Before we start take a moment to appreciate this beautiful vector cover by silverfeels 

It beautiful and for so long I wanted a Vector cover for my story, and luckily I found you. Thank you so much once again. All the best with your future designs they are gonna be awesome for sure. 

Word Count: 3221 
Enjoy! 

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"What are you doing here Vihaan?" A voice behind them startled Vihaan and Meher 

"Oh shit." Meher cursed under her breath and her brain started coming up with the excuses why Vihaan was here. 

"Margya." Vihaan cursed himself to not to lock the door, he thought everyone might have slept till now, but how could he forget the basic ruled taught by Manik to him! 'Never underestimate the situation and always take your precautions you never know the situation would go against you and that one precaution might save your life.' Damn it! 

"Vihaan?" A voice behind him again called his name but this time it was little tern causing Vihaan to close his eyes and turn around and face the situation. 

"Bhagwaan if it Manik Bhai, I'm coming to you please book a seat for me in heaven" He muttered under his breath and finally opened his eyes when Meher jabbed him in his ribs.

"Bhai? You are here?" Meher asked carefully but there was relief in her voice. 

"Yeah, I saw the lights illuminating from your room so thought to check upon you. Everything okay?" 

"Yeah bhai, just Me--Meher wasn't feeling good so i came to give her the medicine." This time Vihaan found his voice seeing that it wasn't Manik but Ansh standing there. 

"Oh. Where is it?" Ansh asked looking at them suspiciously. 

"What?" Vihaan asked acting dumb though he knew what he was asking 

"The medicine Vihaan!" Ansh answered in duh tone. 

"Oh that... That she ate." He grinned waving his hands in the air. 

"You are seriously alright or should I call Aliya?" Ansh face showed concern making both of them guilty of their act. 

"No bhai, that was the reason I called Vihaan here if others got to know they'll inform bhai and he'll ban every good thing from my life for examples chocolates and you also please don't tell him." Meher begged showing her doe eyes making Ansh agree much to both of their relief.  If by any chance Manik got to know she is ill he'll immediately know something is wrong and a suspicious Manik never sits quite until he knows the truth. 

"And you call Vihaan for that? Meher," He chuckled and continued "For once Cabir can hide something from Manik but never Vihaan that's the reason Manik trusts him with everything." Ansh smiled and shook his head while bowed his head down slightly in guilt. He don't know how is was gonna face Manik and if Manik gets to know the truth which he will some day the disappointment in Manik's eyes for him will surely slaughter his heart.

"Sorry." Meher mouthed feeling guilty but Vihaan just gave her a small smile and blinked to assure her. 

'I'm sorry Manik bhai. I'll make it up to you I promise.'   

⋇⋆✦⋆⋇　　

Early morning Shikha was in the kitchen preparing something special for everyone. Its been just two weeks and she has created a special bond with everyone, she wont say she has put her guards down but yes she has definitely started to give this family a chance. Each and every member of this family including Manik has taken special care of them and when she came to know that it was Sharanya's birthday today she thought of this as an opportunity to show her gratitude towards them, hence the breakfast. 

She was so indulged in her cooking and thoughts that she didn't noticed Deven coming in and Deven too was busy on his Tab reading something important about his upcoming deal did not notice her. 

"Malini where is my tea?" Deven called the head maid of the house and this caught Shikha's attention. 

The only person Shikha didn't interact much with was Deven, they only passed smiles at each other of greeted each other no more no less. 

Shikha cleared her throat not knowing what to say and this caught his attention, 

"Oh.. I'm so.. so sorry, I.. I didn't knew you were in the kitchen." Deven fumbled and lost all his snes when he saw Shikha there... cooking? 

"No problem Mr Malhotra..." Shikha just passed a smile making him smile back at her 

"Dixit. Deven Dixit, not Malhotra, I'm Manik's mother's cousin brother. " 

"Oh, I'm sorry." Shikha apologized quickly and a slight hue of embarrassment was present on her cheeks

"Don't be. I didn't mind. You didn't have any idea about my relation with Manik and its okay no big deal and you can call me Deven. Mr. Dixit would sound old, and I don't think I'm that old." Deven joked to make her feel comfortable and not be too embarrass on this dainty things. 

"Isn't he like 54?"  Vihaan asked. The three musketeers, Vihaan-Meher-Cabir were hiding behind the entrance wall of the kitchen one above other watching the scene unfold.  

"Turning 55 after two months."  Cabir nodded at Vihaan statement with adding his own information. 

"Shut up you two let me enjoy."  Meher sush-ed them and her eyes were still on Vihaan and Shikha with a Cheshire smile on her face.  

"Umm... Deven  ji. You wanted something?" She remembered him calling Malini for his cup of tea.  

"Yeah, I was searching for Malini, the head maid. I was waiting for my morning tea." Deven explained

"Oh. I'm so sorry, I requested Navya to tell all the butlers that'll be making the breakfast today, so..." Shikha gave him an apologetic smile. 

"You didn't had too Shikha ji," 

"But I wanted too, its Sharanya's birthday today so I thought to make a special breakfast for everyone especially her." 

"She'll be very happy." Deven assured her with a happy smile on his face. 

"I hope so. Oh, let me prepare a tea for you." Shikha moved from her place to take the vessel only to be stopped by Deven. 

"Oh no no, its not needed. I'll ask someone else." 

"I don't make such a bad tea. trust me." Shikha said with a poker face though there was mischievous glint in her eyes Deven failed to notice.

"What? No, no. That's not what I meant, I was just..." Deven panicked

"Its okay Deven Ji, I was just kidding." Shikha chuckled seeing his perturbed posture.

Not knowing what to say she just gave her a bright smile and nodded with that Shikha took another vessel from the shelf to make tea. While here at the kitchen entrance the trio had an ear to ear grin and decided to make their presence known. . 

"Hello oldies, what's up?" Meher came inside and patted Deven's back with Vihaan and Cabir following her and all three of them were giving Deven teasing smile making him shift under their gaze. 

"Arey, we said hello." Meher reminded them seeing none of them whishing her greeting back. 

"We heard that but you people were referring to some oldies and we aren't old." Deven gained back his posture and answered with haughty look on his face. 

"Yeah, Mr. Dixit sounds too old, no?" Meher teased while stretching the word old. 

"Huh?" Shikha looked confused. 

"Nothing, jinko samjhna tha wo toh samjh gye" Meher winked at Deven who had 'oh no'  look on his face "aap bataiye maasi maa what did you cook?" Meher than looked at Shikha with a broad smile 

With that Meher and Shikha got busy with Shikha showing her the dishes and Meher being the judge and tasting the food.

"Ahem. Mr Dixit what's going on?" Cabir asked while taking seat beside Deven and Vihaan sat to his right so that Deven was siting in the middle of the two devils. 

"What? Nothing? I'll just come calling my PA, have to discuss important points about tomorrow's meeting." He stood up quickly taking the tea and walked out of the Kitchen pretending to call his PA. 

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Manik was humming his favourite tune while descending the stares and fidgeting with his watch trying to tie it properly when he heard a sound of laughter coming from living room making  his steps coming to halt and his eyes awe-ing on the mesmerizing scene in front of him. He kept looking at her with a small yet serene smile gracing his lips making his heart giddy and calm at the same time. This was the first time when he saw her laughing and not a 'normal laugh' but a full fledged laughing, clutching your stomach and tears of laugh ready to escape type of laughing. Though he was little jealous that he was not the one making her laugh rather it was Karan, Cabir and Vihaan but he vowed to keep that laugh on her lips and happiness on his face life long, as cliché as it sounds. 

At the same time Meher came out of kitchen while munching her now favrouite 'gond ke laddo' made by Shikha for Sharanya and saw her prince charming brother looking at his modern day Cinderella as if she is the only rose in the whole world, the only chocolate remaining in the town. She raised her perfectly arched eyebrow knowing that he was not the only one giving that look to his love interest there was another being who passing the same looks to someone's smiling figure. 

She chuckled devilishly when her superb brain gave her an awesome idea, clearing her throat, flipping her hairs and clearing the imaginary dust from her hands she executed her plan, 

"HANS MAT PAGLI PYAAR HOJAYEGA;

HANS MAT PAGLI PYAAR HOJAYEGA"  

She started in the loudest voice she could muster without giving two hoots for  sur and taal to bring the two person out of the trance and making others confused and some of them sighed or shook their head in disbelief thinking it might be one of her another antics.  

Manik snapped out of his attention and so did Deven and both of them looked at the source of voice who was yelling . 

"Meher" escaped from their lips as soon as they saw the source of voice. She wiggled her eyebrows at them and again started singing but this time as a normal person. 

Jabse mila hoon tujhse
Muskuraata rehta hoon

Jo bhi milta hai mujhse
Sunata phirta hoon

Door rehna iss mayajaal se
Warna tera
Jeena dusvaar ho jaayega

Hans mat pagli
Pyar ho jaayega
Hans mat pagli
Pyar ho jaayega

Manik huffed and moved towards the dining area ignoring his sister but how can Meher leave this chance. 

"Arey bhai where are you going come na, everyone is here in the living room." Meher said in a high pitched voice and Manik was sure not only people in the living room had their attention on the duo but also the maids working in the different corners of the mansion heard her. 

Manik gave her a tight smile and moved towards the living room, he approached Sharanya who was happily munching the chocolates. He kissed her forehead and whispered happy birthday, Sharu in return have him a big grin and hugged him forgetting the chocolate simmered near her lips and on hands which resulted spoiling his shirt and blazer. 

"Oops!" Sharanya muttered when she realized what she did. She slowly came out of his hug and gave him a sheepish sorry smile but that smile got replaced with a pout and tears in her eyes. 

She sniffed and muttered a small sorry and started weeping in her husbands arms while Rehan glared at Manik who just gave him 'I did not do anything' while others wore a worried look on their faces. 

"Babe why are you crying?" Rehaan cooed 

"Manik... I spoiled his shirt na? He'll get angry now, if he'll get angry, he'll shout at me, if he'll shout at me then I'll start crying, so I'm already crying to save the efforts." Sharanya replied with an adorable pout and innocent eyes but Manik knew better. 

"He is not angry on you Sharu and he'll NOT shout on you, right Manik?" Aparna raised her eyebrows in challenging manner as if silently saying him don't you dare defy me. 

"Of course. I'm not angry on you Sharu," He gave her a tight smile to both the ladies as if asking them if they are happy now and the grin on the face gave the answer. 

"Okay come on old people, I'm hungry, so chocolate boy go and change your clothes and you are not going to office today." Mishti ordered

Manik narrowed his eyes at his little munchkin and she narrowed hers at him, Manik rolled her eyes, huffing at her he turned back to change in his casual clothes knowing that he has already lost the battle.  

"Come soon big bear we have lots of fun to do" Meher patted his back  when is was about to cross her "and this time don't get lost is someone's laugh." She whispered giggling at his brothers sour face and glare

"Ajj ka din hi kharab hai." He grumbled under his breath. 

⋇⋆✦⋆⋇　

"Aname. An-ame."

"Endgame?" Meher questioned with hesitant voice which got a cheer from Vihaan with mouth re-tractor still stopping him to talk normally. 

The whole family was sitting in the lawn enjoying their day with playing games and this time it was Meher's chance to choose the game and  Meher being Meher choose her type of game with the twist. 

The teams were divided into two and the rules were pretty similar to dumb charades but instead of guessing the name of the movie through act, the team has to guess it with the words said through re-tractor and the team who loses to another had to do the task given by the wining team each time and to say Manik was pissed with this game would be a understatement and why not, if you give a spice intolerance person a bowl of hot spicy noodles with one more spoon of hot sauce you would see a clown with his whole face painted red just like Manik is looking right now, just add a box of tissues near him with a tub of ice-cream and two water bottles and of course the murderous glares he was giving everyone especially Meher, Cabir, Rehaan and Abhimanyu who were avoiding looking into his eyes at all cost, while others were giving him apologetic smile and sympathy filled face even Nandini-- she felt bad seeing his condition, though she loves spicy food but the amount of spice the noodles had would have made anyone go crazy. 

"Just wait for tomorrow four you, I'll show you the real hell in this heaven." He scrutinized his gaze but then smirked seeing the terror flashing through her body language and the four them looking at each other as if they have already know their tomorrow's future. 

'Oh its gonna be so much fun tomorrow!' Manik thought looking at their faces. 

"Guys I'm out of this now, I'll be in my office need to plan something special for tomorrow." He informed throwing the last comment while eyeing the quartet sardonically. 

"Why Chocolate boy, sit na please we are having so much fun. Are you angry?" Mishti asked with a puppy eyes making every person sitting there go all awe on her. 

Manik took Mishti in her arms and kissed her forehead, "I'm not angry, I have some work. I'll complete that and come back in an hour so that I can spend rest of my day with you guys. Okay?" Manik explained and Mishti in return kissed his cheeks and nodded her head frantically, it was then he realized how less time he has spent with Mishti and today he was gonna make up for it. 

Manik moved towards his office to check the email he got from his spies. He sighed in annoyance seeing the mail. Nishant still wasn't out of his hiding hole, till now Manik predicted that he would have been out or might return to Mumbai knowing that his golden goose is no more his pawn.  

 "Where are you hiding Nishant and what are you planning?" he drummed his fingers on his study table in irritation and confusion. 

"Did Neha even inform him that she gave Nandini and her properties to me?" he pried over different possibilities but then clicked his tongue knowing it was impossible to hide this information from Nishant if not for Neha his guards would have surely informed him whatever happened and that Nandini is no more staying in his apartment. 

But then why haven't he contacted him yet or even Neha for that matter?  Whatever the possibilities came in his mind was rejected by his conscious mind making Manik reach nothing but dead-end.

A knock on the door disturbed his thoughts he sighed tiredly and ask whoever was there to enter. He immediately straightened up as soon as he saw a petite figure belongs to the girl who has his heart. 

"Nandini?" He silently stood up with puzzled look on his face. Nandini visiting his office never ended up good, either they fight or she goes dishearten from here, though there were only two instances. 

'One more reason to add in why my day is going bad list. Great. Just great.' Manik thought look and her fidgeting figure. 

"You wanted to say something?" He asked predicting she might be here to rejected his offer. He prepared himself for another round of explanation and arguments but what he heard made me stuck and stunned at his place for a moment. 

"I'm ready. I accept your offer." 

"Huh?" His heart was at relief and his eyes glittering with happiness for various reason. Nandini will be safe and will be with him for so many hours the foremost reason to start with. 

"Really?" He asked again to be double sure what he heard was right and not a dream. 

"Yeah but I do have a deal, if you accept it only then I'll work with you." and this made Manik hunch his shoulders. 

"What--- deal?" He asked carefully

"I'll work with you for 12 hours, six hours I'll be handling my job and six hours I'll be your secretary. This way I'll be at relief that I'm not accepting any favor and not letting my self respect down also you'll be happy and worry free about me and my safety. Its a win-win deal." 

"But Nandini that would be tiring and hectic for you, I can't..." Manik tried to make her think again on her deal but Nandini had already made her mind. 

"Either that or nothing Manik. Now the ball is in your court, you have to decide." She gave him a small smile and got up to leave.

Manik was still in his apprehensive bubble when he heard Nandini calling him, He looked up to see Nandini giving him a small yet genuine smile. This was the first time Manik saw her not giving any negative emotion or giving him a poker face. He also noticed a small flickering happiness in her smile and eyes. 

"Thank You!" Once again she smiled at him showing she was really grateful of whatever he has done for her till now.  

There was a change and boy was it good. Then there Manik knew how to play with the ball that was in his court. 

"Today's day wasn't that bad." he said to himself still looking at the door of his office. 

I lost my three family members this month and one of them being very close to me and another close to my grandfather and witnessing all this took a great toll on my health both mental and physical resulting me going back to my cocoon, hence could not update sooner.  I'm working on another update right now, if possible I'll try to update soon.  

Also this chapter was written when I was going through emotional turmoil and wanted some peace, so sorry if it turned out to be boring. 

More drama, suspense and love stories coming ahead! for now wait for Manik and Nandini's office time/scene to unfold. I'll try to make it as interesting as possible. 

And Happy Birthday Nahar (dramaqueen_Nahar), may this day go happy, happier and happiest for you and May Allah fill your life with endless happy moments, countless wonderful surprises, and infinite success! Ameen

Love, 

Amaya.K