SEAL THE DEAL

chapter 25

"You're not gopal," Manisha stated the obvious as she slid into the passenger seat of Abhishek's car, throwing her handbag onto the seat behind her before she reached for the seatbelt.

Manisha hadn't expected Abhishek to be waiting for her in the driveway of her house at 8:30 a.m. on a Tuesday morning, because that was gopal's job. She had been ready to step outside her house and greet her dependable driver but she'd been startled by the gray Car parked there instead. Manisha was sure she would remember if gopal had upgraded to a fancier set of wheels, especially if it was the same car as Abhishek's and the same colour
too. After a split second of confusion, her eyes lit up in joy before being replaced with
confusion again as she made her way over to the familiar vehicle.

The scent of jasmine perfume and lavender shampoo wafted into the car as she settled into the passenger seat that was quickly growing accustomed to her presence.

Abhi:-"Are you disappointed?" He grinned, his arm casually slung over the steering wheel as he fixed his gaze on manisha.
She shook her head, her trademark sunny smile gracing he lips, "Not at all...just a little
surprised though," Abhishek's hair was gelled and styled impeccably today and manishw couldn't help it as her eyes
roamed over the formal clothes he was wearing today, from the crisp white dress shirt that fit his torso a little too well to the messily rolled up sleeves which left his forearm on display.

She gulped in what she prayed was a subtle and completely unnoticeable manner, feeling aBflame of hopeless attraction lick the bottom of her stomach.

Mani:-"How come you're here though?" She asked, trying to focus on something other than how ridiculously attractive Abhishek was. Abhishek had no idea that Manisha was feeling like her cheeks had been set on fire and he simply returned her smile with a small one of his own, igniting the car engine and sliding his seatbealt over his shoulder.

Abhi:-"Your dad called me about twenty minutes ago and asked if I could be your driver for the day," he explained, reversing out of the driveway, "Your driver had to suddenly go down to his hometown because of an emergency so...here I am,"

Mani:-"Sorry if this is an inconvenience," she apologised, wishing her father had informed her before recruiting Abhishek for the task so that she could have declined and taken an Uber or something.

The drive roughly took an hour, but the time could vary depending on how bad traffic was. Gopal jii would normally drop her off to the school and then go to his sister's house, which was conveniently located five minutes away from her destination, and he would come back to pick her up about four hours later. That was a total of approximately six hours of precious
time that Abhishek would have to sacrifice for manisha and she absolutely hated being a bother.

Abhishek shrugged at the unrequired apology, "I get to take the day off work and miss a long and boring meeting...I'm not complaining at all,"
He had been having breakfast with his father when her father had called out of the blue and asked him for a huge favour. He had been unsure about how to respond at first because there was a big meeting with SK delegates at Golden today about a very important new project. When his father had asked him what manisha father was saying on the other end of the line, Abhishek mouthed the request and his father immediately gestured for him to comply
without any further if's, and's or but's.

He was pretty surprised at his father's reaction and his insistence that he should skip the meeting and accompany manisha, especially because his father strictly believed in drawing the line and keeping personal life and work life separate. What Abhishek didn't realise was that even though she had drifted past the boundary and become a part of his personal life
somewhere along the way, his father still considered her to be an element of work life due to the arranged marriage agreement with JDB. Manisha was supposed to feel lighter at his response but the frown on her pretty face deepened, and she was feeling more and more like a burden with every second that passed, "Was it an important meeting?" She really should have just continued learning how to drive despite failing six driving tests.

Manisha shouldn't have given up like she did after a year of anger and frustration, no, she should have persevered until she got that goddamn pass certificate. Maybe she should start taking driving lessons again now. Abhishek briefly glanced at her and he grinned because he could literally see the thoughts in Her mind playing out on her face; he didn't even have to try very hard to get a read on her because her face always betrayed how she felt. As the traffic light changed to red, he turned towards her and gifted her with a reassuring smile, "It was, but I'm really glad that I got out of it," And I'd rather spend my time with you,
"Also, is it okay if we stop by my house on the way? I would rather not be in this stuffy suit if I don't have to be," he tugged at the tie around his neck that always felt too tight no matter how loose it was.

Ten minutes later, manisha found herself standing alone in the living room of
Abhishek's  house after he'd gone upstairs to get changed. She is always been curious to see where he lived and what his house looked like, but she hadn't actually expected her curiosity to be satisfied that morning.

The house was exactly what manisha imagined the house of two single men to look like; perfectly monochrome and terribly minimalistic. The furniture was simple, with only the bare essentials such as a huge couch, a huge TV, a huge rug and a huge coffee table placed in the huge room. The only personal touch in the living room that served as evidence that the house
was actually inhabited by humans came in the form of photo frames that were hanging
proudly on the spotless white walls.

Manisha made her way over to them, and her lips broke into a smile when her eyes fell on the first one. She guessed that it was Abhishek's primary school picture, and she is definitely going to tease him about his chubby cheeks and his big sparkling eyes again.

The next picture was the high school picture that he'd already shown her before.
The third one was a university graduation picture and she grinned when she noticed that the colour of the hair peeking out from under the graduation cap was a shade of red. Her smile widened further when she saw that Abhishek had graduated with a first class honours degree;

She wouldn't have expected any lesser.
Her eyes travelled towards the last picture, which was a regal family portrait that she could tell had been captured sometime within the past year. Abhishek was standing in all of his tall and broad shouldered glory while his father was seated, his hands resting on his father's shoulders as he smiled brightly at the camera. It was that rare, lovely smile of his that always
made her heart do all the crazy tumble rolls and somersaults and made her insides feel like sloppy mush. She fondly observed the picture for a little longer and while she was awful at matching faces and facial features, she noticed that Abhishek and his father didn't look very alike. She figured that he'd probably taken mostly after his mother...which begged the question that had been bugging her since the very first day she met him; where was Abhishek's mother now and why did he avoid mentioning her like she was the plague?

From the way Abhishek acted, and from the way his father acted too, it was almost as if she'd never existed; it was as if she was a myth that had been blown away by the wind and been forgotten by everyone left behind and -

"Manisha?"
She was stirred out of her thoughts by the sound of Abhishek's voice uttering her name. She turned around, wondering how he'd gotten changed at the speed of lightning, almost snorting at the hilarious sight in front of her.

He was standing at the base of the grand marble staircase and she saw that he'd swapped the sleek black trousers for a pair of dark blue jeans that could not possibly get any tighter and it was taking every inch of her self-control to not gawk at his thick thighs. She presumed that he'd tried to vigorously undo his tie, but that clearly hadn't worked out well and it had
somehow transformed into a knotted mess.

"Help?" Abhishek requested with a bashful smile as he scratched the back of his neck in mild embarrassment.

Hello lovely readers ❤️...I hope that you guys are enjoying this...💜💜🫰🫰

But today I'm soo sad...the reason is....(Kinda silly)....I lost my new lipstick today 😫😫...i bought that and in the span of 15 min I lost that.....and this hurted me alot....m sed😫😫😢