Cliche Attempt || MaNan SS (ch. 3, pg. 15)

Cliche Attempt

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I.N.D.E.X

First Chapter (below)

Second Chapter (page 5)

Third Chapter (page 15)

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Chapter One

I've never actually admitted it. I knew it was true, and so did others, but I wouldn't dare say it aloud. I mean, it was pretty embarrassing, but it was the truth. Well, it still is. So here it goes; I, Nandini Murthy, am a hopeless romantic.

I've always dreamed of finding love. I believe that everyone has a soul mate; that one person who is just right for you and everyone finds it someday. I've been waiting for my Prince Charming and for that someday'. However, as I grew older, I realized that's not exactly easy. You don't just bump into someone and immediately know he's right for you (because I've tried that, it doesn't work), you need to wait. But that's the thing; I'm pretty impatient.

Alright, I might seem like the sensible one among my friends, always giving them advice, always handling them, but the case is different with my own self. With my friends, I always talk some sense into them when they try to make stupid decisions. With my own self, I don't think twice before doing stupid stuff myself. So technically, you could say that I am a contradiction.

We have probably established two things so far. One, I am a hopeless romantic who wants to find her soul mate. Two, you need to wait to find your soul mate and I am quite impatient. These two things were exactly why I set off on the mission to find the perfect one for me, and that was exactly how I found myself here, in the middle of a coffee shop... drinking coffee.

Honestly, I hated coffee. I had a sweet tooth, and coffee was bitter. But hey, they say you find love in a coffee shop. Since I was on this somewhat simple task, I decided to start with the basics, thus the cliche falling in love through a coffee shop meeting.

Tapping my fingers lightly on the table, where the cup of coffee on it laid untouched, I looked around in hopes of spotting him'. Well, it certainly wasn't easy. Almost everyone in the crowded shop was either too old, too young, or with somebody. I even tried flirting with the cute waiter, but he turned out to be gay! This kept on getting harder and harder.

Leaning against my chair, my eyes dropped to the cup of coffee. I'd just ordered something random from the menu because I knew I wouldn't bother tasting it. Money gone to waste, I thought. Perhaps I should try it. Just a little bit, maybe? Well, it doesn't hurt to-

A shuffle in the seat in front of me broke me out of my thoughts, as I noticed a figure of a male settle in there. He looked around my age, with messy, dark hair, high cheekbones, and a strong jaw line. He seemed to have this bad boy persona which, honestly, always charmed me, but as soon as I realized what he'd just done, my eyes widened.

"Excuse me," I started, "what are you doing?"

He turned to look at me with an irritated expression on his face, "Drinking coffee; what does it look like?"

"You know, this is my table."

"So?" he casually said, taking a sip of his coffee, leaving me befuddled. Well, would you just look at his attitude?

"So," I continued, trying hard to keep my tone polite, "you need to ask me before just sitting there."

"Whatever."

"What do you mean by whatever'?"

"Well, in simple terms, it clearly means that I don't care," he retorted. Talk about having a massive ego.

"You should," I told him. "It's not a very nice thing to do."

"Well, I'm not a very nice person."

"Would you just apologize and get this over with?" I raised my voice, annoyed at how he kept on playing around.

"I don't apologize," he merely stated, and then took one long sip of his drink. Oh, wow, he thinks he's so cool.

"Well then, I'm ordering you to."

"And once again, I don't care."

"Excuse me? What the hell is your problem? I was just sitting here, perfectly minding my own business, while you just barge in and sit there like you own the damn place."

"If you'd look around, miss, then I think it's visible that there are no more seats left," he said, motioning around.

"And that gives you the right to just randomly sit at someone's table? Ever heard a thing called manners? You apologize to me right now, or else I will-"

"Enough!" he raised his voice, looking infuriated. Yes, he was the one looking infuriated. "I'm having a very shitty day, so I'm definitely not in the mood for your useless chatter. Coffee is the only thing that can calm me so just let it do its business."

"Oh, wow, I'm so scared," I sarcastically retorted.

"You know what? You actually should be. You don't know who I am."

"And just who are you?"

"Manik Malhotra," he stated with pride.

"Why on earth should that matter? Whoever you are, Mister Manik Malhotra, this is my table, and you still haven't apologized for just taking a seat without asking."

"And I won't either."

"What the- You- Fine, just forget it. I'm leaving."

"Finally," he breathed a sigh of relief, while I merely gave him a look of disbelief before gathering my things and turning to leave.

"Hey you," he called out to me midway, as I turned back to him, just for the sake of it, to see him wear a smug grin on his face. "You didn't finish your coffee."

And here I thought he would finally apologize!

Turning away, once and for all this time, I walked out of the double doors of the coffee shop, making my way down the street in order to catch a taxi, taking fast paces. Well, this guy certainly just put me in a bad mood! Whoever he was, I was certain I wouldn't want to get involved with him ever again.

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A/N: This was just a random thought that came to my mind and since I wrote it down pretty quickly, I had to share it. This is the first time I'm trying to write MaNan so do tell me how it turned out. Constructive criticism is appreciated. I'm always looking for ways to improve so don't think twice before pointing out my flaws :)

I love AUs so I'll probably continue this into a series of such AU events, but that depends on the feedback entirely. Bah, enough of my rambling!