ManVeer OS: Best Friends Part 2 - Page 5! - Page 3

Recap:

"Maanyata, please. The truth is we're stuck here for who knows how long. Can we at least try and pretend that we don't hate each other? That you don't hate me." The emphasis on 'you' and 'me' came across all too clear.

"You're saying as if you love me," Maanyata replied knowing all too well that he hated her just as much as she hated him.

"I do."

The words came out of his mouth before he even thought of them, which was why there was no way he could've controlled them. For a moment, he was just as shocked as she was. How? Why? Why did he say that? Rather how did those words just come out of his mouth?

To say Maanyata was shocked would be an understatement of the century. She jsut stared at him for what seemed like hours, when in reality, it was no more than a few seconds. His expression was so sincere and genuine that his words touched her heart. Her heart that was doing every possible thing to hold on to this hope, the hope that what Udayveer just said was true. But then her mind took over. He's lying. And her shocked, dazed, even confused expression changed to a frown that Udayveer knew all too well. Even he couldn't believe he just said that, but he knew it wasn't a lie. Deep in his heart, he knew it was an honest confession. A confession he had no control over, but a confession, nevertheless. "We were best friends, after all," He added as if to provide reasoning to back up his words.

She was still staring at him, trying to find one single reason not to believe him, to yell at him. After all, that was always easier to do than handle this. Handle him. What was up with him anyway? Was he really the same Udayveer? Unknowingly and maybe even unwantingly, he had revealed a hidden side of him to her, a side not many people ever saw, a side that even he sometimes forgot existed. Then he started speaking. This one time he let his heart take over while he shut away his mind, his conniving, calculating, and manipulating mind. He didn't know if he was making a mistake, but at the moment, he didn't have any other choice but to let his heart take over. Such are the matters of the heart. "I know, Maanyata, I know you don't remember anything. You don't even remember your family. How would you remember me?" He quietly planted himself on the floor, the cold and hard floor, turned his face to the other side to face the wall instead. He didn't want to look at her. He didn't want her to see all those emotions in his eyes that were coming from God knows where and overwhelming him. After a brief silence, he said, "We were best friends, Maanyata. We played together. We had fun. We fought. We made up. But no matter what, we were always together. You were my best friend, and I haven't had another ever since." He couldn't say another word for a few seconds, just rested his eyes on the floor and thought about all the beautiful moments he had shared with Maanyata in their childhood.

"I always missed you. I missed my best friend who I could always talk to, who would always say the truth to me, without twisting it, without having any regard of my status. I missed the girl I wanted to grow up with. I missed the girl I loved since the first day I saw her. I met many girls in those 16 years you were away. And all of them had one thing in common – they all loved my title, my estate, my money. None of them ever got close to me as you were all those years ago. Maybe the truth is that I never let them. I knew they didn't truly love me, and I didn't want to give them a chance to hurt me. I was afraid of betrayal. I was hurt enough when you disappeared. I couldn't let anyone else hurt me. Ever." Udayveer paused in a moment when his mind finally kicked back in action, realizing suddenly he had said too much. All the thoughts that he only allowed to say to himself were spoken aloud. How could he? How could he say those words to anyone but himself? In one swift movement, he stood up and put as much distance between him and Maanyata as he could. The girl was driving him crazy, making him do things he never thought he would ever do. How? Just how she was doing it, he didn't know, but she was doing something indescribable, unimaginable… impossible.

Where he was fighting a battle with himself in the corner, Maanyata was also fighting a battle within herself in the other side of the room. Despising Udayveer was easy. After all, he was the one responsible for bringing chaos to her life. He was her jailer in the Rajmahal. Maanyata, you fool, he's the one who brought you back to your family. He is the one who cared enough to reunite you with your people. Maanyata wanted to believe Udayveer, her heart wanted her to believe him. Being a girl who always followed her heart, she didn't understand why she never did the same in Udayveer's case. However, this one time, she would listen to her heart instead of her mind. Getting to her feet, she slowly walked towards Udayveer. He was still facing the wall, his back towards her. She wanted to say something, anything that would ease the turmoil he was apparently going through. Without realizing what she was doing, her hand almost reached his shoulder. Just a second before her hand would rest on his shoulder, she looked at it stunned, suddenly realizing what she was doing. That sudden realization jerked her, and she quickly brought her hand down to her side. What are you doing? You're feeling something for him. For him? It's Udayveer, remember. Your jailer!

Maanyata was still confused and lost in her thoughts when Udayveer suddenly turned around with a killer look. "No one will ever know about it," he said, using the same threatening tone he always used, except this time she could hear the vulnerability in his voice. His eyes were bloodshot, but there was such vulnerability in them that they shook something inside her, something close to her heart, or maybe her heart itself? For the first time, she had seen the other side of Uday that she would have never guessed existed. For the first time, she realized that he was not just the cold, manipulative, heartless jailer. He was a person, a real person with feelings, a person who could feel pain. She had witnessed the ever annoying, manipulating, and conniving Prince Udayveer so many times that this sudden this other side of him seemed impossible. But she knew it was very much possible, she was witnessing it at that very moment.

Trying to lighten up the mood knowing it must be hard for him to let anyone see that side of him, she said pretending to be confused, "What?" And then added mockingly, "Ahhh... what would happen to the reputation of the Prince Udayveer of Jaigarh if anyone got to he's actually afraid of something?"

Udayveer took another step towards her, closing the little distance that had remained before, "I said, NO ONE will ever know about this."

She slightly tilted her face to her side and looked in his eyes. The first thing she saw was rage, scaring rage. The second thing she saw was a million other emotions he was trying so hard to hide behind this overwhelming rage.

"Relax, I wasn't going to tell anyone anyway." Then she smiled, and before she could stop herself, her hand went out to hold Uday's hand. His hand was cold, and her first instinct was to draw hers back, but seeing the look on his face, she just couldn't bring herself to do that. They stood there in silence for a few moments, which seemed like an eternity. Udayveer was trying to read her face. What was going on in her mind? Did he really finally get his Maanyata back? The only girl he had ever fallen in love with? She was back? She was with him? That's all it took to bring her back? He only had to open up a little and let her feel the bond they had once shared? The bond that seems to have renewed.

Maanyata was trying to understand what she was doing. She couldn't make sense of what she was doing, couldn't explain it. So her only choice was to let it happen as it was, to say and do whatever her heart wanted her to say and do. "Uday, remember one thing. Even if you are afraid of something, it doesn't make you weak." After a pause, she added, "It only makes you human." In that moment, Udayveer knew he was one-step closer to his Maanyata, one huge step closer. At least one wall was down. Holding her hand in his, he didn't care about anything else. Nothing else mattered, but her. Meri Maharani Maanyata.