Yaariaan~ A Cabir-Nandini OS

Yaariaan.

The cool breeze of November hit her bare arms, making her shiver in the autumn night. Exhaling loudly she repositioned herself on the pavement of the hospital terrace. Cabir had fallen asleep and she had wanted to desperately get herself out of Manik's persistent radar.

She felt suffocated under his penetrating stare, as if he was trying to provoke a response from her. His eyes seem to bore into her insides, churning, burning and tearing her insides. She shuddered as she realised that this was just one look, dare he touched her, the mere contact lit a fire that indistinguishable, unconquerable.

"Maybe I am just allergic to him" She murmured, shaking her head as if to erase her destructive thoughts.

"Or maybe you are just stupid" She heard Cabir's voice behind her, as she shrieked aloud.

She said, "Why are you out of your bed Cabir? If you haven't realised yet you have been beaten up, maybe the beating on your skull has done some serious damage than previously thought so." Nandini raised her eyebrows in mock worry and then rolled her eyes.

"Ah! Miss Moorthy just cracked a pretty lame joke. Don't worry my company will improve that defect of yours, slowly, but surely" Cabir smirked as he too perched himself next to Nandini.

"You will kill me with your modesty Cabir" Nandini motioned a stab to her heart with her hands.

"Why did you leave in a hurry?" Cabir said as he fished out a bottle from his hospital clothes. Nandini's eyes widened as Cabir stook a sharp sip from the bottle.

"What are you doing Cabir? Drinking? Drinking alcohol in a bloody hospital? Have you finally lost it?" Nandini yelled.

"Chill Nandi! I hate hospital rules and their boring regulations. And plus freedom is my life Nandi-The-Bull"

"I didn't laugh Cabir" Nandini looked straight ahead at the horizon where the full moon was shimmering in all her glory. Giving light to the darkness that had embraced this particular side of the planet.

"I didn't expect you to laugh actually. You know the entire female sex is so alike in this matter. One breakup and that's it! Life is finished, no need to smile, nor laugh nor appreciate other people's impeccable sense of humour" Cabir said as he took another swig.

"Excuse me! What makes you think that I am like other girls Cabir? And in order for there to be a break-up, there needed to a relationship as well Mr I-Am-So-Funny-That-I-Made-The-Dog-Cry"

"Touch! I know Manik since we were children Nandini and I know for a fact that when Manik is serious about something, his eyes give him away. I know, something, was going on between you two. And I am not here to hug you, wipe away your tears and say 'Let's eat some cake babes! The guy was a jerk anyways'"

Before Cabir could finish off his sentence, Nandini retorted, "Isn't this what you are doing right now Cabir? Giving me a false sense of hope? That everything will be alright in the end, that everything magically becomes wonderful when you give it time. Well time is a slug and all it does is rub salt to your already raw wounds. And trust me it stings like a bitch"

"You don't need to tell me that. I know that myself as well" Cabir smirked and took another swig from the bottle. As if upon instinct, Nandini too reached out for the bottle and took a sharp mouthful herself. The clear liquid burned her throat, yet it calmed down her over active brain and those impossible nerves.

"Well-done meri wounded bull!" Cabir cheered while patting her back. "See I told you my company can do wonders"

"Shut up Cabir."

"Ouch!" Said Cabir as he saw Nandini take another swig of his alcohol and he let her. He knew that she needed something to let her guard down in front of others, and this was just aiding her. He himself knew how it incessantly consumes you internally to be cheated by the one you thought would, well, never cheat you.

"You know I thought love would be something that magical. That when the most fundamental atoms, the building blocks of all matter, of different individuals connect, that the relationship will last for a life time, something you call soul mates"

"Wait did you just scientifically define soul mates?" Cabir laughed at how naive the girl in front of him was. He couldn't help but approve of Manik's choice. The perfect ying for his yang, the perfect back foot to his front, the perfect imperfection for his impulsive douche of a friend.

"Just listen alright! He brought a whole bag of firsts in life Cabir, from the hatred to the attraction to maybe even love. But you know I have stopped trusting my heart, it always falls way too hard, way too quickly. Love is a total misconception that is only possible in fairytales. I should have known he was playing me Cabir. I should have known." Nandini nodded her head slowly, as a lone tear trickled down her cheek.

"Seriously you make me laugh!"

"I didn't even crack a joke though?" Nandini looked around and thought whether Cabir had had a little too much to drink.

"One bad experience and you are running away from the anything, and everything, that remotely requires you to be emotionally invested. I am not defending Manik, but you shouldn't detest the idea of love Nandini. Love is an emotion and we all can curse it all we want, but us humans do not exercise control over emotions. Ho tah hai, ho gaya. You are a girl of science, I know, but even science fails to understand the works of emotions."

"You are extremely philosophical for a prankster Cabir." Nandini said wiping her tears.

"Well experience gives you an insight in to everything in life." Cabir smiled sadly as Nandini looked at him and she too smiled.

"Such broken phonographs we are" Nandini said as she sighed.

"What?" Cabir choked on his drink and looked to Nandini as if she was an alien.

"I mean we sound so battered and broken. Like a phonograph"

Cabir chuckled at her lame attempt at lightening the mood and said, "I don't know about you, but I am not battered and definitely not broken!"

"How do you do it Cabir? How do you laugh, joke, play pranks, when the one you love so hopelessly just left you. That too without a valid and logical reason."

Taken back by her blunt question, Cabir just shrugged and swallowed his bile. "I don't know. Guess we all have our own ways of dealing with heartbreaks."

"You are a horrible liar." Nandini looked at her dangling legs in the air.

Cabir looked at the petite girl in front of him and was shocked by how well she could see past him. Something even his friends had failed to pick up behind his clowning exterior. He just shrugged and said, "I play pranks everyday and this" pointing to his smile face, "is just one of them. I guess I have mastered the art."

Nandini nodded and murmured, "Yep! Definitely broken phonographs"

Cabir laughed at her statement and passed the bottle to her, but not without taking a sip first. Nandini reached out for the bottle and let it slip through her hands and down the levels. It was the best for both of them.

"By the way, didn't anyone realise you are not in your bed?" Nandini said as Cabir looked into the horizon.

"I have taught you enough tricks for one day my bull, maybe some other day I will let you into my magical ways." Cabir said melodramatically.

Nandini exhaled loudly and said, "What have I got myself into"

~*~

The statement about defining soul mates scientifically is not mine, the original one is on tumblr. I remembered reading it, but I don't remember the exact lines!

Please do review this lame attempt! Cabir-Nandini just need to happen 😳