Manan FF - Kaisi yeh Yaariyan season 3 - Chapter 123 & note - Page 36

She pushed his hand away in defiance and his cell went flying to the dashboard, missing the drivers head by precisely two inches.

"Arre bapre itna gussa!!!! Main to bas, I was just trying to show you how you are looking right now, I mean the size and colour and texture of your cheeks."

"Will you shut just shut up Manik!!"

They had checked out of the hotel by late morning and were now driving towards her school. As much as she hated the sight of her jackass EX-Principal, there was no way she could avoid him. She had to PERSONALLY handover the keys to her EX-apartment. As if that wasn't enough of a reason to be upset about, Manik had infuriated her with his dismissive, unkind and mean attitude. And to think of what she had asked for! She had just wanted to be a part of the countdown to Neel's extinction from the face of earth (ok, may be not the face of the earth but at least from their lives). What wrong was there in her wishing so, given that she was the one he had tortured most and she had the legitimate right to not just witness but also contribute to his downfall.

But what had Manik done? He had royally dismissed her claim/request. He said it was his and only his business alone to see the end of Neel Dixit and Nandini shouldn't try to poke her nose at all.

Nandini was cross, she wasn't even talking to him and now he was showing her, her red swollen cheeks!!

"All your anger is directed only towards me haaan? And baaki duniya ke aage you are the sweetest girl."

"Oh seriously???? Did you forget your own words...kya kaha tha subah ko...'you miniature piece, tumhe lagta hai tum Neel Dixit ko tackle kar paogi, who third degree ka criminal hai. Usko handle karne ke liye muscle and akal dono chahiye. So apna gussa, keep it to urself and let me do what I am supposed. I would neither prefer, nor tolerate your interference or undue interest here.' Listen I don't want to talk to you. So stop irritating me. And yes I know how I look. Just because you can look like a model, practically anytime of the day doesn't mean everybody else can do that too. Angry people look horrible & I am looking horrible too...now khush "

"Awww are you really that pissed off? I guess I had underestimated the extent of it... by the way your nose is a little puffed too and your eyes have shrunk...u look like an animated chinese baloon"

He was having fun, and without any guilt. This after all was nothing compared to the harassment & embarassment she had caused him the previous night. The more annoyed she grew, the more he was annoying her. Her angry stare, uff, as if she could drill holes in him. And she was looking damn cute. He pitied men who went for chiseled, plastered and ironed women. Women should be lively and they should be all shades of dramatic with a heart full of love and his lady here was all of that and more.

"But I don't like to see you like this, so I might reconsider the request"

Her eyes lit up..instantly.

"But...there is a clause.."

"What??" She asked, half furious and half irritated.

"You have to prove your worth. Both your brains and your power.. and if I am convinced I will include you in my team."

"You are seriously auditioning your own girlfriend for that NEEL, now I have more reasons to kill him"

"Friend, bestfriend , girlfriend sab apni jagah but Manik Malhotra is very particular when is come to business. You know how serious I am about music... same rule here. If you want to be in the team, you have to prove your worth."

"And how on earth am I going to prove myself, by beating up people on the street?"

"Of course not... Ok lets see..." He pretended to think, when in fact he already knew how. "What were you going to o with your principal? Handover the keys and walk out like a loser...right?"

She looked at him surprised. What else could she do anyways?

"If you want to prove your worth, treat your principal the way he deserves to be treated. I will wait outside and rate your performance."

"What the hell Manik, he is my ex-boss, a principal of a school.. I can't just go and tell anything on his face Manik. This is serious business and one has to follow some decorum. Everything can't be fun." This was going nowhere.

"And what do you think, I am kidding? This is serious too, what he did with you without a reason or justification. Today you will walk out of his office without a word and tomorrow he will repeat the same with someone else. You don't have the urgency to earn. Your family doesn't depend on your earning. Someone else's might. And standing up for oneself doesn't always involve aggression or fights, some situations are won by mere words and tact. If you can't stand up to this principal, how do you plan to stand up against Neel."

Manik did have a point. She didn't have much time to brace herself. She had to think fast.

As the car halted near the main gate of Sanjeevani, nandini sent a silent prayer to her Aiyappa and holding Manik's hand, walked straight inside. Those of her colleagues, who were there in the lobby at that time, were literally stunned and turned their necks and then their bodies to see how come Nandini was walking hand in hand with the chairman's uber hot son.

Nandini knocked twice at the principal's chamber before striding in, while Manik waited for her, outside the half open door.

"Oh miss Nandini, finally you get time from your busy life to remember that you have some urgent formalities to complete. I hope you are aware that you are full one day late and that I can press charges against you for this."

"Oh really Sir, why don't you do something, please go ahead and get a legal order against me, because as far as I know I am 29 days ahead. 30 days is the notice period sir, let me remind you."

"Again the same argument. I have told you once that 30 days is only for resignation or retirement, not for expulsion. Seems you never had the mental capacity to hold a teacher's position."

Manik, standing outside was eves dropping on the conversation. How dare the principal act so rude, he thought. He could simple march in and slay that man in flat 2 minutes, but he wouldn't. Nandini's confession last night had brought home many a realizations, some sad, some tragic & some frustrating but there was one particular realization that bothered him the most because no one other than him was responsible for it.

He had loved her with every cell of his being, he had helped her in every way possible, even if at times it had brought him pain and suffering, but the one thing he had never done was to teach her how to stand up for herself.

Ironically, she used to be a fighter before they fell in love. Who could forget that famous punch she had landed on Manik's face. But with time, that fighter's instinct in her slowly faded away. Out of concern and possessiveness, he had never let her fight for anything on her own. He had always stood as an impenetrable wall between her and her problems, even when she had wanted to tackle them head on.

While he had no regrets for having been her saviour, something that he would continue to do for the rest of his life, he had seen enough life in the last few years to know that life is uncertain and he may not always be with her.

Life had changed her too, she was much stronger now, in terms of her ability to withstand pain and live through it, but that's not what he wanted to see in her. He wanted her to be strong enough to give it back to whoever poked or harassed her.

Who would know it better than him, that the world is a cruel place for the soft hearted. Either you learn to crush or get crushed. That's how he had survived all his life, fighting the world, fighting his mother, fighting his own demons...and now he would teach her the same so that if life were to pull them apart again, he would know that she would manage it alone.

He had pushed her inside, but would she be able to handle it? He hoped for the best with his fingers tightly crossed.

"Right , right, expulsion...wo actually sir after you told me about it, I checked the valid reasons for Expulsion. Aparently, you can expel someone if they flout any of the following rules and regulation -

Academic, disciplinary or legal.

But sir, it wasn't mentioned anywhere that you could expel someone on humanitarian grounds." The principal wasn't expecting her to speak, let alone counter him. "I was taking care of my boyfriend in hospital who had suffered a major accident and no rule states I can be expelled for that. Which rule book did you refer to sir?"

"Boyfriend!!?!!...shameless, nandini!! Have you forgotten you were a teacher." he made a face, happy to have found one word in her statement that he could use against her.

"Yes, I could have lied and said family. I could have asked the doctor to sign a prescription with my name and a false disease on it, like you and your other teachers do to take unplanned leave. In fact, I could have also asked my boyfriend to withdraw the affiliation of this school. You see in India, if you have money and power, anything is possible and fir he is the chairman's son. But I didn't do any of that. I told you in honest words That I couldn't come to school because I was in hospital 24 * 7 for those 5 days. No law in the world says that relationships are defined by blood, that we are entitled to take leave only to nurse our parents and siblings or spouse and kids. You should perhaps consult a lawyer."

Nandini was in no mood to give up. She was trembling at the very thought of facing this man, but Manik's words had moved something in her. Yes she had to this so that no one else had to suffer like her.

"Nandini..how dare...you..its all because of that boyfriend of yours... you are speaking his words... he had insulted me that day and now you are doing it worse... I can right away take disciplinary action against you. That will blacklist you." He was frowning to camouflage his fear. This girl was taking about rules and he with his 40 years of experience he knew better than anyone else that if anyone could be expelled in this scenario, it was him because whatever he had done was illegal. He couldn't throw her out just like that. But then how would he have known that she would suddenly get a voice from somewhere.

"Really mr. Principal, you think you are the only intelligent person sitting here and we are all dumbheaded. You want to call a lawyer, please do and please contest this in court. Because it would be that much easier for me to provide all the evidences there. I hope you know what the charges of gender discrimination can do for you. If I reach out to the human rights and tell them that you are misusing your position to take out your personal hatred against me and more so because I am a female employee, that would tarnish your 40 years of reputation. Stop goofing around and don't dare to repeat this with anyone again. I should get my experience letter, release letter and all the financial settlement before EOD tomorrow. If I don't, a lawyer is just a phone call away...and yes, you are not expelling me, I am resigning on my own free will." Outside, Manik was already in a celebratory mood, grinning stupidly at whoever happened to cross by. He wanted to kiss her hard, right there in the middle of the school, BUT ALAS THAT WOULDN'T BE THE RIGHT THING TO DO IN A SCHOOL.

She was happy, very very happy. She hadn't shared it with anyone, not even Manik, but she had been feeling extremely humiliated ever since she came to know that she would be expelled. Somehow, it was eating her from inside, and if she hadn't spoken her heart out today, it would have continued to erode her self-confidence. She would still miss her children and this place but at least she would know she didn't return a loser.

Minutes ago she was so angry with her sweetheart and now, all she wanted to do was to hug him tight and kiss him. BUT ALAS THAT WOULDN'T BE THE RIGHT THING TO DO IN A SCHOOL.