Twisted Love

Chapter 16- THE NUMBER

HEY!

Just an announcement before the beginning with the chapter, unfortunately, I won't be able to give regular updates from now on.

My online classes have resumed and the professors are rushing like anything so there are a lot of assignments pending for submission.

So now coming to the updates, I have decided to publish new chapters on every Wednesday and Sunday.

So that's all I wanted to say. And here you go with the chapter,

Happy Reading!!

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Nandini(irritated)- Main aise hi thodi tumhe duffer bolti hoon, woh insaan mil gaya jo Sukoon ki family ko dhoondh sakta hai!

Manik- Kaun?

Nandini- Abhi

Manik- kya Nandini, of course, abhi. Itna urgent kaam hai, abhi batao.

Nandini- kardi na ek aur duffer wali baat, Woh Abhi hai, Abhimanyu

Manik felt a pang of jealousy in his heart on hearing Nandini calling some other guy using a nickname. But her next words acted as medicine for his wound and lifted the weight off his chest.

Nandini- He is my sister's husband and since, he is in the police so tracing someone won't be a very difficult task for him.

Manik(playfully)- finally jal gayi tumhari tubelight ki batti!

Nandini(smirking)- mujhe kya bol rahe ho, kam se kam meri batti jali toh. Tumhari toh fused tubelight nikli, ek dum useless!

Manik definitely had not expected such a comeback from Nandini and thus, this was enough to make him zip up his mouth.

Nandini took out her phone and called Abhi. Manik gestured her to put the call on speaker.

Abhi- Hi Nandini, how are you?

Nandini- I am good, aap kaise ho and how is Mukti?

Abhi- we both are fine, aur bata Udaipur mein humari yaad kaise aa gayi?

Nandini(stuttering)- woh actua..actually Abhi woh hume.. I mean muj..mujhe na woh

Manik(whispers)- yeh slow motion mode mein baad mein jaana, abhi jaldi bolo.

Nandini(whispers)- chup raho duffer!

Abhi- Nandini is there someone else with you as well?

Nandini(stammering)- No, no , mere saath kaun hoga! woh Abhi hua kya na woh, Fort, bachi,kidnap

Abhi- Nandini I can't understand anything

Nandini- ek minute, bata toh rahi hoon main ki fort ke baah..baahar bach...bachi

Manik(aloud)- arre woh Nandini aur Mujhe tumhari help chahiye!

Nandini's eyes widened and Manik bit his tongue and closed his eyes realising what blunder he had done.

Abhi- Nandini who was that?

Before Nandini could answer, Manik spoke up,

Manik(proudly)- Vaise toh everyone knows me toh mujhe kabhi introduction dene ki zaroorat nahi padi, par phir bhi, being the humble and ever so polite guy that I am, main apni introduction de hi deta hoon, so Abhi, right?(pauses)

Abhi(confused)- ya

Manik- this is Manik Malhotra

They heard Mukti's voice from behind and realised that Abhimanyu's phone was on speaker as well. Hearing to what Mukti said, Nandini bursted out laughing,

Mukti- uff, Manik Malhotra, mujhe laga ki jaise apni taarif kar raha tha, uss hissab se toh koi bada star niklega, par yeh toh woh station wala self-obsessed duffer nikla.

And Manik, well, he was just too stunned and embarrased to react.

Manik(whispers to himself)- Bappa, yeh Murthy's ne meri beizzati karne ka koi contract liya hua hai kya? pehle yeh nakchadi kam thi, jo ab aapne iski behen ko bhi bhej diya!

Abhi- ok guys enough, by the way what help were you talking about?

Nandini(serious tone)- ya woh actually bhai...

Nandini narrated the entire series of incidents that had taken place.

Abhi- well, I think that these details will be enough to find her family. Nandini, can you text me all these details once, so that I can forward these to the department.

Nandini- okay Abhi, I'll send it right away.

Manik- till when will you be able to trace them?

Abhi- give me an hour and I will inform you guys about the progress.

Nandini- thank you so much Abhi.

Abhi- there is no need of being so formal Nandini!

Mukti- haan haan, thank you ki kya zaroorat hai Nandu baby!

Nandini's breath got stuck in her throat on listening to that 'Nandu baby' and Manik turned red with embarrassment on realising that Mukti knew everything about that day's drama. And after this incident, Nandini definitely had developed the 'Nandu baby phobia'.

Ignoring all this, they bid bye to Mukti and Abhimanyu and disconnected the call. Nandini was already in the process of recovering back from the shock that Mukti had given by calling her Nandu baby , that another statement landed her way, via the great Manik Malhotra's mouth, that made her cheeks and ears turn scarlet.

Manik(to himself, loudly)- waah Manik, kya baat hai! tera 'Nandu baby' toh world famous ho gaya, har taraf khabar chali gayi hai!

On realising that how wrong he sounded because of that 'tera Nandu baby', he quickly got up and went out to receive a call and even a blind person could have seen that he was faking getting a call. Nandini smiled looking at his childish acts.

Since there was still time to get a call from Abhimanyu, they decided to go and have dinner along with Sukoon. The trio enjoyed the dinner with a lot of chatting and some absolutely mouth watering dishes. After finishing the dinner, they returned to their respected rooms. Nandini moved to go to Manik's room after tucking Sukoon in the bed and making sure that she was asleep.

Finally, after 15 minutes, Nandini's phone rang and the screen displayed Abhi's name. Nandini received the call at the speed of lightening.

Abhimanyu- one box of kaju ki barfi and ya one latest edition ke headphones

Nandini and Manik looked at each other with a clueless expression.

Manik(to himself)- poora khaandan hi agra kyun nahi shift ho jata, inke liye to bus no.4 bhi chhoti padegi!

Nandini- Abhi, What are you saying?

Abhimanyu- arre what else, this is my commission for doing your work!

Nandini and Manik(together,happily)- Matlab, you found out Sukoon's parents

Abhimanyu- yes yes yes

Nandini- thank you so so much Abhi

Abhimanyu- oh that's alright, bas meri commission de dena baaki sab theek hai.

All of them laughed. Abhimanyu gave them the contact number of Sukoon's father and asked them to call him the next morning.

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Hi Again!!

Here is the next chapter. Hope you enjoyed reading it!

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Inaayat