A/N: Hi there all my dear Mananians.
I'll be giving the english translation of the dialogs as inline comments. All the brackets are kind of ruining the reading experience. So those who have problems in understanding hindi are welcome to check it out. And also your comments are more than welcome.

Thanks a lot guys for your love and support. Happy reading👍

.........

Cabir was watching the drama unfold through the CCTV. Dhruv and Aliya had their eyes glued to the screen as if they expected a bomb to explode any moment

"Yaar Cabir, After all this fiasco Manik is gonna kill me for bringing Nandini here, right?" Dhruv asked.

"Yup." Cabir answered all too smug.

"Yup mathlab?Abe tere kehne se maine yeh sab kiya aur tu yahan baitkar maze loot raha hain? Mere band bajne vala hain yaar kuch toh kar" Dhruv said desperately.

"Yaar. Tu kyun bekar ka tension le raha hain. Never fear when Cabir is here" He took two flight tickets and gave it to dhruv.

"Tu jaa raha hain apne chacha ke maut par shok manane mussurie".

"Kon sa chacha?" Dhruv asked bewildered.

"Abe. Tuje zinda rehne hain toh is chacha ko lele varna it's upto u. Ja apne bivi ke saath vacation mana le. Tab tak manik will calm down"

Dhruv looked at the screen into Manik's angry face. Without wasting another second he dragged Aliya out of there

" chal Aliya hum chacha ke pas jaate hain. "

...

"Tum?!"

Nandini saw Manik's angry face in front of her yet again. She shut her eyes tight and began her prayers. 'Oh god. Ye kya ho raha hain mere saath why do I always end up right in front of him. Last time kya kam tha ki aapne phir mujhe iske saamne lakar khadi kar di. Aap bhi agar party change karne lagi toh main kya karungi?He is not gonna leave me this time. Aiyyapa ji please save me from this monster Manik'

Manik looked at her his initial anger slowly draining off. Her eyes were shut tightly and her hands were clasped in prayer. No doubt, she was in conversation with her all too favourite Aiyyapa. She slowly took a peek at him through her lashes. When she saw him staring at her, she shut it even more tightly and continued with her prayers. Manik's lips slowly began to curve seeing her antics. He caught himself when he realised what he was doing.

"Of course . It had to be you Ms. Nandini Murthy. Care to explain what you are doing here?" He asked sneering.

Such an arrogant jerk. Itna gussa kyon kar raha hain. Whatever happens I've to go through it for Navya. Here goes nothing' She thought.

" tumhe koi explanation dena main zaroori nahin samajthi" she said gathering up her courage.

Manik gave a snort "Oh really? So you think you can come to my company and do whatever you like?"

"Your..your company?"

" kyon? Koi doubt hain? I can clear it up for you." He said and dragged her out of the room.

Nandini saw all the staff stand up when he passed by. Manik shoved her in front of his name plate on his cabin door. Nandini stared at it and gulped.

Manik Malhothra

CEO Iktara musics

She slowly turned around. 'I'm so dead' she thought when she saw Manik's smug face.

"So. Ms. Murthy I'm gonna ask you one more time. What are you doing here?"

"Woh... main"

"Tumhari woh main sunne keliye I don't have the whole day so speak up dammit."

"I'm taking Navya's place in the new music album. She is not well." Nandini said all in one breath.

"Oh..and what makes you think that I'm gonna give you the project?"

Nandini's head shot up."You can't do that. It means a lot to Navya."

"Tch...tch so sad. Its ok you can cut the drama. I know you don't care about anyone else besides yourself".

Nandini sighed. There was no use arguing with this monster but she couldn't give up. Navya's desperate face flashed through her mind.

"Tumje jo samajhna hain samajh lo. But I can't let you do this. I don't want Navya to lose this project because of me."

" acha.. toh ab tum mujhe bataogi ki main kya kar saktha hoon aur kaya nahin?" He said with his eyes blazing. An idea formed in his mind making him smirk.

"Actually..I'll give you this project if..." he paused for a second.

Nandini's mind was giving her all sorts of red alert signals. 'This is not good. Not good at all'

"If you will be my spot ...again"

Nandini's eyes widened. Oh god phir se? She tried making all kind of deals with her Aiyyapa but nothing seemed to work. .

"Well Nandini. You've to do this only if you want Navya to get the biggest project in her career. No pressure." He said pushing her buttons.

Nandini felt herself getting trapped yet again. 'Lagtha hain aaj aapne chutti leli Aiyyapa ji.' She thought.

Manik's smirk widened when he saw her nod.

"Very well. You'll be my spot for one month. If you survive till the end the project is yours if not...I'm surly going to enjoy watching it." He said, threat hanging heavily in his voice." And one more thing... welcome to hell Ms. Murthy!"

...

And...our Manan is back to square one. This was the point where their love story began 5 years ago. Lets see how this little deal of the spot girl and her master ends up this time.

...

Nandini jumped up from her bed when she felt someone shaking her awake. She relaxed visibly when she saw that it was just Arohi. She half expected Manik to wake her up like the last time. She ignored the tinge of disappointment she felt when she didn't see him. She knew she had given in too easily but she felt much alive arguing with him that she had felt for a long time. Shayad pyaar ka asar hi kuch aisa hain.

Nandini rushed out of her house with barely a goodbye to her chachi. 'God main late hogayi. Woh pehle hi din mujhe zinda chabne wala hain. Aiyyapaa meri raksha karna'

She was panting heavily when she reached in front of his cabin. His secretary gave her a pitiful look. She composed herself and went in.

He was already there going through some files. Without looking up at her he said "you are 5 minutes late."

"Haan woh main.."

" so.. you'll work 5 hrs extra today." he said in same time tone as if he hadn't heard her, still going through the file before him.

"KYA?! 5hrs? Manik tum kya bol rahe ho? Main ghar kab jaungi?" Nandini asked desperately.

Manik shut the file with a snap making her jump. He looked at her with stern eyes and said.

"Ms.Murthy, you're too forgetful aren't you? Looks like I have to remind you of the rules again because you broke the third one as well."

Nandini mentally slapped herself. She was not supposed to call him by his name. It should be 'sir' 'aap' 'ji' etc etc. Yeah right.

"Sorry sir" she said through her teeth.

Manik smirked at her. This made Nandini go into her land of dreams. Damn, this guy could still make her heart stop with his smirk even in situations like this.

" Good. Now go get me a coffee" he said

"Hmmm" Nandini replied still in her trance.

Manik saw her standing there with a weird expression on her face.

"Ms. Murthy?" He called in a soft voice.

"Hmmm?"

"I said GO GET ME A DAMN COFFEE"

This shook her out of her dream land.

"Yes..yes sir" she said stumbling out of the cabin in a rush.

Nandini sighed and looked at the 6 th cup of coffee she had made in the past one hr. The first was too hot, the second too cold, less sugar, black, cardomom flavoured. God knows what was going to be wrong with this one.

With a final prayer she went in.

"Got my coffee?" He asked.

"Yes sir."

"Good. Now throw it away"

"Sir?"

"Are you deaf?I said Throw.It.Away."

Stupid. Arrogant. Jerk. Khadus. Monster. Next time I swear I'll make you drink vim flavoured one. God koi itna irritating kaise ho saktha hain?

"Of course sir" she said with a fake smile on her face while her mind was busy yelling at him.

"And... Ms Murthy. I want you to recalculate all the accounts in the past 5 years. I want it by 8 o'clock. You are working extra time anyway"

"All...of..it?" She asked feeling like she was about to faint.

"Yes. Any problem?"

"No. None at all. Sir" she said and walked out of his cabin.

She really wanted to kick something or rather someone right now...

'Mr. Khadus Malhotra. I hate you... Well.. ummm...ok.. Maybe not ... But still. Oh Damnit!'