Hustle For Love |COMPLETE| MaNan Fiction

25. The One Where Fab 5 Reunited

F*ck. F*ck. F*ck. How the hell is he married!?

Nandini Murthy, he has a kid! Damn it. Damn you, Manik Malhotra and damn you Ayappa! How does he have a kid!?!? Urrghh. Nothing was making sense to me!

A sudden thought struck me and it almost choked me to death. Was I the only one carrying the dead weight of our failed relationship in my heart and stopping myself from living a happy life? Why was I doing that? Look at Manik, he claimed to love me, I had f*cking rejected him, but I was the one who had closed my heart to change, and here he was married with a kid, leading a blissfully happy life away from everything and everyone that reminded him of his darker days!

"Manik Malhotra" Aryaman had called out his name once again when he saw both him and I were silently looking at each other; and made his presence felt. Manik stopped looking at me, and turned his gaze to him. I swear he didn't need to put any damn effort to move his eyes away from me, it was natural, it was casual, his eyes held nothing. I felt hollow suddenly.

"AK" he nodded back and replied to Arya. Both men held each other's eyes for a few seconds and then flashed a polite smile. Manik's eyes then flicked back at me. He was about to say something, but at the same moment Abir decided to make his presence felt too. He suddenly held my arm and started dragging me towards the pool. Manik's eyes swiftly moved from me to Abir and then he smiled at the little guy in a friendly way. Ah his smile, how did such a devil of a man still have such an innocent smile? Ayappa!

"You want to join?" Abir asked Manik in his childish way and Manik chuckled at the proposal. My heart stopped beating, I was hearing his chuckle after so long! I realised it still had the effect of making me feel high.

Manik Malhotra, you will be the death of me.

"No thanks buddy, I need to take this little one to her mom, you see" he replied to him sweetly, as Abir's face fell; poor boy, he was expecting more folks to join in on his fun. Manik seemed to register his change in expression too (this shocked me, since when was he so perceptive?).

"Hey but it looks like you're having so much fun! Can I take you up on this offer for tomorrow, bud?" he asked, bending down to meet his eyes. Abir's eyes twinkled in excitement as he bobbed his head in affirmation. Manik ruffled his hair with a smile playing on his lips, as he got up and nodded looking at Arya & me saying, "See you around" and left with his daughter curled up in his arms.

Manik was a happy man.

I turned my gaze at Cabir, who was still giving us awkward glances. I looked at him, more like I glared at him, like all this was his fault.

"Umm, guys, see you later?" he mumbled and Arya nodded with a pointed smile, then he left. Needless to say, the moment they cleared from the area, I dashed back to my room, leaving Abir & Arya by the pool.

Inside the safety of my suite, when I was finally alone, I was trying to gather my thoughts together. I couldn't afford to unravel like this. Sh*t, Ayappa help me, man! No, no. I had to handle this better. Agreed Manik wasn't supposed to be here, but by some freaking fluke he is here. Not only him, but he is here with his whole family!! Aargh. Ayappa, when will I be able to accept the words Manik, wife & child in one sentence!?

Also why the f*ck was I going off the deep end? It was not like I was waiting for him in my life! I had a life that was amazing and it was far away from him until thirty minutes back; then why does his entry have to bring any change in my life? Nandini, focus! I was here for some more days with my MY family that consisted of Dufus, Mukti, my uncle & aunt and of course Arya & the gang, to enjoy my own brother's wedding! That's what I needed to do - focus on the right things! Manik & his happy family could go f*ck themselves for all I care. I wasn't going to bat an eyelid!