Married to my best friend

29. Cruel

M A N I K

"Aren't you going to drop her off to the airport tomorrow?" I asked Cabir who had his face buried in god knows which magazine.

"Nope." he slightly waggled his head in 'no' with his eyes still stuck to the content of the magazine. "I don't think I can say goodbye to her without wanting to stop her."

"What are you even reading?" Curious, I took a peek of the magazine. 'When you are finally single.' My face scrunched when my eyes fell on the title. "Seriously Cabir!! You are just on a break."

"Almost 90% of let's take a break leads to permanent break." he stated as he finally looked up from that damn magazine.

"And who said that?"

"I read it somewhere in the internet." he shrugged. "But that's not the point. The point is I think that's true."

"It's just some load of bullshits written in the internet. Everything on the internet can not be trusted." I stated.

He let out a sigh before getting up from his seat and gently patting my shoulder. "You are in the denial phase. It happens. I am in the acceptance phase. When you reach my phase then you'll know."

"I don't know about acceptance but I really think you should see her off. You won't be seeing her for a month or may be even longer." I tried talking some sense into that thick skull of his.

"No leave it. I don't want to look pitiful." he sounded a little down and I didn't feel like forcing him. In fact I myself wasn't sure as to how I was going to bid her a farewell.

"You sure?" I asked one last time.

He paused, looking down to his feet before nodding, "Yeah absolutely."

"Fine do as you want to."

He took out something from his pocket and placed it on my hand. "Give this to her."

It was a palm size round metal case with an 'always' engraved on either sides of the case.

"A compact mirror." A small smile formed on my lips as I looked at the word engraved on it. Always was their thing. It was like a vow in between them. "And you say you are in the acceptance phase."

"I just can't help it." he shrugged.

"Don't forget to give that to her."

"You should give it to her yourself." I suggested.

"No." he refused. "Just do me a favour and give it to her."

-

Later that night,

"We have already checked the suitcase twice Manik. Everything is there. So let's stop now." Nandini said in a whiny tone and somehow I was still not convinced that everything needed was packed.

"We should still check one more time."

"No. No more." she covered the suitcase with her body and hand. "It's all packed and even if we missed something there are shops and department stores there, I can buy stuffs from there."

I let out a sigh. "Fine. Just close the suitcase nicely."

"Okay. Let me do that." she said as she pulled down the zipper of the suitcase and locked it with a code.

"Don't forget the code."

"I won't." she assured as she pushed the suitcase aside.

"Boarding pass?"

"Check."

"Id-"

"Everything is there in my handbag." she interjected, pointing towards her handbag. "Manik I am going to be okay."

"I-I know." I shifted my gaze from her to the suitcase. She was going to be okay. She was really going to be okay and I was going to be too. Right?

I crawled to my side of the bed and reclined my back on the head rest. "We should probably sleep. You've an early morning flight to catch."

It was just half past seven but we had already ate dinner, not to forget, with my mum nagging about how she didn't want Nandini to leave but nevertheless she had helped in packing.

"Yeah we should get some sleep but umm do you-" she hesitated for a moment or so."eh- wanna grab a drink with me?"

"Nope." I denied. "We should just get some sleep. I don't want you to have a hangover tomorrow."

"Eh, okay." she nodded slowly. "Good night then."

"Hmm good night." I laid down and she switched off the light before laying down on her side.

'I'll be alone tomorrow night.' The thought crossed my mind as I stared up at the ceiling and it made me shudder. A few months ago I was okay with sleeping alone but now even just imagining an empty side felt like a nightmare.

"Manik." she called out snapping me out of my thoughts.

"Hmm."

"Will you call me?" she asked. I turned sideways to look at her and she had already been looking at me.

"I don't know." I replied even though I knew I would.

"Will you text me?"

"I don't know." I said yet again even though I knew I would.

"Will you miss me?"

I knew I couldn't go a day without missing her. She was like my habit. Everything related to me roamed around her and honestly I was internally freaking out but still I replied, "I don't know."

"You are so cruel."

"You are crueler."

There was a small silence that set over us, so I continued, "You said you want a break. Do you want me to abide by it?"

"Yes." There was a slight glint of sadness in her eyes as she said that. I let out a sigh as I turned towards the ceiling yet again.

*****
I had piles of work to complete but I just couldn't let my birthday pass by without an update. So I just had to post it. It's a bit short and I haven't proofread it. So there might be errors. Sorry and hope you enjoy the update.

And yes a special snippet or rather say flashback is coming up!!! (Update: And it's up)

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Stay safe. Stay happy.
Love ❤️
Aaku