3. Praise and Gaze!

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Hello!

"Are you serious? " I shook my head as the whisperings began again.

What's happening now? Don't they get bored? Are all of them so free? Do they get paid for gossiping? Cause I've literally never seen them working seriously.

I put my earphones on to avoid any sort of conversation and after playing a soft tune, continued working on my system.

I'm an introvert and that's quite evident from my behavior but they still don't get the hint. They always initiate stupid conversations and try to indulge me in it, so for saving my time and energy, I use my earphones a lot.

For me, earphone is not just a device, it's my saviour.

After completing the last slide of the presentation I was working on, I huffed and leaned on my chair, still looking at the screen. I'm really confident about this one, since I've given my hundred and ten percent this time.

Feeling a tap on my shoulder, I turned my head to look beside me and my eyes widened.

I stood up, seeing Mr. Chopra and he smiled at me.

"Good afternoon Sir. " I greeted after taking my earphones off.

"Good afternoon Nandini. It's really good to see how sincere you are about your work, seems like you are a workaholic. " He said looking at the screen and I smiled looking down. My boss was praising me for my work, what else can I ask for?

"Thank you Sir. " I thanked him with a polite smile and he nodded.

"You have a really hardworking staff, I must say. " My breath hitched in my throat as I heard the husky voice of none other than Mr. Manik Malhotra. The business tycoon, Manik Malhotra was praising me! Am I dreaming?

I looked at him, to find his eyes already on me.

"Thank you Mr. Malhotra. " Mr. Shankar thanked him on our behalf and I looked down not knowing what to say.

"But may I know why you had your earphone on Miss..? " He directed a question at me and I felt speechless. Is it really happening? I'm so damn overwhelmed right now.

"Nandini, Nandini Murthy, Sir." I told him my name.

"Why you had your earphone on Miss. Murthy?" He asked but before I could reply, my bosses chuckled.

"She's an introvert, so in order to avoid any kind of conversation, she wears them all the time." Mr. Chopra told him chuckling and he looked at me. They all know it, still don't get it.

"Tricky. " Mr. Malhotra commented looking at me with a bit of amusement.

"Not really, Sir." I tried to justify and he smirked.

"Mr. Malhotra, though we have already told you that she's an assistant manager here, but it won't be wrong if we tell you that she works even more than us. She's really sincere with her work and we are really glad that we have her here. " Mr. Shankar praised me and I looked down flushed.

I will never forget this day. This one is the best day of my life.

"That's nice Miss. Murthy, keep it up. " Mr. Malhotra said and I nodded before they left.

I sat down and exhaled deeply. I think it was all a dream. Shaking my head, I looked around to find all the eyes of desperate girls, narrowing at me. So it wasn't a dream.

Giving them a nervous smile, I put my earphones on again and continued working.

"Why?" Megha took off my earphones causing me to frown.

"What? " I asked looking at the girls who were making a semi circle around me.

"We were all working but he came to you. Why? " Payal asked crossing her arms.

"How would I know? " Of course I know, because I wasn't working to show him and he knew better than falling for your act.

"This is wrong." "He even praised you. " They began complaining and I looked at my screen, avoiding them.

"How are you feeling?" I heard Navya whispering and looked at her.

"Proud. " I told her smiling and she grinned.

"I'm really happy for you but I wish he talked to me as well. " She said sighing.

I smiled at her before looking back at the screen. I need to give this slide just a final touch and then I'll be done.

"I'll work really hard. " I heard Navya speaking and smiled.

"All the best. " I wished her saving the presentation and leaning on the chair.

The meeting is tomorrow and I'm fully prepared already. Yawning, I decided to get myself a cup of coffee, before beginning to work on another file.

"Do you want coffee? " I asked Navya who was working on her phone.

"No, but did you see Anisha's post? She's holidaying in Bali, I think even should take a break and go there. It's damn beautiful. " She said dreamily causing me to shake my head.

"Someone was going to work really hard. " I crossed my arms in amusement.

"I will, but break is also very important. " She said and I shook my head before heading to the canteen with a file.

"One coffee." I gave my order and decided to sit on one of the chairs till my order comes. It's been a while that I actually took a little break. But there's a lot of work, so I decided to take a read of the file I brought here with me.

This is my life, work and Nalini, that's it.

"You are actually a workaholic. " I heard Rahul saying as he sat in front of me.

"And introvert. " I added as a hint but I'm sure he won't go. People here are like that.

"I know you are trying to send me off but I'm not going Nandini, I'll sit and irritate you until your coffee arrives. " He said leaning on the chair with amusement.

Sighing, I sat resting my face on my palm and elbow on the table.

"You have less than five minutes. " I told him and he grinned.

"Okay, so let's talk about the elephant of the room. " He said and I sighed.

"Shoot. " I told him and he nodded.

"I heard he praised you. " He said with shine in his eyes.

"They praised me. " Even my bosses praised me but no one is concerned about that, no one except me.

"Yeah but he is more important. " He elaborated.

"I know, of course he is but you can't just ignore the fact that even bosses praised me. That's a big thing too. " I told him and he shook his head in disbelief.

"You are, I don't know how to put it... Different? " His sentence came out like a question causing me to shrug.

"Ma'am, your coffee. " The waiter kept the coffee mug on the table.

"Thank you. " I thanked him, getting up.

"Your time is up. " I told him, who sighed before getting up too.

" It was even less than two minutes. " He complained causing me to shrug.

"I thought it'll take time but it didn't so, bye. " I waved before turning about, to head to my desk.

As I began walking, I felt eyes on me, so I turned my head towards the office area and suddenly became conscious , finding that the elephant of the room, that is, Mr. Manik Malhotra was looking at me from outside the door of Mr. Shankar's cabin.

I looked down, not being able to meet his burning gaze and directly headed to my desk. There's something about his eyes that scares me, as if, they are going to look inside my soul, revealing all the secrets I have within.

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Aashi❤

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