Third person's pov!

"What new game are you planning, Siddharth Singh Raichand?"

Siddharth stiffened when he heard the accusation in her voice. His brother's words last night came into his mind immediately.

'If I were in her place, my first doubt would be what new game you are playing.'

And that's exactly what she thought. That he was playing some sort of game with her. He felt an aching pain in his heart.

"Nidhi..." he whispered huskily. He saw her gulping visibly and straightening her shoulders, as if preparing herself to face whatever is going to assault her next.

"I asked you a question, Mr Raichand?" She asked again coldly.

"This is no game, Nidhi." He said softly, yet sternly.

"Really? Then what is the agenda behind that proposal you sent to my home yesterday?" She asked angrily.

"Nidhi. Take a seat. We will talk calmly," Siddharth tried to placate her, which infuriated her more.

"Calmly? You gotta be kidding me. You are pulling my family into your hate game and you want me to be calm? So far, I have tolerated all your evil games, because I was your only target. Now that you realised you couldn't break me by simply hurting me, you are bringing my family into this? No way, Mr Raichand. You are not going to win this as long as Parinidhi Vyas is alive." She said, spitting fire through her eyes.

"This is not a game damn it." He snapped, as he stood up from his chair and walked around the desk to stand right in front of her.

Nidhi unknowingly took a step back, when he moved forward.

"What happened yesterday was genuine. I meant it." Siddharth said, taking another step forward.

With a couple of steps, Nidhi was backed up against the door of his cabin, and he was standing right in front of her, a breath apart.

Nidhi was momentarily stunned by the swirling emotions she saw in his eyes.

He raised a hand and placed it gently on her cheeks. Nidhi closed her eyes, savoring his touch for a moment.

"Nidhi..." he whispered huskily.

Flashes of the intimacy that happened between them on the party night appeared in her mind. The way he had almost kissed her that night.

Along with that came the hurtful words he hurled at her after announcing his engagement to Bhavna Chavan.

Moments after trying to kiss her.

'You must have started thinking that a wealthy man had kept your pendant with him all these days and it meant something more and that your life is made. I won't blame you. It is quite natural for a middle class girl like you to start having such dreams after spending time with wealthy families like us. That just shows your status.'

'Neither you nor your things mean anything to me. Get this straight into your head, Ms Vyas, nothing related to you matters to me in any way.'

His hurtful words from that night echoed in her head more loudly and with a force she didn't even know she possessed, Nidhi pushed him making him stumble back.

"Nidhi.." He looked at her in shock.

"Once! I made a mistake once.. But Parinidhi Vyas is smart enough to learn from her mistakes. Stay away from my family, Mr Raichand," she warned him.

"I can't, Nidhi. Not now that I have realised what I feel for you." Siddharth said and Nidhi stiffened.

Feelings? This stone hearted man is talking about feelings?

"I don't wish to talk to you anymore, Mr Raichand." Nidhi said and turned around to open the door.

Siddharth placed a palm over the door and shut it with a bang, startling Nidhi.

"I have told you many times, not to walk away when I am talking, Parinidhi Vyas." Siddharth said through clenched teeth.

He might be in love with this woman. But he is still The Siddharth Singh Raichand, whose ego is his greatest weakness.

"You said whatever you came here to say, Nidhi. Now it is my turn. And you will have to listen." Siddharth spoke with authority, which didn't bode well with the firebrand standing in front of him.

"Who do you think you are, to order me around? I am not working for you anymore, Mr Raichand. I didn't take orders from you, when I was actually working for you. What makes you think that I will let you boss me around, when I am not." Nidhi didn't hold back on attitude stakes.

A smirk appeared on Siddharth's face listening to her.

"This fighting spirit, Nidhi. That is what is pulling me towards you more and more. I am like a moth around the flame, when you are around. How much ever I try, I couldn't stay away," he whispered huskily, leaning forwards.

Nidhi's eyes widened listening to him talking so openly about things like that.

Okay! She had an idea that he had felt some attraction towards her! But never in her dreams did she imagine, he would say it openly to her.

"(Why? Cat got your tongue, chatter box?" Siddharth asked with a smirk, seeing her going speechless.

"What rubbish are you talking about? I don't want to hear all this nonsense. I know how rich people like you are and what your intentions are." Nidhi said, pushing him again.

"What?"

"Even in yesterday's newspaper, there was news about a rich spoiled brat, trying to molest a girl who works in his company. Rich people think that if they have money, then the whole world is beneath their feet." Nidhi said with disgust.

"Why are you generalising all rich people? Maybe there are spoiled people around. But I have earned every single dime with hard work. All rich people aren't bad." Siddharth spoke gently.

"Really? So you can generalise all middle class girls as fortune hunters, but I cannot generalise rich people as spoiled? Is that it, Mr Raichand?" Nidhi asked, laughing mirthlessly.

Siddharth gulped remembering what he had told her on the party night. He had, through his words, accused her of being a fortune hunter.

"Nidhi.."

She raised a hand, asking him to stop his talks.

"Just stay away from me and my family. We have enough problems in our life already. We don't need more." Nidhi said and walked out of his cabin.

"Damn it!"

A/N

Here goes the next shot..

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SF❤️