Entangled

Part 12

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

        Another time, Manik had left his phone on the table. It was close to the edge of the table and Nandini's bag was on the table too. It was late than usual, so Nandini was in a hurry. She took her bag quickly and left.

        She didn't realize that her bag had swiped Manik's phone off the table. Manik heard the sound and he saw that his phone was on the floor. He picked it up and found that the phone's screen had cracked. This made him very furious and he went to catch hold of Nandini as soon as he figured out she was responsible for it, but she was no where to be seen.

        If he would have found her, he would have ended up doing something drastic. Nandini not being present there had not only saved her from his wrath, but also him from harming her and hindering their plan.

On his way home,

        Manik (to himself) : "I am doing all this to finally take revenge on her, but it appears that she is taking revenge on me. She has been messing with my possessions from day one and I haven't been able to do anything about it so far. .. This plan has tied my hands."

        Manik : "But I can't lose my temper like I did today. I have to stay calm. .. So far I haven't been able to make any progress. Either I end up doing something which upsets her or she does something that upsets me."

        Manik : "I will have to create or make use of the situations to get her to interact more with me even if she isn't interested, only then can I move forward from this stagnant situation."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

        Both Nyonika and Raj were already home when Manik reached home.

        Nyonika : "What took you so long, Manik?"

        Manik : "Mom, I have joined the volunteering club at our college for a short time. I was at the orphanage and it got a little delayed there."

        Nyonika : "That's a very good. From when have you been going there? And what prompted you? You were never ready to join me when I asked you to."

        Raj : "What's the need for you to volunteer? If you really want to help, you could donate some money."

        Nyonika : "Why do you want to stop him from doing something good? He hasn't seen the other side of the world. If he spends some time volunteering, it will make him more empathetic."

        Raj : "You are talking about empathy? .."

        Manik didn't want them to start arguing. At the same time, he couldn't disclose the actual reason.

        Manik : "I am going there only for a very short time. .. It is just a challenge. .. That Cabir .. he challenged me that .. I won't be able to stick there even for a few days.. so I just want to prove him wrong."

        Raj : "I don't understand what kind of a challenge it is, but I know you always want to win, so I won't stop you."

        Nyonika : "Whatever it is.. I am happy. This challenge got you to do what I couldn't manage to do in all these years."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

        Another day at the orphanage, they had to interact with the kids and Manik was getting irritated with them. On top of that two kids started fighting over a toy.

        Boy1 : "I saw it first, so it's mine."

        Boy2 : "I picked it up first, so it's mine."

        Manik didn't even bother to sort out of their problem.

        Nandini : "Either both of you play together or take turns to play with it."

        Nandini tried her best to convince them, but the boys weren't ready to listen. So Nandini pulled the toy off their hands.

        Both shouted: "It's mine."

        Nandini : "It's in my hands now, so it's mine."

        The boys decided to fight against her first and get their toy back, and then resolve the fight between themselves.

        Boys : "It's ours."

        Nandini : "It became ours from mine now. If you would have understood that earlier and wouldn't have started fighting, then I wouldn't have got a chance to take it in the first place. If there is no unity amongst you, a third person can easily take advantage of it like I did just now. I will return it to you only on the condition that you won't start fighting again."

        She returned it back to them and they didn't fight anymore.

        Manik (murmuring) : "Today, she snatched the toy from them. Months back, she snatched Mukti's boyfriend from her. Snatching things from others seems to be her inbuilt trait."

        Nandini : "Did you say something?"

        Manik : "This idea of snatching to solve the issue seemed odd to me."

        Nandini : "Sometimes when people aren't ready to listen and understand what is right when you say politely, it becomes necessary to opt such means to make a point and show what is right."

        Manik's thoughts : "She is again trying to justify her actions. What was right in snatching Mukti's boyfriend from her? .. She thought only of her benefit, not whether it was right or not, and she is talking about showing the boys what is right."