Manan ss : a lifetime with you ( completed ) - Page 18

its k ...tysm 😳

tc 🤗

tysm 😳😳

well "the talk " will come tmrw 😉

I hate her

tysm 😳...well they are destined to be no doubt

manan❤️

well , he has his reasons and concerns right 😉

n i will make sure i justify that in their talk

Part 12

Agreeing to Nandini, I took her home

While the servants placed food on the small table for 2 across my room , which overlooked a balcony ,

for I used it for coffee mornings strumming my guitar strings remembering the girl

who was now just seated on my bed looking ; well examining the room carefully .

noone's pov

The lunch was laid, they stole glances every second,

Afraid to speak,

Soon both were done yet both were fiddling the rice with the spoon,

For even a grain more couldn't go down the pharynx, before their larynxes spoke

He broke the silence this time unlike, the last time where he begged her for it ; her silence .

"Nandini ...I know that you are ..." he spoke softly , his left hand over her right

Nandini s pov

I looked at him ; with the fear in his eyes,

I had seen the same fear that day when he asked me to promise him

for something which was the most precious thing of mine

But I did

But his eyes, his eyes always revealed him

They did that day too ,

I had seen a defeated Manik in his eyes ,

The look in his eyes like, he had died thousands of deaths

Like he was a prisoner in his own eyes ,

And all I dreamt these years , was to free him .

" Manik I'm sorry , I was going to tell you but..." I said

" Nandini do you not trust me" his hands were shivering on mine

" Manik ...don't ask me that ,

If I din't I could have fought with you that day , done anything but leave " I said

With droplets of moisture bathing my eyes slowly .

" Nandini ...I know it was me ...it was me all this while " he said , his forehead lines strained ,

His starry eyes gloomy

" But trust me I did fight for us "

" I fought it all along "

" And when finally it was over , I started searching for you ...

yes I did ...in fact in a another week the security would have completed the student record analysis and found you..."

He said this time his voice seethed with pain and hurt but more, of the longing that it had suffered .

I breathed, I healed a little

He had tried to find me

It burned a little less , just a little less now

" Manik , the promise ..." I said

.

.

.

THE PROMISE

" Manik , can you wait a second , I ll just reach there "

"hmm"

I wondered what had happened to him!

Since the day I was in hospital, he was lost

I hurried to meet him

" Manik ..."

He stood still.

"Manik , are you even listening ? "

He suddenly held my hand

Clasped it into his , intertwining his fingers

"Manik ..." I said softly

"Nandini ,do you trust me ?"

" whattt!!!.." I exclaimed,

that wasn't a type of question someone asks a patient who was just discharged an hour back , I thought

He looked into my eyes

"Nandini do you trust me ?" he said sternly

" more than myself " I replied , trying to read his eyes

"Then, I want something from you .." he said , his voice was broken

I looked at him " Manik , kya hua ?"

"Nandini , my question first "

" anything ..." I said ...still wondering

He clutched my hands tightly ,

Looked at my tie bracelet ,

Caressed it slowly .

Before I could utter a word

" if you trust me then

Promise me , you won't ask me anything ..

Anything at all "

"Manik ...kya hua ? " a lone tear escaped my eye

" promise ?" he asked

"Nandini promise "

He then turned around

I was worried

"Manik ...kya hua ...pls say something ..."

" Nandini ...its over ..."

"what !!!"

" U and me ...are over "

.

I collapsed on the floor crying

I couldn't ask him

I loved him enough to keep the promise

After a few minutes I saw him walk away , "

.

.

.

He stood up ,

I ,all along knew it was something deep

Because I know him , yes! I bloody know my guy .

That one small cut on me pierced a thousand needles in his heart ,

It would hurt a Gogol number times the pain I went through ,

I knew he had a reason .

A grave reason enough to ask me for a promise when his veins turned darker ,

Darker on his wrist , giving him away .

Telling that he was numb with pain .

.He was blank with hurt .

.

.

.

Manik's pov

I tried to remember those three days precisely after the accident , When she was in the hospital

I used to return home only when her family was around , just out of force from everyone

I , would come home with not a thought in my mind

. Just nothing .

I would lay on the bed waiting for time to end , only to get up screaming with hoarsest voice

" noo , not her please ...not her ! "

Nightmares filled with images of when my hands were drenched in her blood ,

Each muscle of my body screamed forgiveness for my birth ,

For my birth , was by a person who was robbing me .

.Robbing my life away .

Those three days , no drug could tranquilize me

Only her safety could

Only assurance of her life could

Those blots of blood , which drenched my sleep

.Were hers .

Hers , who was the light to my darkness .

.

.

.

Nandini's pov

Suddenly he dropped to his knees

Sitting near my legs

His eyes were blood red

All those colors on his face faded to a mere worn, frayed broken phonograph

His hands suddenly reached my face

His one finger trembling on my lip

" Shh!!...that kidnapping and that attempt to ..." he said, unable to finish his words

" it was Nyonika"

His eyes looked at me in dismay,

I was shocked!

Although , I knew Nyonika hated me , she hated me from the very bottom of her being

But it was her !

It took a few seconds to register for my brain .

Manik sat still , like a statue

His eyes on me

Maybe , I couldn't even wonder a little near to what he must have felt when he knew this ,

How difficult it must have been for him , to see , to perceive this !

He suddenly spoke again , in a hoarse voice

" Yes ...Nandini , it was her" "When I found out that day"...

" 14^th march... " I subconsciously spoke , while my eyes never left his, even for a blink

" Do you think I could forget the date !

"...I can never forget how she tried to robbed me of you...Nandini ..."

" I can't "

Saying that his stubble glistened with tears, while my own eyes betrayed me for a second with a hazy view

I took this hand in mine

" Manik...you could have..."

" I know you Nandini ,

but I know Nyonika too , she wouldn't could go to any lengths ,

And how can I let anything happen to you ...to you Nandini, Nyonika is heartless "

He said, his eyes filled with flames of betrayal

"To her nothing matters more than her power, but to me you were my life damn it !" he swore ,

kissing my hands many times continuously

" But Manik , we could have talked it ..." I repeated

"You think it was easy for me Nandini , to choose this ...

No, it was the hardest decision of my life , to leave you but I could never let anything happen to you "

" I could die , but..."

Hearing it, my hands shut his mouth,

For a second

The images which hit me, I loathed

I loathed about thinking how he could have felt when it had actually almost happened to me

How devastated could he have been !

" But I had promised myself to fight for you , it wasn't easy but ..."

"Nandini ...i tried "his voice was now a mere whisper

I couldn't stop myself from dropping from the chair onto my knees

And cup his face in my hands

Manik's pov

I spoke :

I remembered how difficult it was

Dad saw me depressed for weeks, he knew something utterly grave had happened

Dad begged me to tell him , I blurted out about Nyonika

About how she played with my innocent girl for her materialistic dreams .

.Dad promised me , that he would handle things .

But could my life ever be soo easy??

No .

Dad tried to convince Nyonika

By giving away his business to her

" too small it is , not my type, not legendary " she claimed

Dad tried every possible lure for her

Every possible contract for her

She dint budge an inch

Then ,

For a few weeks , I saw dad

He was berating himself

His past was getting him into its clutches again

He started to fail himself

He shrunk into himself.

I tried .

I tried my best to tell dad that it was never him

Never him .

it was always her .

just my mother

The case started

One side was Nyonika, who at any will wanted the business in her name

for earlier she hardly hadn't a way

And now that she could

She was fierce, more than before

Like a tornado, destroying lives as she went ahead .

That was the first time in life when I understood why they were named after people.

Well , not that I had wanted the business ,

But dad started suffering from depression,

I could see his life seeping out of him

Then , just a year into the case

His own company that he was running was dooming

Dad had broken totally , he had tried every way to help me

Then ,

My life went "BOOM"

He slipped into clinical depression

He had stopped speaking completely.

My only blood relation in this world, who I loved soo much was in a state I couldn't see

. But the WILL.

I had cursed my grandfather truly , for writing a will and leaving his entire business to me .

And his will, mentioned that I could inherit it only when I was 25

Till then , it was my parents who could manage it

Nyonika and Dad , Who was now suffering himself .

Nyonika had destroyed me and my dad even more

The court sessions were worse than Nazi tortures

Nyonika had her ways to convince

Not that I stood back , I fought for dad and her

My only two sources of inspiration, although even fab5 had backed me up .

It never helped

I gave statements

Nyonika bought witnesses

I bought stronger lawyers

. But dad could not speak.

My family had become a mockery in the public's eye

A family drama

I remembered times when I sat on floor next to dad's feet , kept my head on his lap

I felt emptiness

I felt blank

But he would ruffle my hair and write me notes of hope

Of that , only way through this had to be out

No more drowning in this bottomless well .

Finally I became 25 ,

That day I wasn't happy about my birth ,

But I was happy to rise over the one who had given birth to me ,

Now Nyonika couldn't do a thing

I was the sole owner ,

With this , dad was slowly improving , his progress was good now

I had spent an entire month with him ,

And every moment I taught dad to live

Every word I spoke to him about life was hers , Nandini 's

From taking care of him to telling him about how now his son had won

just because of him

Because he wanted me to fight for everything which was mine, and the biggest one being my love .

I WON