Love in Lockdown

4.

Hello Fam :)

Happy Friendship day. Manan has given me lots of friends and even though I am not as attached to Manan as I was when I started writing, I would always cherish you guys. Thank you for being there. 

A/N: It is one day before the lockdown. As I remember the news of the countrywide lockdown was announced at around 7-8 pm. So, I let Nandini have one day of being in the office physically before shifting to the virtual part. I might be wrong, so let me know what exactly happened. :P

Happy Reading...

Nandini did go to the supermarket after checking on her roommate. The girl didn't return the day before. On her way to the supermarket, she called her house owner and asked the number of her roommate before dropping a text to her, asking if she was fine. The reply was a bit late as the girl said she was stuck at a friend's house because of the curfew and stayed the night there. She was going to work from there and they could meet in the evening after work. Nandini sent her a few thumbs up before putting her phone into her pocket as she filled her carts with the food she wanted.

Once done, she paid the bills and left for her apartment to get ready for her first day in the office. By the time she was done, there was a text on her mobile and Abhimanyu honking from downstairs under her balcony. "Coming", she yelled, instead of replying to the text, grabbed her bag with whatever documents she had with her, and went to meet her boss.

"Good morning, boss", she greeted.

Abhimanyu rolled his eyes. "There's breakfast for you. Mom asked you to eat it."

She grinned and started munching the parathas. She missed these.

"Everyone at the office knows you are my best friend. So, it's fine. You don't need to pretend anything and we can still be friends at work", he said.

Nandini punched his arm. "What else did you think I would do at work? Call you sir and bend for your every rule?"

"Never said that", he muttered.

The rest of the drive was silent except for Abhimanyu stopping to get coffee for both of them.

XXX

When they reached their office, Abhimanyu took Nandini to his cabin before calling and asking his assistant to send their new project manager. "Listen, Nandini, try not to punch this guy."

"I swear I don't punch every other guy I meet", she said and huffed when Abhimanyu gave her a look because who was she kidding? "Fine, I will behave."

They were interrupted by a knock and within a span of a few seconds, Nandini stood up from her seat. "What the hell are you doing here? Are you stalking me now?"

Manik Malhotra huffed, crossing his arms. "As if I don't have any other work than stalking a mad woman."

"Whom did you call mad?"

"It's fine. Don't put a strain on your brain thinking. Doing something like that for the first-time hurts. Especially, when you don't seem like you use it very often. Or at all", said Manik.

Nandini was on his face in an instant, an inch away from punching him. "You know I could very well give a police complaint on you. Why am I explaining to you? I will call the commissioner now."

As she pulled her phone out, Abhi was quick to pull the mobile from her hands. "Okay, as fun as the morning drama is, care to explain what the hell is going on here?"

"He is an idiot who threatened me in the mall when I went out with Mukti", said Nandini.

Abhimanyu frowned. He thought Manik was decent enough and his dad was really impressed with the boy. Raman was a really good judge of character. Before he could question him about threatening Nandini, Manik snorted.