Just friends? The more he thought about the words and her possible intentions behind them, the more he felt infuriated, the more he felt his heart sink. After the short-lived euphoria that him and nandini were finally a 'thing,' she had once again dashed his hopes and started pretending for the millionth time that there was nothing extraordinary between them, nothing special. How could she? After all that had transpired between them, why was she adamant on acting like nothing existed?
Nandini sighed as she found Manik slumped on a chair in the music room, his hands were on his guitar yet he was playing no music.
She entered the room silently and approached him from behind his chair. She could practically sense his anger and frustration in the air. Manik... sometimes he was just too intense. He felt so strongly about everything - whether it is his feelings toward his friends, his enemies or when it came to them. The emotions between the two of them were so raw that sometimes she was scared that the intensity of them may just burn her away. For the longest time she had lived in fear of them; in the fear that these emotions may just scar her soul forever. That was until she realized that her bond with Manik was beyond her fears. That it was so beautiful that she didn't care if it destroyed her; it was worth fighting for and she could never let him go...
She redirected her train of thoughts to thinking of a way to pacify him. Thinking about the way he had leaned on her earlier when she had been playing the piano, she leaned in to his chair and led his hands to strum the guitar, almost enclosing him in her arms.
"Nandini!" He called out angrily, as soon as he felt and then saw her hands on his. Abruptly, he stood up to face her.
Nandini just smiled up at him. Manik looked away.
"What are you doing here? Can't you see, your FRIEND needs time to practice," he asked in icy tones.
"Manik please. For once can you please listen to me with patience? What have I done to make you this mad? Why are you over-reacting so much?" Nandini blurted out.
"Over-reacting!?" He turned to face her again this time with unmasked anger and disbelief.
"Nandini do you have any idea what I've been through in these past five weeks when you decided that we were too "toxic" to be together?! When you decided to leave me!? And now you are thinking of pushing me away from yourself again! What is it this time? Please do tell!" Manik started yelling at her.
"Manik, listen, I-" Nandini started to say but Manik grabbed her shoulders.
"No you listen Nandini!" He shook her.
"Who gave you the right to play with me, Manik Malhotra's life!? If I had been living in darkness for so many years at least I was used to it! I could have dealt with it Nandini because I never knew what LIGHT was! But no, you came there like a shining star, expelling the darkness of my life but for what!? Only to throw me into darkness again! And this time when I had seen the light Nandini, the darkness killed me! Killed me every second of my existence without you! And now you are repeating the same thing again!" Manik yelled.
For a couple moments, Nandini just felt dumbstruck. She opened her mouth, but before she could say something Manik had pulled her towards him so close that their faces almost touch.
His eyes bore into hers.
"You are such a heartless woman, Nandini Moorthi."
Nandini had had enough.
"What did you say!? That I'm heartless, huh?" She said pushing his arms off of her.
"If I am heartless, then guess what Manik - you are selfish! You are the most self-centered guy I know!" Nandini bit back angrily and started pushing and punching his shoulders with all her strength.
"But more than that, Manik you are a complete IDIOT!" She yelled with a final push until he had hit the wall.
She finally stepped away as both of them stopped to catch their breath from all the shouting and pushing, leaning against the wall.
For a couple minutes, they did not dare utter a word, until Manik finally turned to face her and broke the silence.
"Nandini," he said almost as softly as a whisper.
"What!" Nandini turned to face him expecting another Monster attack, but froze as she saw the sad look on his face. He looked like a broken man.
"Yes, Manik?" She asked, this time softly.
"In the past couple months, in a very short span of time...a lot of things have happened... and after that "friends" thing you said..," Nandini could hear him struggling to put together his words.
"Nandini, I... "
"Nandini do you not trust me?" He finally blurted out.
She sighed in disbelief.
"Manik, me and you na...we are worlds apart from each other. We are like fire and ice. You've always just been...the "popular" college kid, always surrounded by your group of Fab Five, always surrounded by a crowd - they may have loved or they may have hated you, but all of them knew you, knew the Manik Malhotra. But me, I'm just a simple girl...a "commoner" like you used to remind me, a simple girl from a simple family, living a simple straightforward life and no one knew me... You were even in a serious relationship for seven years, with..with Aaliya. And that fact never made me sad or mad or jealous, but once again as someone who had never even been in a relationship, I could not help but feel - different from you, in so many ways. Yet, even then, I couldn't stop myself from trusting you, Manik! I don't know when all these differences stopped mattering, when I started feeling like somehow we do fit into each other's life...in a way that is just so perfect, so beautiful... And you're asking me if I don't trust you? For you, I lied to my own Chachi countless times! I lied to myself, broke promises I made to myself that I would stay away from you! For heaven's sake Manik, you were my first kiss! You think any of this has been easy for me? You think I would have been able to see myself in your world, had I not trusted you? Manik, do you think I-"
But she couldn't continue as Manik gently pushed her against the wall, and put his finger on her lips.
"Sshhh" He whispered and tilted his head inwards until both their foreheads were touching. But Nandini removed his hand.
"I'm not done yet Manik," she continued adamantly even as Manik had relaxed and his eyes had a tenderness to them that threatened to melt her heart.
"Having said all of that, yes I trust you, but all of a sudden I am beginning to wonder whether we can ever understand each other," She said, although after everything she confessed, her statement sounded half-hearted.
"When I asked to be your friend, I was just trying to protect our relationship. Trying to create a bond that is stronger than simply attraction, but maybe you are not used to this and to you I seem like an old-fashioned "commoner" from the 20th century and maybe I was wrong and I don't fit in your world," Nandini continued spluttering non-stop, unaware that tears had welled up in her eyes.
She finally stopped talking when she felt Manik's finger on her cheek, catching a tear before it rolled down her face.
"Anyways, I'm done now," she sniffed.
Manik just folded his arms across his chest, and continued to admire her with an amused smile.
"Are you sure? If anything's still left in this silly brain of yours," he poked her on the head playfully, "do say it. I would never have known Ms. Moorthi was capable of so much thinking!"
"Stop teasing me, Manik," Nandini whined.
"Oh but don't you know? That's what friends do!"
Nandini's eyes lit up after hearing the word "friends." Manik winked at her, and she broke into a smile.
"Hmm...friends first, lovers after... so our 20th century Princess, wants an old-school romance'...in that case, an old-school romance it shall be." Manik winked and smiled at her goofily, making Nandini shake her head at him.
***
Most of my OS's are not this dialogue-intensive but I just always feel like Manik and Nandini have sooo much to talk about still! Nandini is a confident main lead but I do wonder about any insecurities she may have had in her mind about starting a relationship with Manik.
Do tell me how you guys found it...if you made it to the end that is. -_-
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