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c h a p t e r t w e n t y f o u r
As soon as Nandini heard Manik's voice on the other line, she put the phone down and cut the call. Her breathing slowly started to get heavy and she found herself unable to relax. She needed time and space away from him now and it was too soon for her to think about anything related to him.
Ever since she left, she deliberately made herself get involved in too many things to avoid pondering over her decision for even once. She conversed properly with her parents, confronted Cabir, and even talked to Navya about everything new that she'd started to discover. Right now, she couldn't think about Manik. It was way too soon.
Nandini knew, deep inside, that she didn't hate himself as much anymore. She wasn't even sure if she hated him. She felt betrayed by both him and her brother but somehow, spending all those days with him had helped her to see him in a new light. She saw a boy in him; a lonely boy who had been deprived of love in his childhood, and who only craved some love from anyone who could give it to him. She saw a friend in him; someone who did occasionally give her advice, and someone who always seemed to listen to her whenever she spoke. She possibly even saw a potential lover in him, but right now she couldn't think about all of that. Not after she had left him, anyway.
I'm reading too much into this, she decided. He means nothing to me.
She knew she wasn't completely right, but she had to make herself believe somehow that she felt nothing for Manik. It wouldn't help her after the decision she had taken. Although that was, too, quite rash and impulsive, it was now done and she couldn't change it. Most of all, she couldn't regret it.
That was what his voice, the mere sound of his familiar voice, with a tint of desperation in it and some haste, made her feel. She was regretting, and she couldn't afford that.
On the other hand, Manik was completely and utterly bewildered as he still held the phone against his ear. He didn't know what just happened and he was still trying to process it.
Katt diya, he thought to himself, his eyes wide in disbelief. Usne katt diya.
His heart clenched at the thought and he was hurt; so very hurt. It seemed to him as if that was all she had been doing recently; hurting him at every step. As if her leaving him in the morning wasn't enough, rejecting him and having him realize that all his efforts to make it all up to her were in vain, now she couldn't even face him or even talk to him.
The hurt was soon replaced by anger and after tightly clutching the device in his hand, he eventually threw it away to some corner of the room in rage. Last night, he confessed to her saying that he might like - or, perhaps, love - her, and he knew he meant it. However, it didn't seem to have any effect on her. Right now, he wondered why he even cared anymore.
Fine, he stubbornly decided, if she doesn't want me, then I don't need her either.
After Alya made her second attempt, the call went through as the familiar voice of an older lady greeted her on the other line, "Hello?"
"It's me," she introduced herself, "Alya; Manik's friend."
Nyonika shifted in her seat, took a sip of the coffee from the mug in her hand and furrowed her eyebrows slightly, in confusion. Why was Manik's friend calling her? "Yes, what do you need?"
"Manik is going to college today," Alya announced, her voice firm and strict, but it only made Nyonika all the more confused.
"What?"
"Manik will be going to college today," Alya repeated herself, clearly confident, "and I'm calling you to let you know that. Also, I want him to return safe and sound. That means that he cannot get arrested."
"Excuse me?" Nyonika asked, amused by what the young girl was saying. "Who are you to-"
"Make sure he returns home properly, and that he doesn't get arrested," Alya told her again, firm in her stand.
"Are you ordering me?" Nyonika smirked. This young girl had some spunk, she would say, and it was something she found quite interesting.
"No, I'm threatening you," Alya corrected.
"With what, exactly?"
"If Manik gets arrested today, then I'll tell your husband about your affair with my brother Harshad."
As she said that, Nyonika immediately sat straight and put down the coffee mug. So far, she was just having fun as she thought this young girl was harmless but now, it was turning into something a bit more serious. She certainly wasn't expecting this. "Excuse me?"
"You do remember my brother, Harshad Saxena, don't you?" Alya asked, although she knew the answer. "I am well aware of how you go around sleeping with him from time to time but try to keep it a secret. There must be a reason for that."
"Let's talk about this," Nyonika proposed. This girl was playing big and she couldn't do this on the phone, at least.
"I was just coming over to your house regarding that," Alya told her. "We can talk, but right now Manik is going to college, and I want him to come home safe."
"My husband filed the charges," Nyonika told her. "I'm not sure what I can do."
"Do something, Mrs. Malhotra," she said, "just... anything so that he can come home safe. He's leaving for college now, and I'm coming over. Remember this; if Manik gets arrested, any deal or negotiation we make is off."
Alya then cut the call, as Nyonika still sat a little shaken. This is was taking quite an interesting turn of events, but she knew she had to manipulate her way in. She hated not being the one in control and now, it seemed that everyone else was controlling her. She couldn't let that happen.
With slight hesitance, yet knowing where she would take her plan next, she picked up the phone to dial the number of the police station.
c h a p t e r t w e n t y f i v e
"Nandini?"
She turned her head towards the sound to spot her mother approaching her. With a slight smile, she raised from the couch and went over to her.
"I need you to do me a favor," the woman softly said. "Can you go over to Cabir's college and ask him to come home immediately? Your father and I have some very serious issues we'd like to discuss with him, and we've already asked the authorities for a leave."
"Is anything wrong?" Nandini asked, concerned.
"Somewhat. We'll let you know once we talk to him about it. I'll give you the address, can you go and fetch him real quick?"
Hesitantly, Nandini gave a quick nod as her mother went ahead to write down the address for her.
Manik stepped onto the ground, looking at the campus before him after many days. Needless to say, he had missed it. This place held many memories that he had and almost all of them were times spent with his best friend, Cabir. He felt the fear take over him. What if he could never have his friendship with Cabir back? Would he ever be forgiven?
"Are you okay?" Alya called out to him as she rolled down the car's windows.
"I'm fine," Manik responded absentmindedly. "Why aren't you coming, by the way?"
"I have somewhere to be," she shrugged. "I'll pick you up later. Will you be fine on your own?"
"I'm not a child," he huffed, and her lips curved into a knowing smile. She bid him goodbye as she left but he didn't bother to acknowledge it. He was lost in the sight of the building, not even noticing the sound of the car rushing away. He didn't even know how long he kept staring at it. He was only brought back to reality when a hand tapped on his shoulder.
"Alya, I'm fine," he sighed in exasperation without even turning back to see.
"Who is Alya?"
Manik's eyes went wide at the sound. He knew that voice; he knew it too well and it certainly wasn't Alya. No, it belonged to a certain to whom he had lost his heart, and who had broken it just this morning. The wounds were fresh and the pain from the betrayal was still present, and as he turned around to face her, he just hoped he was wrong somehow as it was simply too soon for a confession. But who was he kidding? He couldn't forget the sound of her voice. He couldn't forget anything about her; he remembered every tiny detail all too well.
As he finally turned to face Nandini, he hoped it was a dream. It simply had to be a dream, or perhaps a nightmare. All of this was happening way too fast for him. He was still coming to terms with his feelings, and she left him before he could. He was still trying to realize she was gone for good, and she appeared again. He was tired of all this. He just needed a break, and some time to heal.
He had been staring at her for a while, causing Nandini to repeat her previous question, "Who is Alya?"
He broke out of the trance and felt the anger resurface. He didn't owe her any explanations. Why did she care who he was with and what she was doing? She had left him, after all. "Why do you care?"
Nandini furrowed her eyebrows at his words. The nerves of him! Just last night, he told her he loved her, and the next morning, he's lost in the thoughts of some Alya. Of course, she would be a bit curious, that was only human. She tried to convince herself that it was the only reason as she said, "I don't."
"Great," he said with a tinge of bitterness and a fake smile plastered on his face, "but I supposed I should've known that. You made it pretty clear this morning."
His words irked her yet again. After all that he did to her, what right did he have to act in such a way? What right did he have to pretend like he was the victim in this situation? "You can talk to me without having that attitude," she tried to be civil.
"Actually, I don't want to talk to you at all," he simply said before walking away.
Once again, Nandini was annoyed and she shouted out to him the words that she thought he should hear for once, "I don't trust you anymore!"
Manik came to a halt then, and as the anger came back to him, he took slow and steady steps back to her. "What?"
"You heard me; I just thought you should know for once that I don't trust you anymore." Of course, that did signify that she did in fact trust him once upon a time, and Nandini slowly started to wonder whether or not she had just confessed about that fact.
"Why do you think I need your trust, Miss Murthy?" Manik let out a bitter chuckle. "And why do you think I'm waiting around for you? And most of all, why do you think I trust you? Have you ever thought about that? Maybe, just maybe, I'm the one who doesn't trust you anymore, and I probably never will do it again."
"Excuse me?"
"But then again," he continued, disregarding her words, "none of us should really care anymore, because it's not like there's anything between us. We spent the last couple of days together and then you left. So whatever it was that we had going on; it's supposed to be over, isn't it?"
He paused for a few seconds before her, but she didn't say a word. She didn't even stop him when she left. The realization she had been trying to avoid was finally sinking in and she was starting to think that maybe she didn't want this. Maybe she was, in fact, regretting her decision. Her rash, impulsive decision which was, in a way, quite similar to Manik's.
It was now, after everything was done, that she started to realize that she didn't want everything to be over. She wasn't entirely sure what they had, either. Was it friendship? Was it attraction? Could it possibly be something more than that?
She didn't know what to call it, but she knew that she liked his company and the attention he gave to her. She knew that he made her feel special and she wanted to feel that way again. She knew that she shouldn't forgive him for what he did, but perhaps she had already done it long back. She knew that she was forcing herself to be angry at him.
Most of all, she knew that she wanted him back.
Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai
Geet - Hui Sabse Parayee
Mangal Lakshmi
