MaNan SS : The Incomplete Song (Part 10 - Pg 62 - 13th April) - Page 17

Nandini's heart nearly jumped out as she heard the doorbell. She finally took a deep breath, calmed herself down, and adjusted her dupatta before she reached for the knob. She was greeted by Cabir's warm smile and delicious aroma from the freshly baked chocolate cake that he brought along with him. "Right on time with the yummy dessert, just as I promised" Cabir announced. Nandini smiled and gave him a hug. Her eyes were scanning for him, her cluttered brain was trying derived all possible reason for his absence. "Looking for someone?" Cabir pulled her leg. "No No.. Since you said we are coming, i presumed there is someone else with you too." she tried to cover up her blunder. "Oh did I?" Cabir's question made her wonder whether she heard him wrongly. She was about to close the door when someone halt it. "Cabir, I thought you told me that I was also invited too but it feels like I'm not" she heard the voice. "Oh yeah, Nandini now I remembered. I did say WE!" Cabir chuckled and Nandini's cheeks turned crimson red.

She opened the door and her heart instantly skipped a beat. There he stood, her monster, her Greek God in his faded denim, black shirt with his first 2 buttons opened and a matching black jacket. He looked so divinely handsome, his stubbles, his ruffled hair and his seducing perfume was enough to make her legs go wobbly. "Am I supposed to wait here all night?" he asked her. It was then she realized that she has been drooling over him. "Sorry, please come in" she mumbled. The moment her eyes saw the bandage on his hand, her heart shattered. He immediately put his hands in his pocket as if he felt her eyes caressing his injured hand. She walked him to the living room silently where Cabir was already playing with Virat. "Manik uncle is also here" Virat jumped in joy when he saw Manik. "Hey buddy, give me high five" Manik reached out to him. It always amazes Nandini how Manik manages to impress everyone that is close to her with so much of ease when she saw Virat's instant bonding with Manik. "Shall I get both of you something to drink while I set the table for dinner?" she asked. "Nah, we are good" Cabir answered while Manik just nodded in agreement.

Manik was exceptionally quiet throughout the dinner; he kept himself occupied with Virat while Cabir was busy sharing about Navya and Aisha. Although he pretended to be least interested in the conversation, she could sense that his gaze never left her. She felt his gaze boring into her, unearthing her concealed emotions. His silence means trouble, she knew something was brewing inside him and the outcome will not be something favorable for her. "Manik, be careful" Nandini suddenly cried when she saw Virat almost hit Manik's injured hand when he was playfully punching Manik. Both Manik and Virat turned in unison, for the first time that night Nandini looked into his eyes. "Kya hua Mama?" Virat asked. "His hand is injured and you nearly punched it. Be careful Virat" her voice cracked as she cautioned him. "Don't worry buddy, I'm perfectly fine... I have endured much worse than this, hain na Cabir" Manik replied without breaking his gaze. The tinge of sarcasms was very evident in his reply. "Relax Nandini, it's just bruises. He is fine" Cabir assured her when he saw her eyes getting glazy. She knew she would breakdown if she stayed there any longer so she excused herself in pretext of getting the dessert. Manik's silence isn't good for Cabir's mission; he scrambled his head for an excuse to sneak out with Virat. They definitely needed some privacy before they came out of their respective shell.

He quickly messaged Navya to get Aisha to call him back. "Hey baby, how are you... Yeah, I'm with Virat now. You want to talk to him?" Cabir's conversation brought back Nandini to reality. "The line is breaking; I guess its network problem. Hold on a moment, I will step out from the house" Cabir added. "Nandini, I'm just going to steal Virat for a moment" he informed Nandini and grabbed the kid before she could reply. Awkward silence was lingering the room as neither one was willing to make the first move. As much as Nandini didn't want Manik to probe her but it also irked her to see the way he behaved as if she didn't exist in that room. Finally unable to bear it any longer, she gathered her courage to enter the lion's ring.

"Manik..." her voice trembled as she called his name. His lethal glare was the only respond she got from him before he went back to fiddling his phone. "You haven't said anything since you came?" she told him. "Why, am I supposed to say anything?" he asked her back, looking straight into her eyes draining all the blood from her face. "Mera matlab voh nahi tah" she struggled to answer. "Toh kya tumara matlab?" he probed her. "I mean you haven't asked anything? Anything about me?" she stammered. "Puchna zarori tah?" he questioned her back leaving her speechless."Manik, I know you are still mad at me but.." she stumbled for words. "Am I supposed to be mad with you?" he asked her. "Manik stop it, just stop it" she got agitated. "Stop what? I was just responding to what you have started." came his sharp reply. "If you are not mad at me then why did you take your anger on your hand?" she sobbed. "Why does it matter to you if I take my anger on my hand or something else? There are only two things that SHOULD MATTER to you. Alive and Singing!!! That is all that SHOULD MATTER to you!" he retorted back. "Manik, that is not true" Nandini tried to justify. "That was exactly what you wanted me to promise you 6 years ago. You needed me to stay alive, never to stop singing and to let you go. I believe I have granted you all that you asked for that night. Just to remind you, that was also the same night you have lost all your rights to question me on anything else besides what you wished for before you walked out" Manik reminded her. "I hope that you are done with your interrogation because I'm so DONE with this dinner. Thank you for the dinner and GOOD BYE!" he snapped and left. She was prepared to face his wrath but his words were sharper than dagger. They pierced her so deep that she felt that her world was slipping away.

Cabir was shocked at the state he found Nandini when he returned a few hours later. She must have been crying till there were no more tears left because her eyes were red and swollen. He was so glad that Virat slept off in the car, when they went for a ride. So he quickly put him off to bed and went to Nandini. There was no sign of Manik in the house nor was there any message from him. Cabir knew that Nandini needs him more than Manik at that moment."Nandini, are you ok?" he asked her several times but there was no response from her as she sat there motionless. Nandini finally got back to her senses, thanks to Cabir's who was vigorously shaking as she was slipping away. "Nandini, look at me... Are you ok?" Cabir asked her repeatedly. He sighed in relief when she finally nodded. "I just wanted him to be safe... I wanted him to be happy... I wanted him to ... "her voice was muffled by her tears. "Calm down Nandini, you need to stop crying first" Cabir hugged and stroked her as he tried his best to calm her down.

It took a while for Nandini to gather herself. "Thanks Cabir, I don't know how I would have managed without you" she murmured between her sobs. "You want to talk about it? It will make you feel better" he asked while giving her a glass of water. Nandini nodded in response. "Nandini, how did you expect him to be happy by walking out from his life" Cabir asked. "Destiny never wanted us to be together Cabir. He always says I'm his lucky charm but I always end up putting him into more misery. I just wanted him to be happy just like he was before I came into his life, I wanted him to move on..." her voice faded as tears chocked. "Did you move on? No nah... Then how can you expect him to move on" he asked. "Look Nandini, I don't want to go down to what transpired between both of you. But I just want you to listen what I have got to share." Cabir started. "I know you can never bear to see the person you love to be in pain, but you the pain you inflict when you walk away is much deeper. The pain inflicted by others fade over time but the pain inflicted by your loved ones just increase over time unless you are lucky to find closure. Raghav walked out on me the same way you did, with the same perception that things can never work between us, we were not meant to be together, he wanted me to be safe and alive. He succeeded in keeping me physically alive but Cabir actually died the moment he left me. He didn't trust me or our love, he didn't believe in the strength of our love, he didn't believe that we could work things out. From the start, we knew things would never be bed of roses yet we would have made it work if he only trusted in US. I would have held him when he was falling apart, he would have held me when I was falling apart and our love would have held us when we were both falling out. Even if something happened to me, I would have happily embraced death because I know I had lived my life to the fullest with his love. He thought he was easing my pain but he just intensified it with the guilt that my love for him was so fragile that he couldn't even bring himself to trust and hold on to it. It made me believe that I was incapable of loving anyone; it scarred me so much that I can never let love back in my life. No one could fill the void in my life after that including Raghav himself. That was the reason why I couldn't accept him back in my life. I have made peace with him but it was too late for him to return. It's so agonizing that I don't want even my enemy to go through, that is why I wanted to save Manik before it was too late." Cabir shared with Nandini.

"Fab5 is nothing but a bond that gave solace to 5 broken children. All of us have lost our precious childhood, we were all born with silver spoon, we had the luxury and riches that many would envy but yet we were so poor and deprived when it came to love. We craved for the love, affection and attention that many kids took for granted. I know even you had lost your parents at a very young age, but yet your Amms, Chacha & Chachi showered you with so much of love. That is the reason why your believe in love was so strong while ours was so flimsy. Among 5 of us, Manik was the strongest because he was the most broken one. He was so broken that he didn't want any of us to be dragged to where he was. Despite having a broken family, I had my Mom & Manik as my buddy whenever I needed. When Mom abandoned me, Navya stepped in followed by Aisha now. Dhruv always had his mum & Manik who protects him as a brother. Despite being a total jerk, Harshad was always there for Alya along with Manik who was her protector. Mukti's parents hated each other, they were busy chasing their dreams that she had to rebel to get their attention yet they were there for her as her parents to bail her out along with Manik to watch over her back and hold her whenever she slips in life . We all had someone in our life along with Manik but Manik had no one besides us. He was so busy protecting us that he refused to share his pain with us. He refused to share his vulnerability with anyone because he had to be strong for us till the day you came. Your smile brought his smile back, your touch healed his wounds, and your voice was the lullaby that he yearned for. He felt the love and affection that he longed for when he was with you. The tears that you shed whenever he hurts himself didn't only heal him externally but also internally. It was antidote for the venom that was slaying him from within. Whenever you embrace him, you also embrace his vulnerability. With you, he finally broke away from the fear and the hatred. You braved yourself to enter his dark dungeon, held his hand and brought out the scared and broken child. You taught the child about love, you comforted him and coaxed him to come out to face the world with you. You promised to be with him, to walk by him and to protect him. When he finally came out and started enjoying the beautiful life that you painted for him; you left him, you snatched his sight along with you. He was once again stranded alone and terrified which made him retreat back to his dark dungeon but with more anger. Manik is nothing but a broken and angry child whose sight was snatched from him when he has just begun to see the light. Manik only experienced happiness in his life after you came, unfortunately it also left along with you" Cabir enlighten her.

"Nandini, you may have not realized the significance of your presence in Manik's life but we have. You were the only one we embraced wholeheartedly besides Fab5 not because you were Manik's girlfriend but because you gave us the Manik that we thought we will never see. You manage to control the reins of his emotions when we couldn't, you made him see silver linings behind each dark clouds when we couldn't, you gave him the confidence to share his fears with you when we couldn't, you shielded him when he was busy protecting us. My love and respect for you budded the day you made him understand love, understand my love for Raghav, Alya accepted you when she realized that your love has touched and healed his soul which she couldn't, Dhruv saw the depth of your love for him and Mukti saw the extend you could go for him when you stood up for people who were close to him. Nandini, the smile that you bring on his face is not a mere smile; it's a reflection of blissful state. That smile disappeared from his face when you disappeared. We will never know what destiny has in store for us until we try to build our own destiny, Nandini. If destiny didn't want you to be together, then it wouldn't have brought you together. If it didn't want you to be together, then it would have made both of you move on. It is not love if there is no pain. The pain is not to weaken your love but to make it stronger. A diamond never shines if it doesn't go through vigorous polishing; gold doesn't glitter if it doesn't endure the immense heat. When love has endured everything, nothing can break it. Mine broke prematurely, yours stood strong even after so many obstacles but you gave up when it was almost reaching the final lap. Nandini, you taught Manik the power of love yet you failed to see it. Nandini, You are his happiness, and Manik is yours" Cabir told her.

Looking forward for you valuable comments/reviews. Do share with me your criticisms as well.

PS: I can only send the PM's later in the evening due to some reasons, sorry about that.

Love,

Reva