Chap 13

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Manik literally couldn't sleep last night. Furthermore, he couldn't concentrate there at office either and was constantly looking at watch, eagerly waiting for it to tick on 4:00. Reason? Well, we all know that ;)

As soon as his office hours were up, he quickly made his way to his wardroom to look 'presentable' before meeting her.

Reaching the utter cute cafe, unlike most other fancy cafes, it felt so warm, so homely. He just stopped at his tracks and stared at it with awe for sometime.

Making his way in, his eyes searched for her, busy in attending the customers, hair tied up loosely, few strands of her silky curls tickling her face. He felt an urge to lock them behind her ears, so that his view is not disturbed.

For her, she was literally awestruck seeing her new customer. Hair slightly wet, breathing fast, pursed lips and those captivating, hypnotizing eyes. Seeing that person so close to her, she thought to herself, 'It's a crime to look this hot all the time.' He was so effortlessly charming, that any girl would feel a rush of adrenaline down her spine.

Now being seated with his 'kinda' girl crush and her 'captivator', having her favorite dessert in such a beautiful weather, made them wish to stop the time here and cherish the moment forever.

He suddenly didn't want to talk about the topic, he was dying to know until now.

"Nice place, I must say!", he complimented.

"Oh thank you!", She chirped and added in a demanding tone with a hint of tease to light the atmosphere, "And the food?"

His eyes snapped at her, "Umm.. it's.. it's.."

"It's?", she asked raising her eyebrows, leaving the spoon back on plate, giving him her full attention.

"It's a bit.. umm I don't know how to say.."

Slightly knotting her brows, desperately waiting for his answer, "What do you want to say?"

"Ahh.. Nandini, don't take it otherwise, I'm just telling it for yours, your cafe's betterment. I think you should try the cheesecake of 'Hot Cake' once, you'll get an idea of how it can be perfectly made.. yours is tasting a bit too bald..", he said with a straight, serious face. He added, "Sorry, please don't mind. I was just sharing my opinion."

She didn't know how to react. For, it was the best of all she makes in her bakery. People often complimented her for the same. Now getting a total opposite answer, that too from him, she didn't have an answer to that.

Seeing her drowning in the pool of shame and guilt to have him served such a dish in  his first visit, and expression turning from that teasing smile to this, he utterly failed to stop himself from laughing out loud and burst into fists of laughter.

Her eyes snapped up to look at him, if her ears were mistaken. Watching him laughing like a child, she finally understood his motives. In other times, she might've been adoring his laughter, but now was definitely not the time.

She got up from her chair, strolled at him, whacked him with all her force twice in his arms, when he finally got a caught of her hands to save himself from the third round, and he stopped laughing. But couldn't suppress his giggles.

She tried to scare him by narrowing her eyes and gritting her teeth. He again laughed out loud watching her make cute attempts to scare him.

 "Arre yaar. You had been teasing me since childhood, two can also play the game right?"

She jerked her hands back from his hold and returned back to her seat, muttering a 'I hate you'.

"Okay okay I'm sorry. I actually am. I was just acting, to tease you, and you even thought it to be real.", he said in a serious tone.

She didn't react to any of his apologies, and was murdering the poor cheesecake with spoon.

His hands reached hers to stop her, when he said in a soft husky voice, "Why are you ruining it? If you don't wanna have it, give it to me. I can have these all day trust me. It's the best of all I've ever had." Hands still holding hers, "Pack it, I'll take it home."

"You're very bad.", she complained cutely.

He giggled, she too smiled this time.

After some more teasing and bickering, he called in a serious tone, "Nandini."

She knew what he was going to say and said, "We need to talk."

"I know.. you go ahead. I can feel there's something you have, to share."

She simply closed her eyes and started, "Ahh.. okay, Aryamanproposedmelastnight." She said in a single breathe.

He couldn't get what she said, "What? Take it slow Nandini. I didn't get a single thing you said."

"Aryaman proposed me last night, at the lawn." and looked at him to gauge his reaction, not getting anything, she continued, "And he kept confessing it like a maniac that how much he likes me, not even like he was saying he loves me. I don-"

"And what did you say?", he asked calmly.

Until now she was staring down at her plate. She looked up to find him looking at her, she said, "I don't understand from where did his feelings come from. I don't know why is he behaving lik-"

He was looking at her sincerely, asked in a deep voice, "I asked what did YOU say, Nandini?" still without any particular expression, eyes held so much of warmth, that she immediately calmed down.

She sighed deeply and answered, "Err.. umm.. I sa- said that.."

She peeped into his eyes again, not being able to take that much warmth, she again looked back down, shut her eyes close tightly and confessed, "I said I like you."

"Whattttt?!!!"

~•~

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