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It had been 2 days. Her eyes scanned the crowded room, looking for the familiar spark of ostentatious clothes. He was nowhere in sight. Her eye-brows furrowed and a firm pout settled on her lips.
Aiyappa yeh Manik bhi na.. what does he think of himself? He just vanishes whenever he feels like it... He's so arrogant.
She muttered and complained to her Aiyyapa as she looked at the single daunting tick on her WhatsApp message.
Where are you?
She determinedly walked towards the practice room where she knew she would find Fab5. Where could he have gone that he couldn't even receive her message? Pretences be damned, she walked in. Her dramatic entry was met with a slew of perplexed expressions.
"Nandini kya hua?" Dhruv walked up to her.
"Woh" Damn it she hadn't thought of a suitable excuse. "I.. haan.. woh.. I wanted to talk to you... we haven't talked all day na?" She gave him her best possible cheery smile.
A bark of laughter erupted from behind them.
"Nice save." Cabir said between a cough. She glared at him.
"Tho let's go." Dhruv said, raising his hands towards the door.
"I mean.. actually.. kya hai na.. it's not.. it's not that important.. we can talk right here." He looked at her like she had sprouted an extra head.
"I mean we're all friends now, hai na? I wanted to talk to all of you." She cringed internally.
"You wanted to talk to all of us?" Mukthi asked coming up to her.
"Haan."
"Seriously?"
"Haan. How.. how are you Mukthi? How's everything going?" She was met with a blank stare.
The only person not staring at her was Cabir who was off to the side laughing uncontrollably. She glared pointedly at him. "What's so funny?"
"Kuch nahi.. kuch nahi.. bas yoonhi." He burst into another fit of laughter.
"Aliya, tum kaisi ho?" Nandini asked, turning towards her and looking away from the are you mad expression that Mukthi was sporting.
"Okay?" The answer seemed more like a question. Nandini shuffled her feet and glanced around the room.
"So where's your leader? Seems like he's missing." She desperately tried to keep the concern out of her voice.
"Ting ting ting we have a winner." Cabir said, giving her his best sarcastic eye brow lift.
"Manik? He's gone somewhere." Dhruv answered, not giving anything away.
"Somewhere?" Now she must surly look like a fool.
"Haan..Nandini what's wrong with you? You're behaving very strangely?"
She sighed, she knew she was defeated. They weren't going to give her any answers and she couldn't possibly ask them directly without seeming like a deranged fool.
"I..I'm fine. Great. Perfect. Ek dum fit. Oh..okay then..you guys practice. Mai chalthi hoon."
But before she could make her walk of shame, four phones beeped. It was Cabir who broke the silence; he probably took pity on her.
"Talk about the devil, Manik's back." She looked sharply at him waiting for more. He gave her a resigned shoulder shrug.
"Waise Nandini, even I want to talk to you. Let's go." He grabbed her by the shoulders and they walked out, leaving behind three very confused band members.
"He's fine, don't worry." She felt her unease slightly simmer.
"Who said I'm worried?" They stopped walking and he turned to face her.
"You guys are so painfully obvious." He shook his head.
She resigned her stoic stance. "Where's he?"
"I told you he's fine. Manik just wants to be alone."
"Alone?"
"Yeah. Alone. So you should leave him alone."
"But you said he's back, is he in the college?"
"Nandini, alone means alone. Let it go. Don't go after him." But she was already walking away. She left the crowd behind and made a turn towards the abandoned music block back entrance.
Surely enough there he was, seated on the staircase with his head resting against the wall. She felt the worry finally dissipate.
"Where were you?" He opened his eyes , he looked at her and then he looked away. No smirk. No witty come back. No warmth.
"Leave." It was just one word but the coldness in them startled her. She folded her arms.
"No."
His eyes flashed and he got up and came to stand in front of her. Anger, she wasn't sure whom it was aimed at, radiated off him.
"Nandini, suna nahi? I said leave."
"Aur tumne suna nahi? I said no."
"I'm not kidding."
"Neither am I." His frown deepened and he grabbed her shoulders.
"Are you going to push me off?" A flash of surprise passed through his otherwise cold glance. His hands were light on her shoulders and he looked away as if not wanting her to look at him.
"Please.. please just leave me alone." His voice was soft.
"Let's take a break."
He glanced swiftly at her, this time the surprise clearly shown in his eyes. She stepped closer, bridging the gap between them. Her arms went about him and she hugged him, resting her head on his chest, almost burrowing into him.
He was still for a long minute and then his arms engulfed her pulling her as close to him as possible.
"Woh mai.." He said.
"Shhh."
She stood there taking in his warmth. It was hard not to get used to it... his warmth. It made her feel light and safe, like it was just them and no one else existed.
He finally loosened his grip and stepped back but she wasn't ready to give up the warmth just yet and stepped forward once more, looking up at him.
"You didn't tell me where you were going." Knowing she wasn't going to step away he placed his arms on her waist and pulled her in.
"Woh.. I didn't think you'd want to know." His hand went up her shoulders, traced her chin and finally pushed her hair back, tucking it behind her ears.
"What does that mean?"
The coldness crept back into his eyes. He stepped back and leaned against the wall. Clearly Nandini wasn't in any mood to put up with his attitude. She stepped forward once again. She put her hands on his chest, pushed him further into the wall and forced him to look down at her.
His eyes flashed once more.
"You walked away. Now you want a break. I mean what do you even want from me? Just leave, I know you don't really care. Don't try to pretend you do. No one cares. And I'm fine being alone. Everyone is the same... Everything is conditional" Venomous words slipped through him.
No one cares. I'm fine being alone.
Maybe it was those words or maybe it was that she missed him or maybe she was finally able to see through his monster mask and into Manik.
She leaned up and brushed her lips slightly against his, catching the rest of his heated rant. He was stunned as she pulled away.
"Shut up."
He didn't even have an answer to that. He just continued to look at her equal parts confused and stunned. She leaned up once again and placed a light kiss on his jaw line, up on his cheek and then the corner of his lips.
"Where did you go?"
He was too stunned to lie. "Nyonika wanted me to go get a signature."
Her eyes bored into his. She leaned into him once more and kissed him softly. This time he reacted, grabbing her and bending slightly.
"What are you doing?" He whispered against her lips.
"Taking a break." She finally answered and pulled away.
"You're wrong."
"What?"
"Not everything is give and take."
He just stared at her, as if trying to decipher what's going on in her mind. He laced his hands through hers and pulled her against him.
"Really?" There was no sarcasm laced in his voice.
"Really." In one swift motion he reversed their position and pushed her against the wall.
"How can you be so sure?" His face was centimetres away from hers and his warm breath washed over her.
"Do you think Fab5 will stop caring for you if you can't play your guitar?"
He was silent.
"Your friendship with them, it's unconditional."
He continued to stare down at her.
"Aur tum?"
"Mai kya?"
"Will you stop caring?" His voice was barely above a whisper.
It was her time to be silent. She never expected him to ask her that with so much vulnerability. She shook her head.
"I hate you." His eyes widened. But she grabbed his shirt refusing to let him go. "I hate you for coming into my life. I hate that you caught my fireflies. I hate that you never left me alone. I hate that you saved me from falling off the cliff. I hate that you smiled at me. I hate that your hugs are so warm. I hate that you never take care of yourself. I hate that you broke my heart... more than anything else I hate that I can't stop caring about you."
Tears welled up in her eye and fell down her cheeks. He brushed them off and kissed her on the cheeks where the tears had been. It was his turn to shake his head.
"When you punched me the face and told me I was nothing..I'd never been more angry... But the thing was.. I was so angry with myself.. so angry that you were able to so completely unnerve me. You stole my breath and you didn't even know it. You had me around your fingers and you didn't even know it. But then.. but I ruined it all didn't I." His eyes sobered up.
"I broke your heart..."
She placed her finger on his lips. Then she wrapped her arms around him. She didn't want to think about anything else. She only wanted to think about them. She wanted nothing else to exist at this moment. Yes they had so much to talk about. Yes they were far from being okay. Yes she still wasn't ready to accept his apology. But for now she wanted him to know she cared. She wanted him to be okay. She never wanted him to think he was worthless, unlovable.
"Kal."
"Hmm?"
"We're on a break today. Today it doesn't matter. Tomorrow it will." She leaned back giving him a slight smile.
He looked at her for a bit and finally smiled back. Then he gave her wince. She looked at him confusedly.
"Punch then came kiss. You punched me again and now we kissed. So obviously the next one is a punch." His smiled, his eyes crinkling.
She gave him slight look of disbelief and then smirked at him.
"And don't you forget it Manik Malhotra"
a/n - must sleep. haven't proof read. sorry if it sucks. okay bye.
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