'No sir..actually aap unse mil nahi payenge. He is out of town since past few days. One of my friends work there and he knows about Harshad Saxena's activities. He told me that he is away on a business trip.' Aryaman interrupted.
'Achcha?' Manik asked with a pout and looked at Nandini.
'Thank god, Ayyappa! Aapne bachaa liye iss baar tho...hope Harshad ke baare main Manik bhool jaaye aur wapas usse milne mujhe leke na jaaye' Nandini prayed silently. Nandini sighed with a relaxed smile on her face.
Manik noticed the way Nandini looked more relaxed now.
'So Nandu..what's cooking in this tiny brain of yours? Harshad se na milne ke baare main sunkar muskuraa bhi raha hai! Aakhir chakkar kya hai? Ab main pata lagaakar hi rahoonga' Manik thought with a smirk on his face. Nandini looked at Manik and saw a smirk on his face. 😈
'Ayyappa...ye mujhe aise kyon ghoor rahe hai?' Nandini thought looking away from Manik😕
'Oh! Truly bad luck yaar, Aryaman. But its ok na...Harshad wapas aate hi inform kar lena..me and Nandu will go and meet him. Dekh tho le ke hamare competitor kaisa aadmi hai' Manik continued to say looking at Nandini. Aryaman noticed the way Manik was looking at Nandini and wondered what actually was going on. 😆
Suddenly the door opened and a handsome-looking guy entered. Manik, Nandini and Aryaman turned to look as the guy with short hair entered with a cool composed expression on his face.
'Hey Abhi...meet Mr. Manik Malhotra, he is the new owner of Pizza Delivery Hut' Aryaman said walking over to Abhimanyu.
'Hello sir!' Abhimanyu said with a slight smile on his face.
'Hello Abhimanyu...abhi thodi der pehle Aryaman aapke hi tareef kar rahe the. You are the one who makes delicious pizzas here, right?' Manik asked with a smile on his face.
Manik extended his hand for a handshake and Nandini smiled seeing the way Manik was getting friendly with Abhimanyu and Aryaman. Abhimanyu shook hands with a huge smile on his face.
'So U guys are the only staff or there's anymore?' Manik asked looking at Abhimanyu and Aryaman.
'Actually sir, we had more staff earlier. There were 2-3 guys here for pizza delivery. But ever since the business started getting less and since there was no rise in payment, they left the job.' Abhimanyu explained the situation to Manik. 'It was earlier a hub for pizza lovers, but then ever since business went down, we restricted it to pizza delivery alone...because we needed to do home deliveries and there was no staff to do the work of serving food here.'
'So now we need more staff. We need a concept, a new name, a new look and things that will attract customers' Manik said clapping his hands together and rubbing them looking at all of them.
'Sir, concept? What sort of concept shall we give to this shop?' Abhimanyu asked with a confused look on his face.
'Concept...hmm let's see...Valentine's Day is around the corner, so the concept will be love, how's it?' Manik said with a smirk on his face.
'Love?' Aryaman asked with a little smile on his face.
Manik looked at Nandini as he emphasized again 'YYesss, Love'
'Ayyappa...ye love bolke aise mujhe kyon dekh rahe hai?' Nandini thought looking away. 😕
'Sir...but what will we do with concept?'
'Hmm...everything here will be filled with love. The look of the pizza hut should be changed. Abhi this looks boring. We need to first renovate the shop and do drawings with hearts, cupids, flowers etc to make it look a bit more cheesy' Manik said with a little laugh.😆
'Cheesy?' Nandini mumbled softly.😕
'Yes, add some cheesy love to the pizza and the pizzas will taste even more tastier, haina Nandu?' Manik asked with a smirk at Nandini.
'Y..Yes sir' Nandini said with a little smile.
'Ya waise..I forgot to say something else. Now this shop has two owners...meet my co-owner Nandu. Nandu was fired by her ex-boss..jo aapke boss the yahan pe and I wanted Nandu to be here and now me and Nandu jointly bought this shop.'
'Ya..actually Shukla sir had yesterday discussed the matter with me and he said that aap hamare shop khareed rahe hai. Isliye I came a bit late..but usually I'm here by 8.30 a.m.' Abhimanyu said with a smile.
'Ayyappa...did he just say that he bought the shop because he wanted me here? Does he like me so much?' Nandini thought as she looked at Manik.
'Hmm ya..but we need more staff and we need to renovate the shop real fast too. Just 3 more days to go for Valentine's Day and we will launch our shop with the new concept on Valentine's Day.' Manik said with a huge smile.
'Launch shop?' Abhimanyu asked with a confused expression on his face.
'Yes yaar...actually now-a-days everything works with publicity. Look at shops like Mc Donalds. They are a brand because they use publicity and only if more people try the product can we get more business. I will use my connections to publicize this shop. We will use newspapers, tv and internet to make our shop famous.'
Aryaman and Abhimanyu stood with surprised look on their faces.
'So Nandu...suggest a name for the shop' Manik said looking at Nandini with a smirk.
'Ayyappa...ab main kya suggest karoon?' Nandini asked her Ayyappa.😕
'Achcha confused ho? Ok let me think...it's the season of love and we will serve delicious pizzas here the aroma of which will spread everywhere. People who love when they enter here should feel the aroma of love' Manik said thoughtfully.
'The Aroma of Love...' Nandini whispered after Manik.
'The Aroma of Love! Perfect name! It sounds like the name of a novel...but the name will be catchy too. Along with pizzas, we will be making drinks too. Coffee, tea, cold drinks.'
'But sir..our shop is on loss' Aryaman interrupted.
'Guys, I'm Manik Malhotra of Malhotra Industries. It's not tough for me. Don't worry! Iss business ko back on track laane ke liye...I'll be using some of my own money too' Manik said with a smirk.
'No sir..aap apne paise kyon use karenge? We can work hard and bit by bit make our shop successful' Nandini said looking at Manik.
'I don't have time for bit by bit, Nandu. I want fast success before I hand over this shop completely to you' Manik said looking at Nandini.
Nandini felt the words stabbing into her heart.
'Mujhe poore shop ke owner banaake Manik chala jaayega..he'll go away from me...Ayyappa..why does he want to go away?' 😕😭
'So guys let's get to working. First we need to renovate the shop. I'll bring in some people for the renovation work.' Manik said with a smile on his face.
'No sir..uske liye tho aur paise lagenge...we all will work together.' Nandini suggested.
'Wow yaar..tu tho mere paise bachaane pe laga hai..I'm so lucky to get you as my partner' Manik said putting his arm around Nandini's shoulder and pulling her closer to him.
Nandini's eyes widened in shock from the proximity and she looked away and noticed Aryaman and Abhimanyu looking with smile on their faces.
'Ayyappa...ye mere saath inn dono ke saamne aise kyon kar rahe hai' Nandini thought as she tried to push Manik away.
'Arre..why are you trying to push me away? Itna kyon sharmaa raha hai? Hum sabhi tho yahan pe ladke hi haina..so all this is normal' Manik said with a little frown.
Nandini stopped pushing him away immediately.😆
'Ok..so back to our discussion...red, rose will be the colour combination of our shop. Red for passion, Rose for tender love' Manik said continuing to hold Nandini.😆😛
'Passion?' Nandini whispered looking at Manik.
'Yes...love is passionate..and for those who feel the intense love...the red will add intensity to their love. The boxes which deliver pizzas will have red and rose combination. Rose will be for tender love..the one where everything is dreamy and gentle.'
'But only red and rose?' Nandini asked with a confused look on her face. 'Colours of love are not just two'.
'The walls of the shop will be coloured yellow to signify friendship and in them we'll draw designs of red roses...to show the passionate love hidden in the friendship. The tables will have white colour table cloths signifying purity in love...' Manik continued with a smile looking at Nandu and then at Aryaman and Abhimanyu. 😃
'Hmm sir..aapko tho businessman nahi..artist hone chahiye the' Aryaman said with a little smile. 😉
'No..not artist actually..I'm into gaming business..making internet games and that's my passion' Manik said with a smile. 😊
'Wow sir...you know, my nephew love internet games.' Aryaman said with a smile on his face.
'That's great, Aryaman' Manik said with a smile. 'Bring him one day to meet me...would be fun to talk with him' 😛
'Ok guys...now it's almost lunch time and I'm feeling hungry. So shall we first go for a little lunch and then we'll get back to work. Lunch pe we'll discuss our future plans too and it'll be a chance to gell up with each other' Manik said with a smile.
'But sir..shop' Abhimanyu said with a confused expression.
'Arre yaar..we'll be back fast. Waise bhi..itne der hum yahan pe rahe and there were no phone calls for any pizza delivery. Abhi aage kyon aayenge?' Manik said with a questioning look on his face.
'Hmm ok sir...first we'll have food and return back fast' Abhimanyu said with a smile.
'Tho chalo...let's have some lunch. Mere Nandu ko khaana khilaana is now-a-days my favourite past-time. Haina Nandu?' Manik said naughtily with a wink at Nandini. 😉
Nandini looked away awkwardly as Manik smiled looking at Aryaman and Abhimanyu. Aryaman and Abhimanyu looked with smiles on their faces at each other.
'Don't worry...hum dono ladke haina...tho thodi si teasing tho chalta hai..haina, Nandu?' Manik whispered in Nandini's ears. 😛
'Ayyappa...why is Manik behaving like this with me in front of Aryaman and Abhimanyu...inko kya lag rahe honge?' Nandini thought as she looked away. 😕😕😆
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