Manik entered his bedroom closing the door behind him. He moved his steps towards the mirror and stared at himself. What had happened to him? What made him hug Nandini like that? Wasn't she supposed to be the girl he hates, the commoner, the idiot, the ex spot? Why did his fingers dial her number out of all the people he knew? The endless questions invaded his mind as he stood in front of his mirror speechless. He lifted both of his hands and examined them closely with his eyes.
He slowly made his way towards his bed and dropped himself to sleep.
The next morning Nandu woke up two hours early, as she had remembered her 7 pm meeting with Monster Manik. She replayed the hug she shared with him yesterday in her mind.
She reached Space College and looked around noticing it was empty.
"Nandu you idiot, what made you come. This monster is probably still asleep in his room and dreaming. He told you na? He told you he won't come. So why are you here?" She smacked the back of her head lightly as she walked between the silent hallways of Space.
"Is class going to start early today?" A voice to her side startled her. She turned around to see the custodian sweeping the floor. "If I knew class was going to start early today then I would have done my cleaning earlier as there is another student who also came." He grabbed his mop and moved away to clean another area. As he moved away from Nandini's view, Nandini's eyes spotted Manik fast asleep on the stairs.
"Manik?" she mumbled to herself still not able to believe that Manik was actually there and it wasn't her imagination playing games with her. She moved her little feet towards him as she continued to look at him. Once she got closer to him, she gazed at him lying there fast asleep. His perfect hair was still in place while all the muscles of his face were at peace.
In fact he looks like an innocent baby. Nandu have you gone mad? What are you saying?" She smacked her head again.
"Kya Kare ho tum?!"
"Ahhh!" Nandini let out a cry as she lifted her hand to her chest frightened by his voice.
"You scared me." She spoke as the fear in her eyes can still be seen.
"Yet you continue to say, you're not scared of me." Manik spoke as he fixed the wrinkles in his shirt.
"Alright let's work on what we came here for." He spoke looking at her this time.
"Did he forget about yesterday?" Nandini thought to herself.
"Hey!" Manik called at her while snapping his finger
"Are you still here? I'm talking to you. Listen we have to finish what we came here for. So stop daydreaming and get Rishab and Dhruv's file out."
Nandini did what she was told without uttering a word. She wasn't going to argue with him any further. It was useless and she wasn't in a mood to pick a fight with him. They looked over the files for the past two hours and discussed a couple of things regarding Rishab and Dhruv's condition.
"Ok so we will finish this when we meet again." Manik grabbed his coat as he spoke.
"You can keep Dhruv's file along with Rishab's." He added.
Nandini took Dhruv's file and placed it with Rishab's file inside her bag.
They both walked in different directions making sure that no one would come to know they were together.
"Nandini!" Navya called out to her.
"Hey Navya." Nandini slowed herself down allowing Navya to catch up with her.
"We have to practice for the competition remember. We are going to beat those Fab5 idiots." She spoke as she struggled to tie the tip of her braid.
They entered the room and there was Harshad holding his guitar, while Shahid was busy reading something. To the far left seated the Fab5 group, which included Cabir, Mukti, Alya, Dhruv,and Manik.
Nandini caught a glimpse of Manik working on the strings of his guitar. He was fidgeting with the strings when his eyes spotted Nandini entering the room. Both got into a short awkward gaze and turned their face away.
"Nandini, Navya hello guys." Harshad called out to them.
Nandini placed her bag on the table and sat along with Navya.
"Hello." Nandini replied.
"You guys are ready? We are going to rock." Harshad's eyes sparked with victory already.
Nandini let out a small smile. While her eyes fell on Dhruv who was sitting with his group quietly.
She took her phone out and decided to text him.
"Hello Dhruv. What's up :)" She texted him. Dhruv's eyes fell on his phone as he noticed her message. Without lifting his head, he tried to act like he wasn't aware of it. He lifted his hand and acted like he was fixing his guitar. Nandini moved her feet towards Dhruv's direction but stopped when she noticed Manik's eyes staring at her. She turned her face away and grabbed her water bottle to drink. As she turned her face back, to her surprise there stood Manik a couple of inches away from her. She spilled the water over her face shocked by his presence.
"I scared you again." Manik spoke before she said anything.
She eyed the water that covered her top and before she could move her hand, Manik held her arm and pulled her away from the room. He sat her down and held on to her shoulder while his other hand wiped the water from her face. He traced her forehead all the way to her cheeks and the end of her eyes, while his bedroom eyes gazed at her.
The loud voices of the student's outside the room broke their trance, making them aware of the situation they are in. Nandini moved herself away as her cheeks flushed with heat. Without saying anything, she made her way towards the door, leaving behind a struck and confused Manik who sat there eying his fingers in disbelief.
