Chaotic Tangles!

23|| Cacophony

"Manik, what is all this? How did this-", a hand pulled Nandini away startling her as she turned on her heels and her hands found their way to his chest in her attempt to find a balance. Manik's red eyes met her astonished ones.

"Are you blind alongside deaf? Why are you walking inside knowing there are glass pieces on the floor?", Manik gritted through his teeth, his right hand holding her left wrist that he had pulled in the nick of the moment to drag her away, despite knowing in the back of his mind that she was wearing sandals.

Nandini slightly turned and looked behind at the mess on the floor, her palms still over his chest. She could feel how fast his heart was beating, but couldn't decide if it was just anger, or fear too.

"What happened?", she tried again, albeit softly this time.

Memories rushed back in Manik's head and he turned them over, before pushing her away such that she was now out of his bedroom.

"None of your concern", he looked dead in her eyes but realized she wasn't looking at her. Nandini was looking at the floor, and by now had put two and two together.

"Where is the first aid box?", she asked, taking a deep breath so that she doesn't end up snapping too.

"Why? You came here to play my nanny?", Manik argued, irritated with her presence.

"I have to given you are such a man-child", Nandini answered, finding it difficult to not strangle him.

"You are crossing a line Dr. Murthy", Manik glared at her in his no nonsense tone, "You are forgetting you are my subordinate".

"To hell with your work ethics Dr. Malhotra", Nandini finally snapped, "You brought me to your apartment first, you blurred the lines. You don't also hug your subordinate, or cuddle with her or make her biryani. So don't try and putting this on me", she glared back with equal vigor, pointing a finger at him first and ending up poking his chest.

And then without waiting for his reply, she pushed him away and walked inside the bedroom, trying to locate the first aid box, by guessing the most common places it could be. Indeed, she found it in an otherwise chaotic washroom cabinet.

Walking out, she grasped a very frustrated Manik's wrist and pulled him with her, despite him trying to resist and scowl, and made him sit on the couch of the drawing room.

"What do you think you are doing?", Manik asked, sounding more annoyed, "Who do you think you are?"

"Your Nanny, remember", Nandini smiled sarcastically, "You definitely enjoy being a masochist, don't you? Getting physically injured while trying to teach, don't change your dressings, don't take care of your injuries, or worse, get purposefully injured", she sneered, sitting on her knees and raising his injured leg to clean the wound. Thank goodness, it didn't look too deep to need sutures.

"But I am not a sadist", she continued, while dressing the wound and wrapping a bandage around his feet, "I am a doctor and I like to treat pain. Not inflict it".

Manik clenched his fists, trying to tone down his anger. He was trying his best to not say something he would regret, or not manhandle her in any way even when she was being a huge pain in his arse. He had been raised better than that.

"Says the woman who doesn't shy away from playing games and betraying people", he muttered, not looking at her, but aware of the way she froze for a second before she went back to putting the things back in the first aid box.

"Says the man who would easily win a gold medal for manipulation", Nandini answered back, getting up to place the box on the table, and finally looking at him while he too had jerked his eyes up and ended up meeting her gaze.