Manik Nandini FF | The Makeover|Ch14 Pg104 - Page 78

Originally posted by: Endurance

Soon I'll be behind the bar for punching a writer who have a Lambu and Chotu in her story 🤣

Originally posted by: Autumn_Hue

My Cindu be the best bus hands down.. 😳

Tu kab update de rahi hai bata ye mujhe mari jaa rahi hoon main update ke liye Cindu sachhi..

Chapter 14:

0600 hours. Fresh green grass. Pale sky. The wind rushing through her hair. The first shower of rain leaving behind a mist so dense she could hardly see a few meters ahead clearly and a smell so exhilarating that Nandini swore she was floating somewhere up in the clouds.

"This is BEAUTIFUL" Manik screamed from beside her as they raced up the unused track near the park behind the sports complex on their bicycles.

"I KNOW RIGHT. JUST FEEL THE WIND." Nandini screamed right back at him. For a moment there, Nandini closed her eyes, letting the wind take its course on her.

"NANDINI"

Five seconds. That's all it took. Five seconds of extremely unexpected events. Five seconds which started with Manik's terrified scream, a sudden halt in acceleration, a rare moment of rush where Nandini felt like she was flying and then a painful ache on her backside.

From somewhere close beside her, Nandini heard a familiar crash and then she felt a pair of warm arms wrap around her shaking her hard.

Nandini opened her eyes, watching Manik's composure weak, his body shaking, his head on her shoulder as he called out her name, again and again.

"Manik?" Nandini watched in amusement, while Manik opened his eyes, relief flooding through him.

"You're okay! f**k. You're okay." Manik was hugging her like she was some sort of a fragile doll.

"Chill Manik. It's fine." Nandini laughed to which Manik pulled back from the hug, his expression had gone from relief to angry.

"You absolute nut of a person." Yes, the lecture had began. "Agar kisi pathar pe girti toh?"

"Who cares Manik? Kuch din hospital me baithna padta but who cares!"

"Are you serious? Apni summer holidays hospital me bitaane ka tera itna mann tha toh pehle bolna chahiye tha na. School ke last day pe main tujhe dhakka maar deta top floor se."

"School ke last few days mein tere paas toh time hi time tha na?" Manik grimaced as he felt the same irritation light up inside his head that always did when Nandini brought this up.

"Again? Really?"

"I don't know why Aliya and you aren't together anymore Manik. You guys are perfect."

"Nandini, just because Aliya and I studied together-"

"And came to school together, spent the entire morning together, wrote the exam in the same room and spent the remainder of the evening together discussing the paper and then studied for the next one together. You're right. No big deal at all Manik. It's just you and your ex girlfriend cozying it up over a cup of hot chocolate."

"We were not cozying it up. We were sitting and studying."

"You had an option Manik. We called you to study with us too. But you decided to go to Aliya's place and study. Why?"

"Because it's a habit. Since we've been kids, Aliya and I have been studying together. It's just how we are." There was a brief moment of silence where in each of them studied the other.

"Manik, are you over her?" Nandini stared at him, unsure while Manik looked into her eyes, the right words to say in the current situation eluding him.

It wasn't that he wasn't over Aliya. He was.

It was just that when he had spent the last three weeks with Aliya, just the two of them, laughing and chilling like they used to before he had started dating her, he remembered, he remembered how close he and Aliya used to be before they had started dating. They were practically best friends and they had been so comfortable with each other, the memory of it had surprised him. And that memory as compared to how they became after they'd started dating knocked the wind out of him. And what was a bigger surprise to him was that as he looked back at how things had gone from one way to another, he realized that a lot of it had been his doing. He had lost interest, he had taken her for granted, he had stopped bothering to treat her well, he had been the one who had forced her to walk out on him. It had all been his fault.

And then he had the mental image of Nandini in his head, his closest friend after Cabir, just like Aliya had been. He wondered as he had been for the past few weeks, whether seeing this, this relationship, through would mean that he and Nandini would also go back to being strangers as he and Aliya had.

Nandini was still staring at him, but the light in her eyes had been replaced with a strange understanding. "It's okay khambu. I understand. This happens."

"Nandini, I-"

"Manik, I've been thinking. Maybe you and me, maybe it's for the best that we just stay friends. We were so much happier back then, it's only been a month since we have been together and it already feels like our relation is on the rocks. My constant insecurity, your doubts. We were better than this Manik."

She was right though, thought Manik, the last one month had just dragged itself on and on. This was bound to happen.

"Maybe we should have let that drunk mistake just stay a drunk mistake." Manik said, avoiding her eye which had suddenly welled up.

Drunk mistake? So this had all been a drunk mistake to him? The first one had been a drunk mistake to him, she could live with that. But why did he come over the next day to her place and kiss her like he had wanted to do this for ages? And not just that one day, almost every day after until their exams had started, he had come over, and they had spent hours together holding hands, cozying up together under the blanket watching a movie or the new season of their favorite shows, him randomly kissing her neck and holding her close to him. That had all been a drunk mistake to him?

"Nandini-" Manik started to say.

"I'm glad we dint tell any of our friends. It's easier that they don't know." Nandini's tears were now all gone, her face martyred with a stubborn expression. Manik watched her, her expression, as it went from unsure to upset to anger and finally to denial.

Manik wanted to hug her and tell her that it was going to be okay, that they were going to be okay, that their relation would survive, it would. But at that moment, he himself was unsure of what he was doing in this relation, of whether hanging onto a relation that would probably not last was worth ruining a friendship that was beautiful and full of love.

He had no answers in hand, he had no comfort to give her that would make her feel better without him questioning his own intents. There was nothing that he had inside him to say to her that might help, nothing at all. It was just a blank, empty space, a void inside.

"I guess you're right. It is easier this way." Manik said, looking straight into her eyes, his blankness reflected in hers as they both got up as if in a dream and rode off, although towards the same place but yet their hearts miles apart.

Manik first went to drop her off at her place, just to be sure that she would not get caught up in the rain somewhere. Just for a moment, Nandini turned towards him.

"This is it then Manik. Goodbye." Nandini had looked at him with a look of closure that Manik would never forget.

He watched from the gate of her society as she parked her bicycle, chaining it to the pillar before she went away, up the stairs. She did not look back at him, not even once.

Manik waited for a few more minutes at the gate waiting for her head to turn up at the balcony from where she usually waved adios to him for the day.

But his wait was a wasted effort. Her head never turned up in the balcony, with a heavy heart, Manik turned his bike back around and left.

***

"Manik, you're mad." Nandini laughed as Manik put his arm around her waist under the blanket as they watched the new season of the big bang theory, snuggled together on his bed, while his mom was out of town.

"Raj is the cutest of the lot."

"No Manik. The cutest is Sheldon. He is so cute. Come on, have you seen that episode where Penny sings soft kitty to him? f**king adorable."

"That's just gay chotu. That's not cute."

"Don't call Sheldon gay." Nandini scowled at Manik as he laughed at her adorable expression.

"f**k raj. You're the cutest chotu." Manik said as he gave her a light kiss on the neck making her giggle.

"That tickles." Nandini said hiding her soft spot.

"My kiss tickles you?" Manik asked as he inched closer to her, blowing slightly on her earlobe making her giggle even more.

"Don't" Nandini was shaking like crazy when something else sent away all those ticklish feelings from her ear and her neck. It was the feeling of his hand slightly touching her waist underneath her shirt.

"Manik-" Nandini gasped as Manik pulled her towards him, covering them both under the blanket as he smirked at her expression, his hand still on her bare back.

"Nandini, your skin is so soft." Manik smiled as she looked away from him.

Lifting her face back up to his face level, he softly kissed her on the cheek making her entire face turn beetred, her eyes now closed as she let her sensations take over her.

"Nandini?" Nandini smiled as his hand stroked her cheek. "Nandini?" His hand was on her shoulder patting her slightly. Nandini giggled a little in response.

"NANDINI?" He was shaking her frantically.

Confused as to why he was shaking her with such unexplained vigour, she opened her eyes, only to face a frantic looking Navya who was shaking her, trying to wake her up.

Nandini sat up straight on her bed, staring from Navya to her surroundings like a crazed being. Her eyes welling up all over again at the realization of it all having only been a memory from a distant time when they'd been happier, her heart aching to be close to him again, her mind racing so fast that she could hear the whirr sounding off of it.

She picked up her phone and quickly dialed one of the few numbers that she knew by heart. Manik Malhotra's. But it was no use, his phone was switched off.

He must have whatsapped her. It was her last hope.

Nandini opened her Whatsapp with fingers that were shaking as she held onto her phone for oh dear life.

There were three messages from him.

Manik (0720hrs): Nandini, are you okay?
Manik (0930hrs): I guess you need your own time alone for a bit. But please give me a call soon. I have to speak to you.
Manik (1230hrs): I get it. You don't want to talk. It's cool. Likewise, I have decided to take some time off too. Please don't bother calling or texting. See you in two weeks at school.

"Nandini are you okay?" Navya was holding Nandini's hand looking confused and worried as Nandini kept her phone aside, her mind still frantic and yet blank. "Nandini answer me?" Navya was now sitting next to her, her arms around her.

Nandini closed her eyes for a minute, letting that one memory rush back into her mind.

"Maybe we should have let that drunk mistake stay a drunk mistake."

The flood gates opened up again, Nandini closed her eyes as she felt the tears burn her cheeks, reminding her his words, again and again, a drunk mistake.

"Nandini, what's wrong?" Navya looked extremely worried as she wiped Nandini's tears away with her hands.

"Manik. He still has feelings for Aliya." Nandini said through her tears, her voice broken and hoarse. Navya rubbed her back with a grave look on her face.

"Nandini, we talked about this, remember? You always knew your feelings were one sided. Why are you doing to this to yourself? It's just a crush Nands. Don't cry about it. It's not worth it."

"Navya, its not like that. Manik and I, we were dating."

"What? You were dating? When?"

"It was just for a few weeks."

"When did this start?" Navya knew better than to get on Nandini's nerves for not telling her. There would be a lot of time to annoy her about this later.

"It started around the day after Harshad"s party. It was all great in the beginning. But then once the exams started, I had a few doubts in my mind, you know, about Aliya and him. I've asked him about it a lot of times and he just avoids the question. He never gives me a straight answer about it. So today, I just asked him if he was over her or not. And he looked so guilty Navya, the answer was obvious."

"Did you speak to him after that?" Navya expression had gone from worried to angry.

"No. I slept off after that. I was too upset. He whatsapped me after that thrice. The last one just said he's taking some time off and that I should leave him alone."

"Nandini, he's an asshole." Navya looked like she could hit something right at that moment.

"Navya, he's-"

"Do you know where he is right now?"

"No. Where?" Nandini asked even though she was too afraid to hear the answer.

"He's gone off on a camping trip with Aliya."

***

Suggestions and Comments are welcome

Love

Cindy

Originally posted by: Dhariya_

what the hell is this

like seriously

Writer I am katti with you

Originally posted by: shavashava

With due respect, Can I ask you something?
I want to smack Manik, hard. Can I? -______-