anaya handed the box. Nalani's brows frowned in confusion. "What is this?"

"The gentleman who took you to lunch once, handed me this box requesting me to hand it over to you." Nalani was surprised, knowing who the gentleman was. "He didn't hand it to me personally?"

Anaya shook her head. "Poor man searched for you but couldn't find you. When he found me, he handed it to me. He was in a rush though." Nalani checked the time. "Yeah, he has a meeting to attend." Anaya looked at the box and Nalani. "Take a break and have your breakfast, while I will handle it over here."

Nalani gave a grateful smile. "Thanks, babe. I'm starving." Anaya chuckled, nodding her head. "I know."  Nalani left the room and went to the back room where she could have her food in peace. When she settled down in a place, she took a minute to send a message and photo to Hridyanshu. She decided to click a selfie with the box.

'That's so sweet of you. Got your box and thank you!'

*

Hridyanshu was listening to the agent when his phone pinged indicating a message. He pulled his phone out and checked the ID to see Nalani. "Excuse me." He checked the message and a smile played on his face when he saw the selfie Nalani had sent.

'You're welcome.' He sent the message before putting his phone back.

His meeting was a success and the client is happy. "I cannot thank you enough. We were so anxious and thank god and thank you, the verdict was in our favour."

Hridyanshu smiled. "We are happy with the news but the income tax officers will be making a visit and they will be asking for all the documents. So I would suggest you be prepared with that."

Ronak smiled. "Yeah... Yeah... We are prepared. We have all the documents they would be asking for."

Hridyanshu looked for Ithish and when he found Itish, he went over. "Itish..." Itish looked at Hridyanshu. "Do you need something?" 

"Yes."

"What is it." Hridyanshu checked his time and went back to the people celebrating. "I need to be somewhere and I won't be coming back for the day." Itish's brows frowned. "You have to leave? But Ronak was looking forward to having a drink with you." Ronak and his company were their most important clients.

"Yeah, but I need to leave." Itish nodded his head. "Is it important?" Hridyanshu didn't have an answer to his question. Itish smiled, looking at Hridyanshu's face. "Okay, sure. I will inform Ronak that you had an emergency if he asks about you."

"Okay, thank you." Hridyanshu left the celebrations and soon hit the roads. It was an hour's drive from his office.

*

"Ma'am... Ma'am..." Nalani was startled when someone placed their hand on their shoulder. "Asha, what's the matter?" Asha pulled her hand back. "I'm sorry, ma'am. But Raghu Sir has been looking for you." Nalani tensed when she heard Raghu's name. "Where is he?"

Before Asha could utter it, Raghu showed up with a sick smile playing on his face. "Nalani..." Asha looked in between Raghu and Nalani before leaving. Nalani held the end of her saree as she looked at Raghu with a blank expression. "Raghu." Her voice was monotone. "Where have you been, beautiful? I have been looking for you everywhere and you were nowhere to be found." Raghu winked at Nalani. "Were you hiding from me?"

Nalani was on the verge of rolling her eyes but she didn't. "I had to be backstage to look at the students." Raghu hummed. "Uh-huh... They could manage themselves. You should be sitting with us and joining our conversation. Do you know how much I missed you all these days?" Nalani clenched her jaw but didn't reply to anything.

She met Raghu four years ago when she decided to open her own dance school. He was one of the investor's sons. Though she had paid off everything and now solely owns everything, she couldn't stop herself from inviting her investors to her events. Now Raghu being a pervert doesn't leave a chance of making Nalani anxious with his awful looks.

"Come on, everyone's waiting for you. I don't think your students need you as they are going to wrap everything." Nalani didn't say anything and followed him off-stage to meet everyone. There was everyone standing in circles. Discussing the success of the event. Nalani really wanted to leave but she couldn't possibly leave before the after-party.

"Mrs and Mr Mathur, look who is here," Raghu called out and Nalani tensed when he placed his hand on her lower waist closer to her ass. She tried to move away quickly but his hand didn't leave her waist.

She wanted to point it out, but when everyone in the circle turned their attention towards them, she wasn't able to confront Raghu. He bashfully used the chance to touch her inappropriately. She had enough and was going to break his hand into two when she heard the voice. "Nalani..."

Hridyanshu's jaw ticked when he saw the man touching Nalani inappropriately. He wanted to make sure whatever he had seen was making Nalani uncomfortable. When he saw the look in Nalani's eyes, he fastened his pace and gently pulled Nalani away from the man's arm. He hugged her, taking her by surprise. "Do you want to break his wrist or should I?"

Nalani smiled when Hridyanshu whispered those words. She pulled away from the hug and looked at him in the eye. "I would love to see you break his wrist but I don't want to miss the chance of feeling his bones break in my hands." Hridyanshu's lips twisted upwards as he gazed down at Nalani.