It was another day at work for Nandini but the club was a bit more crowded owing to it being a Saturday. It was an off day for Aliya, so Nandini didn't have a company today. She was seemingly bored of taking the rounds of the golf course with noone to pester her like Aliya usually did. She disinterestingly stopped before the fourth hole to see Cabir standing along with two other guys.

She actually felt happy to see him there for he was the first person to be welcoming to her in Dehradun. The sound of the golf cart might have got their attention for all three of them looked her way. A genuine smile crossed Cabir's face that she reciprocated heartily. One of the guys looked at her with a disppointed look while the other one was smirking at her which made her conscious, but she decided to ignore them for the time being.

"Hey Nandini. So you work here, I see." Cabir greeted her.

"Hey Cabir. I actually wanted to see you. I just lost your card and I really didn't know how to thank you. It was really thoughtful of you to have my car refilled. Thank you so much. And I am going to pay you back the first thing after I get my paycheck." She couldn't thank Cabir enough to get her out of that mess.

"Oh that was nothing. Don't bother about that." He dismissed her thank you with a wave of his hand to which she smiled fondly.

"Mind introducing us to the gorgeous lady, Cabir." The guy who was smirking at her interrupted them.

"Well Nandini, meet Madhyam." Cabir pointed towards the guy. "And Madhyam, she is Nandini, Manik's step sister." He introduced her.

"I didn't know the new cart girl was Manik's sister and that too a gorgeous one." He spoke flirtatiously while Nandini shifted on her feet awkwardly.

"Spare the staff Maddie. I'm sure your Dad is not gonna like you messing around here. He likes to think his son works here sincerely and is taking good care of his damn club." Cabir rebuked him while Nandini stood confused hearing this. "Did this guy technically own the place she was working at?" She thought to herself.

"Chuck it Cabir. I will handle my old man. She's worth the trouble." He said winking at her to which she shifted on her feet uncomfortably while trying to give him a polite smile. Though she had got used to the subtle compliments and flirting of the customers by now and talked casually to all of them who made small friendly talks with her, she always kept her distance. But this was different. This guy wasn't subtle, but very obvious as if being her employer added to his confidence. And she knew better than to displease her boss and thus stuck to politeness.

"Leave the poor girl aside, Madhyam." As if sensing her discomfort, Cabir intervened and then turned towards her. "I would have a beer, Nandini." He got her bailed out of there.

"Umm sure." She muttered thankfully and then turned on her heels after taking the order from the other two.

As she was about to move, a voice stopped her. She turned around to see it was the other guy who was addressing her while Madhyam rolled his eyes dramatically.

"Umm.. Aliya isn't working today?" The guy asked scrunching his brows while Nandini looked at him suspiciously. "We are friends." He added as a way of explanation while Madhyam laughed mockingly behind him which he ignored.

"It's an off day for her." She answered briefly while he nodded passively but Nandini could read the disappointment in his eyes.

Nevertheless she chucked the topic and moved to the back of her golf cart to fetch out the drinks from the cooler when she heard the guys bantering.

"What the fuck Dhruv?? Why don't you get the point?? I can't have the cart girls fucking around with customers in the club. Aliya has already been warned twice. I would have already fired her, had she not been Mrs. Pinto's niece. Don't screw it up for me. Either you fuck her outside the club property or get another whore to play. I can't have the servers neglect their duties, so stop looking for her here." It was Madhyam speaking in an admonishing tone. But what picked Nandini's interest was the name of guy this was addressed to, Dhruv. Before she could contemplate over it, she heard him reply.

"Come on Maddie. Don't be a hypocrite. You can go around flirting with the servers while I can't even have a little fun."

"I don't go around fucking them, dude. And I don't give a fuck to your fun. Just let your whore know about the consequences before you take her somewhere in the bushes. I will have to replace her, you see." Maddie retorted in a nonchalant tone.

"Whatever. You do your part and let me do mine. Aliya is playing hard to get these days. I expected her to find here. My bad luck, it's her off. Why the fuck does she need this job when I can keep her busy?" Dhruv replied chuckling to which Nandini frowned.

The moment she heard his name, she knew he was the guy Aliya had told her about. She hadn't liked him then and after hearing him now, she detested him even more. The guy was clearly a horny jerk who didn't care about Aliya a least bit. All he wanted was a fuck toy and was hardly bothered about Aliya losing her job. To her, he was an insensitive bastard who didn't know how to respect girls. But for now he was a customer and she had to serve him. So plastering a fake smile on her face, she moved towards them with their drinks in her hands.

The guys turned silent on seeing her and quietly grabbed their drinks. All of them paid for their drinks but what shocked her was when Maddie handed her double his due. Sure she got good tips here and even better from the young lads, but this was insane.

"Keep the change." He said with a wink looking at her confused frown. She wasn't naive to not get the hints. But, nevertheless, she slipped the money in her pocket and returned him a polite smile, quickly turning back to move from there. She heaved a sigh of relief as she got away from there.

Manik was dog tired as he returned from his office today and seeing Mukti sitting in his living room was not at all a pleasant sight. An unexpected visit from his sister always screamed trouble, but nonetheless he decided to get over with it asap and get off to his bed.

"What is it that you want, Mukti?" He asked in a monotonous tone.

"Don't act so mean Manik, you could have actually greeted me first." She replied rolling her eyes.

"Here you go sis. Hiii Mukti. What's up. Oh I'm so glad you're here." Manik said in an overdramatic tone and sprawled on the couch beside her.

"You're a jerk." She punched him on his arm playfully, smiling affectionately at him and Manik couldn't help returning her gesture.

He loved this Mukti, who reminded him of the needy little girl she had been in childhood, who always wanted his attention. No matter what kind of a person she had grown up into, he still loved her. She was his little sister after all. She was mean and annoying and he would get angry at her irrational demands at times, but this couldn't alter the deep affection he had for her. And he knew, though in a twisted way, he was the only person Mukti truly loved or cared for. This was one of the reasons she was over possessive for him.

"By the way, what brings you here?? Because I'm seriously tired, so I hope you're not gonna keep me up long." Manik said yawning lazily.

"Not at all." She replied nodding her head side to side. "I just wanted to remind you that I will have your house for tomorrow. The organizer will be there in the morning. My birthday party, remember. And for that matter, you better gift me something good." She spoke in a demanding tone.

"Oh I thought, having my house for the party and me having to tolerate those bimbos you will invite was a gift enough." He said teasingly.

"Nooo way Manik. That. Is. Not. A. Gift." She spoke whining.

"Alright..we'll see to it. By the way, are your dear parents coming?"

"I talked to Mom. She likes it there. They will stay there for a while."

"Of course. After all, that was the whole idea of this marriage." He spoke with a bitter sarcasm.

"Come on Manik. I might be the reason for their marriage, but they have their own life. It's good they are spending time together."

"Yeah sure. Your perfect idea of a perfect family. I'm anyways off to bed. Good night, Mukti." He stood up, indicating her that it was the end of the conversation.

"Good night, Manik." She too stood up to leave, but was stopped by the sound of a car pulling up outside. She looked at the door with confusion while Manik stopped at his place, knowing exactly who it was.

A moment later, both of them saw Nandini entering inside, still clad in her cart girl uniform. While Mukti gave her a hard look, Manik stood there nonchalantly. Knowing Mukti, he knew he couldn't leave Nandini alone with her, so he waited for her to move inside her room. Nandini, who was completely unaware of their presence felt their gaze and looked ahead to a sight she couldn't decide was pleasant or upsetting.

If it was for Manik, the sight was for sure pleasing to her. She had hardly seen him once or twice after their little conversation in the garden and she now realized that she actually missed him. Though not very cordial towards her, there was something about him that attracted her towards him, a pull she couldn't resist. And she felt her lips curving into a smile at his sight but was stopped by another presence beside him. She really didn't want to deal with some snarky comments from that girl after a tiring day at work, so she quietly started moving towards her room, but was stopped by the very unwanted voice.

"Some attitude you have beggar girl. Staying in my house and behaving like I don't exist." Mukti spoke in a mocking tone and it took all inside Nandini to not give it back to her.

"Back off Mukti." She heard Manik speak in a warning tone and Mukti left from there, after giving her another tough look.

Now that the drama was over, Nandini moved inside her room, no more wanting to talk to Manik even. This encounter was like a wake up call for her and she reminded herself that she was a guest here and having any kind of feelings for Manik was forbidden to her. But Manik kept standing there, looking at her disappearing behind the door of the pantry, his sleep having flown off suddenly and a restlessness being crept inside. He couldn't help but wonder about the effect this tiny girl had over him.

A/n- next update would be for eternity. Coming in a day or two. So stay tuned.