|| ENDLESS LOVE || -- A MaNan FF

|| Destined - Flames of love ||

At the city hall, they walk into this really big gallery with a wide assortment of well dressed art amateurs and connoisseurs. Manik was instantly bored. He was just following Nandini around the gallery as she stopped at each of the piece explaining him about it. This continued for an hour or so.

"Nandini, I am bored." he tells her.

"Do you want to leave?" she asks amused. She was watching him restless ever since they entered the setting.

"Can we? PLEASE? I feel ridiculous in here."

"Alright. I will tell my boss that I am leaving. Let me introduce you to him..."

"Thank you." he breathes out, relieved.

She leads him to a group of people in a serious discussion in front of portrait. "Excuse me Antonio.." she calls his boss.

"Nandini..." she instantly gets his attention. He looks at her for a few moments stunned. "Glad you could make it. Wow! You look ravishing." He pecks her cheek and introduces her to the people in his group with his hand around her. "This is the model I was talking about earlier - Nandini. These are my colleagues from the university." he tells her.

Manik looks at Nandini surprised at his reference to her as his model and his hand on her hips, much lower than what was socially appropriate.

Nandini awkwardly takes a step back. "Nice to meet you all. I am actually not a model. Um..I am an art student, his intern." she explains in a low voice, taking a step closer to Manik.

"Antonio, this is my friend Manik Malhotra."

"Manik ...Pleasure to meet you."

"Antonio D'cruz"

They both shake hands.

"Um..we were going to leave. Thanks for inviting me. It is a beautiful collection."

"Nandini, I want you to stay for a few more minutes, if you don't mind. You will understand the reason why I asked you to come." Antonio tells her.

"Oh..alright." she replies.

"Excuse us. We are going to get a drink." Manik leads her away from them.

"What was that? He called you a model?" he asks her, getting her a drink.

"I have no idea. I am sorry. Just a few more minutes."

"Don't worry about me. I don't like that guy." Manik tells her, turning back to the group with her boss. He catches Antonio staring at Nandini and him.

"I told you he is weird. Sometimes, what he talks makes no sense to me." Nandini tells him.

"He is hitting on you, Nandini.."

Nandini looks at him incredulously. "NO! he is just....it is not that, Manik. You will not understand."

"You are blind. Why aren't any of your colleagues invited? Did you think about that? I know when a guy is hitting on a girl and trust me..."

"Because you have such expertise? YOU are constantly hitting on me." She looks at him angrily.

He looks at her as if she knocked the wind out of his lungs. He is shocked at her words. "You think me and him are the same? Seriously? You think I am hitting on you? Do you even know the meaning of hitting on you? Damn Nandini!!"